General 350 TS - Opinions?

[Kelvin McConnell]

I’m sure you all get bored with all these “is this a good deal” or “should I buy this” type posts, but you all are the best source for wood working information I have access to, so I guess I’ll post another one.

A guy I know is selling his General 350 table saw (early 90s model, I think). I had bought some work working books off of him last fall and glanced over the saw while I was there. The saw is in very good shape. I’m pretty sure he is the original owner. It comes with the 52” Biesemeyer fence, extension table (no legs though), original miter gauge, original blade guard, Forrest Woodworker II, and two other blades. It also looks like it still has the original 3hp Leeson motor on it.

It does not come with the motor cover, so dust collection will be nonexistent. It also does not have a mobile base.

He offered me the saw Nov-Dec, but I didn’t want to make a sizeable purchase right before Christmas and then not have money to get the family presents. (Talk about permanently moving into the dog house!) I thought he was selling it for $700 back then, but has it priced at $750 now.

I’m mostly worried about the dust collection. From what I’ve read on here, the motor cover has the 4” dust port built in, which sounds crazy to me. So even if I buy the motor cover, I’m still not going to have good dust collection.

So what do you all think? Get it anyway. How should I handle dust collection?

[Rod Sheridan]

Kelvin, you've been offered a General which you indicate is in good condition for aproximately 20% of it's retail value.

What the heck is stopping you from running over there with a cheque????:D

I own a 650, and the dust port is just below the motor door.

Although the cabinet does accumulate some dust, the collection is as good as most saws.

You would of course have to make or purchase a motor cover.

Do yourself a favour, take some of that cash you saved and add an Excalibur overarm guard and a removable splitter, I added both to my saw and am extremely pleased with them. A major amount of dust comes off the top of the blade, and only a blade cover with dust extraction can capture that.

Regards, Rod.

[george wilson]

Is the Penn State overarm dust collector/guard good? It is much cheaper than the Excalibur.

[Neal Clayton]

So what do you all think? Get it anyway. How should I handle dust collection?

you can buy the motor cover. if anyone else around you knew about the saw for that price it would be gone already.

[Kelvin McConnell]

I'm pretty sure the one I'm looking at doesn't have a dust collection port, unless the guy added one that I didn't see while I was there. Below is a link to someone's site that has the 350. I'll probably have to do something like they have done.

http://www.tooltrip.com/tooltrip9/woodworking/general350/general350.htm

I sent General an email about the motor cover. I'm not sure how long they normally take to respond.

[scott spencer]

A G350 in nice shape with a 50" Biese for $750 is a great bargain. Any DC shortcomings should be pretty easy to remedy....any shortcomings most other saws have in comparison are close to impossible to fix! At that price, there's really no downside...it's hard to imagine it reselling for any less.

[Keith Beck]

Kelvin,

I've got a 20 year old 350 that I bought used a few years ago. My saw came with the original fence (not Biesemeyer), no extension table, and no blade guard. I paid more than $750 and still thought that was a deal. General 350s/650s are veritable tanks! These things are built to cut wood for a long time! I've never seen a beefier built saw.

Mine came with the motor cover that has a dust port in the bottom of it. I will admit that's the stupidest location for a dust port that I've ever seen. It's basically useless. I added a bottom on the inside of the saw and then drilled a hole in the back for the dust port. Dust collection still isn't perfect, but it's better than the original. If I had to do it over, I probably would have put in a slanted bottom that directs the dust to the port.

If it were me, I'd buy that thing in a heartbeat! If it wasn't severely mistreated by the present owner, you won't be sorry.

Shortly after I got it and added a Vega fence:

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j114/ldoforcno/DSC02909.jpg

Today with a Steel City fence and extension table and my el cheapo kick switch:
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j114/ldoforcno/DSC03210.jpg

Keith