Suggestions on unloading SawStop and moving it into the shop

[Randy Gillard]

I have decided to purchase the SawStop PCS cabinet saw, and I'm just doing a little pre-planning for getting the saw into my shop.
Every time I have moved a cabinet saw I have removed the entire top, making it much easier to manhandle the saw parts around.
The PCS comes with the centre part of the saw table attached, as it is a quasi-contractor saw design with the trunnions attached to the top.

How difficult is this to move (it must be very heavy comapred to a Unisaw with the top off). How did you get the saw into your shop? How did you unload it from the truck?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[joseph f merz]

i had my saw stop fully assembled in my box truck .it has casters built on it but a dolley would work fine .i had two people helping but only one was needed .i put a couple painter planks to the ground and rolled it down .it went very smoothly .was not a big deal .easy to handle .

[Peter Aeschliman]

As long as you leave it all packaged, you should be able to get it out of your truck with two strong people, maybe 3 to be extra safe. I expected it to be much harder than it was.

[Michael Koons]

Randy, I've never moved the SS but have moved a 600 lb. PM jointer and a 1200 lb. table saw. In both cases, they were delivered via freight companies. In both cases, I called the freight company and requested a lift gate and a pallet jack. In both cases, I jacked the tool up on 1000 lb. dollies (2 or 3) and rolled it into the shop, jacked it back up to remove the dollies. Process works great for me.

If you're doing your own truck without a lift gate, I'd concur with Peter's recommendation, 2 or 3 strong guys.

[Ron Natalie]

The PCS is shipped on a sort of styrofoam pallet without the extension wings and I just had the truck back up to the hangar and unload. Since I ordered the mobile kit I disregarded the silly instructions they give you for installing the base and tipped the thing over on it's back on the styrofoam and then stood it up. It was easy enough for me to do by myself. Without the wings on the table, it was easy to roll it on it's base through the couple of doors into my shop. Then I stuck the wings on and the fence rails and extended table.

[Randy Gillard]

243432


I'd concur with Peter's recommendation, 2 or 3 strong guys.

Maybe I can enlist the help of these guys!

[Victor Robinson]

The store forklifted my PCS box into the back of our SUV (it barely fit). At home, I unboxed it and removed the wing extensions etc. still inside the SUV. Then with some help (my wife and a buddy...none of us are particularly large or strong), we slid the cabinet (still on pallet) out and tilted the cabinet onto the thick styrofoam that's in the box, effectively standing it up.

[johnny means]

I unloaded my ICS, still in the box with a couple of 2x12s as ramps. Just slid the whole skid down. At the time my truck bed was over 3 ft above the ground. Took me and my skinny neighbor a few minutes.

[glenn bradley]

Thread-jack: I'm confused? Table mounted trunnions!?! Isn't that only on the contractor format?

[Larry Frank]

I bought the PCS version and used an engine lift to move it around with a couple of nylon slings. This also made it much easier to get it on the base.

For my height, I found the table too low and made a very sturdy wooden frame to put in the industrial base and then mounted the saw on top of that. It raised the saw by 6-7" which is comfortable for my back.

[Cliff Polubinsky]

+1 for the 2x12 ramps. Laid the boards on the bed of the truck and had the store put it on top of them at the back. When I got home we just pulled the 2x12s out the back until the saw was at the edge of the bed. Pushed the ends of the boards down and the saw slid down as easy as you please.

Cliff

[Joseph Tarantino]

.......The PCS comes with the centre part of the saw table attached, as it is a quasi-contractor saw design with the trunnions attached to the top......

according to the folks @ sawstop, this is incorrect. the trunions on both versions (1.75 and 3hp) of PCSs are cabinet mounted trunions. miter slot to blade alignment is performed by pivotting the table on the cabinet.

[Ron Natalie]

The center section is attached, but as Joseph says, it the trunions are not attached to it. You can easily see this by just pulling out the blade insert and looking inside.
Not attaching the wings is real convenient as I pointed out before as it allows the saw to fit through standard doors easier (and most likely for Saw Stop's concern, keeps the box form factor more reasonable). Frankly, I'd hate to have had to remove the table. When I got mine me and my neighbors were all set to attach everything with dial indicators and the like but after doing our initial tests we found that the thing was as square and true as we could have hoped to get it if we adjusted it.

[Tom Fischer]

I bought a PM 2000 a few years ago. Had the UPS man pull wheel all the pallets into the garage, assembled the TS there, then lifted it off the pallet with a 2 ton chain hoist (which I use mostly to clean and change blades on my ZTR mower). My shop is on the same slab as the garage floor. Did everything myself. Pretty easy.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Moved it from the garage, up a few steps to the house, then into the basement.



I went to UHaul and rented an appliance dolly for under $20.
I placed a 24"x24" piece of 3/4" plywood on the dolly.
The saw began on its side on top of the Styrofoam, and we (two people) tipped it so that the top was facing down on the plywood. Was careful to do such that no pieces were sticking out towards the dolly.
Secure to dolly with strap.


From there, it was trivial for two people to move it into the basement. One person could have done it, but two people is an advantage, especially while tipping it.... and maybe you are not as strong as I (I am not very strong.... at least I don't think so).

Moved the Styrofoam to the basement and then tipped the saw back onto that (just because).

[Bill McDermott]

I had the same concerns about getting her down to the basement shop. Andrew captured my experience well. The rented appliance dolly (2-wheeler made for refrigerators) was important. That made the job safe and easy. The Packaging and Assembly Instructions are the best I have ever seen on anything that required assembly, period. I think I could have done it solo. I'm very glad I had a spotter/helper. You'll be fine. Enjoy.

[Tim Streagle]

Chain hoist from Harbor Freight. Stout tree limb. Cheap OSB from Lowe's (2 pieces). Something to roll it on (dolly or mobile base).

[David Hou]

A question more directed to Bill and Andrew or anyone who has moved a PCS to a basement shop.

Moving anything through the house to my basement has always been a bear due to some tight turns so I've always relied on going through the bulk-head. Would that pose a problem from what you guys have experienced?

[Ray Newman]

When I purchased my Uni-saw back in 1987, I rented a pick-up truck with a lift gate. Tool supplier loaded the saw on to the truck bed and we secured it with nylon straps. At the house, backed the the truck into the garage about two feet from the saw's intended position, moved the saw over to the gate, then lowered it.

Back then, the rental for 4 hours was slightly less than US $30.00 for half a day. The two of us did not even work up a sweat....

[Ron Natalie]

I did all the stuff on my PCS with two other friends. As stated, when you unbox it, it has just the center section of the table on it. This makes it much narrower and somewhat lighter than the full up assembly. I shoved the skid as close as I could get it. Tipped it over myself, but the wheels on it, and then me and my friends got it the rest of the way in. They then put the rest of the saw together (the table wings, the extended table, the outfeed table, and the fence rails...gosh darn it everybody whats to play with the new toy).

[Andrew Pitonyak]

A question more directed to Bill and Andrew or anyone who has moved a PCS to a basement shop.

Moving anything through the house to my basement has always been a bear due to some tight turns so I've always relied on going through the bulk-head. Would that pose a problem from what you guys have experienced?

Because the extensions were not on the saw, the footprint is actually pretty small. At this point in the move, handles are also not installed. There is a side piece that is trivially removed where the motor extrudes when the blade is tilted, but the blade is not tilted when you move the saw....

I am not clear on how your bulkhead looks, but this thing is much smaller than a washer or dryer... The biggest problem is that the appliance dolly adds a dimension to the table saw. The saw, however, is sitting on a piece of plywood that is 24"x24", so you could always pull that plywood off the dolly, spin it on the floor (in a turn or similar), then pull it forward a bit to make room for the dolly again.

If you want to experiment a bit, just get an appliance dolly for an initial test and place a 24"x24" piece of ply on the base and see how it works. You will be out the dolly rental, but it may be worth the $20.

[Jay Radke]

here is what i did with my sears zip code. since my shop is small and i have to store everything tightly when the cars are in i had to put mine on a mobile base. mine came via shipper which wheeled it into the garage. saw was on a pallet, so i could push it around a bit as my wife was there for delivery. unbolted from pallet. then put mobile base next to pallet in right place. called over neighbor and he and i just had to barely lift and move it slightly and set it done in base. if its going to be stationary i would do nearly the same thing. move it into its place. i would assume this comes on a pallet too. you would want two extra people. one to help you lift and the other to push away the pallet, then just lower. other suggestions for getting off a truck seem to be fine for the short amount of time the saw would be on its side. a movers belt might help as well to lower it out of the truck easy.

[David Hou]

Thanks for the additional info Andrew. Sounds like it should not be a problem given the size that you referred to. With the help of a friend of mine and myself, we were able to move the Ridgid r4511 (granite top) saw into my shop through the bulkhead so I'm thinking that this will be similar - or maybe easier since it might be a bit lighter than the Ridgid unit as I did not remove the granite top when moving that.


Because the extensions were not on the saw, the footprint is actually pretty small. At this point in the move, handles are also not installed. There is a side piece that is trivially removed where the motor extrudes when the blade is tilted, but the blade is not tilted when you move the saw....

I am not clear on how your bulkhead looks, but this thing is much smaller than a washer or dryer... The biggest problem is that the appliance dolly adds a dimension to the table saw. The saw, however, is sitting on a piece of plywood that is 24"x24", so you could always pull that plywood off the dolly, spin it on the floor (in a turn or similar), then pull it forward a bit to make room for the dolly again.

If you want to experiment a bit, just get an appliance dolly for an initial test and place a 24"x24" piece of ply on the base and see how it works. You will be out the dolly rental, but it may be worth the $20.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Thanks for the additional info Andrew. Sounds like it should not be a problem given the size that you referred to. With the help of a friend of mine and myself, we were able to move the Ridgid r4511 (granite top) saw into my shop through the bulkhead so I'm thinking that this will be similar - or maybe easier since it might be a bit lighter than the Ridgid unit as I did not remove the granite top when moving that.

I found it much easier to move the sawstop in than the Ridgid in or out; but I did not have the dolly for the Ridgid.

[Rich Riddle]

Does your shop have a garage door or are you trying to gain access through a human-sized door?