General or Unisaw?

[Steven J Corpstein]

I'm entertaining the idea of investing in a cabinet saw to replace my Delta CS. I'd be interested in opinions and/or experience on the General International 650-T50 or the Delta Unisaw. I'm pretty impressed with the initial look and feel of the General.

[Steve Schoene]

General makes a very good saw, with fit and finish probably a step above the Unisaw. Why not also consider the Powermatic--many also place it a notch above the unisaw. But all three will work well and should last a lifetime in a amateur's shop.

[Dan Oliphant]

Steven,
Why not consider Bridgewood also? With the exchange rate on the dollar, I think it would be a better value than the General also.

[jack duren]

"General International 650-T50 or the Delta Unisaw"

as far as performance $$$. only difference..... jack

[Elliott Cameron]

I'm entertaining the idea of investing in a cabinet saw to replace my Delta CS. I'd be interested in opinions and/or experience on the General International 650-T50 or the Delta Unisaw. I'm pretty impressed with the initial look and feel of the General.

Steven
If you mean the 650-T50, well , it is not general Int. The 650-T50 is the parent co., General, that makes it. All the General Int. named saws are made in Taiwan as are ALL Delta, PM, JET etc.... If you are going to put out the serious jingle for a SERIOUS saw, the GENERAL 650-T50 is definately the way to go. GENERAL makes all their saws in CANADA. The fence that comes with these is the equivelent to the ORIGINAL Biesemeyer fence's before Delta bought the rights to manufacture them. Mr. Biesemeyer cotracted & licensed out the manufacture of the fences to GENERAL which manufactured the original BIesemeyers. After Delta bought the rights they ceased that agreement so GENERAL just kept on making their licensed version,IDENTICAL, of the Biesemeyer. All of the after-market Biesemeyer type fences are copies of the original (expired patent ) while GENERAL still makes the real deal. I might add that DELTA was bought out by Black & Decker and have not been making Delta saws in the USA for a few years now. Diddo for PM who were bought out by the parent of JET which also are no longer made in the USA. If you want the ORIGINAL made in the USA Delta then you have to buy an older one. I'm not sure how many years back you need to go off the top of my head.
But if you want a top quality saw as far as fit & finish, well, you need to go with GENERAL. If you go with a new Delta, it will be made in ASIA.
That is just the way that global economics has become. We Americans want things cheaper so the only way to compete with the regular market is to move manufacturing outside our borders.Its cheaper to pay an Asian worker than an american, unfortunately. Dido the iron. There is still a market for the HIGH-QUALITY made in N.America saws and GENERAL is filling it.

Elliott

[Dan Forman]

I have a recent model Unisaw, and if I had it to do over I would go with the Canadian made General. They have flatter tops, use a variety of cast iron which is more resistant to warping. The cast iron wings fit perfectly, whereas mine have the deviation averaged out over the lenght of the joint. That said, I don't know if it actually affects the work of the saw, but when I spend lots of money, I like to get precision in return.

Dan

[sascha gast]

well, one vote for PM66, still made in USA!!!


but if that's not on your list, General

sascha

[Michael Gabbay]

When I have the money my saw upgrade will most likely be the General 650. Dev gave a great review/response to a post I submitted last spring.

Mike

[Greg Ladd]

Steven,

I previously had a older model Unisaw; 1959 vinatge if I recall correctly. Many say the older Unisaws had heavier castings than the models made currently. I decided to buy a new saw and chose the General 350 as the 650 (left-tilt) model at the time.

The General is considerable heavier than the older Unisaw I had. The castings are thicker and General uses the Meehanite casting process which assures the castings will stay stable for years.

I cannot say this strongly enough. I you have the means and the desire to buy a great saw, the General is better built than the Unisaw.

But, in fairness to Delta and the many thousands of Unisaw owners out there, the Unisaw was a great saw. I did not have any problems with mine after I rebuilt it. The General had a convenient means to hook up a dust coollector which I didn't have with the older Unisaw.

Greg

[Chuck Harris]

This spring I purchased a Delta 3HP left tilt Unisaw. When I got it in April it was made in the US. I have noticed that all Made in the USA references have been removed from Delta's website. That said I am very happy with my saw. From the factory the stops at 0 and 45 deg. were dead on. It went together with no issues. There was a problem with the caster wheel for the mobile base but Delta customer service shipped a new one with little delay.

[scott spencer]

The General 650 is my dream saw, so get it to make me jealous! :D

The GI cabinet saw is the 50-250 or 50-260....nice Taiwanese saw but not in quite the same league as the 650.

[Mark Gordon]

Well, I like to buy used because it gives me more money for other accessories. Because of the large number of Unisaws all around the US, I'd like to say that the Delta is a great machine. I have used a general, the metal looks nice, but the cuts were the same quality.

I was able to get used (8 years old) Unisaw last year in Tampa for $500, with a 6 foot B-fence. Flat, works well, and someone else did all the tuning for me. This is not a gloat, I see them all the time for less than $800. What is does the General run, and how much wood can you buy for the difference?

All tools are a personal choice, and either would be better than a CS. (I moved from a Delta CS).

My 6 cents.

[Michael Gibbons]

I have a Unisaw bought before Black and Decker purchased Delta. Work's fine. FWW did a tool test and General came out on top.

[Dev Emch]

Steven..

Please double check your info. General owns a subsidary called general international. Both have machines but if the namplate says "General International" on it, then its an "overseas import". If it says "General" and often carries a canadian flag, then its made in northern quebec in Drummondville south of Qubec City.

Also check your part numbers. The model 650 is a left tilt 350 which is General's version of the unisaw. The T50 is the general T fence rigged for 50 inches. Its a clone of the biesmyer fence.

Now to answer your question. Without hesitation and without any reservation, buy the 650 or 350 depending on if your a left tilt guy or not. The general saw is their clone of the unisaw but its much better built. More mass where it counts and more machine shop precision. Fit and finish is second to none. Strategic castings are heavier. And the motor required is an off the shelf industrial frame motor. This is an excellent saw and the only unisaw type saw I personally would pursue. The only reason I am not running one now is that I have both an oliver and a martin.

Best of luck...

[Frank Pellow]

well, one vote for PM66, still made in USA!!!


but if that's not on your list, General

sascha



Steven
…
All the General Int. named saws are made in Taiwan as are ALL Delta, PM, JET etc.... Elliott

Who is correct, Sacha or Elliot?

By the way, I have the General 650 and it is a great saw. All it is missing is a riving knife. If the saw had that, the saw would be close to perfect.

[Bob Johnson2]

I was told the Unisaw is still made in the USA, the motor, which used to be US is now from Brazil, hence no made in USA sticker. For some reason this spring buying a US made product appealed to me. I also got a better delivered price on the Unisaw, which also mattered. No conplaints on it, works fine. Like someone told me at the time, pick your color and get it over with.

[sascha gast]

Who is correct, Sacha or Elliot?

By the way, I have the General 650 and it is a great saw. All it is missing is a riving knife. If the saw had that, the saw would be close to perfect.


I AM :D :D :D :D

[Paul Canaris]

I like the suggestion of used.

A search of Ex-Factory shows quite a few used TS, some of them industrial in your price range. I see a Griggio $990, HIPOINT with Beismeyer, a ton of Unisaws, Powermatics, all number of which are under a $1000 as well as a slider by Steton for $2300 (compact footprint for a slider), this is a very nice looking unit.