Jim DeLaney
07-20-2003, 3:00 PM
My new Shop Fox Cabinet Saw was delivered yesterday.
I got what I think is a decent deal. The saw was $999, the roller base was an additional $85.00, and delivery (from about 40 miles away) was $25.00.
I bought the saw from Battel's Hardware in Whittier, CA - my 'local' distributor. They set it all up for me, so I had nearly nothing to do but install a blade and a 240v~ plug, and I was ready to go.
I checked it over thoroughly prior to starting it, and found the following:
Table is virtually dead flat. I can barely see light under my Starret straight-edge at the real left corner - about 0.002". Left & right extensions are nicely ground, as is the table itself. The left table was maybe 0.010 high. Took about two minutes to adjust it.
As delivered, the blade was 0.008" out of parallel with the miter slot. Took about ten minutes to get that down to 0.002".
Run-out, measured 1¾" above the table, with a Forrest Woodworker II blade installed was 0.003". This same blade showed 0.007 on my old contractor's saw. Not sure how much of the 0.003" is in the blade, and how much is in the arbor. Either way, it's pretty good...
Overall fit and finish is very good. A couple runs in the black paint on the fence rails, and one small scratch in the motor cover paint. Otherwise no problems. Battel's had removed all the cosmoline, but there were a couple small smears of it left on the edges of the left table extension.
The "Shop Fox Classic" fence - a Biesemeyer clone - needed to be tweaked. It was maybe 0.035" out of parallel with the miter slot from front to rear (rear closer than front - not good) About two minutes with the allen wrench had it dead parallel.
I replaced the rear angle iron for the fence with a piece of 3/16" flat bar so I could mount my Uniguard. No problems encountered there.
Surprisingly, my Uniguard splitter - from a right tilt saw - bolted up with no problem. Since the Shop Fox is a left tilt, and the old saw was a right tilter, I had to change the base just a bit. I pressed out the cross bolt in the base (after removing the "e-clip" and spring) and pressed it in from the other side. On the splitter itself, I removed the 'T' bolt and installed it from the other side. That was all that was necessary. The Shop Fox bolt pattern is the same as Delta's, so the base bolted right up, and the splitter dropped in and aligned nicely.
One peculiarity about this saw, though - All the bolts are listed as 5/16-18 or 3/8-16 (American standard sizes), but all the allen head bolts/screws are metric - mostly 3mm and 6mm. Odd to see a mix of systems. I thought General Motors cars were the only ones that did that. ;-)
All in all, I'm very satisfied with this saw, and the purchase/service. For West Coasters, I'd heartily recommend Battels for any tool purchases you may need. The also carry Jet and Delta, in addition to Shop Fox.
I got what I think is a decent deal. The saw was $999, the roller base was an additional $85.00, and delivery (from about 40 miles away) was $25.00.
I bought the saw from Battel's Hardware in Whittier, CA - my 'local' distributor. They set it all up for me, so I had nearly nothing to do but install a blade and a 240v~ plug, and I was ready to go.
I checked it over thoroughly prior to starting it, and found the following:
Table is virtually dead flat. I can barely see light under my Starret straight-edge at the real left corner - about 0.002". Left & right extensions are nicely ground, as is the table itself. The left table was maybe 0.010 high. Took about two minutes to adjust it.
As delivered, the blade was 0.008" out of parallel with the miter slot. Took about ten minutes to get that down to 0.002".
Run-out, measured 1¾" above the table, with a Forrest Woodworker II blade installed was 0.003". This same blade showed 0.007 on my old contractor's saw. Not sure how much of the 0.003" is in the blade, and how much is in the arbor. Either way, it's pretty good...
Overall fit and finish is very good. A couple runs in the black paint on the fence rails, and one small scratch in the motor cover paint. Otherwise no problems. Battel's had removed all the cosmoline, but there were a couple small smears of it left on the edges of the left table extension.
The "Shop Fox Classic" fence - a Biesemeyer clone - needed to be tweaked. It was maybe 0.035" out of parallel with the miter slot from front to rear (rear closer than front - not good) About two minutes with the allen wrench had it dead parallel.
I replaced the rear angle iron for the fence with a piece of 3/16" flat bar so I could mount my Uniguard. No problems encountered there.
Surprisingly, my Uniguard splitter - from a right tilt saw - bolted up with no problem. Since the Shop Fox is a left tilt, and the old saw was a right tilter, I had to change the base just a bit. I pressed out the cross bolt in the base (after removing the "e-clip" and spring) and pressed it in from the other side. On the splitter itself, I removed the 'T' bolt and installed it from the other side. That was all that was necessary. The Shop Fox bolt pattern is the same as Delta's, so the base bolted right up, and the splitter dropped in and aligned nicely.
One peculiarity about this saw, though - All the bolts are listed as 5/16-18 or 3/8-16 (American standard sizes), but all the allen head bolts/screws are metric - mostly 3mm and 6mm. Odd to see a mix of systems. I thought General Motors cars were the only ones that did that. ;-)
All in all, I'm very satisfied with this saw, and the purchase/service. For West Coasters, I'd heartily recommend Battels for any tool purchases you may need. The also carry Jet and Delta, in addition to Shop Fox.