New Cabinet Saw-Steel City

[Tom Hamilton]

Greetings Creekers:

After 7 years of using a 1940’s Boice Crane table saw jointer Combo I decided to update and upgrade. I actually was leaning to the Griz 1023SLX, as I have been very happy with the 513X band saw I got last June, but they were out of stock.

So off to the The Cutting Edge,(http://www.cuttingedgetools.com) a Houston woodworking retailer, and just inside the front door, what did my wondrous eyes behold: a Steel City 10” left tilt cabinet saw. 56992 Oh my gosh, I felt a rush at 60 similar to the rush I felt at 16 when I when I first saw an XKE. My how time changes our perspective.

Hummm, new brand, a new manufacturer with experienced people, local dealer with local warranty service, in stock and delivery this afternoon….with $150 rebate. Golly…don’t over think this deal, sounds right to me.

The saw arrived later that afternoon and with a scissor lift they lowered it from their pickup onto my shop floor and right onto the mobile base. This is their recommended procedure. Attempting to get the saw onto the mobile base later would be a tad challenging.

The cabinet piece with motor installed was in a box on a pallet and crated. 56993 56994The rest of the parts were in heavy corrugated boxes with foam inserts for protection. I unpacked the parts and moved the boxes out of the way.

The assembly manual directed the process, but I’ve got to say, the manual is the weakest part of the package. It is written by an experienced assembler without regard to the potential reader’s lack of experience. Steel City also left out the “tips” that make the assembly process smooth. Assembly Manual: “C-“.

The parts were well packaged,56996 well made and fit precisely. The cast wheels are heavy and the action smooth. Get a wheel spinning and stay out of the way. 56995

[Martin Shupe]

Congratulations, Tom.

[Don Bullock]

Greetings Creekers:

After 7 years of using a 1940’s Boice Crane table saw jointer Combo I decided to update and upgrade. I actually was leaning to the Griz 1023SLX, as I have been very happy with the 513X band saw I got last June, but they were out of stock.

So off to the The Cutting Edge, a (http://a) Houston woodworking retailer, and just inside the front door, what did my wondrous eyes behold: a Steel City 10” left tilt cabinet saw. Oh my gosh, I felt a rush at 60 similar to the rush I felt at 16 when I when I first saw an XKE. My how time changes our perspective.
...

Congratulations Tom!!! It looks like today was your lucky day. Yes, time does change our prospective.:D I can however, however, your level of excitement, especially considering the saw you've been using. Whet a super "upgrade." Getting it from a local dealer like that is :icing on the cake."

[Bruce Page]

Congrats on the new TS Tom, have fun putting it together!
With help, I lifted my unisaw onto a mobile base, it was a bit of a grunt.

[Tom Hamilton]

The cast left and right extension tables were wrapped in preservative. I was expected a difficult clean up, as suggested in the manual, but it was only a coated waxed paper with oil, not cosmoline or exotic preservative. A spray with WD-40 and a swipe with the rag and BINGO clean metal. They fit precisely against the table top and adjusted easily to flush. 57003

The fence, three seven foot pieces of heavy iron, attached to the front and back of the cabinet with predrilled, threaded holes. The front rail requires adjustment to 9/16” below the table top. 57004

The laminated extension table was next requiring drilling holes for the legs and attaching them to the table. 57005 The table fit between the rails and attached to the rails after drilling holes in the table side thought the existing holes in the rails. Next I installed the WW II blade, changed out the factory plug for a twist lock to match my 220 shop plug and we were ready to check the specs.

Amazingly the blade to miter slots and blade to table was perfect, dial gauge perfect, out of the box. I’m impressed. The fence required a little adjustment with the supplied hex wrenches. Fence sides square to table an eighth turn; fence parallel to blade a quarter turn on the left and opposite direction quarter turn on the right adjuster. Those adjustments left the fence open at the out-feed end about the thickness of a piece of paper.

57006

I had a 6 foot piece of oak tongue and groove flooring handy and sliced off the tongue with ease. Flipped it and the groove disappeared. Very nice. So, after a couple of days I’m a happy customer. The fit and finish is tight, flush, smooth and substantial. The brake stops the motor in a few seconds which I like.

The next step is to design and install an out-feed table and enjoy this fine product. If you’re in the market I would encourage a close look at the Steel City saw. Especially while they are willing to pay you $150 to buy it from them!

[Brian Ross]

Congrats on the new saw. I think we will all benefit from Steel City as I am sure some of their competition will have to pull up their socks to stay in Business.

Brian

[Kyle Kraft]

Hey Tom,

Nice looking new saw!! Are the front edges of your CI extensions beveled to match the saw top? When I got my Jet cabinet saw, the extensions had square corners on the front. I brought them in to work and milled a matching bevel on front edge. I don't like sharp corners when I'm trying to slide a board across it.

[Tom Hamilton]

Interesting you ask because that was one of the issues I had with the manual.

The manual says to put the beveled edge to the infeed side, but the extensions were made with bevels on both infeed and outfeed sides. So yes we have bevel on the infeed side.

Probably a case of not reprinting the manual when product changes were made.

Best regards, Tom

[Tom Hamilton]

Hey Bruce, it is possible, levers are wonderful things or young strong neighbors even better, but that's a big more "grunt" than I was interested in! :eek:

Best regards,

[Jim Becker]

Congrats on your new saw, Tom!!!

(BTW, I merged your threads into one...you don't need to create two on the same topic since you can post more pictures in each subsequent reply you make to the thread)

[Kent Fitzgerald]

The brake stops the motor in a few seconds which I like.
Brake? I find this surprising. I've never heard of a North America style cabinet saw with a brake, and there's no mention of it that I can find in the Steel City specs or manual.

Aren't there issues with brakes causing dado heads to loosen themselves?

[Corey Hallagan]

Congrats on the new saw Tom! Enjoy and be safe!

Corey

[Jack Diemer]

I was at the woodworking show over the weekend saw the steel city stuff for the 1st time. It looks top notch from what I can tell, and its was prices comperable if not cheaper than Grizzly.

[Mike Cutler]

Nice saw Tom.
The local Woodcraft carries Steel City. They look to be pretty nice machines.

Nice Gloat.

[Tom Hamilton]

Hi Kent, I probably misused the word brake. The blade stops in a few seconds, compared to nearly a minute on my old Boice Crane or the new Griz band saw. So I assumed that there was some type of device to slow the blade.

Probably not the case, certainly not a "SawStop" type of brake. Perhaps others can shed some light on this question.

Jim Becker, thanks for combining the pieces. I tried to extend the original with a reply, but got an "internet kickback" and went to the second thread. Like other kickbacks it was operator error. :eek:

Best regards, Tom

[Jack Dickey]

Did you get the 3 HP option ?? Or did you say and I missed it ??
Nice , I been drooling over them SCTW saws myself ..

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Very nice saw...congrats!

[Tom Hamilton]

Yes, Jack, it is a 3HP, 220, single phase. IIRC the 5HP is their 12 version.

I'm betting SCTW could figure out how to get one to Prattville!:D

Best regards, Tom

[Ron Wessels]

With regards to motor "braking", there are a couple of possibilities.

Firstly, it could be friction, which would be a bad thing (the motor would have to be overcoming that friction to make the blade spin, not to mention the wear on whatever is causing that friction). It could be some sort of mechanical brake. But most likely the manufacturers are using a property of motors: they are also generators. By shorting together the drive wires, the motor will generate a back-EMF that is dissipated through the motor winding resistance. That will slow the motor down significantly faster than having it idly spin-down.

[Eric Shields]

Tom,

Congrats on the new saw. I hope the saw lives up to the initial impression you shared with us. A true cabinet saw is in my future and SCTW has certainly made my list, though I am a little leary of the "new company" stigma. Thankfully for me I need to finish my basement transformation before investing/upgrading my machines. Would love to hear futher comments as you continue to use your new toy,er tool :)

Eric

[Jim Becker]

I've noticed what Ron describes on my new saw...the blade comes to a stop much faster than my previous saw. I think that's a requirement in Europe if my memory serves and I hope that it becomes "standard" on most machines since it's too easy to become impatient and "accidentally" not wait for things to spin down before reaching out to make "an adjustment"...and that's when things get bloody.

[Tom Jones III]

Funny, I was in their shop buying the Steel City shaper when they were loading up to deliver your TS. They mentioned that Steel City is almost all they sell anymore and they carry PM, Jet and Delta.

Someone mentioned delivery vs. carrying it home yourself, these guys delivered my TS and lathe and they will be delivering my shaper today. They charge $35, that is $0.06 per pound for my TS. They will put it down exactly where you want it, and it is their problem and their responsibility until it is set down in my shop.

[Tom Hamilton]

Ron says: "That will slow the motor down significantly faster than having it idly spin-down."

Thanks Ron for the explaination. Like Jim Becker says it is nice to see the blade stop sooner rather than later when one is waiting to proceed on a project.

Tom Jones, perhaps we should arrange a meet and greet. You are always welcome in my shop. Where are you in Houston?

Best regards, Tom

[Travis Lavallee]

I am also enjoying that exact same saw, although it is kind hard to when it is in my not insulated (yet) garage and we had a -41.7 C low today. I also like how smooth the fence glides, and although the instructions were sufficient to assemble it, there definately could have been more useful material added to help speed up the assembly.

[Corvin Alstot]

After 7 years of using a 1940’s Boice Crane table saw jointer Combo I decided to update and upgrade. Tom
Congratulations on the upgrade. I think you will like the performance and safety of your new machine.
I think you will start looking for a dust collector soon as I doubt your current set-up will keep up during heavy cutting.
My system sure struggles.

Whats next, a big project on the horizon?
Corvin

[Kyle Kraft]

Ron,
You made an interesting comment about connecting the windings to provide "dynamic braking". My FIL has a Jet contractors saw (no magnetic starter) that spins forever when you shut it down. My Jet cabinet saw with a magnetic starter slows down much more quickly as you described. There is no mechanical friction in the system, aside from normal bearing and belt resistance. They must connect the windings through some type of auxilliary contact on the starter. I'll run it past the wire nuts here at work.