Used PM 66 or new XACTA Deluxe

[Eric Haycraft]

I fairly regularly see PM 66s for around 1400 bucks used online in good shape. For a couple hundred more I could get a new Jet with a riving knife.

Which would you choose and why?

Eric

[Mike Gabbay]

Personally, I'd go with the PM 66. The older ones have always been the benchmark of the industry. As for the riving knife, as long as you use a splitter and guard I'm not sure I see the advantage. Only in the fact that the riving knife does retract with the blade and can be quickly removed. The time you need a riving knife or splitter is with rip cuts and the blade is making a full cut of the wood.

Jet does make a good product but some will say the castings on the PM are better. Both are owned by the same parent company WMH Tools so you should not see a significant difference in service.

My 2 cents....

[Homer Faucett]

Personally, for the small difference in price, I would go with a new saw with a riving knife. I like knowing that if it isn't right, I still have some recourse to get it made right by the manufacturer. Further, while I never saw anything wrong with my stock blade guard/splitter on my Delta contractor saw, I have really enjoyed the riving knife on my Sawstop.

If you don't like fiddling with removing a blade guard/splitter for non-through cuts, you will really appreciate the riving knife. Of course, this assumes that the Jet riving knife is a low profile knife . . .which I don't know for sure. Good luck on your decision.

[Simon Dupay]

Go for the USA made 66- much better then a jet IMHO a pop in splitter is just as good as a riving knive

[Glen Blanchard]

I loved my JET cabinet saw, and I had upgraded with a Beisemeyer snap-in splitter. I sold it when I bought a SawStop. I love having the riving knife and never having to remove the splitter.

That being said, as a result of my great experience with the JET cabinet saw, I'd buy the JET with the riving knife. The 66 is indeed an icon of woodworking, but I'd buy the JET.

[john lawson]

Go for the Jet with the riving knife. This is an important safety feature. Within a year the saws without riving knifes will be considered obsolete and unsafe. I believe they already are.

john lawson

[Tom Henderson2]

Where are you located Eric?

I've been watching Craig's list in my area (Central Cal) for a year, and haven't seen one PM66. Three or four Unisaws, but not one PM.

-Tom H
Ventura, CA

[Brian Ross]

Table saws are a lot like our automobiles. If you don't use them properly they can really bite you.If you follow a few basic safety rules and have your fence set in the proper manner they are safe, riving knife or not. The riving knife does help compensate for some of our unsafe practices such as not having the fence adjusted properly.I would take the used PM 66 over the jet anyday. Just my opinion.

Brian

[Eric Haycraft]

Minnesota. There are two listed right now.. one was for 700, but I think that it sold and they never took the posting down since they won't return my emails begging them to sell it to me. I seem to recall 3 or 4 in the last couple of months.

[Steven Wilson]

I would choose the Jet with the riving knife. I use to own a PM66 (w/beis splitter) and a riving knife is much better than any splitter (the saw I have now has a riving knife). The Jet is a decent enough saw.