John Lemke
05-15-2008, 11:50 PM
My shop is in my basement, which can be accessed only through an interior stairway. Thought it might be interesting and helpful to others if I posted a bit about the process of getting my 3HP SawStop from my garage (where it was delivered) into place in my shop.
First off -- even aside from its weight -- the crate the saw ships in is awfully big, too big to make it down my stairs. I measured it at 37 by 39 by more than 40 inches tall, and I had some 32 inch doorways to navigate just to get to the top of the stairs. Working by myself, I pulled the crate apart. With another person, I might have removed the lag bolts at the bottom and lifted the crate off the pallet, but it wasn't tough at all to pry it apart.
In an email exchange, the advice from SawStop was to remove the motor cover and both the right-hand extension wing and the table itself. That, they said, would allow it to fit though a 32 inch door and reduce the weight by enough so it could be handled on an appliance dolly. I was concerned about removing the main table -- wouldn't I have potential alignment problems when I reassembled the saw? So I got on the phone and talked it over with one of their technicians.
He affirmed the advice to remove the table, and in fact recommended removing the table and the wing as one, retaining the careful alignment of the two. He also reported that the warehouse manager recommends removing the motor, making the saw much lighter and almost easy to handle for a couple guys.
I did consider removing the motor, but was concerned that getting it back in place might be tough for me to do by myself, and too cramped to do with two people. Still, I held that possibility in reserve -- and didn't need it.
Removing the table worked out really well. The main table is attached to the trunnion brackets with a bolt at each corner. Alignment is maintained by a pivot pin at the front center of the saw and two side-mounted positioning screws at the rear corners. I took the technician's advice and first snugged up the two positioning screws. I then backed one of them off several turns and marked it as the one to adjust when the saw was back together.
At this point I spent some money and paid for some pros to do the heavy lifting. They were amazingly quick while also taking considerable pains not to screw anything up. What astounded me is that two guys just lifted the 400 pound-plus saw and carried it all the way to my shop and onto the mobile base. It took a little maneuvering to get the top back on with the pivot pin engaged, but they were careful and did it right.
I finished things off by threading the bolts back into the table to hand tight and then tightening the marked positioning screw to return the table to what I hoped would be close to the position it was in when it left Oregon. Boy, did that work out -- when I checked the miter gauge slot against the blade with a dial indicator, they were parallel to within a thousandth.
I know pictures matter, so here's one of what things looked like fresh off the truck, another of the saw ready for the top to be lifted off for the trip downstairs, and the saw in place in my shop.
First off -- even aside from its weight -- the crate the saw ships in is awfully big, too big to make it down my stairs. I measured it at 37 by 39 by more than 40 inches tall, and I had some 32 inch doorways to navigate just to get to the top of the stairs. Working by myself, I pulled the crate apart. With another person, I might have removed the lag bolts at the bottom and lifted the crate off the pallet, but it wasn't tough at all to pry it apart.
In an email exchange, the advice from SawStop was to remove the motor cover and both the right-hand extension wing and the table itself. That, they said, would allow it to fit though a 32 inch door and reduce the weight by enough so it could be handled on an appliance dolly. I was concerned about removing the main table -- wouldn't I have potential alignment problems when I reassembled the saw? So I got on the phone and talked it over with one of their technicians.
He affirmed the advice to remove the table, and in fact recommended removing the table and the wing as one, retaining the careful alignment of the two. He also reported that the warehouse manager recommends removing the motor, making the saw much lighter and almost easy to handle for a couple guys.
I did consider removing the motor, but was concerned that getting it back in place might be tough for me to do by myself, and too cramped to do with two people. Still, I held that possibility in reserve -- and didn't need it.
Removing the table worked out really well. The main table is attached to the trunnion brackets with a bolt at each corner. Alignment is maintained by a pivot pin at the front center of the saw and two side-mounted positioning screws at the rear corners. I took the technician's advice and first snugged up the two positioning screws. I then backed one of them off several turns and marked it as the one to adjust when the saw was back together.
At this point I spent some money and paid for some pros to do the heavy lifting. They were amazingly quick while also taking considerable pains not to screw anything up. What astounded me is that two guys just lifted the 400 pound-plus saw and carried it all the way to my shop and onto the mobile base. It took a little maneuvering to get the top back on with the pivot pin engaged, but they were careful and did it right.
I finished things off by threading the bolts back into the table to hand tight and then tightening the marked positioning screw to return the table to what I hoped would be close to the position it was in when it left Oregon. Boy, did that work out -- when I checked the miter gauge slot against the blade with a dial indicator, they were parallel to within a thousandth.
I know pictures matter, so here's one of what things looked like fresh off the truck, another of the saw ready for the top to be lifted off for the trip downstairs, and the saw in place in my shop.