New Arrival! Sawstop PCS

[David Delo]

For me, setting up a new toy (especially the ones you spend that much coin on) is a high point in the process surpassed only by the first couple of dead-nuts accurate cuts you make. Congrats on the new saw Jim.

[glenn bradley]

Congrats! If you're antsy, now's the time to check the blade to miter slot alignment & the 90 and 45 bevel stops. Both are easier to adjust with the extension tables off.

+1 on this. When I re-align a saw that has been moved the first thing I do is pull the wings and fence tubes. Makes the alignment very quick.

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

+1 on this. When I re-align a saw that has been moved the first thing I do is pull the wings and fence tubes. Makes the alignment very quick.

Solid advice, thanks guys. Although I will wait until this weekend when I have some help to bolt on the extension table again. No matter, I'm going to the Festool Connect event in Providence tomorrow followed by JLC Live on Friday. I tracked the slider and it's due in tomorrow so I'm all set for the weekend. Oh, also, I filled out my rebate for the free overarm dust collection and they shipped it out same day. Due in next Tuesday. Great service!

[Chris Merriam]

Jim I've got the same new saw and am a day ahead of you. You can install the wings yourself. I have a Rigid smooth out feed support stand, I prop the outside edge of the wing on that to hold the weight. Then you just need to support the wing next to the saw. I got about a 3ft long board and propped it up diagonally against the saw, so the lip of the wing just rests on it (I braced the bottom of the board with my foot). That leaves two hands free to screw in the mounting bolts. I later used that same board in the same position to help level the wings, just kick the base of it to raise the wing a bit.

[Alan Lightstone]

What Prashun and Peter were saying about the great manuals and Sawstop getting it right are spot on. The manual is over 100 page spiral bound book in color!
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And no parts bags! All the hardware is sorted in this kind of advent calendar-card. Color coded in groups for each assembly task.
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Turn the card over to access the parts and it's color coded and labeled on that side too:
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And BTW, this one card are all the parts needed to assemble the saw. Very minimal. There are more for the fence assembly and mobile base, of course.

I've told a number of people over the years that the instructions and the way the parts are sent with my SawStop were the best I had ever seen with any device or equipment I have received in my life. Color coded, separated, clearly marked, truly magnificent.

[Chris Monroe]

I finally got started building mine last night after the mobile base arrived. At the point of installing the fence now. Really impressed with everything and I'm looking forward to cutting something with it.

The manuals are very nice. I laughed when I read the page about installing the dust port onto the cabinet. A bit too much detail on that page!

[Shawn Pixley]

I've had my SS since 2009. I love it still. The extension installations are a bit difficult solo, but it can be done. I recently moved the router table into the right extension, so I took the opportunity to true things up again. Even with moving it around for six years, it was largely in tune with very minor tweakings necessary. I predict you'll love yours.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Congrats! I'm sure you'll love the saw. I also grin every time I cut something with the saw.

Take some time with the saw's tape ruler and the magnifier. Match the blade and the ruler with some test cuts. After that, you won't need to measure with your tape rule! Dead nuts accurate. Oh, compare your tape rule to the tape ruler on the saw to make sure they match. One cheapo rule was off by a bit. Tossed it out.

[Michael M. Chandler]

Jim,

From the pictures it appears that you bought the ICS mobile base. Is that correct? Can I ask why you picked that one?

Mike

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

Jim,

From the pictures it appears that you bought the ICS mobile base. Is that correct? Can I ask why you picked that one?

Mike

Mike, No, I bought the regular duty one. I will say I'm very impressed with it!

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

The manuals are very nice. I laughed when I read the page about installing the dust port onto the cabinet. A bit too much detail on that page!

Funny you mentioned that step Chris. I glanced at that step before I started. I'm the type with limited attention span that only looks at the pictures of a manual and only when I can't figure it out do I bother reading. So for the life of me, I couldn't find the dust port. I tore through the trash looking for it. Only then did I read the directions and in the very first line it read to "find the dust port attached to the vacuum hose inside the saw cabinet." Doh!

[Keith Hankins]

Ya, know that's the one thing that I was a little sad when my ICS showed up that the part's are not in the cool little color coded pouches like the PCS. It was more like bags, but not an issue as I've assembled so many machines over my life, and raising two boys, so It was not a big deal.

Me, I had heart failure when I finally got it hooked up and did the countdown in my head and turned the switch and nothing. I thought are you kidding me! pulled the cover on the power hookup and tested the voltage and it was fine going in. It was a week-end and thought did I get a DOA saw?

Well, it dawned on me that it had lockout switches. Sure enough it was flipped to "off". Flipped it to on, and Fired it up and she's been running fine since.

You will love that saw!

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

The beat goes on with the install. I was at JLC Live Thursday and Friday but during that time my Sliding Crosscut Table arrived from CPO Tools. As I said before, the unit is now under national backorder and I think I got the last one available online anywhere and it was certainly the last one from CPO. However, it arrived in bad shape. The box had been obviously opened before they shipped it and taped up. Just about every small box inside had been opened and resealed. No manual either. The table itself has several large scratches through the power coating on the aluminum. I'm guessing they shipped me a returned item or a demo unit. I have an email complaint in and am waiting to hear back. In my experience, CPO has great service so I'm not worried. Worst case is they have me return it and I play the waiting game until Sawstop starts sending new units after they arrive from Taiwan. SO...I decided to install the left hand extension table. My neighbor has a truck repair shop and was kind enough to cut my fence rails and tube down. You need to do this as the left hand extension table is not installed.
But before I did all this, without any extension tables installed, I checked the blade for parallel:
Using my A-Line-It alignment system, I checked the front of the blade and zeroed the gauge.
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I marked the tooth with a sharpie and rotated the blade 180 degrees and checked the same tooth in the rear position. I don't actually put the dial indicator on the tooth itself rather, just behind it.
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As you can see it was out my .0015. I followed the manual's directions, it was really quite easy and I was very easily to dial it perfectly.
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Tomorrow, I'll install the fence

[Mort Stevens]

As you can see it was out my .0015. I followed the manual's directions, it was really quite easy and I was very easily to dial it perfectly.

Just a note; I didn't see a brand name listed on your dial indicator.... I just went though this helping a friend who was having trouble with alignment....I have a Pratt & Whitney that reads full scale +/- 5/10,000 and after alignment with a cheap (<$50) dial indicator that indicated what should have been better than 1/1000 error, read off scale on the Pratt & Whitney, checking against a Starrett confirmed the error. We tried another 'no-name' (most likely from china) cheap dial indicator he had and it appears that you have to be very careful as some of these cheap dial indicators have extremely poor repeatability.... not much better than 1/1000 in my experience.... what this means is that they lie to you or you end up chasing a ghost.... adjusting things when in fact they don't need adjusting.... while you may think you have improved on the factory alignment, unless you double check it with another source/method you'll never know for sure whether you did any good or not.

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

Just a note; I didn't see a brand name listed on your dial indicator.... I just went though this helping a friend who was having trouble with alignment....I have a Pratt & Whitney that reads full scale +/- 5/10,000 and after alignment with a cheap (<$50) dial indicator that indicated what should have been better than 1/1000 error, read off scale on the Pratt & Whitney, checking against a Starrett confirmed the error. We tried another 'no-name' (most likely from china) cheap dial indicator he had and it appears that you have to be very careful as some of these cheap dial indicators have extremely poor repeatability.... not much better than 1/1000 in my experience.... what this means is that they lie to you or you end up chasing a ghost.... adjusting things when in fact they don't need adjusting.... while you may think you have improved on the factory alignment, unless you double check it with another source/method you'll never know for sure whether you did any good or not.

Mort, Good point. I have many years experience aligning table saws with huge, noticeable differences. I know I mentioned I was using the "A-Lign-it" alignment system but I neglected to post a link to it. Years ago, I bought it from In-Line Industries and like everything #Jerry Cole markets, it is high quality and accurate.
It is important, as Morty pointed out to have high quality dial indicators. A good way to tell if your saw is in alignment is look at the saw marks on the rip cut. You should see saw marks appear as an X pattern on your wood. In other words, the blade should be cutting on the front of the blade (down-stroke) as well as the rear of the blade (up-stroke).