After many years of working on a basic Jet JWTS-10 that I got off Cragislist, I finally got a chance to purchase a Sawstop PCS. The saw purchase came after adding a Clear View Cyclone to the shop, but that's another story.
The Sawstop packaging was outstanding. Ease of assembly and directions were excellent. Fit and finish were also excellent and I found the tool alignment and calibration to be very good right out of the box. I purchased the PCS 3hp. unit with the 52" fence system, the industrial cabinet base and some extra cartridges and throat plates. My goal was to continue using my Incra TS-LS fence with 92" rails. I hoped that would not be a problem. Incra provided great support and the fence installation was rather simple.
Assembly of the PCS went slow due to the massive weight of the system and the fact I was putting it together by myself. The biggest hurdle was standing the unit upright in the industrial base. I figured out that if I placed the unit on its back on a stack of the two large Styrofoam packing pieces, I could snug up the base below the cabinet and then stand it up on the base. Took some effort, but got it done with no damage. Just a few aspirin for my back that evening. Adding the cast iron wings was also a challenge. Those things are very heavy and difficult to maneuver when you are trying to put bolts in at the same time.
Adding the incra fence was very straight forward. I used metric bolts sized M8-1.25x30 for all the fence rail mounting brackets. The four bolt holes on the cabinet cast iron table are threaded and those bolts fit perfectly. I used same bolts on the wings, but added washers and nuts since those holes are not threaded. I did purchase two additional brackets from Incra since I wanted to do what I could to add stability to the wing ends. Frankly, I wish I could have used the massive T-Glide rails to hold everything in place, but you can't use those rails and the Incra rails at the same time. For the PCS, you do not need the larger Incra base that you need for the industrial Sawstop model.
The right table that comes with the 52" Sawstop fence is over 2" thick and cannot be easily added to the Incra fence rails unless you wish to purchase 4 more fence rail brackets which are rather pricey. So, I decided to use my previous table which is white melamine. I used Incra's Rotuer table support brackets to seamlessly add the table to the Incra rails. I have decided not to add my router table top to the saw and am hoping to build a separate router table later.
My new Clear Vue Hybrid cyclone is a beast and generates some serious CFM and air velocities. I was not sure how well the small 4" dust port on the cabinet and super small 1.5" dust port on the blade guard would work. After a few test cuts, the 4" port worked very well and the blade guard was excellent until the end of the cut. You do get some dust thrown at you as the piece still has the blade guard elevated but the short lumber piece no longer seals the blade guard. I did notice just a little bit of dust remaining inside the cabinet floor after a few cuts. I suspect the cabinet will eventually fill with some sawdust. Since the dust port is connected to 4" flex hose that connects to the blade area, that dust will just sit in the bottom of the cabinet.
Due to the large capability of just one open 6" main duct, I needed two 4" ducts plus the blade guard hose. Once 4" duct was not being used and just helped keep air volume flowing for the system. I decided to add a second 4" duct to the back of the motor cover and that seems to have really helped in keeping the cabinet base clear of any sawdust. I did not want to cut into the metal portion of the cabinet but was willing to cut into the plastic motor cover which I can replace if I don't like the idea.
On day one of the completed assembly, I am thrilled with the Stopsaw and my dust collection system. I really appreciated having Bill Pentz's site to reference dust collection information.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Earl Rumans
