sold the unisaw and bought the sawstop

[Bob Cooper]

Saturday morning a guy drove down and offered me 1050 for the Unisaw. 15 minutes after he left i drove to Mann Tool and picked up a 5HP ICS 52" Sawstop. Just got it all put together last night and ordered a new blade. Powered it up, went to bed and getting on a plane...so i'll be out until this weekend. One thing ...it was a pleasure putting this saw together. The manual, the tools, the parts, the paint...everything was just super well done and thus far i've had no adjusting to do.

Well...that does lead me to one question. When i checked the fence's alignment with the miter slot, the far end of the fence is just slightly out (away from the blade)...maybe 1/64th. I've read that some guys like to have the fence slightly out in that direction. Should i leave it?

Here are the obligatory pictures....

IMG_9903.JPGIMG_9913.JPG

[Keith Hankins]

I really doubt you would notice, but if in doubt, call them they CS is great, and they will help you. I love love my ICS. Only thing I might do differently is I would not have got that big table It tends to just collect things.

Cheers!

[Martin Wasner]

Nice manuals are always a win.

I like my fences toe'd out just a little bit. That's probably about the right amount across the deck. Maybe just a twinge less. Play with it, it's an easy adjustment to make.

[Roger Marty]

Looks like an awesome workshop. Congrats. I feel so much better/safer using my SawStop. It makes woodworker more pleasurable for me knowing that if I screw up, I probably won't lose a finger (on the table saw).

[Rod Sheridan]

Bob, you have a beautiful shop, and now a great saw.

I would check on the toe-out specification for that saw.

On my saw it toes out about 0.005", which is approximately 1/3 of what your saw has.

Now, put the guard back on it before you accidently duplicate the hot dog test

regards, Rod.

[Marty Schlosser]

I prefer not to have any toe-in nor toe-out, but as close to dead-on as I can get. That way you can use the fence on either side of the blade.

I concur with Rod (post $5) about guards being in use whenever practical.

[Frank Pratt]

I shoot for just a few thou of toe-out. 1/64 is too much in my opinion.

[lee cox]

How was your Unisaw setup? 1/64 is 0.015625 out.

[Jim Becker]

Congratulations on your new saw!

It's common to have the back end of the fence ever-so-slightly offset to help prevent burning and pinching when you have a fence that cannot be slid back toward the front of the saw so it only extends to just at/beyond the back of the blade. 1/64 is a bit more than I would personally prefer...

[Mike Henderson]

Congratulations on your new saw. You'll love it. Your workshop looks like one of the Fine Woodworking photo shoots. Mine has never been that clean

Mike

[Bob Cooper]

Just landed in San Francisco...dinner in the sky club/crown room

thanks for the compliments on the shop...i just wish it was about 5' wider -- it's about 16'x40'. Yes this morning before leaving home i put the blade guard on and took the riving knife off...that too was a pleasure...the tool-less nature of the swap. everything about this saw just feels well made. i know the european equipment is nice but it sure is nice to have a US company just decide to make something nice w/o trying to scrimp on every detail

So this Christmas was a big improvement -- a MM16 and a sawstop...these class of upgrades do not happen very often.

next thing on the list is an actual workbench...i need to start learning how these hand tools work

[Bob Bouis]

I upgraded to a sawstop industrial recently, too. Very nice tool. Almost worth the price.

But I'd advise you to fix the blade alignment issue. On the sawstop it's remarkably simple to do. Get it as close as you can without going over -- like the price is right.

[mreza Salav]

That's a very nice saw; you are going to love it. The fence is super easy to adjust in many ways; I'd think 0.003-0.005" toe out is about right.

[Brett Luna]

That's quite the beast, Bob. Congrats. I picked up and assembled my PCS a 2-3 days before Christmas and I agree. It was a frustration-free experience. As others mentioned above, I adjusted my fence for just a titch of toe out...0.004" if I recall.

[Bob Cooper]

Brett...i understand that getting stuff like this up in Alaska can be a challenge. Glad you have one in your possession.