SawStop 3hp or 5hp?

[Steve Mathews]

I'm wrapping up the details of my next cabinet saw purchase but haven't decided yet whether to get the SawStop Industrial 3hp or 5hp. The 3hp cabinet saw I had previously served me well and never seemed to lack power. Rob Cosman in his review of the same saw stated he never had a situation where a larger motor was needed. As a DIY'er my needs are certainly much less than his. Are there circumstances when a larger motor is helpful? Thoughts?

[Keith Hankins]

Ok, all I can do is share my experience from a few years back. I had a grizzly 1023slx with 7' table (3hp) that I used for over 10 years. It was a solid solid machine. I paid 1100 new and sold it for 800. It would do the nickle test even when I sold.

The only complaint I ever had was when making pencil post beds, it would grunt on 12/4" cherry. 6 or 8/4 no problems. That's with a Forrest WWII. I did get a 20T rip blade to break down wide to posts.

When the sawstop came out I was a huge fan. I saved my pennies for years, to buy it. When I finally had the go to do it, I wanted 5hp to handle the thick stuff. That was a need I specifically had. I would have bought the PCS if I could have got it in a 5hp. You can't do that. I even called CS and asked a technical guy if I could by a 5hp motor from an ICS and retrofit it on the PCS. He indicated no, as the electronics are a little differently.

So it was either buy the pcs stay at 3hp or jump (or leap) to the ICS. I made the pro's and con's list (self justification). For me this was my last forever saw. So, I was not going to just settle. Second, the table surface is bigger, and that's nice. I'd used a pcs on several occasions and I liked the extra space in front and rear of the blade. I work in manufacturing as well, and I really Liked the interlocks on the cabinets. It's a real nice feature, to absolutely know if that doors is open its not coming on. (other work arounds for that)

Downsides....It's a lot more expensive. I looked for over a year for a used on to come on the market and it just don't happen that often. I had to consider the diff in $$ and consider that it's my last saw. I factored that over the years I plan on using it (till kids have to sell it), and the yearly incremental cost is squat really.

Only other downside is with 5hp had to put in a bigger circuit 4 wire and that copper was expensive. (you will need two hots neutral and ground as it has 110/220 needs.

End the end, I went with what I wanted and have never looked back. I can tell you this after these years, I have never ever ever uttered the words "dang I bought too much saw!"

It's only money and you go around once. Get what you want!

[Bruce Page]

I've never needed more than 3hp.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

As an amateur, I can't imagine needing more than 3 hp. My current hybrid saw has 1 3/4 hp and I haven't stalled it yet.

[Steve Mathews]

Only other downside is with 5hp had to put in a bigger circuit 4 wire and that copper was expensive. (you will need two hots neutral and ground as it has 110/220 needs...

Whoa! This may have saved me from making a very costly mistake. I recently upgraded the electrical in my shop and added a lot of 220V outlets using 10 gauge wire but without a neutral. I checked the SawStop webisite this morning (before my earlier post) and one of their online manuals stated that 3hp and 5hp ICSs don't use a neutral. But that may not be the manual for the current model. I'll have to check this out. Thanks for the heads up!

Edit: I just contacted SawStop and the manual they referred me to states that their 3hp and 5hp single phase Industrial saws do not use a neutral wire.

[Matt Day]

I’ve never had a SS, but for the other saws I’ve had (Bridgewood, Unisaws, Powermatic 65) 3hp was plenty. I’ve got a 1.5hp 3ph Uni now and haven’t had issues. Even if I was to cut 12/4 like said above, that’s about 0.001% of the cuts I’d make. Just go slower for that 1 in a million cut, okay, 1/100,000 in my example. That being said, I did find a cheap 3hp 3ph motor I plan to put in the Uni one day.

[David Kumm]

Do you plan on a lot of deep dado work? That would impact my decision. I'm just a hobby guy but I've cut a lot of wood that needed more than 3 hp but never on a 10" saw. The decision would also be impacted by the quality of the motor if I intended to stress it with 12/4 oak or heavy dado work. Dave

[Steve Mathews]

Any downside to the 5hp over the 3hp except for the price difference?

[Neil Gaskin]

We have a 3hp in our Shop and I have never had an issue using the proper blade. It did does bogg down in anything greater than 8/4 With a combination blade. With the proper replayed it’s not a problem. I would not have a problem buying another one to replace it if need be. So the 3 hp is likely more than adequate.

With that said I have never regretted buying More power or capacity in a machine I have definitely regretted not buying enough. 3 hp saw stop is not one of the regrets

[Patrick Irish]

I just got a used 5hp industrial CB. I run it on my
30amp dryer outlet no prob. Couldn’t pass the deal up.

Next place a buy will have a larger panel. Also using 10awg wire.

Only downside I heard is if the brake fires it’s 100% gonna destroy the blade.

[Joe Jensen]

I faced the same decision. I had used a 3HP Unisaw for 10 years and then a 3HP PM66 for over 10 years. The only time I needed more HP was when using the saw to bevel a full 2.5" in oak. With a sharp blade I had to go slow and that it would burn. The 5HP was $100 more and I figured better safe than sorry.

[mreza Salav]

I have the 3HP ICS and has served me fine most of the time. However, if I was going to choose I'd pony up the $100 extra and get the 5HP.

[Ray Newman]

RE: 3 HP v. 5 HP costs. I just looked on the SawStop "build and price" page and the 5 HP is US$400.00 more.

[Martin Wasner]

Personally, I recommend going with the 3HP.

Running 5HP on single-phase is kind of pushing it to the limit. I like to describe it as driving your car 90 MPH wherever you go. It'll get you there fast but after a while you'll be wondering where that ticking sound is coming from. They tend to go through capacitors much faster than a 3 HP and although this is an easy thing to fix, it can cause unneeded downtime, most-likely when you are working under a deadline.

-Trent from SawStop

Use better capacitors.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, unless you're running a stock feeder I wouldn't go with the 5HP option, you'll obtain no benefit from it, and it will cost more, including electrical work.

Regards, Rod.