Removing sawstop top

[Myles Moran]

I've got a new 3HP PCS sitting on a trailer in my garage. I unboxed it, took all the parts into my basement shop, and got the main cabinet assembly rolled over onto the top piece of styrofoam (much nicer that they gave you instructions on getting it out like that vs when I flipped the top of my grizzly jointer to get it out of the crate).

Right now it looks like the center section is just a little too big and a little too heavy to get it into the basement. I'm thinking the easiest way to move it will be removing the top. It looks like if I loosen the adjustment set screws, unbolt the pivot point holder from the top, and then remove the 4 bolts holding the top I'll have it separated into 2 pieces. I sent sawstop support an email about this within the past week, but I haven't heard back, and now I'm under duress from the wife to get the garage cleared for her to park in it tomorrow night.

Anyone remove the top off the saw? Looks like afterwards the only thing I'll have to fully set up is aligning the miter slot to the blade, but the rest of the adjustments should hold to factory settings.

[Jim Becker]

'In general" you can remove the top from a cabinet saw without messing up the "innards" and as you say, once you reinstall it, it's a matter of getting it back into perfect alignment with the blade. Sometimes there may be thin shims...but not always...so when you are removing the top, pay careful attention to the hardware and which corner what goes to be sure you get things back exactly as it came from factory commissioning. I don't know if there are any differences with SawStop (I don't own one) but I seriously doubt it since their claim to fame lives below the table.

[Tim Janssen]

Are you sure you have to take the top off? I have the same saw and when I got it (ten years ago now) a son in law and I managed to get it down into the basement.
Good luck!

Tim

[Myles Moran]

Tim, I'm not sure if I have to, but I want to be prepared in case it has to happen. I'm gonna get a coworker over tomorrow, and the 3rd person should mean we can fit it through the tiny hallway.

Jim, the shims were my concern. If there are any, are they typically like a washer type shim, or would it be more like a piece of shim stock positioned somewhere between the top and the cabinet?

[Mick Simon]

The SS uses a front pivot point and two adjustable pivot screws in the rear, one on either side to adjust the squaring to the blade. I would call SS support to get their input before breaking down the saw.

[Brian Tymchak]

If by chance the width of a doorframe is the choke point, consider removing the door frame to gain some width. It's probably easier than resetting the top on the saw.

[Patrick Walsh]

I’ve had the top of my sawstop off.

It is setup as suggested above.

Honestly can’t you just take the left and right wing off and leave the cast above the arbor.

Getting back square to the blade is not rocket science but it is a bit of a chore. In some ways I find it good to get acquainted with out tools in such a way. Then we are not scared to tear into them when they are not producing the desired result.

[Greg Hanus]

I had to do this when I moved my sawstop PCS into my basement workshop by myself. It was not hard at all to do or to get back into working order once everything was in the basement, just take your time in realigning the saw and always be safe when moving heavy equipment.

[Myles Moran]

Greg and Patrick

If I'm following what you're saying, you're both agreeing my assessment of how to remove the top as far as accounting for the alignment devices is correct?

Hopefully my coworker will be available in the next few hours, I think we can handle it with the top on, because even if I remove the top, my wife is still not going to be happy with helping me move it.

[Jim Becker]

Jim, the shims were my concern. If there are any, are they typically like a washer type shim, or would it be more like a piece of shim stock positioned somewhere between the top and the cabinet?

There very well might not be any shims, but as I noted. as you remove hardware from each corner, keep things together to optimize getting things back together. Any shims would "likely" be very thin washer like things based on posts here long ago that I remember, but who knows. They would only be used if there was something out of kilter with the casting to insure things remained coplanar when the bolts are tightened. Cast iron bends. Easily. Trust me on that. Just be really careful in your disassembly so you can catch anything that pertains to each mounting point.

[David Utterback]

Just faced this exact dilemma last month and decided to get a third helper instead of removing top. We used straps to attach the saw to the dolly and another set to ease the lifting and gently manage the steps. My basement steps have a 90 degree landing mid way which increases the difficulty but it was easier to make the turn with the SS for some reason.

[Ron Selzer]

When I had my SawStop ICS moved into the basement, I took the top off, removed the motor and two guys moved the pieces down for me. Reassembled everything smoothly, alignment checked out dead on. Glad I did it this way as I learned a lot about the saw and upped my confidence level. Then 3-4 months later after recovering from double knee replacements I got to use the SawStop for the first time. Very nice saw and happy with it to this day.
Good luck
Ron

[Joe Kaufman]

Aligining the blade to the tilt axis is not a simple procedure. The notice on page 67 that states "This alignment procedure is not intuitive" is correct. There are probably no shims under the table attachment bolts because the adjustment is not performed with shims. I gave up trying to correct this alignment using the procedure.

[Myles Moran]

Hey everyone,

Its now in my basement, top came off to move it because I ended up carrying in with my wife. No shims as others have noted, and after removing the pivot point and loosening the alignment screws, the 4 bolts came off easily with my impact and it popped right off. If I had to do it again, I might leave the pivot bolted to the table. The pivot pin slips apart easily, and the piece bolted it to the table had some big slots for adjustability with the cap screws. This meant that even though I had loosened the adjustment screws 10 turns and tightened them the same, the front had a new setting and the rear had to be moved a fair amount.

But I got it aligned (super easily too) within .002" on my indicator, and the angles alignment was within .004". Easy peasy.

[Jim Becker]

'Glad that worked out, Myles!! Please become an SMC Contributor so you can post photos of that bad-tool in action!