INCRA or Sawstop router lift or other? (PCS tablesaw shopping)

[Frank Pratt]

From Bob - Woodcraft Sawstop dealer: "The order is still a week or so out, so you can make up your mind later. I sell equal numbers of 1.75 and 3hp PCS, and both customers are happy. If I had full breaker box issues like you, I'd pick the 1.75 in a heartbeat and save the money. And we have the 5hp Clearvue Cyclone here at the school, they are nice but way overkill for a garage shop. I'd look at a 1.5hp Jet dust collector."

From Aaron - Airpro: "Garage shop and 4" saw air port? I'd get a throwaway shop vac from Home Depot. If you really want a cyclone, then get this Cincinnati fan with a 1/2hp motor, sized 400 CFM for that saw."

If Aaron is saying that a 1/2 HP blower is good, then I would tend to not trust his advice on anything related to dust collection. That won't be nearly enough to give you even marginal dust collection. And the 400 CFM rating is fiction.

Even the 1.5 HP Jet suggested by Bob is too small unless you move it from machine to machine & connect with only a short length of flex. I did that for a couple of years & it gets old in a hurry.

I have a 5 HP Oneida in my shop & would in no way say it's overkill. A 3 HP would do the job for the most part, but the 5 HP works better at the miter saw station & for quickly cleaning up the air after.

[ChrisA Edwards]

@ChrisA: I have had better results with the Shaper making finger joints for my 37" boxes by making sure I never rescan. I am programming .014" clearance between fingers for a light friction fit on baltic birch. There is still lousy forward-back accuracy. My workstation is excellent but I could consider their little plastic one also. I missed today's web session in lieu of a fire department call.

Thanks for the info, I was on the Shaper demo today and actually took delivery of my Shaper Origin this morning.