Considering a new tablesaw

[Frank Pratt]

I am considering a Sawstop PCS with the 36" T glide fence. I would try to snag the free mobile base during the spring promo and hopefully convince one of the dealers to let me upgrade it to the ICS mobile base.

I got my PCS during a spring promo from Lee Valley. I got the ICS base & they gave me credit for the cost of the PCS base.

[Chris Sonego]

That’s the “I don’t want that job” price.

[Rod Wolfy]

Thanks to everyone for the replies and suggestions. I appreciate it.

Problem with 240 in the garage is that the breaker panels are in the basement on the opposite end of the house (75 feet away) from the garage. The basement walls and ceiling are all sheetrocked, and the exterior walls where the panels are located are fully spray foamed. I had previously asked my friend who is an electrician about the potential for putting it in as a side job and he said "ooh that's gonna cost you by the time it is all done. You either pay me to run 200 feet of conduit and go outside the house; or you pay me to run it through the attic and you pay the drywall guy to fix all the drywall I gotta cut out". If I have to cut something the smaller motor can't handle, I have friends or the local maker space that have 3+ hp saws.

I retired a year ago. I had the same wiring in my house (garage was designed downstairs at the other end of the house, but converted to a bedroom when they built the new garage at the other end). I had 125' conduit run around the house to a 60amp 220 panel in the garage, at the beginning of COVID.

I have a 3hp PCS w/ 36" fence (& track saw for sheet goods). My saw moves easily on Industrial base. Do not get the other, $275 base, as it makes it harder to move the saw. No alignment issues at all when moving. You just put some air in the jack (built into the Industrial base) with a couple of presses with the toe and the saw will turn around in place (if there's nothing to interfere). The 220 panel allowed me to put in several 20amp 110v drops & 220v drops via the ceiling. I put in four 220v drops: ceiling mounted heater, 5 hp bandsaw, dust collector and one for the SawStop.

I got the SawStop kind of as insurance against an accident. As I spend more time in the shop and I'm more accident prone as I age and I heal so slowly, it might help with an accident. I also put Jessem rollers on the fence.

[Derek Meyer]

There are a couple of other electrical contractors I am going to ask for quotes, including one that does heating and electric, so they could to the minisplit and panel at once. That might save some money.

I have the industrial base for my Sawstop. I looked at one with the standard base and concluded that it would never last if I moved the saw very frequently. Indeed, the demo unit I saw had a broken standard mobile base. The industrial base is amazing and well worth the extra money.

[Bryan Hall]

If you want the safety feature, then it's really no contest.

However...

I would be looking at the table and the fence to make my decision. The most attractive thing about Harvey in my mind is the 31.5" depth on the main table. I believe the PCS is 27"? ICS is 30". I also think another user here posted that the Harvey table has a full 14" from edge of table to start of the blade when it's fully raised. I, personally, really value that space. For the fence: I greatly prefer the euro style fence. Having used one in the past, it drives me nuts not having one on my Sawstop. I'm convinced someone must make an aftermarket euro style fence for the sawstop, but I haven't found it yet.

[Charles Coolidge]

Digging into the Harvey specs I was about to compliment them on some innovative features (there's some cool stuff) but THEN I read this, "Basically Stainless Steel, 6061 T-6 anodized aluminum alloy..." what are they smoking? Let's just say that's a wild exaggeration. lol Then there's the "Aircraft grade" buzzword to describe 6061 aluminum. lol 6061 is a good but common lower cost alloy. Now 7075 is used in aerospace as it's superior in strength to 6061. When a manufacture (and many do) start spewing BS and exaggerating it's a big turn off.

[Frank Pratt]

Ya, "aircraft grade", "military grade", "aerospace grade"... Do these marketing wanks really think that those overused BS buzzwords convince anyone to guy their product?

It's real shame when product designers & engineers build a great product & then marketing cheapens it with their mis and disinformation slapped all over the package.