New Harvey Alpha

[Nick Lazz]

I went with the 4hp, with 36" fence. I did not opt for the coating.
Things I like:
Larger table and more room in front of blade.
Fit and finish is "pretty good"
Miter gauge is absolutely amazing for out of the box miter gauges.
Fence is smooth as silk, though I am probably never going to use the low fence setting. Would've rather had a UHMW fence, knowing my history with cutting into my fences.
I upgraded from a 3hp model and though it's only 1hp more... it was totally worth it.
What I don't like:
Dust collection sucks. I mean, I won't even hook up the over blade contraption. The small port steals too much vacuum for it to be effective. As it is, the dust collection from underneath is very sub par. I will likely re-work the whole system by cutting a 6" port and increasing the inside hose that goes to the blade shroud to at least 4". Anyone that is expecting better dust collection (and currently has a serious dust collection system) will be disappointed.

Overall, the saw is an upgrade to what I had and I am happy. It was between this and the saw stop.. but I just didn't see the point in paying so much more for a feature I have, to this point, never needed in 35 years (some professionally) of using a table saw. I guess I could feel safer while spending all that extra money on brakes and blades all while waiting for new parts. ... and blades.

Anyway, Harvey is a 4.5 outta 5 for me. I think it's a good saw, that needs some woodworker input to get them where I would want them.

[John Kananis]

Congrats on the new saw! And thanks for the feedback.

[Michelle Rich]

I have the 2hsp alpha, and put the harvey shark overhead dust collection. I find it does a great job . I also like how easy it is to raise, and swing out of the way.

[Jim Becker]

Nick, don't underestimate the value of having a high/low fence setup. It's incredibly useful including providing better clearance for "push" tools when ripping close to the blade and can be safer in that respect. I honestly use the low position 75% or more of the time with my own saw. I was a big fan of the UniFence "back in the day" because of this feature and was so happy to get that flexibility back when I moved to the sliders mid-2000s.

Congrats on your new tool!

[glenn bradley]

Agree on the value of the high/low fence. As the saw becomes more familiar that value may show itself. On my Saw Stop I opened the lower port to 6" and simply mounted the 4" blade shroud hose in that hole. The remaining area (greater than the 4" area) is left to gather spoil not captured at the shroud. This has been working great with a 2HP cyclone hard piped 30' away.

New Shop (408).jpg

[Nick Lazz]

Jim and Glen, that's good feedback and that's about what I had planned for my saw. One of my problems is my drop is to the right side of the saw so the 90s are gonna work against me. I may try to go through the access door.

And I'll reserve judgment for the low side of the fence, good stuff!

[Donald Hofmann]

Why is 4hp worth it? My 3hp Unisaw has never let me down therefore I see no reason for a 4hp- unless Harvey makes or uses motors like Sears used too - remember how their table saws "developed" 1 1/2 hp?? LOL

[Wes Grass]

Measure peak starting current, voila, a 4hp shop vac.

[Jim Becker]

Why is 4hp worth it? My 3hp Unisaw has never let me down therefore I see no reason for a 4hp- unless Harvey makes or uses motors like Sears used too - remember how their table saws "developed" 1 1/2 hp?? LOL

It sounds like their 4hp motor splits the difference between the typical 3hp motor in a cabinet saw and a 5hp motor that's often offered as an upgrade in a cabinet saw. Euro machines are typically about 4.8hp when equipped for single phase operation, too, although they typically swing a ~12" blade. More power doesn't hurt and these are induction motors, not the "universal" motors that often had that "developed" language on consumer products.

[Ronald Blue]

Agree on the value of the high/low fence. As the saw becomes more familiar that value may show itself. On my Saw Stop I opened the lower port to 6" and simply mounted the 4" blade shroud hose in that hole. The remaining area (greater than the 4" area) is left to gather spoil not captured at the shroud. This has been working great with a 2HP cyclone hard piped 30' away.

New Shop (408).jpg

Did you feel this was necessary to add the larger hose outlet? I have been very happy with the dust collection on my 3 HP PCS. Cross cutting is virtually dust free. Almost no uncaptured material. Just a 3 HP Grizzly conventional DC. Ripping thicker stock has some uncaptured dust/chips come off the top of the blade. I don't see a larger hose doing anything to improve this because the air flow is almost blocked completely in this operation. Since air volume is blocked I don't see where anything is going to improve with a 6" outlet. If it works for you though that is what is important. The previous owner had built his own overarm collection with the SS blade guard/collector. I haven't used it but if I have a lot of ripping to do then I likely will. I have been very pleased with the dust collection over the old setup.

[Holmes Anderson]

Nick, don't underestimate the value of having a high/low fence setup. It's incredibly useful including providing better clearance for "push" tools when ripping close to the blade and can be safer in that respect. I honestly use the low position 75% or more of the time with my own saw. I was a big fan of the UniFence "back in the day" because of this feature and was so happy to get that flexibility back when I moved to the sliders mid-2000s.

Congrats on your new tool!

Jim, have you measured the high and low faces relative to the length of the miter slot? I am still using a UniFence and, while the HI-LO design is versatile, the high and low faces must be perfectly orthogonal in order to switch between the HI and Low orientations without squaring adjustments. I usually use the HI position and, for my fence, the faces are non-orthogonal by about 0.015" so I don't like to switch between HI and LO without realignment relative to a miter slot. Just curious about the tolerance between HI and LO on the fence of the SCM.

[Nick Lazz]

Why is 4hp worth it? My 3hp Unisaw has never let me down therefore I see no reason for a 4hp- unless Harvey makes or uses motors like Sears used too - remember how their table saws "developed" 1 1/2 hp?? LOL

Worth it, for me, I should say. 4hp is relatively unique I suppose, but I wanted more power and was limited by my current wiring. When I wired my shop, I didn't consider or even think of upgrading to bigger machines...short sighted I suppose.. but my table saw wiring is in the center of my concrete floor in conduit. Rewiring that circuit was not an option... however, my current wiring could accommodate the 4hp motor. Seemed like a perfect compromise for my situation. The power difference is noticeable from my previous saw.

[Jim Becker]

Jim, have you measured the high and low faces relative to the length of the miter slot? I am still using a UniFence and, while the HI-LO design is versatile, the high and low faces must be perfectly orthogonal in order to switch between the HI and Low orientations without squaring adjustments. I usually use the HI position and, for my fence, the faces are non-orthogonal by about 0.015" so I don't like to switch between HI and LO without realignment relative to a miter slot. Just curious about the tolerance between HI and LO on the fence of the SCM.

There is no miter slot on my sliding table saw, but I do not recall any issues with the UniFence that I had on my first "real" table saw when I first set up a nice shop back in 2000.

[Andrew More]

Dust collection sucks. I mean, I won't even hook up the over blade contraption. The small port steals too much vacuum for it to be effective. As it is, the dust collection from underneath is very sub par. I will likely re-work the whole system by cutting a 6" port and increasing the inside hose that goes to the blade shroud to at least 4". Anyone that is expecting better dust collection (and currently has a serious dust collection system) will be disappointed.

Just curious what your expectations are here. I've had two cabinet saws, and they both struggled with dust collection. A saw blade on a table saw is moving around 150 MPH, the Dust Collector is going to hit 40 MPH at the source, so already there's an issue if you're making open cuts or doing an operation where there's not a physical barrier to the dust. I think the 6" port is a good idea, but I don't know that it's necessarily going to get you want you want.

From what I can tell the Harvey design is about par for the course for table saw dust collection. I've yet to see a better solution to the problem.

That having been said, I have a dedicated shop vac in the ceiling of my shop that I attach to the overarm guard for the SawStop, which is similar to the Harvey's. I'd suggest ditching the stupid 4" T-port the Harvey (and SawStop, and Grizzly) comes with, running a new straight 4" port to the base, (without the T to the overarm) and a dedicated shop vac to the overarm. That's going to be pretty close to the best that you can do under the circumstances.

About the only other possible improvement is some sort of saw "mustache", whether DIY, or otherwise. OTOH, you might find the adjustable sides on the exist guard are as good as it's going to get.

[Nick Lazz]

Just curious what your expectations are here. I've had two cabinet saws, and they both struggled with dust collection. A saw blade on a table saw is moving around 150 MPH, the Dust Collector is going to hit 40 MPH at the source, so already there's an issue if you're making open cuts or doing an operation where there's not a physical barrier to the dust. I think the 6" port is a good idea, but I don't know that it's necessarily going to get you want you want.

From what I can tell the Harvey design is about par for the course for table saw dust collection. I've yet to see a better solution to the problem.

That having been said, I have a dedicated shop vac in the ceiling of my shop that I attach to the overarm guard for the SawStop, which is similar to the Harvey's. I'd suggest ditching the stupid 4" T-port the Harvey (and SawStop, and Grizzly) comes with, running a new straight 4" port to the base, (without the T to the overarm) and a dedicated shop vac to the overarm. That's going to be pretty close to the best that you can do under the circumstances.

About the only other possible improvement is some sort of saw "mustache", whether DIY, or otherwise. OTOH, you might find the adjustable sides on the exist guard are as good as it's going to get.

Very true, and I agree. My expectations are relative to table saws though. I'm not expecting 100% or anything even close, but as it currently is outfitted, the 4" port Harvey uses is already restricted by the innards of that adapter to accommodate the over the blade shroud pipe. From there, they use a 3" ribbed flex hose to connect under the blade that has natural bends... I knew before I even hooked it up I would bypass the over blade contraption.,.because there's no way that hose with 3 90 degree bends, let alone the size, would do a single thing. That contraption needs its own dedicated vacuum source in my opinion..,and a bigger pipe with less bends.

According to Pentz and the rest, bigger is better with cyclone piping. That's been my experience also. And if I'm being honest, my last saw had better dust collection with my 6" adapter that just hooked straight into the cabinet.