table saw?

[Kent E. Matthew]

I am considering a Grizz G0478 table saw. For those of you who have contractor saws is the extra cost for the cabinet worth it? Why? All of you Grizz G0478 owners how do you like yours? Sorry I don't have the time to search right now. I am at work.

[Gary Keedwell]

Well Kent, I have never seen anybody post " gee, now that I have it home, I should have gotten a contractor saw" . I guess if you are on a limited budget, you could go for a hybrid. I bought my Unisaw 12 years ago and haven't looked back.
Gary K

[scott spencer]

Hi Kent - There is zero advantage to having the motor hanging out the back unless you need to remove it often, and several disadvantages to having it there. The contractor saw is a nearly 60 year old design that essentially has a limited future in the market place.

The hybrids offer many of the same advantages of an industrial style cabinet saw, but with similar homeshop duty rating and power requirements of a contractor saw. They offer better DC, smaller footprint, shorter drive belt, more mass, and pose no threat of lifting things when the motor is beveled. The contractor saw and the hybrid have similar cutting capabilities but the hybrid removes several of the issues of dealing with the outboard motor.

A full 3hp industrial cabinet saw has even more advantages but puts you firmly into the $1k range (for new) and requires 220v.

[Chuck Lenz]

I looked at the saw your looking at buying, the hybrid has a couple of advantages from what I can tell. One it has cast extension wing, or wings, and then I'm sure people will claim it has better dust collection than the Contractors saw. The downside I would think is if the motor ever goes out on the hybrid, you'd probably have to buy it from Grizzly, Contractors saws you can buy a motor from just about anyone. I have a Delta Contractors saw with a 30" Unifence, and mobile base that i bought new in 1985. I put a Fenner Drives PowerTwist link belt on it, made my own dust port for it, wired it for 220 volts, and for what I do I haven't seen a need to upgrade to a cabinet saw yet. But to each his own.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Yah it's worth it. And so is the extra few Gees for a nice slider.

[Chuck Lenz]

As far as the motor hanging out the back on a Contractors saw I really don't think it's that big of a issue, people usually have a outfeed table or roller stand behind the saw when useing a tablesaw anyway. And the issue of dust collection, thats over blown also. With the dust chute I made for my Contractors saw and the 1500 CFM dust collector I'm useing theres nothing flying out the backside of the cabinet.

[scott spencer]

As far as the motor hanging out the back on a Contractors saw I really don't think it's that big of a issue, people usually have a outfeed table or roller stand behind the saw when useing a tablesaw anyway. And the issue of dust collection, thats over blown also. With the dust chute I made for my Contractors saw and the 1500 CFM dust collector I'm useing theres nothing flying out the backside of the cabinet.

I agree that the motor out the back is not a "big" issue if you already own one, but there are several downsides to it. If given the choice of buying a new saw, what benefit does the outboard motor offer?

I made the switch from a tricked out GI contractor saw that I like alot to a 22124 hybrid largely b/c of an attractive sale price, and am very pleased with the advantages overall. I no longer have to remember to pull the panel off the back to bevel the blade. I no longer worry about picking up my workbench and knocking out the alignment. The shorter belt has better power transfer and lower vibration, and the DC is still better than my homemade attempts to box in the contractor saw...though without an above table DC setup some dust comes off the blade on all saws.

FYI...Most of the hybrid motors are stock NEMA 56 frames that are nearly identical to the contractor saw motors. Not sure about the Griz.

[Chuck Lenz]

Scott, The bennefit to the motor hanging out the back is the saw is the saw is $200 cheaper. lol . I don't have to worry about takeing a cover off the back of my saw either when makeing a bevel cut, there is no cover to get in the way.

[scott spencer]

Chuck - You're setup is a bit more clever than mine was. $200 would be a pretty attractive benefit in the short term!

[Matt Lentzner]

I don't understand why contractor saws are even made anymore. Are there any "contractors" out there that really take advantage of the features? A good quality portables seem to have made the design obsolete. I'm especially baffled why SawStop would make one as opposed to a hybrid.

My requirements would be a hybrid with a dust shroud and riving knife. I have the Bosch 4000 which has both of those features so I wouldn't downgrade to get a "better" saw.

Honestly, I'm a little disappointed in the major N. American tool manufacturers that keep cranking out the same half century old designs.

Matt

[Joe Mioux]

Kent,

I have a GI contractor saw with 50 inch rails and have never really HAD A NEED, to buy anything larger. It is a very good saw and I enjoy using it.

BUT.....

Considering how my more recent major tool purchases have gone these last two years, I would now buy either a Saw Stop or a true slider, probably a MM slider of some sort.

I appreciate my fingers, hands and other body parts, and a safer saw is a worthy investment.

Bear in mind, I have never had any major accidents, other than a couple minor kickback issues which I have learned from. Those kickback incidents would have probably been worse with a 3 hp motor compared to my 2 hp motor.

Joe

[Clint Winterhalter]

I am considering a Grizz G0478 table saw. For those of you who have contractor saws is the extra cost for the cabinet worth it? Why? All of you Grizz G0478 owners how do you like yours? Sorry I don't have the time to search right now. I am at work.

Kent I bought a new saw a couple of months ago. I looked at the GO478. Its a nice unit, gets ok reviews (from what I remember). For another $230 you could step into 1023S. It would give you 3HP / Shop Fox Classic fence (decent Bies Clone) / Cabinet mounted trunnion assembly. I think its would be money well spent.
Here's a link to popular wood workings AWFS show review: www.popularwoodworking.com/awfs#riving It looks like manufactures are doing some major updating of their saw lines. You might want to wait, or you might also be able to score a smoking deal as they empty the pipeline to make room for the new stuff..

I bought the shopfox W1677 / basically the 1023 with a white paint job / great value for the $ (in my book that is). Many creekers own one also, it generally get good reviews on this form (thats why I bought it!)

I also agree with the other folks, I managed OK with my contractor saw. Two things caused me to get ride of it. The trunnion liked to wander and space became an issue. My shop does double duty as my two car garage. Both cars sleep inside almost every night. Granted I didn't pick up a ton of room when I made the switch, it did allow me to better arrange my tools and make them easier to get to..

Good luck with your purchase / buy quality / something you won't have to UPGRADE to get it the way you want it. (I think my $500 Cman Saw had $500 worth of upgrades over the years! )

[Kent E. Matthew]

My budget is contractor. One consideration is I really don't have a place to put a high dollar cabinet saw. I am planning to partially enclose my metal carport. I have been collecting chunks of red oak from a trucking company for many years now. 3"x5"x 42". I plan to cut these up into 3"x3/4x42" boards. Would a horse and a half contractor have the power to process this rough oak?

[Steven Wilson]

Surface two faces on a jointer (to get square). Bandsaw to rough thickness then run through a planer. Since you're getting more than 1 3/4" slab after each cut run the rough face over a jointer then repeat with the bandsaw. A contractor saw doesn't really have the capacity.

[Doug Shepard]

...For those of you who have contractor saws is the extra cost for the cabinet worth it?...

I think so, but take a look on the tools listings on craigslist for any city. Count the number of used contractor saws for sale vs. the number of used cabinet saws. That ought to tell you something. Even if not every CS seller is upgrading, the cabinet saw owners tend to keep what they've bought while the CS owners often end up upgrading later.