Starting out on the wrong foot with my General 50-185

[Jerry LaBelle]

Finally got my General 50-185 saw yesterday after waiting since last November. Had sold my Craftsman and have been without a saw for 2 months and going crazy not having one. Got up this morning at 4 am, went down into the shop with a nice hot cup of coffee to start assembling it and guess what? Missing all of the hardware for assembling the legs, the rubber feet, the brackets for the fence and miter gauge! Went through every box, piece of styrofoam, looked underneath the saw itself, nothing! I'm guessing it should be a fairly large bag considering the amount of stuff that should be in there and would be hard to overlook. The dealership where I got it from isn't open on weekends and I'll have to wait until Monday to see what they can do. Problem is they had 8 saws come in and all but one was spoken for and he said that one could be gone fairly quickly. I'm thinking about just going out to buy my own hardware and than seeing if they can reimburse me. Or just waiting until than to see what they can do. I think I'll drop and e-mail to General also and see if I get a response. Anybody else have this problem?

Jerry - bummed out in Verona, Wis

[Stefan Antwarg]

If it were me, I would try to find as much of the hardware locally. That's pretty disappointing.

Stefan

[Gord Graff]

Hi Jerry,

Sorry to hear about your dilemma, it's the first I've heard about something like this happening to this saw. Up here in Canada that saw is one of the most revered contractor saw around. Never once heard a bad thing about it.

I've provided a link to a review done by a fellow Canadian woodworker (Art Mulder) that I thought you might find interesting while you wait for your saw to be up and running.

All the best
Gord
http://www.imaging.robarts.ca/~amulder/wood/rev-saw/

[Jim Becker]

I'm with Stefan...hit the hardware store and get that machine assembled as far as you can! Bolts and nuts are inexpensive. Now, you might not be able to deal with the fence, but at least you'll be a lot closer to using the machine than you are now...

BTW, contrats on the new tool! But remember, it doesn't exist until there are pictures, even of boxes...

[Ted Shrader]

Jerry -

I would go with Stefan's idea on this one and get the hardware locally. You will be up and running a lot more quickly. Often times I do that anyway for a few of the critical fasteners - those that would get frequent use or need to be very tight. Usually get either get stainless steel or grade 8 bolts for the critical parts.

Ted

[John Miliunas]

Jerry, as much of a stickler as I am on OEM's providing all that is needed, I'd be chomping at the bit on this one. Run down the road to Farm & Fleet or Dorn and get some of their higher quality bolts. I'd go with what Ted S. suggests and certainly nothing less than a grade 5. Good luck and keep us posted! (Hey, don't forget about the pics! TJ and/or Chris will be all over you! )

[Jerry LaBelle]

Thanks for the concern but all is well now. Decided to call the dealer to see if anyone was home and the owner just happen to be in doing some paperwork. Told him my problem and he said that they still had one saw in stock because someone backed out of buying one and he would check to see if the one on hand had the parts I was missing. Called me back and said he had the parts and he would be there if I wanted to run down and pick them up. I said great and thanks! He said he'll contact General and order the parts for the saw he took from. Glad I did that because I was missing a lot more parts than I thought. This bag must have weighed in at 5 lbs with everything in it! Just taking a lunch break and thought I'd let you guys know. Got the legs assembled and working on the mobile stand I purchased at Menards for it. Got the stand for $44 and its made by HTC and is exactly like the HTC1000 but $10 cheaper. Hope it works OK.

Jerry - No longer bummed in Verona

[John Miliunas]

Thanks for the concern but all is well now. Decided to call the dealer to see if anyone was home and the owner just happen to be in doing some paperwork.
Jerry - No longer bummed in Verona

Good for you, Jerry! Though I am curious as to who that particular dealer is? I know of Woodcraft and Workbench in the area. I there someone ELSE???

[Jerry LaBelle]

John,

It was Workbench in Madison. As you probably know their store isn't as nice as Woodcraft but I've been pleased with their service there. Woodcraft is good also. Got a slightly better deal at Workbench ($675 vs $699) when I ordered my 50-185. They had several coming in while Woodcraft only had one coming in and it had the longer rails which I didn't want (small shop). The guy at Woodcraft said I "could just cut the rails off with a hacksaw" which didn't appeal to me too much! Just about have it put together and hoping to be cutting some wood today. Will have to take a slight break to watch the Baders BB team today!

Jerry

[Tim Morton]

I thought we had some kind of "picture" rule in here!!!!!

[Ted Shrader]

Jerry -

That saw make any sawdust yet? You know the rules - No picture. No sadust!

Glad you were able to get your hands on the hardware package.

Ted

[Frank Pellow]

I am glad that it all worked out quickly Jerry. In 2 or 3 weeks I will be taking delevery of a (different model) General table saw and your experience is a reminder to me be sure to check right away that all the parts are there.

Thanks for the pointer to the review Gord.

[scott spencer]

Congrats on the new saw Jerry! Hope yours works out as well as mine has. I just added a set of PALS to my rear trunnions to help with alignment. I've only needed to do the aligment twice, and both times it went out b/c of the birth defects of the owner. The PALS are $20 delivered, easy to install, and give you the ability to dial the blade in parallel with the twist of a hex wrench.

[Jerry LaBelle]

Scott

Thanks for the info on the PALS! As I'm fine tuning this it does appear that the trunnion's might be a little off. Have the fence pretty much squared away and like it a lot. Haven't made a lot of sawdust yet other than a few practice cuts to get thing aligned. Need to get used to the switch being on the left side. I'm thinking about maybe rewiring it to the right. Just seems awkward in that location. One comment I do have (and others have had the same opion it seems) is that the manual really sucks! You pretty much have to figure out how to assemble it on your own. I didn't realize it until afterwards that the pictures are for a right tilt and so some items are reversed . I think I'll drop a note to General stating such! Otherwise very pleased with it.
As far as pictures.....may send some when I gather up a little courage!

Jerry