Sawstop question

[Dale Turner]

I haven't replied honestly because I have really enjoyed the discussion of people who own the saws themselves. The suggestions of track saws was a good one, and it sent me researching those yesterday. My conclusion is that I still think I will want a table saw... and if I want a table saw then the saw stop is the way to go. I do have 220 available, or I will. My project this weekend is running a subpanel for my shop. Then I will run whatever wires I need from there.

As for the sawstop taking the place of safety... well that really doesn't make sense. I don't think anyone would be 'cavalier' with a saw. To me it would be more cavalier to think that I won't ever make a mistake. The sawstop is insurance. I also chose them because they are very well built saws. My father has one and I've been using it for over a year so I'm also familiar with it, which makes it a logical choice for me.

I really like the discussion and the feedback. I do work with solid wood quite a bit in addition to plywood, so I think the 3hp is probably the right choice for me.

Thanks for the input guys!

[Christoph Brehm]

I just purchased a SawStop at Amazon. The contractor version with 1.75hp, the 37" table extension and the the mobile base as well as the upgraded fence system.
I am not a professional wood worker, it has to go in my basement and I don't have 220V available in my basement. Those are the reasons to buy the contractor version with "less" horse power.
I have seen the saw (the contractor version) at Woodcraft in Harrisburg, this saw is heavy and sturdy and appears to be high quality. There is the option to buy cast iron extension wings and together with the upgraded fence system there seems to be not much difference to the professional cabinet version with the same hp.
This will be also my first real table saw. I did work with real table saw's before and I have a mini version from Proxxon to cut wood for RC planes.
However, I think for my hobby purposes this saw is already the overkill. My initial plan was to get Bosch contractor saw and build a work table around. Cost would have been around 800$ including the saw, material for the table and other stuff. "Unfortunately" during some research where to get the best price on the Bosch saw I found the SawStop video. Now I am paying 1200$ more just for the saw, but it seems to be a great tool and I am happy that I made that decision.


In terms of the safety feature..
I still remember when the first cars with ABS system showed up on the market. The discussion was pretty similar.

I am driving cars for years, I am an very experienced driver, I don't need ABS. If the car is equipped with an ABS system people will drive even faster and they care less about the condition of the street or the distance to the car ahead of them. We will see more accidents then.

Is there still a serious discussion over the usefulness of ABS systems in our days?

For my part I do know that the day could come when Murphys Law hits my shop, I do not know if it will strike at the table saw or any other machine. What I certainly do know is, if it strike's at the table saw the injury will most likely very bad.

Chris

[Paul McGaha]

I'm a hobbyist and started with a contractor saw. Mine was from Ridgid and it was either 1 1/2 or 1 3/4 HP.

I kept it a few years and upgraded to a 3 HP Unisaw w a 52"Biesmeyer Fence.

I'm sure that Sawstop makes a nice contractors saw. I think Powermatic does too.

Personally I really like a cabinet saw. The power, the mass of it, most of them come with a nice fence system, I think it's easier to collect dust from a cabinet saw than a contractors saw.

In any case it sounds like a nice saw is coming your way. Congratulations on that and good luck with picking out a saw.

PHM

[Shawn Pixley]

I bought the SS contractor saw a number of years ago. The PCS wasn't available then. Today I would buy the PCS. I upgraded to CI wings, mobility base, 37" extension, and upgraded fence. I need to move it a lot in the garage / shop. I cut all manner of stock on it (up to 12/4). Would 3HP be useful? Yes. Do I need 3HP? No. I am a hobbyist and seldom cut plywood.

The only times I have wanted more HP was when ripping highly reactive wood. Even with the saw well tuned, the blade sharp, and the riving knife on, the wood can want to close on the blade.

If I were doing this again, what would I get? I'd buy the 3 HP PCS and get to work. I would likely stay "old school or Neander" untill I could afford the right saw for me. YMMV

[J.R. Rutter]

I have had a 3 HP Sawstop for several years, and have experienced one finger save and one misfire. It seems like I may be the only one wishing for even more power. Originally, I bought two brand new Sawstops at an auction, one 3 HP and one 5HP. I decided to sell the 5 HP and have regretted it whenever I have to resaw or take a big buried cut in solid wood with a blade that could use sharpening. Like Shawn said, if you see yourself cutting construction lumber, cedar, or other wood that has tension, you will be glad for the extra HP. The last time I did someone a favor and cut bevels on long cedar 2x6s for railing caps, I must have triggered the motor overload 5-6 times.

Get the 3 HP and be done with it. It is a great saw.

[mreza Salav]

I have had a 3 HP Sawstop for several years, and have experienced one finger save and one misfire. It seems like I may be the only one wishing for even more power. Originally, I bought two brand new Sawstops at an auction, one 3 HP and one 5HP. I decided to sell the 5 HP and have regretted it whenever I have to resaw or take a big buried cut in solid wood with a blade that could use sharpening. Like Shawn said, if you see yourself cutting construction lumber, cedar, or other wood that has tension, you will be glad for the extra HP. The last time I did someone a favor and cut bevels on long cedar 2x6s for railing caps, I must have triggered the motor overload 5-6 times.

Get the 3 HP and be done with it. It is a great saw.

You are not alone. I have a 3HP ICS version and if I could choose now I'd opt for the 5HP one (which is usually only a $100 or two more).

[Earl Rumans]

OP I looked into getting the SS before I bought my Jet. If you are planning on running it on 220 then go for the 3 hp version. By the time you upgrade the fence and buy the upgrade kit to run the 1.75 on 220 you are only a little under the price of the 3 hp saw.

[John Sanford]

As an FYI, per SawStop: You can get the 1.75hp PCS and later replace the motor with the 3hp. The only really good reason to get the 1.75hp rather than the 3hp is if you can't get 220-240v to the saw.

If it were me (and it almost has been), I would get the 3hp PCS with the 36" fence. A lot of users here have gotten saws with 52" fences and found the additional benefits not worth the additional cost, and most importantly, space. The 52" fence is primarily useful when working with full sheets of plywood, and many have chosen to use a circular saw for busting down sheetgoods. As always, YMMV.

[Bill Space]

Hi,

I was not going to add an additional post to this thread, but after thinking about it a couple days it just bugged me that someone would accuse me of calling them careless, especially since I have no clue who they are except for their name here, so I would have no reasonable way of calling anyone here anything, including that person.

If you will re-read my original post, you will notice that I called the SawStop technology top notch, but expensive. And brought economic considerations up. And tried to contrast the risk-benefit with the cost of the machine, as something for the original poster to consider.

Now if one thinks that we all operate our machines in similar manners, I suggest you do a search here for a thread on "free hand cutting on a table saw" or find a YouTube video where a guy recreates a kick back that he experienced previously, and nearly looses a finger in the process (or worse).

My point was simply that those who are careless in the way they operate machinery are those that are most likely to benefit from technology that will protect them.

I think this is a valid point. It should not be written off as "saw stop bashing" as it in not that at all.

Someone else mentioned wearing seatbelts and using airbags in automobiles. Implying that my comments would indicate that there is no reason not to use automotive technology from the 50's in today's world. Again, that is not the case and is a distortion of reality. Many of the vehicles we drive today do have seat belts and front air bags, but do they have active restraints, multiple air bags, crumple designs that absorb energy while the passenger compartment is protectively rigid, and so on? Well, no the cheaper cars do not, for the most part, but we still buy and use them. Why? Because the economics dictates that we do...or we do not buy at all. If we are smart, we buy what we can afford and we drive more defensively and hope for the best.

Anyway, the only reason for this follow up post is to clarify, that I was not, and could not possibly, accuse anyone of being careless in there activities, if I do not know them. And to point out that like it or not, economics does play a part in the decisions of many of us. We all do not have enough resources to buy everything we would like to. Sad but true.

So I personally elected to buy two nice tools in place of one, and to make an extra effort to use all the guards and maximum common sense when using them. To each his own... Why does anyone want to condemn one way over the other? I myself do not wish to place a value judgement on anything...we all do what we feel is best for us and take whatever risks are associated with our decisions.

In the end it is all about cost, risk and benefit...and maybe other things as well.

Bashing one product oven another has serves no constructive purpose, and was not done or intended in my original post.

Bill

[Robert Chapman]

I have the 1.75 hp Professional SawStop. I work with hardwoods and buy mostly 4/4 material. I have not had any problems cutting that size stock. I believe that the lower hp motor is another safety feature because it will stall if the cut becomes too difficult instead of kicking the stock back at you. I have had this happen when ripping hardwood that has internal stresses that are freed up when ripping and the stock closes on blade -the blade just stops. Works for me.

The Sawstop is a magnificent saw. You will love it and so will your wife is she likes your fingers.

[J.R. Rutter]

Jiggity! :-)

[Glenn Vaughn]

I purchased the 1.75 HP SawStop contractor saw several years ago after a friend of mine had an accident with my Ryobi BT 3000 tablesaw. Even though the injury was minor (as opposed to losing fingers), the hospital bill came to $1800. I had been thinking about getting the SawStop for several years but could not justify the cost. After the accident I was motivated to purchase the SawStop.



I purchased the cast-iron wings, 37 inch extension table and upgraded fence. Since purchasing the SawStop we have done quite a few projects including kitchen cabinets, a Murphy bed and numerous small projects. The kitchen cabinets were built using Kentucky coffeetree; a would almost as hard as Maple. We have also cut a lot of pine and popular and plywood with no problems.



We have been impressed with the accuracy of the SawStop and have experienced no problems. As mentioned by a previous poster, it is possible to stall the saw when cutting thicker wood or wood with a lot of stress in it. I have no regrets about the SawStop purchase and would do it again in a heartbeat.

[Matt Meiser]

the hospital bill came to $1800

Add that onto the $1500 for a Grizzly and the Sawstop is actually cheaper. How much work did he miss? How much did he have to pay someone else to do while he healed? Obviously its buying insurance but we buy life insurance, health insurance, homeowners insurance, health insurance, etc, etc, etc and pay a lot more a year than the one-time Sawstop purchase cost us. Not to mention that the Sawstop is a REALLY NICE saw and Sawstop has outstanding customer service (based on an experience a friend had after buying what turned out to be a neutered Sawstop in a too-good-to-be-true Craigslist deal.) I'd been thinking about one for a while as insurance but really had trouble getting over the owner's politics. After seeing the response to my friend's buy my wife and I talked to a factory rep at a show and a couple owners and decided it was time. I bought a 3HP/36" fence model and couldn't be happier. Since I use a Festool saw and MFT for most of my sheet goods work the 36" fence is plenty. I'll admit I really don't know much about any other new saw on the market but besides the obvious safety feature, the SS also has a lot of other really nice features. All of the operator controls are well-engineered, the dust collection is great, fit and finish is great, and the optional integrated mobile base is really nice too even if you rarely move your saw. All current saws have a riving knife which should be reducing instances of kickback when properly used.

Speaking of dust collection...figure in the cost of the dust-collecting blade guard if you by the 1.75HP model. That was an extra-cost item back in January if you bought the 1.75HP but included on the 3HP. I was really happy with the Shark Guard I used to have but this is even better.

Once concern I had going in was extra changeover time but in reality I've found that all my blades I use regularly require no adjustment of the brake. Switching the dado brake takes maybe an extra 10-15s. Probably my only complaint is that I miss the old premium blade nut/washer from my unisaw that had an unthreaded portion that made it a lot easier to start the nut and a lot harder to drop it. I've dropped the Sawstop nut several times and it always goes right down the dust collection hose.

[Richard Wagner]

I don't see where anyone is bashing Saw Stop, Kyle. You may be a bit over sensitive in this area of discussion.

[Keith Hankins]

I have a 3hp grizzly with 7' rails and it has served me well for 10+ years. I'm still watching the used market for a 5hp ICS to come up but none do. I will pull the trigger when that is possible. I had the local woodcraft hint they would consider selling there ICS they have in their shop may consider it and sell the griz to offset the cost. But for now, I'm ok with the griz.