Pulled the Trigger on a Hybrid - Trouble in Paradise

[glenn bradley]

Alright Craftsman haters. . . get it out of your system. My next shop project was to be a table saw / RT workstation to house my 1950 C-man/Emerson but . . . . The C-man/Orion was on labor-day sale plus Craftsman Club and other 'secret' discounts.

I've been hovering on a step-up saw for about a year and had finally made peace with adapting the 1950's saw body. I figured I'd spend about $300 on materials for the workstation to get what I was after. So, when I could get the 22124 for $700 delivered I took the plunge.

I know that for a few hundred (or so) more I could've gone to another level. So many folks here seem to be happy with their OR35504's (so many names for one machine) and the reviews have been so consistent (with the occasional exception to prove the rule) that I felt OK going this way at this time. Does that sound like I am pathetically trying to justify my actions? Hmmmmmm.

All this is moot as without pics we know it never happened anyway. Delivery is Wednesday; I'll appease the picture police once it arrives.
For those interested, If I didn't find a good used Unisaw or equivalent, I had narrowed it down to the Orion or the Griz in my 'not to exceed' price range based on watching real people's posts on the other hybrids and their experiences with them. Just my 2 cents worth.

There are several fine saws in this category but the Craftsman seems to have the least of the hybrid evils. And yes, I have been watching for a good used CS. This deal came along and the timing was right. Pics to follow delivery.

[Matt Meiser]

Congratulations! After looking those over at Sears (in Mall of America, killing time while LOML and SIL were shopping), I know I'd seriously consider one if I was in the market for a new saw.

[scott spencer]

Congrats Glenn! I'm looking forward to hearing about your experience with the 22124 as time goes by. I've been really pleased with mine for ~ 17 months now.

It's not uncommon for the Biesemeyer laminated extension table to have a bow in it....it's common with that table regardless of which saw it's on....appearst to be a design issue. They'll replace it if you like, or you can build your own. The Leitz blade is pretty good for a stock blade...not good enough to replace my WWII or LU88, but not too shabby either.

When you align the table top to the blade, be sure to loosen the bolts to the table and not the trunnions. (see pic)

Have fun!

[glenn bradley]

Thanks for the tip Scott. That would be a bummer to have your blade to miter slot, etc. almost aligned and blow it by twisting the wrong bolt, ha! Did you try solving the bow problem by installing a stiffening rib or some-such?

I'll keep all posted once the beast arrives.

[Mike Cutler]

Nice Saw Glenn. I've seen the comments on it, here and on other forums. It seems to be very well recieved.

Don't let the Anti Craftsman rhetoric get ya'. The wood has no idea what color the saw is that is doing the cutting. It still comes down to the person running the saw.

Nice gloat.

[Bill Borchardt]

Congratulations on the new toy . . . er . . I mean saw.

I bought one 20 months ago and it's performed well - I added a Shark Guard with dust collection and the overall dust collection is very good. (Less so with a zero insert plate . . )

Take your time getting the top / blade aligned - mine was off quite a bit as delivered.

The Biesemeyer fence is a real pleasure and definitely worth the few extra $$ to up from the next lower model.

Make sawdust, have fun, be safe . . .

Billbo
Smyrna, GA

[Corey Hallagan]

Excellent Gloat! Congrats on the new saw. Enjoy it.

corey

[Scott Donley]

Nice gloat I think you will find you will like it as much as I do mine

[scott spencer]

...Did you try solving the bow problem by installing a stiffening rib or some-such?

Nah....I solved the problem by setting the extension on a shelf, sliding the rails 10" to the right, and building a 25" deep router table.

[Ed Bamba]

Glenn, before you put the wings and fence assemblies on, check the blade-to-throat plate clearance with the blade set all the way to 45 degrees. On my TS, the blade was touching the plate when the blade was tilted all the way. I had to elongate the cabinet mounting holes for the table bolts, to get enough adjustablity and gain more clearance. If yours needs the same abatement, it will save you lots of time with all the add-ons still off the TS table.

Best of luck and congrats on the new saw,
Ed

[Michael Adelong]

I've had mine since March of last year and I have been extremely pleased with its performance. No complaints at all.

Michael

[glenn bradley]

A man after my own heart Scott. I looked up your old thread about your router table and fence but the pics are gone (I assume archived or removed after some period of time[?]). Could you post a pic with your router table here? I currently run a TS extension RT and find it great space-saving-wise and I get yo use the TS top as extra room for the RT. I plan to integrate the RT onto the 22124 as well.

[glenn bradley]

Ed, thanks for the tip. This is one of the real benefits from this forum; real world experience sharing. I'll definitly check out the clearance as correcting will be a lot more pleasant if I DON'T have to take the ext wings and fence back off to do it.

[scott spencer]

A man after my own heart Scott. I looked up your old thread about your router table and fence but the pics are gone (I assume archived or removed after some period of time[?]). Could you post a pic with your router table here? I currently run a TS extension RT and find it great space-saving-wise and I get yo use the TS top as extra room for the RT. I plan to integrate the RT onto the 22124 as well.

Sure...I'm not proud!

[glenn bradley]

Well its in the garage anyway . . . Some pics:

A nice clean spot waiting for the delivery truck.
The saw in two boxes.
With this metal pallet you would have to really try to bang this thing up in shipping.

Alas, I fly out for Stanford Univ. first thing tomorrow for work and have a full weekend afterwards that does not include shop time. I'll need to con my neighbor into helping me heft this thing off the pallet and into its planned resting spot . . . . beer maybe?