Cabinet Saw Question?

[Richard Edwards]

I am shopping for a cabinet saw. I am looking at a Jet Deluxe with riving knife ($2139 + shipping) and a Laguna platnim dovetail with riving knife ($1995 with free shipping).

The Laguna is the best deal money wise. I talked with a owner of the Laguna who had trouble raising and lowering the blade due to the accumulation of saw dust on the mechanism. He said he used a dust colletor with the saw. He said the tilt mechanism worked great.

My question is does anyone have this saw or know of anyone who does who has any information regarding this saw. I have done a search and have only found limited information on both saws

Thanks for any help or information.
Richard Edwards

[Shawn Walker]

I am shopping for a cabinet saw. I am looking at a Jet Deluxe with riving knife ($2139 + shipping) and a Laguna platnim dovetail with riving knife ($1995 with free shipping).

The Laguna is the best deal money wise. I talked with a owner of the Laguna who had trouble raising and lowering the blade due to the accumulation of saw dust on the mechanism. He said he used a dust colletor with the saw. He said the tilt mechanism worked great.

My question is does anyone have this saw or know of anyone who does who has any information regarding this saw. I have done a search and have only found limited information on both saws

Thanks for any help or information.
Richard Edwards

I know you said you wanted info on the Laguna... (I don't have any), but did you rule out the Powermatic?

[Richard Edwards]

Powermatic is to expensive for me.

[Shawn Siegrist]

Have you considered Steel City Table Saws? For the same money you can get a 3hp-5hp 10" cabinet saw.

[Tony De Masi]

Richard, I just picked up a PM2000 through Sean at the ToolNut for less than $2200 plus the $125 shipping. Just barely higher than the Jet you mentioned. Food for thought.

Tony

[peter de tappan]

The Jet and the PM are made in Taiwan, the Laguna in China. All three have under table blade shrouds that exhaust to your dust collector, and riving knives. Don't know about SC saws. I have a Jet I bought on sale last spring, but at the current price, I probably would be looking at PM and the new U.S. made Unisaw.

[John Hedges]

Powermatic is to expensive for me.

Are you sure. I bought a PM2000 about a year ago and shopping around I got it for less than 2K. If your on the left side of the country ya might try Timberline tools out of Utah and talk to Jeffery or I have heard of some REALLY good deals on surplus PM equipment from http://www.equipmentsalesandsurplus.com/about.cfm

[Peter Quinn]

You might even find a PM66 for sale in the $2K range. No riving knife, but not a bad saw. Raise and tilt mechanisms on mine work well.

[Calvin Crutchfield]

Craigslist....

I am not sure where you are, but where I am I can almost take my pick of cabinet saws lightly used from 500-1500 ( No sawstop of course) but when cash is an issue, used is the best way to upgrade. Most of this stuff is made to last forever anyway.

Hope you get what you want...

[scott spencer]

Have you looked into the Grizzly G0651 at all? $1,841.50 to your door.

g0651.jpg g0651_det2.jpg

Utter Guys has the Steel City 35905G with riving knife and granite top for $1500 shipped...$1300 shipped with 20% Cashback discount.

[Mike Sandman]

I have the Jet with 30" fence rails and a 3HP motor. I bought it because of the riving knife setup, having gotten unhappy about using my contractor saw without the guard and splitter, which was a hassle to remove and install. The Jet guard/riving knife design is very good - about 9 of 10. You have to remove the blade insert to flip the release lever for the riving knife, and to get at the lever the blade has to be elevates a couple of inches. (The new Delta Unisaw apparently lets you release the knife with a lever on the front of the cabinet.) But the guard on the Jet is a breeze to remove and replace, and the left and right polycarbonate sides operate independently. The on/off switch is an industrial design but it doesn't have a paddle-type stop button, which I would have preferred. There's also no key that can be removed to disable the saw. A magnetic key like the one on the Powermatic would have been nice because it would be hard to lose.

OK, safety is important but it's not everything... The saw is very easy to align properly, although it you do have to bend into a pretzel to get at the 45 degree stop. It's free of vibration and the cast iron wings aligned in plane with the cast iron table without any shimming. The blade elevation mechanism works very smoothly and the saw feels like quality. The 3HP motor is powerful enough to cut 2" of hardwood without hesitation. So as a saw -- it's excellent, just what you have a right to expect from an expensive tool.

The cabinet doesn't have adjustable feet for leveling, which seems odd. Maybe Jet wants you to buy a mobile base. I built a platform with feet to bring the top to 36", level with other tools and my benches. But you can easily shim the corners to level the saw - or buy that mobile base.

Jet supplies a T-square style fence that's still in the box because I have an Incra fence.

[Mike Heidrick]

I check out the Laguna saw and the new Jet and the PM2000.

The Jet and PM are night and day better than the Laguna - seriously see them in person before buying teh Laguna.

PM2000 would be my choice now. That or a new Uni when released.