General 350 or PM 66?

[Paul Incognito]

Good morning all,
I curently have a General 350 table saw that I purchased off the SMC clasifieds. I'm very happy with it, but saw an ad on my local craigslist for an older PM 66. I've heard so much good stuff about the Powermatic tablesaws that I'm thinking this may be a step up? The price on the 66 is low enough that I can sell the General and have some cash left over.
For comparison's sake, the General has a 3hp 1 phase motor, is an 80's vintage and has a 36" paralok fence. The PM is a 2hp 3 phase (not a problem for me), is green (I don't know how old that makes it), and also has a Paralok fence.
Any input would be apreciated.
Thanks,
Paul

[David Kumm]

Unless the condition is better you are not improving your life all that much. The general is the only small saw that stands up to the PM. If it were a PM 72 that would be different. The only upgrade I would consider is to the 72, Delta Rockwell 12-14 or of course Oliver Tanny, Northfield. The 2hp motor needs to be larger as well to get me excited. Dave

[Thomas S Stockton]

Paul
If the 350 is the Canadian made full size cabinet saw I don't think you would be making an upgrade, unless your saw was heavily worn(but I doubt that). I've used both and they are pretty comparable saws. Personally I think both of that vintage are nicer than a unisaw and if given the choice between the two I would lean towards the General unless a really sweet Wadkins of the same size showed up, which has always been my favorite cabinet saw.
Tom

[Paul Incognito]

Thanks David and Tomas. I'm glad to hear your coments as the work required for the "upgrade" doesn't thrill me.
I was also unsure about the 1ph vs 3ph. Although my new shop has 3ph power available all of my machines ase 1ph.
Thanks for the help.
Paul

[Dave Cav]

The other guys beat me to it, but the General is easily the equal, if not slightly better than the PM. Both are better than a Unisaw of the same vintage, so you're really comparing apples to apples. The only possible advantage the PM might have is that parts might be easier to get, but both companies are still in business (more or less). I would hang on to the General because you won't really be gaining a thing by going to the PM.

[Dirk Lewis]

The other guys beat me to it, but the General is easily the equal, if not slightly better than the PM. Both are better than a Unisaw of the same vintage, so you're really comparing apples to apples. The only possible advantage the PM might have is that parts might be easier to get, but both companies are still in business (more or less). I would hang on to the General because you won't really be gaining a thing by going to the PM.

Parts for the General are not an issue as the General is still being made today (in Canada to boot, thus nice NA machinery), and parts are an easy phone call away.

[Damon Stathatos]

... I was also unsure about the 1ph vs 3ph. Although my new shop has 3ph power available all of my machines ase 1ph.
Paul

If you ever need to sell a 3ph machine, you're fielding a population of about one percent the size of 1ph buyers. That's the reason that 3ph machines are usually a really, really good deal. Since you have 3ph power, it may not be a consideration to you and you don't usually go into something like this thinking about selling it later but I just thought that I'd mention the fact.

I have three table saws set up and one of them is a PM 68. I've never used a General and you've gotten good advice here but I can tell you that my 68 is rock-solid. They just don't make 'em like this (or the General) anymore.

Best of luck to you.

[Simon Dupay]

You could get the PM 66 and keep both!

[Damon Stathatos]

You could get the PM 66 and keep both!

The kind of thing that you utter when you don't realize that you're thinking out loud.

[Paul Incognito]

The kind of thing that you utter when you don't realize that you're thinking out loud.

I definitely uttered that. It's a good thing my wife was out of ear shot.
Thanks everyone for your input. Sound advice all around. I'm going to stick with my General. It's been good to me so far and I can see it lasting the rest of my woodworking career.
Paul

[Chris Fournier]

There simply is no upgrade here unless one saw is in shabby condition.

[Don Jarvie]

Only reason to upgrade to the PM 66 is you can swap out the motor for a 5hp since you have 3ph available. 5hp 3ph for the PM 66 are very reasonable.

Don

[Rick Potter]

The only reason I can think to change is if it's left tilt/right tilt issue, and you want to change. I faced that a while back with my Unisaw. Got the new one, kept the old one.

Rick Potter

[David Kumm]

Even if I wanted left tilt on a general I would take off the paralock and put a new style biesemeyer on it. The tube slides right and left so you can set it up left of the blade. Lots easier. Dave

[Paul Incognito]

Even if I wanted left tilt on a general I would take off the paralock and put a new style biesemeyer on it. The tube slides right and left so you can set it up left of the blade. Lots easier. Dave

You know, this brings up a reason I would have been more likely to make the swap. If the PM had almost any other fence on it I probably would have done it. The Paralock is a good fence, but the fence doesn't come off the rails, and there have been times when that's been a problem. I'd much rather have a Biesmeyer or Vega for that reason.
Maybe I'll just look into getting a new Biesmeyer fence for my General.
Thanks again for all the input.
Paul