On the dark side, oh yeah..
Well, I went and did it. Went to the BORG and picked myself up a Rigid TS3650 on Saturday. I was on the fence between the 22114 and the 3650, but missed out on the sale at Sears.
First impressions.
Set up took me most of the day, doing the clean & jerk to upright it was impressive to the LOML, but painful to the 'ol lower back (yes I did lift with the legs, and arms and some muscles didn't realize I had). The herculift was fairly easy to put together after downloading the updated manual (that tells you what bolts to use), it works like a charm.
I cleaned the top & extensions with some mineral spirits and applied 2 coats of Johnson's paste wax. The top is as smooth as butta! I don't have any fancy dial guages to test for flatness, but a straight edge revealed no light under the edge, so I think it's pretty flat.
I set up the front rail per the manual, but had to move it about 1/16" to make it accurate when I couldn't move the indicator on the rip fence far enough. It's dead on now. The blade was square out of th box and the angles were perfect as well (a big difference from the el-cheapo c-man saw I just sold).
I set up the motor to always have tension on the belt and so it doesn't bottom out in the groove, it seemed to keep tension throughout the entire range of motion keeping a slight gap at the top or bottom when adjusted.
I'm sure I'll replace the blade, but the stock blade cut through some MDF and some 1x4 clean (not that those are a good indicator). I suppose a ZCI and a dado insert are in my future along with some jigs and featherboards.
I've only made a few cuts on the saw to test for square and accuracy. But so far, it seems like a pretty darn good saw. I paid $499 for it, so I think it's a pretty good bargain as well.
-=gos=-
First impressions.
Set up took me most of the day, doing the clean & jerk to upright it was impressive to the LOML, but painful to the 'ol lower back (yes I did lift with the legs, and arms and some muscles didn't realize I had). The herculift was fairly easy to put together after downloading the updated manual (that tells you what bolts to use), it works like a charm.
I cleaned the top & extensions with some mineral spirits and applied 2 coats of Johnson's paste wax. The top is as smooth as butta! I don't have any fancy dial guages to test for flatness, but a straight edge revealed no light under the edge, so I think it's pretty flat.
I set up the front rail per the manual, but had to move it about 1/16" to make it accurate when I couldn't move the indicator on the rip fence far enough. It's dead on now. The blade was square out of th box and the angles were perfect as well (a big difference from the el-cheapo c-man saw I just sold).
I set up the motor to always have tension on the belt and so it doesn't bottom out in the groove, it seemed to keep tension throughout the entire range of motion keeping a slight gap at the top or bottom when adjusted.
I'm sure I'll replace the blade, but the stock blade cut through some MDF and some 1x4 clean (not that those are a good indicator). I suppose a ZCI and a dado insert are in my future along with some jigs and featherboards.
I've only made a few cuts on the saw to test for square and accuracy. But so far, it seems like a pretty darn good saw. I paid $499 for it, so I think it's a pretty good bargain as well.
-=gos=-
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