SawStop contractor saw finally came.

[DrChas]

I got my saw stop contractor saw on Saturday, and spent all day Saturday afternoon setting it up.

The setup instructions were amazingly well designed, with all of the parts individually numbered or lettered, and the setup instructions on large clear sheets. It went together with no problems, although I did need to call in my neighbor to help me lift the saw onto the stand. This thing is not light. All told with the cast iron wings and the 36 inch fence it must weigh in at 300 lbs or more.

I have only made a few cuts on it, but I can say that it is certainly the nicest contractor saw I have ever used, and except for the low horsepower (1.75 horses) to keep it usable on a standard circuit, it would compare favorably with many cabinet saws. Not surprisingly it is significantly quieter and more stable than my old Ryobi. I am not convinced by the saw blade that comes with the saw, but I have a brand new woodworker II blade that will solve that problem.

[LCHIEN]

glad to hear its a nice saw, professionally done instructions and all.

i thought from your moniker that perhaps you were a surgeon striving to protect your fingers but your profile says you are a professor. Still, I guess fingers are important to everybody. Congratulations.

[phi1l]

Now all you will have to worry about is the kickbacks

[DrChas]

I promised myself I wouldn't get cocky

Now all you will have to worry about is the kickbacks

My intention is to treat this as carefully as if it didn't have the safety features. I did get kickback once when I was being sloppy. Fortunately I was cutting styrofoam. It destroyed the foam and scared the heck out of me, but did no damage.

I got the moniker when I was a postdoc, and several people started calling me "Dr. Charles" These days, I am more frequently referred to as "Beetle Boss" because I run an entomology lab.

[pelligrini]

Congratulations. From what I've seen that's a really nice saw even without the sawstop tech.

Is your WW-II a thin or full kerf blade? The specs for the splitter/riving knife is 2mm. I believe that is suited more for a thin kerf blade. Still seems a little thin to me.

[crokett]

Congrats. I got to run a few test cuts on a Sawstop while I was at Woodcraft recently and it is indeed a nice machine.

[tommyt654]

Congrats, Too bad ya can,t cut wet wood thoughI,d get a moisture meter for sure just to save money.

[smorris]

Congrats, Too bad ya can,t cut wet wood thoughI,d get a moisture meter for sure just to save money.

I've often wondered why someone would even want to cut wet wood...

[crokett]

Treated can be pretty wet.

And you can cut wet wood. You can disable the safety feature on the Sawstop for one cycle to cut wet wood and metal.

I've often wondered why someone would even want to cut wet wood...

[tommyt654]

Its not a question of why someone would want to cut wet wood, its that the Sawstop is also famous for false positives that result in the units flesh detection technology going off because of high moisture content in wood. The you gotta go out and buy a new blade and cylinder before you can use the saw with the protective device installed again. Its a good saw by all means but getting a lot of reports about this happening also made me decide to keep from purchasing one as some of the lumber I use is stored outside under a tarp, dry but is it dry enough to keep this from happening? I hope your happy with the saw but keep us up to date on its usage and anything others might need be wary of,Tommy

[smorris]

I've done a lot of research on the SS as the PCS is my target TS upgrade. I've run across the occasional false positive report but they could almost all be traced to user error. Wet wood, metallic faced material being cut, getting the fence or miter too close, that sort of thing. I don't recall seeing anyone reporting a spontaneous false positive. If you can provide a citation I'd be interested in reading the specifics.

[tommyt654]

According to who Sawstop? Of course their going to blame it on user error who else they gonna blame themselves.

[smorris]

According to who Sawstop? Of course their going to blame it on user error who else they gonna blame themselves.

Actually no, most were by the person who had the trigger then looked into why and found it was their own fault. They aren't hard to find if you search the forums.

[tommyt654]

Yada Yada yada, Wet wood, metallic faced material being cut, getting the fence or miter too close, I can do all those and don,t have to shell out $150-200 everytime that thing goes off, Thats all I,m sayin

[smorris]

Yada Yada yada, Wet wood, metallic faced material being cut, getting the fence or miter too close, I can do all those and don,t have to shell out $150-200 everytime that thing goes off, Thats all I,m sayin

Or, they could Read The Fine Manual...just sayin.