Cabinet Saw Purchase

[MN Guy]

General 650 would be my choice. US made Baldar motor, massive trunnions - much larger than Delta, and made in Canada. I've now been told mine will be in 'the middle of next week' for three weeks. Beginning to lose my patience, but if you ever put your eyes and hands on one I think you would agree it's worth the wait. Also - a silly thing but I love the fact that they put a real door on the side instead of a cheesy plastic kind.

I've put a ridiculous amount of time into researching the saw I want, figuring, someday my son will have it. I went to Muncy and looked at the Grizzly's (totally unimpressed and a long drive), spoke to the reps for Powermatic (over-priced), Jet (made in Taiwan) and Delta (Nice saw and available, X5 is a great value) at a local tool show. When I got a chance to see the General in person, I was sold immediately. Fit and finish is beautiful. Roughly the same price as the Delta, but much more substantial than the Delta.

A distributor for Powermatic told me they have risen their prices on all models effective April or May by $200, making the Powermatic that much more uncompetitive. Generals have won two recent table saw shootouts - one in the contractor size and one in the cabinet size creating a demand General appears to be having trouble keeping up with. Oh well, - mine 'should be in the middle of next week.

I've posted this previously, but if anyone wants a copy of Wood magazine's article from the October '03 issue with the cabinet saw shootout in a .pdf (Acrobat) file, drop me an email. [e-mail]

$.02, please.

[mttt]

Is this the "Lite" version:

? And: 's almost $1200 from Amazon. (The Unifence version, 36-731, is $1250) Delta's website does not call it a Unisaw.

[Swingman]

You've chosen well, IMO. In the current market place, and were I in the market again, I would do the same.

That said, my Unisaw does what it is supposed to do and does it well despite the plastic free choice dog chow bowl dust/motor cover. I mean, after all, it has a place to hold not one, but two, count'em - TWO, miter gages built right into that sucker ... surely that makes up a bit for the "value engineering", doesn't it?

[Swingman]

You've chosen well, IMO. In the current market place, and were I in the market again, I would do the same.

That said, my Unisaw does what it is supposed to do and does it well despite the plastic free choice dog chow bowl dust/motor cover. I mean, after all, it has a place to hold not one, but two, count'em - TWO, miter gages built right into that sucker ... surely that makes up a bit for the "value engineering", doesn't it?

--

Last update: 4/08/04

[V.E. Dorn]

It's not a contractor saw in a cabinet. Check the specs- it's a 3 hp 220/ only motor. It simply isn't called a Unisaw and I'm not sure why - probably because it's made in Taiwan to compete with the lower end cabinets in the marketplace.

Don

[B a r r y]

FWIW, it's NOT a contractor saw in a box. It's closer to a Unisaw than a contractor saw. It's got a 3HP motor, and enclosed base w/ dust collection, and two belts vs. the Uni's three and a contractor's saw's one..

It's hard to tell if this saw has trunion adjustments of a Uni, or contractor style. I'll bet that it's got the fit and finish of a Grizz. I'd love to see one in person, but no local dealers have one.

Me thinks this is aimed at other imports like the Jet and Grizzly. It gives a dealer ammo if the customer says "I can get a cabinet saw for $1200, or a Jet for $1500 with a router and lift."

Barry

[LRod]

That doesn't make it not a contractor saw. Now I don't know this for a fact, but when the discussion has come up before it was described as having trunnions that hang from the top (ala contractor saw) as opposed to the trunnions attached to the base and the table bolted onto the trunnions. That's the genesis of my "contractor saw in a cabinet" apellation.

They can put any motor they want on a contractors saw. Granted, it might be a little less useful to those contractors using them in the field without easy access to 220, but that's not its defining characteristic.

Because it isn't a Unisaw. It's not like a Unisaw except for those three diamonds on it and the big handles. Even the fence is different (although you can get it with a UniFence, as previously noted by another poster).

- - LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

[Unisaw A100]

started to import into Kanada a couple of years back. Word was that with the exchange rate your average Kanadian was faced with buying a Unisaw or paying out a couple hunnert dollars more for the General. It was a no brainer. Delta stepped in with this machine to try and win back market share.

Anyway, to make a long story short, they (Delta) have begun to market the Chiwanisaw in the US.

The Contractor'sSawInnaBox/WanstaBeAUnisaw is this one.

saw was dropped from the Delta line around the turn of the century. It's now been dusted off and has re-debuted in Kanada. It's only a matter of time before it re-finds it's way into the lower 48.

And with the closing of the Tupelo plant it's only a matter of time before the Unisaw gets dumped for the Chiwanisaw.

UA100

[Unisaw A100]

Under the top the design is the same as found on the Unisaw. The major departure is in the motor mount. For the Chiwanisaw Delta did away with the proprietary motor mount and uses a mount that takes standard frame (footed) motor. They are also selling the saw with a removable arbor, something you'll only see on the larger 12/14 saw. I'm curious as to the what/where/why of this feature. With the

12/14 it was done to allow for different arbors to be used. It's seems like a pricy feature but then I suppose the children of S.E. Asia maybe aren't charging Delta too much for it. It's also might be a selling point. And then it might also be a feature to allow the sale of the saw in Europe with a shorter arbor. It's a wonderment for sure.

Other parts may be different enough to not make them interchangeable with the Unisaw but I wouldn't rule out a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very close match.

Unisaw:

[Charlie Self]

Actually, most contractors don't want to deal with contractor's saws on a day to day basis. Home in the garage, sure, but not on a job site. Job site saws are what you and I call benchtop saws, for the most part. They weigh about 60 pounds or less, and I've heard carpenters bitch about them being too heavy, so imagine how they feel about the new Ridgid TS3650, which spits on 300 pounds. And most of the better job site saws now offer a wheeled stand that makes them even easier to transport from job to job.

Actually, it is a lot like a Unisaw, except made in China or Taiwan. Fences do not define Unisaws. The first Unisaw I owned had a Jet Lock fence. Ask Keith about that one. Quickly removed in favor of an Excalibur, in my case.

And I do not believe you'll ever see a contractor's saw with 3 belts. The hybrids go for the contractor's market share, with semi-enclosed bases, so I can no longer say a contractor's saw has its motor hanging out the seat of its pants, but most really do.

The trunnions attached to the table instead of the cabinet are only one feature. Being a b*llbuster to adust compared to a Unisaw, or any other cabinet saw, is another feature of contractor's saws.

Charlie Self "A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." Thomas Jefferson

[bridger]

sounds like a good feature for a guy who likes to tinker with machines.

although I can't think of any immediate application for this feature, I do like machinery that is easily adapted and modified.

and ifchaiwanese build quality continues to climb while USA build quality continues to decline this could wind up being a desireable piece of machinery, somewhere down the road. considering the asian attitudes towards propietary design, these features will likely be adopted throughout the tablesaw making industry there and soon show up in the grizzly and yorkcraft and woodtek models as well.

think we'll start seeing some lines of chaiwanese woodworking machinery being marketed under their own names soon? it has happened to some extent with the metalworking tool market- you can buy rongfu mills and such now with the rongfu name on them as well as with more western names.

[Unisaw A100]

Bridger:

With the 12/14 saw the arbors came in 1" and 1 1/14" diameters as well as longer arbors that would take a 2" wide dado. There were others but I don't have the paper in front of me.

UA100

[Phillip Hallam-Baker]

I just thought I would mention that I had a unisaw delivered a couple of weeks ago and none of the trunions were broken, so it does happen.

I have not yet got the thing assembled (was away for a week) but fit and finish appear to be perfectly OK for woodworking.

The Powermatic definitely has a better finish on the table, it is mirror polished. Quite what advantage there is to mirror polishing is beyond me. But it does look really cool. Ditto the blade guard looks really impressive, but the transparent Delta guard is probably more functional.

If I had realised that the short fence (30") powermatic was curently available for about the same price as the unisaw I would probably have gone for that instead. The unisaw comes with a free mobile base, the powermatic is $100 more with a free tenoning jig. The powermatic is smaller though and so I would not need the movable base.

Like how often do you use the extra 20" of rip fence capacity rather than use a sled or the like? And if the fence turns out to be a limitation you can always get a longer rail.

[Unisaw A100]

Can't say I use the extra rip capacity too often though when it's needed it's nice to have it.

What I do like is being able to slide the fence far enough aside to use a sled and not have to remove the fence and having to find some place to park it.

UA100

[B a r r y]

One can also leave cut lists, jigs, clamps, tapes, stop blocks, miter gauges, off cuts, safety gear, etc... on the other side of the fence.

Barry

[Unisaw A100]

Well hell, as long as we're mentioning...

There's all the other crap that accumulates like scraps from past projects, last weekend's paper, wooddorking magazines and... A'yup, I don't quite know what I'd do without the extra real estate.

UA100

[Wes Stewart]

|I just thought I would mention that I had a unisaw delivered a couple |of weeks ago and none of the trunions were broken, so it does happen.

Mine came about 4 weeks ago. Don't see anything broken yet even though the tilt indicator was red before we unloaded it from the back of Woodcraft's PU truck and there was a hole in the carton on the motor cover side. Two Woodcraft guys and my neighbor and I managed to skid it to the floor on a pair of 4x4s. (No lift gate) They all left and I managed to get it into the mobile base singlehandedly. Whew. | |I have not yet got the thing assembled (was away for a week)[snip]

Me neither. But I was away three weeks. A week ago I started assembly and mounted the left extension table and determined that it was unacceptably warped. With the extension flush at each end of the table there is a 6 to 7 thousandths misalignment near the center and the nearside left end of the extension droops about 0.020". My old Craftsman was much better than this.

A quick call to my local Woodcraft and I'm supposed to be getting a replacement shipped direct from Delta. Tomorrow will be one week. I haven't even unboxed the rest of the stuff, except the laminate table (it looks okay) since I need the extension to proceed.

This is the pits. I sold my Craftsman to my neighbor so I'm without a saw.

I have a Leigh D4 still in the box too. I can't butcher any wood to use to try it out. bummer

| |The Powermatic definitely has a better finish on the table, it is |mirror polished. Quite what advantage there is to mirror polishing is |beyond me. But it does look really cool. Ditto the blade guard looks |really impressive, but the transparent Delta guard is probably more |functional. | |If I had realised that the short fence (30") powermatic was curently |available for about the same price as the unisaw I would probably have |gone for that instead. The unisaw comes with a free mobile base, the |powermatic is $100 more with a free tenoning jig. The powermatic is |smaller though and so I would not need the movable base.

But the short (30") fence Delta that I bought is even less money.

| |Like how often do you use the extra 20" of rip fence capacity rather |than use a sled or the like? And if the fence turns out to be a |limitation you can always get a longer rail.

I figured that I wasn't going to be landing any F/A18s and I can't imagine handling anything wider than a couple of feet and keeping it tight to the fence anyway. The most I foresee doing is some cabinets that are never more than 24" deep so I'm covered. And I still have some room for my automobiles.

Wes