Why folks think the PM 66 "costs a fortune." Yeah, its about two grand, but my lathe was twice that amount and I consider the PM 66 a better value because I use it a lot. And, I've only bought ONE saw in my life, and that will probably be the last.
Holy shit! Well, like y'all are fond of saying, buy it right the first time and only cry once!
Rob
Who is wishing he wasn't drinking his morning Coke when he looked at the price list.
Well, let's see here. On Amazon, a 3HP left-tilt Unisaw with 50" Biesmeyer fence goes for $1595. For that you can get:
Grizzly 1023L 3HP left-tilt w Biesmeyer clone fence: $895 Griz Bies clone rail extensions (to match the unisaw fence): $149 Griz 1182HW "low-end" 6" jointer: $325 Forrest WW II blade: $100
Flowers for when SWMBO sees the checkbook: $30 Dinner for after SWMBO sees the checkbook: $50
And still have $50 left over to start buying wood with.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike in Mystic" Newsgroups: rec.woodworking Sent: Friday, July 18, 2003 7:27 AM Subject: Re: tablesaws
Most extended fences are to the right of the saw blade. Try cutting a 40" X
40" square with one edge against the fence and the other edge under your saw blade. It doesn't take much imagination to figure out the possible results.Not misinformation! Dan
Sorry for sending reply directly to you Mike. I hit the wrong button.
One fallacy with your explanation. If you are cutting bevels on both sides of a panel that is larger than the left side rip capacity of your right tilt saw, you end up cutting the bevel with the fence on the right side of the saw.
That said, the advantages IMHO of a left tilt far out weigh those of those of a right tilt especially when cutting bevels on both sides of a board or panel, narrow or wide. You dont have to worry about the first bevel cut sliding under the fence then cutting the second parallel bevel cut on a left tilt saw if you leave the same side down or up.
"Bob G. "
I always figured the Powermatic was THE SAW. The one to buy just because it's the best. Kind of like buying a bmw over my very serviceable toyota.
-David
The PM 66 meets all the citeria of a quality tablesaw and the tablesaw is the workhorse of most shops. Delta tablesaws used to be well-made in the 1950's, but today the quality is not the same. I can't compare tablesaws to vehicles because it would be rare to see a vehicle that has lasted a lifetime. A General 350 tablesaw is also good.
Well, I suppose if you make a lot of large panels with beveled edges, then maybe a left-tilt will be better for you. How many people actually do this? Seriously, I'm curious, because I never have and can't really forsee needing to either.
What I do a lot of, however, is to use stacked dado blades. Not having to worry about adjusting my measurements due to the addition of a stacked blade when referencing the fence scale is of much more utility to me than being able to cut the one bevel in 5 years that I might need to cut. I cut dadoes or rabbets tens of times on almost every project. And the whole deal about access to the motor is valid, but that really isn't an issue either, since I only get in there maybe 2x per year. The only really good thing about a left-tilt is that you have more shelf space under the right-side table.
Mike
I hope you are correct as I just placed an order on a right tilt, thinking that many items in the long list of reasons for a left tilt are either overstated or are un-important to me.
-Jack
Grizzly - smizzly
Get a real saw, get a Felder
I think you'll be thrilled with it, Jack.
As I said before, the only really good reason to get a left-tilt is if you plan to do a lot of large panel beveling. I honestly don't think this will describe very many woodworkers, but, as always, I wouldn't be surprised to find out I'm wrong. But, if you asked yourself the question "which features are more important to me?", then you should be very happy with your choice. That's what I did and a right-tilt was the clear choice. I'm extremely happy I bought it.
Mike
Thats a kit saw ain't it? ;~)
Naw, it's one of those saws that are owned by people who think they can buy talent.
LOL... well too late now.. I'm sure you will be happy with it and be able to work around any thing that may come up. In a professional setting the differences may nag at you when you are on the saw for many hours a week and were used to the opposite tilt.
BTY, you have seen the long list of reasons to get the left over the right and I agreed most are strictly personal preference but when you compared the long list of reasons to get the left tilt vs. the reasons to the right tilt, what reason on the right tilt list swayed you to choose the right tilt? I don't know if you have seen my "rubber stamp" answer to choosing one over the other but it gives you the little things to think about if you cannot decide which way to go and I may add your reasons to the right tilt reasoning.
I figured that shipping, taxes, etc. would be a wash. I guess the Griz combo would be more to ship because of the jointer, but then I live close enough to their Springfield, MO store to just pick it up. ;^)
-- Joe Wells
Well, no, but that is one of the reasons I use in my rubber stamp reply. An exception would be if you are will be cutting a lot of grooves or dados at different distances from the edge of the wood, the right tilt would probably be the better choice regardless if you are right or left handed.
Normally it would be a wash...but IIRC Amazon often offers free shipping.
Mike,
I had a right-tilt 9" Rockwell many years ago, something never felt right with it even though for what I was asking it did just fine, I gave it to my dad about 20 years ago and it's still running. Since then every saw I've purchased (3), including my jobsite saw, has been a left-tilt. This deal about having to deal with a dado blade is a wash, it's a piece of cake to handle and shouldn't be blown out of proportion. Personally, I like to know that I can make all of the cuts I want with my fence on the right of the blade. A left-hander might feel differently..and that is when I, if I was in that situation, would make the decision to reverse the mounting of the fence to get the same features.
JMHO, Scott
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