Shopsmith Forums

Does anyone on the site own a Sawstop saw and if so do you have any problems with it? In particular, do you have any unexplained firings of the brake mechanisms?
Bill V

I’ve had a 3 hp PCS for 5 years. It’s been a joy to use. No problems and never fired the brake.

-Jonathan A

You might want to watch this video. https://youtu.be/2dhVA6NLVQY

I learned a few things in it. You can only use certain saw blades and dado sets. So before you buy consider the potential cost of new blades and dado sets.

Secondly when you install a blade or dado set you apparently have to adjust the blade to the saw stop mechanism, it isn't just take out old blade slap in new blade.

Third the blade to table slot parallelism is done by moving the trunnion not the table top as in most table saws. In the past everyone beat their check because the table top was physically moved not the blade trunnion. The claim was this is far superior to moving trunnions and all the baloney. I never bought into it but! On the saw stop if I understood correctly you move the trunnion and they have adjustment screws to help do this that I think are similar to an aftermarket manufacture that builds them for other saws that adjust the trunnions.

Lastly the wood whisperer commented that he only bought the 36 inch rip since he had no real use for any larger that just ate up shop space. Finally someone that doesn't think bigger is better with no exceptions.

Ed in Tampa wrote: Fri Mar 04, 2022 3:45 pm You might want to watch this video. https://youtu.be/2dhVA6NLVQY

I learned a few things in it. You can only use certain saw blades and dado sets. So before you buy consider the potential cost of new blades and dado sets.

Secondly when you install a blade or dado set you apparently have to adjust the blade to the saw stop mechanism, it isn't just take out old blade slap in new blade.

Third the blade to table slot parallelism is done by moving the trunnion not the table top as in most table saws. In the past everyone beat their check because the table top was physically moved not the blade trunnion. The claim was this is far superior to moving trunnions and all the baloney. I never bought into it but! On the saw stop if I understood correctly you move the trunnion and they have adjustment screws to help do this that I think are similar to an aftermarket manufacture that builds them for other saws that adjust the trunnions.

Lastly the wood whisperer commented that he only bought the 36 inch rip since he had no real use for any larger that just ate up shop space. Finally someone that doesn't think bigger is better with no exceptions.

Marc discusses this starting at 15:15 in the above video. You don't just adjust the brake mechanism when installing a dado set. He said you have to install a different brake for the dado set and adjust it. Of course, when you go back to a single saw blade you have to remove the dado set brake and reinstall and adjust the one for a single saw blade.

We have six of them in our University program. Break cartridge changes are pretty quick once you get the hang of it, other adjustments are not bad either and the saws have served us well over the ten or so years we have had them. They have definitely saved a few fingers over the years in our labs, I wouldn't want to teach in my area without one now.

wa2crk wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 10:19 pm In particular, do you have any unexplained firings of the brake mechanisms?

I do not own one. There are a lot of hits on Google for false trips. And of course, even more opinions as to causes. From some it appears that the manufacturer can do some evaluation of the cartridge(s) and may be able to help you with diagnosis. I may be interpreting the comments wrong, but it sounded like the cartridge stores digital data on the activation that they can download and review. And they seem to frequently replace cartridges at no cost under these circumstances.

- David

I can not wait until the patent runs out and Bosch can bring their saw back out. To me it was far superior to the saw stop.

wa2crk,

I bought a barely used 36" 3HP PCS a year and a half ago. It's a sweet saw, plenty of power, everything is smooth and stays in place when locked, can use magnetic featherboards and other jigs, I added their router table and dust box. I've not had any problem with it, although I to be fair I haven't used it a great deal.

A lot of the activations that I see mentioned in the FB group, other than skin contact, are from running an aluminum miter fence into the blade, generally when the blade is tilted. A few more are from too-wet wood and other situations where hindsight was 20/20. There are a few true mystery activations posted, although I have a feeling that some of those might be explained via video and/or immediate analysis by an expert right there as it happened (touching the blade when powering down, wood was really too wet, etc.). But there have been quite a few people who have posted that the activation just paid for itself, showing from a barely visible scratch to maybe needing a band aid.

There's a Sawstop employee on the FB group who occasionally intentionally fires off several dozens in a single day. I've not seen any response on why, but he has said that he's fired hundreds or maybe thousands on a single saw and there have been no alignment, bend parts, etc., issues.

If you haven't seen it already, there's a fantastic video Jonathan Katz-Moses did using high speed cameras in what I feel was a great simulation of real world worst case situations, such as rapidly falling into a blade for whatever reason, rather than slowly creeping up on the blade with a hot dog. The worst were a hot dog that needed several stitches and a destroyed dado stack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYLAi4jwXcs

There's a recent video by the Wood Whisperer who just sold his Powermatic and bought a 3 HP PCS, with his very early comparisons between the two. He acknowledges that it's not quite a perfect comparison as the PM was more an industrial vs the PCS being more a "garage"/high-end hobby machine, but the minuses were few and not substantial while he had a lot of plusses beyond the flesh sensing.

roy_okc wrote: Mon Mar 07, 2022 12:07 pm "There's an employee on the FB group who occasionally intentionally fires off several dozens in a single day. I've not seen any response on why, but he has said that he's fired hundreds or maybe thousands on a single saw and there have been no alignment, bend parts, etc., issues."

After 2, possibly 3 misfires in a day I would stop using that saw. Maybe that's just me.

WTH was paying for all those cartridges(and blades?)