Thinking about upgrading from your contractor-style tablesaw
to the king of the beasts—a 3-hp cabinet-style saw? It’s every
woodworker’s dream. And why not? These durable machines are built
to serve for a lifetime, with powerful 220-volt motors and hefty cast-iron
internal components that dampen vibration to virtually nil. And, once
aligned, a cabinet saw may never require adjustment again.
To help you move from being a dreamer to a doer, we gathered
seven 3-hp saws, each equipped with 49"-plus fences, and put them
to the test. In checking the drive-train components, we found
that none of the saws exceeded a stellar .001" arbor-flange runout,
and all vibrated less than .001" in any direction.
4 Things That Matter
Most In A Cabinet-Style Saw
• Power and cut quality. When it comes to raw cutting power, these
machines have it in spades. All of the tested models ripped through 2"-thick
red oak at about 12' per minute without batting an eye. However, we found
noticeable differences in the quality of the cut left behind.
•
Fences. Most of the saws come with so-called "Biesemeyer clone" fences
in homage to the much-revered T-square style fence. (Delta offers a true
Biesemeyer as an option.) Unfortunately, only one of the six clones we
tested lives up to the reputation of the original.
•
Tables and extension tables. At these prices, you’d expect to get
dead-flat cast-iron tables with super-smooth grinding, and these saws
don’t disappoint.
•
Dust collection. All of the tested saws come equipped with built-in
4" dust-collection ports, but that doesn’t mean they all do
a good job evacuating dust and chips. In fact one saw held about
70% of the debris.
Learn the results of our testing of the Craftsman 22964N,
Delta 36-L31X-U50, General 650-T50-M2M, Grizzly G1023SLX, Jet JTAS-10XL50-1,
Powermatic Model 66, and Shop Fox W1677EXT2, when you pick
up the October 2003 issue of WOOD magazine and turn to page 74. |
