Replies

1. 
   dwright | Dec 29, 2004 09:36pm | #1

   The SawStop Contractors Saw has not yet been released.  I have heard they may start shipping first or second quarter next year.  The wait list may be substantial, and at first they probably will only be shipping out small quantities, so you might do best by asking SawStop yourself for their best guess at when yours will ship.

   Since no one has the contractors saws yet we can't say how it compares.  SawStop Cabinet Saws in regular production form started shipping early this month (December '04).  Mine has been in service for a couple weeks.  It assembled easily, seems to have been made well, and has quite a few improvements on the 50 year old basic cabinet saw design.  In service so far it has been smooth, precise, convenient, and unflappably solid.  I haven't released the brake and have no intent to.  The riving knife is a seriously cool feature.  It reduces the risk of kickback but helps every cut by keeping the wood neatly against the fence.  No slight drifting off and getting deeper sawmarks.  Compared to my previous saw, a carefully tuned Delta Contractors Saw, the SawStop cuts like a laser beam.  Solid and effortlessly accurate.

   Let me know if you have any questions about aspects of the saw that would be common to both versions.  So far I'm happy with mine.

1. 
   Jeffear | Dec 29, 2004 10:08pm | #2

   Thanks very much for your feedback. Very glad to hear you are happy with the Cabinet model. I hope the Contractor Saw will be as well made. I have read that the brake will trigger without human contact; please let me know if you encounter such a problem.

1. 
   dwright | Dec 29, 2004 10:22pm | #3

   The brake can release without touching a person, but the ways that can happen are pretty easy to spot and avoid.

   --  Don't do anything that will ground the spinning blade to the table saw top.  Examples include cutting metal panels, sheet goods with foil faces or tape, and nails that happen to extend from the blade through the wood to the top.

   --  Check your table saw accessories for materials that might ground the blade.  An example would be a miter gauge with a zero clearance aluminum fence.

   --  Need to cut an extremely wet piece of PT?  Take your first cut in Bypass Mode.  The control panel will tell you if that cut would have released the brake.  If it is indeed too wet and conductive then you can continue to cut it in Bypass Mode or set it aside for a little while to lose some surface moisture.

   --  Do not grab the blade while the control panel is indicating coast down mode.  The brake stays active during doast down.  The blade may come to a complete stop shortly before this mode cancels.

   That's all that comes right to mind.  Mine has not released.  I don't expect to have any problem staying away from the situations listed above.

2. 
   WayneL5 | Dec 30, 2004 02:05am | #4

   My understanding is that when the brake fires it is destroyed in stopping the blade.  (The blade, too, is destroyed.)  So it may make sense to keep a spare brake if several days of downtime for ordering a replacement is not acceptable.

1. 
   dwright | Dec 30, 2004 07:13am | #5

   I understand from SawStop that most buyers are also ordering 1 or 2 spare cartridges.  You will need a separate cartridge to run an 8" dado blade.  Delta ordered 10 cartridges for the SawStop they have coming, but then they're obviously going to do more testing and teardown than actual woodwork.