| Review by Chris | posted 1936 days ago | 2631 views | 0 times favorited | 4 comments |  |
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- General 50-185 - 10-Inch Deluxe Builder's Table Saw - Left Tilt
- Brand: General | Category: Tablesaws
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I have owned this saw for approx. two years now. In reality I would rate it at about 4.5 stars only due to a minor annoyance. I had been using a bench top Delta given to me by my father in-law for a few years and had become VERY frustrated with this kind of saw. In my search for a contractor style saw it came down to either the Powermatic or the General; I am glad I chose the General.
It was accurate right out of the box; I used a Master Plate / Master Guage setup to check the blade and fence alignment to the Miter slot; they were dead on. Even if they had not been the instructions provided with the saw walked you through the process easily. This saw has plenty of power to cut almost anything I ask. I have only had it bog down when cutting 10/4 Maple and my feed rate was a little fast. Combine this saw with a Forrest blade and it’s hard to beat for a home shop environment.
Oh.. I nearly forgot the annoyance. The hand wheel for the blade height adjustment will loosen up very easily.
Photo from the General International Website
-- "Everything that is great and inspiring is created by the individual who labors in freedom" -- Albert Einstein
4 comments so far
Robb
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644 posts in 2130 days
#1 posted 1922 days ago
Good review. I’ve heard nothing but good things from General tool owners. I’d never heard of them until after I bought my Jet tablesaw, or things might have been different. I was wondering, what hp is your saw?
-- Robb
Chris
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1849 posts in 2188 days
#2 posted 1909 days ago
Robb,
It’s listed as 2HP
-- "Everything that is great and inspiring is created by the individual who labors in freedom" -- Albert Einstein
JuniorJoiner
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440 posts in 1636 days
#3 posted 1631 days ago
hey chris, well i have this saw, and i think i have a lemon.i have had nothing but problems with the saw since i first purchased it. at first i had major burning issues. went through the whole gammit of fixes, new blade, blade stiffiner, miked the arbor, changed out the fence, removed the splitter. it turned out it was a fence drift problem, and i bought an after market fence that finally corrected it.
then , after about a year of use, the saw couldn’t be adjusted back to zero tilt. i thought it was strange since this is a tightly bolted stop, far out of reach. it was not gummed up or dirty, and it was still tight, but something had happened, and on the scale zero was now 1.5 degrees. after a day of adjusting back and forth and numerous test cuts. i remarked the scale to indicate what is now zero.(just couldn’t get the stop to adjust and stay put).
i also had a belt break on me during use. something i have never heard of happening on a saw that wasn’t 15 years old.
So, to remedy most of my problems, i have since bought a steel city bandsaw and use it alot more, it is less precise, but i expect that from a bandsaw.
-- Junior -Quality is never an accident-it is the reward for the effort involved.
worksalone
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4 posts in 406 days
#4 posted 405 days ago
I have this saw, I’ve had it for about 5 years, trouble free. I have the same problem with the hand wheel for blade height adjustment. I’ll be cranking away & the blade isn’t moving then i realize it’s loose again. I also wish they made the motor pulleys in a standard width so I could use a cog belt. I hate to change the pulleys they are machined like everything else on the saw! When I was looking for a saw, a moveup from a direct drive tabletop Delta, I discovered the General was the last of the saws still being made in North America, not Taiwan or other places. Everything is cast on it, the adjustment wheels, trunions, everything. 350 lbs. Listed as a contractor saw.
I used a Forrest blade on it for a while I now have a Diablo blade on it for everyday, keep the Forrest blade for special work. Mike
-- Mike,Wisconsin,http://www.IFixPianos.com There are no mistakes in woodworking just opportunities to modify the design
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