SCMI Minimax: What's the going rate?

$1000-1500… maybe $2k if the slider is aluminum. Accessories
matter.

Sometimes sliders develop wear in a specific area of slide travel.
This varies from brand to brand and with vintage as there
have been a lot of designs tried in order to deliver a
slider that cuts smoothly and accurately over a long
service life. SCMI is one of the better brands but I
think I have read some complaints about some older
SC3 model saws.

I’ll have to check if the slider is aluminum or not. I just know that from the pics I received it looked to be in great condition. It has a riving knife and scoring blade and the owner said that it can cross and rip cut over 50”.

They are a large shop with a panel saw and a lot other goodies and said they just don’t use it that much and they need room for larger equipment coming in.

-- "Well, at least we can still use it as firewood... maybe." - Doss

It’s a steel slider with bearings on cams. When I worked as a tech for dealer we sold a lot of them. Never any real problems with them. It was Minimax saw, not an SCMI. In a few years the MInimax was upgraded more up to par with the SCMI line. The SC3 sold for $3500 when first came out. It had a modified Biesemeyer fence and Baldor motor. A nice saw!

-- Few folks really know how to maximize the potential of their tools!

So what’s a fair price then Rick? This is the SCMI version (1993) I think. Like I said, it’s in great condition.

I’m used to looking at cabinet saws and such so I’m not 100% sure on areas I should check or what accessories it should have. I know it has the scoring blade and riving knife; I’m not 100% sure which fence it has though or what other accessories it’s supposed to come with.

-- "Well, at least we can still use it as firewood... maybe." - Doss

If it’s still in production it could be worth what he paid for it 20 years ago. I’ve seen plenty of tools that were mint and cost double when the owner first bought it and they often got what they originally paid for it and sometimes more. I don’t hold much truth to that 50% rule as every area is different. Some places are scarce in used tools. Also today you have Grizzly, Kufo, Paolini and others adding options for sliders. Personally I’d dwonload the manual from SCMI/Minimax to check what complete is. I’d look at exfactory and woodweb to see if any are listed. I’d google used minimax sc3 to see if any other dealers are selling them. The only forum I would consider even asking this question on is woodweb forum. How bad do you need one and have you priced others and what is he asking?????

-- Few folks really know how to maximize the potential of their tools!

I often get to use an SCM Minimax 300 combination machine, probably about the same age as the one you’re considering. This one has done a lot of work and it’s still solid. The owner (my FIL) has never had an issue with it.

-- Never trust a man in winklepickers

Well, I need a tablesaw pretty badly. I have a need to handle large slabs of wood safely and contractor saws just don’t do it (too much wood weight vs small tables and low saw weight). I don’t have room for a saw much larger than an SC3 though. I was considering a Unisaw or Powermatic, but this falls right into the same price (under $1500). It has to be 1 phase and have some power (this one is 3HP).

I’m just trying to figure out if I should pull the trigger or wait on a Unisaw or Powermatic to pop up instead. My main cutting is hardwood with a decent amount of sheet good cutting (I’m not a cabinet shop though).

-- "Well, at least we can still use it as firewood... maybe." - Doss

Sliders are real nice to work with.

Yeah, I really had not considered a slider until I began pushing more and more pieces of wood through the saw and noticing how much the fence wasn’t helping on my unjointed boards. I was going to build a jig (sled) to do that on a Uni or other cabinet saw, but saw this Minimax come up and thought it might save me some time and add some precision.

-- "Well, at least we can still use it as firewood... maybe." - Doss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT_tFfbo3tM
You sure it’s single phase? Not an issue in my book. Where did you get the price, from the seller??? If it were mine I’d be pricing it much higher.

Did you price the Grizzly, Kufo, Paolini, etc. Once you use a slider a cabinet saw is only half a saw.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/10-Sliding-Table-Saw/G0623X

-- Few folks really know how to maximize the potential of their tools!

Yes, I’m sure it’s single phase (220V). Yeah, I’m just not sure how it stacks up against the newer sliders. I mean, it’s 20 years old. Has the competition caught up?

I don’t think you can run a dado set on it. Is that right? I don’t use dados a lot, but that does put at least one negative in the SC-3’s box.

-- "Well, at least we can still use it as firewood... maybe." - Doss

The Grizzly takes a dado.
http://www.atlanticmach.com/saws/PAOLONI%20S%20150.pdf
The paolini takes a dado and can be gotten with a single phase motor.
And the Rojek
http://www.rojekusa.com/PHP/PK300A.pdf

-- Few folks really know how to maximize the potential of their tools!

But, are these saws worth it over a 20 year old SC-3? I mean, the thing is $1500 (with room to negotiate). Is the Grizzly or any of these others that much better for the money? I know part of this I have to answer for myself, but if there are some glaring differences, feel free to point them out.

I’m about 85% sure I will buy this SC-3. I just don’t want to pay too much for it or find out it is useless to me.

-- "Well, at least we can still use it as firewood... maybe." - Doss

Grizzly sliders have a very spotty reputation.

It sounds like you might be looking at the same unit for sale in in New Orleans that I saw posted for sale this past week but the asking price for it was $1200. The description you gave of why they are selling it matches perfectly but the problem I had with it was the fact it has a cast iron slider which doesn’t have a miter slot for using a lot of accessories that add flexibility to sliding table saws.

Also, know you can’t put a dado blade on the saw and that parts for that saw are getting very hard to get. Many of the Mini-Max saws, like the SC3, don’t use trunnions so you have to compensate for angled cuts. I would offer $1000 for it. I’m sure you’ll get plenty of life out of it, and at worst, if you don’t like it, you can still turn around and sell it for what you paid for it.

As for the Grizzly, I’m with Loren. The quality just isn’t there, but what do you expect for the price I guess. The only people I find supporting the Grizzly units have lots of other Grizzly tools and seem to have grown quite bias. Everything I’ve ever bought from Grizzly has had nothing but problems when it comes to setup.