PurpLev and I (glassyeyes) have the saw; PurpLev’s done a nice series on the assembly and tricking out of the saw. I’ll put some of my comments, written somewhat in a diary format, here.
I had HD load the saw in the back of my minivan—they had to use a small forklift. GET HELP getting it off and getting the main parts assembled. I came within a hair of injuring my back. I’ve had trouble getting the right wing installed; it won’t pull flush with the front of the main table. It appears that the under-the-table t-bar support channel was cut about 1/16th of an inch too far to the front. HD and Ridgid service was good. Gardner in Ohio supplies parts for Ridgid, and had to try three times to ship a new right wing. The wing weighs 52 pounds. The first one, in one layer of bubble wrap and a too-large box, arrived as gravel. The second, packed much the same, was significantly chipped. The third was better wrapped and in better shape, but was ALSO mis-cut. I eventually found enough shim stock to shim out the front rail at the wing by 40/1000th’s of an inch, and Shim all BUT the wing in back by 27/1000th’s of an inch. The rear rail is split, to save shipping costs; this offers no mechanical support to the wings. I added a heavy strap of stee, 3/16 by 1 by 48 inches, drilled to leave a slight gap at the top. Problem solved. I found Home Depot, Ridgid, and Gardner to be very helpful with this problem, although Gardner seems to have a hard time packing these properly. The first two came wrapped in two layers of bubble wrap, stuffed into an oversized box, and were padded with a few pieces of newspaper. The first arrived in pieces; the second was chipped. The third was better packed. The Gardner quality control person called on the third one, and followed up; a high level of service. It seems they get these wings in bulk, unpadded, stacked on a pallet, from the manufacturer. He said they intend to pre-pack the remaining wings so this doesn’t recur.
PRO’s: Very heavy due to granite top and fairly beefy trunnions; “passes the nickel test”
Table-mounted trunnions; blade-to-slot and fence-to-slot adjustments easier
Arbor flange runout of less than 1/1000th inch
Closed cabinet, good dust collection
Passable T-style fence
Herc-U-Lift mobile base
Motor power acceptable/not dazzling
CON’s VERY TOP HEAVY—and just plain heavy at about 450 lbs; dangerous to assemble alone
Assembly directions aren’t that good, assuming at times you’ll puzzle it out. Some diagrams aren’t to
scale, and many parts that should have been tagged weren’t (such as those on the Herc-U-Lift),
but this is hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime problem.
Marginal level of quality control on the granite top assembly system
Split fence offers no mechanical support for the wings at the rear (fixable) and inspires less confidence
at the front, where alignment of the rail halves depends on a silly little plastic ring and the screws
thru the bottom angle iron to hold them in exact alignment. The longer I use it, the less I like it.
A carefully planed hardwood spline helped stiffen the two-piece front rail.
The saw only comes with a splitter/guard, no riving knives, but it’s already set up to take them.
Riving knives (from Steel City for the 35900 series saws) fit, but there have been minor issues.
Part # SC10150 for the 2.5 mm knife, SC10151 for the 3.0 mm Phone # to order Steel City
parts: 1-877-724-8665
Recommendation? I’d have to give it a qualified one, to be sure. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. The Steel City, for example, so similar it may be made in the same plant, includes the riving knives and appears to include the removable fence faces, making up for the $50 difference in price.
-- Now, where did I put those bandaids?
