# SawStop Contractors Saw



## craftsman on the lake (Dec 27, 2008)

We've had tons of reviews and as many opinions as any one would dare. I've got the professional model myself.

General consensus: 
It's a very well made saw with quality fit, finish, and performance of any other good, quality, machine.
It's more expensive because of the safety features and that $$ part is a personal choice.

Enjoy, you're gonna like it… a lot.

Personally: I have young'uns… 30ish of age in the family who I tell when they ask," At your age, (and one plays the violin) in my opinion, there is no other choice."

I'm just glad it's a good machine. Having to make that decision on safety alone would be difficult. My niece is a charge nurse in a large hospital's emergency room. Her power tool injury stories are not for the faint of heart.


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## woodbuster (Nov 28, 2012)

I have this saw also and find it to be great in all ways. No regrets. I do have one question which has gone unanswered since I got the saw:

When I power it off and the blade is winding down, I get about a second of vibration that is quite audible. It has been suggested to me that the noise is from the drive belt going through some harmonics due to changing rpm. Replacing the belt did not help. My saw goes through long periods of no use and it was suggested that the belt gets a "set" from this. No big deal, but it annoys me at times.


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## craftsman on the lake (Dec 27, 2008)

> I have this saw also and find it to be great in all ways. No regrets. I do have one question which has gone unanswered since I got the saw:
> 
> When I power it off and the blade is winding down, I get about a second of vibration that is quite audible. It has been suggested to me that the noise is from the drive belt going through some harmonics due to changing rpm. Replacing the belt did not help. My saw goes through long periods of no use and it was suggested that the belt gets a "set" from this. No big deal, but it annoys me at times.
> 
> - woodbuster


The professional saw has an internal motor with belts that look like wide automotive belts. I get no vibrations. But, my older saw, a delta, was a contractors saw and had the motor hanging off the back of the machine with a standard V belt. It would get a set and vibrate sometimes. I don't know what your as has but it will cause this to happen. I'd get a new belt and it would be okay for awhile.
They have a sort of link belt. It's called a vibration free link belt for table saws that is designed to eliminate this issue. Lots of places have them. I think Harbor Freight even does.


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## GaryCN (Aug 18, 2007)

Those JessEm guides are awesome, I have them, pricey but well worth it.


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## Fleamo (Jun 25, 2018)

The saw guides were a necessity on my old Ridgid 4513. I had a couple of nasty kickback incidents before I picked them up. Now on the new Sawstop I am impressed even more with the performance. They enhance the safety of any table saw.


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## REL (May 22, 2008)

Fleamo, I'm very impressed with your inventive/creativeness in using mag switches to attach the Jess-em feed guides to the saw table fence. It is one of those ideas you look at and say "why didn't I think of that."

I thought the discussion of owning a Sawstop was long settled. I have owned an Industrial model since 2008. I'm doing very little woodworking now, (but if a similar safety feature was available for other equipment such as a bandsaw, miter saw, router, jointer/planer or whatever) I would buy it in a heartbeat.


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## Fleamo (Jun 25, 2018)

REL, I could not bring myself to drill through my T-Glide fence to mount the JessEm guides. I mount other jigs on the fence with them, as well. I looked on line for alternative ideas and borrowed this idea. It is not my invention. They work incredibly well. You can use them on a drill press, band saw and probably many other applications.


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## REL (May 22, 2008)

Fleamo, I don't want to drill holes in my Sawstop fence either. On what site did you see the mag switches being used to hold down jigs? Just curious.


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## garageking (Mar 2, 2017)

I also didn't' want to drill into my Sawstop fence and decided to use magswitches. I hadn't seen it done and thought it was my own clever idea! Nothing new under the sun! But it has worked great and the guides are extremely well made. I like that I can flip them out of the way if I don't need them. You don't need the guides for every cut but I use them enough to consider them a necessity. And after thirty plus years of using a benchtop saw, I love my PCS.


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## Fleamo (Jun 25, 2018)

I saw this idea on David Stanton's Youtube videos. The guy has an amazing shop.


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## woodbuster (Nov 28, 2012)

I am the one who poted about my SS contractor's saw having a noise problem. One day while sitting around I thought that I would give the manufacturer a call and see if they had any fresh ideas. I had no previously had much success with just changing the belt, as suggested. Well, this was my lucky day.

I reached a super good guy named Trent, who had previously been in their service dept. He said that it was probably not the belt, but one of three things: bad start capacitor, bad run capacitor, and a remote possibility that it was the fault of the cooling fan. He sent me all three parts and detailed instructions. I first changed the start capacitor and gave it a try…presto! ran just fine for the first time in two years.

Its not only a great saw, but a great company to deal with. Many thanks to Trent.


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## Fleamo (Jun 25, 2018)

Hey Woodbuster,
Good to know they have great customer service.in case I ever need it.


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## JoeFuture (Aug 31, 2020)

I noticed they sell zero-clearance throat plates for their saws, but it's not offered on their website as an accessory to the contractor saw during the online "build your saw" process. Is it possible to use those inserts with the contractor saw?


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## USMCVET (Feb 4, 2020)

> I noticed they sell zero-clearance throat plates for their saws, but it s not offered on their website as an accessory to the contractor saw during the online "build your saw" process. Is it possible to use those inserts with the contractor saw?


They're in there. You just need to scroll down. Step 5 when I ran through a build of the CNS


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