# SCMI Minimax: What's the going rate?



## Doss (Mar 14, 2012)

So, I am possibly going to purchase a used SC3 with a 3HP motor and all the basic accessories. This saw is about 2 decades old, but has pretty minimal use.

What do you think it's worth? I know I'm not showing pics, but honestly it looks like it's been used fairly lightly. It could be mistaken as being only 1 or 2 years old IMO.

Are there any things I should look out for when purchasing it? Problem areas?

Thanks.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

$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.


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## Doss (Mar 14, 2012)

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.


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## Doss (Mar 14, 2012)

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.


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## renners (Apr 9, 2010)

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.


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## Doss (Mar 14, 2012)

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).


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Sliders are real nice to work with.


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## Doss (Mar 14, 2012)

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.


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## Doss (Mar 14, 2012)

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.


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## Doss (Mar 14, 2012)

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.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Grizzly sliders have a very spotty reputation.


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## Yeorwned (Jun 10, 2011)

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.


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## Yeorwned (Jun 10, 2011)

I believe the quality of Grizzly is getting better but they're still leaps and bounds away from the competition but that's the whole point of their price model. What kind of documentation to validate would you like to see? I guess I could put together my support call logs where I've spent tens of hours with Grizzly to fix basic problems from poor tooling at the factory. The many Internet users posting their feedback show I'm far from alone.

I've seen mixed feelings on the Rojek sliders but have had problems researching the Paolini. There's a few good deals on used models I've come across for sale but I can't find anyone to speak to their quality, value, and accuracy. Comments welcomed!


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## scottishbob (Feb 20, 2012)

Hi can anyone tell me how to setup the scoring blade on the sc3 mini max sliding table saw 1996 model, i have just bought a second hand one, I cant figure out how to get the scoring blade to turn , is it belt driven? if anyone one has a picture of the setup so that i can see how to get it turning with the motor that would be great.
bob


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