New Toy

Chris Mire

Member
Messages
945
Location
Southern Louisiana
well i made the 1 hour trip back to new orleans saturday to pick up my new toy. left early and was back ready to assemble by 8:30. overall assembly went very smooth. don't think it could have gotten much easier. ok, i know you're wondering what i assembled. so here it is, in it's temporary home in dad's shop.


ts-1.JPG

as i said assembly went good, it took me and dad about 1.5 hours total. woulda been less if we had all our tools at hand, i was just so ready to get started i didn't take the time to go get tools together.

i did have one problem with the saw. when it was fully assembled and the fence was put on and i checked the measurement between blade and fence and compared that to what my cursor was reading it was way off. not a problem, there is play in the fence for that right? well yes there was, just not enough play. so even with the adjustments all the way to one side, including moving my cursor all the way over. the measurement was still off by 1/8". before getting drastic and drilling holes in my brand new saw i thought i'd call Steel city to see if I was missing something. the guy answered the phone and i said....

"hey, i need some help"
"i can help"

so i explained what the problem was and he had me re-explain to make sure we were on the same page. he said he thought the best way to handle it was to send me a new tape for the fence. he said the tape that is on the saw will just peel up and the new one can be stuck in it's place. preferably about an 3/4" of an inch over from the other one. he said he'd have it on a truck that day.

i was happy with this. i new i wasn't going to be using the saw alot for a few days anyway.

so, i went back to the shop, plugged her in and fired her up. that 3hp sures sounds alot different than dad's Ridgid.

i haven't used it alot yet, still need to build outfeed and side ext tables for it. but so far so good. the one thing i do like is the blade only takes about 4seconds to stop. much quicker than dad's at about 10 seconds.


hopefully i'll be able to give more info on likes and dislikes once i get to start using the saw.

here are some more pics for those police!!


ts-2.JPG

ts-3.JPG

ts-4.JPG

ts-5.JPG

ts-6.JPG
 
That's great Chris! You are never going to be sorry for the money that you spent for that saw. 3HP cabinet saws are so smooth and accurate. Looks like that it is going to be put to good use.
 
Congratulations Chris. :thumb: Looks like a great saw. I agree with Allen, you are going to love it.

Use it in good health

Don
 
Heya Chris,

Nice saw/first business expense ;)

I think that's the first Stell City saw I've seen on here. I'll be interested to hear how you like it as you start giving it a good work out.

- Marty -
 
thanks guys, i've been waiting a long time to get a cabinet saw. although my dad's ridgid was a great saw that i would recommend to anyone doing hobbiest work, it just wasn't cut out for production work. my biggest complaint was the 36" rip capacity, which is better than some contractor saws, but with cabinets i am very often cross cutting plywood over 36", so i'd have to break out the skil saw...but no more.

one thing about this saw is that the table height feels low. i think dad's is around 35-36" this one is only 34, and being I am 6'1, i think i am going to jack it up on some sort of platform to make it more comfortable.

i forgot to add a shot of the miter gauge, it isn't all that great, but it's nice for a stock one, it even comes with an adjustable flip stop.

one other thing that puzzled me was there are three hooks to hang things on the saw....but they are all on the back????? i may see if i can drill some holes on the side so i can reach them from the front.


oh, and marty, this is the second business purchase, the first was my building, which arrived half on thursday and half on saturday. now i needa get some dirt work done and pour some concrete. i'm gonna do my best to keep the progress updated.

thanks
chris
 
chris, for a comfortable saw height hold a piece of 3/4 mdf like you`re carrying it and measure up from the floor to the sheet then set the saw an inch or two lower.....tod
 
thanks tod, that's good advice, because i carry the sheet to the saw and set one corner on the table, the other coner on the floor, then lift it into place and slide er in.

probably never woulda thought of that either.


thanks
chris
 
Hey Chris,
Sweet saw! I can hardly wait to hear your experience with it.:thumb:

One piece of advice, take your time getting it positioned, levelled and tuned (e.g. shim the table if its not flat, get the extensions level with the table, get the blade parallel to the miter slot, etc). And do all this before you build that outfeed table, crosscut jig, etc. DAMHIKT:rofl:

Those hooks on the back might be a useful way to make something to hold your fence if you need it out of the way sometime!
 
customer service update

well, i know one thing i like about steel city, their customer service.

i got my new tape for the fence today. that's not bad at all. i love good service. :thumb:

thanks steel city!!!

chris
 
Chris,

I see posts like yours showing the new saw and I am more envious of all that space you have around it. Looks like a nice saw in a heck of a nice size shop.
 
thanks brian,

well i've busted my tail for 3 years in my dad's little 20x20 shop, building entire houses full of cabinets, building a few and moving them to another location for storage, so this building (which is my dad's) and my new one soon to be built are a true blessing to me. it is very nice to have the room to move around. it won't feel as big once i get all the ext tables and other tables i plan to build in there. plus this is now going to be my livelihood, so it needs to be big.

chris
 
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