I finally really put it through its paces yesterday. I cut out all the parts for 18 boxes for my own kitchen, and bathroom remodel.
There is a bit of a learning curve, like I said before, I've used panel saws but not to the extent that I'm using this one. Places I've worked before all the ripping was done on a beam saw, with the panel saws just used primarily for crosscutting. It took me a while to get accustomed to doing it, and kinda working out efficient ways of maneuvering sheet stock. Also not being able to manipulate controls with out thinking added some time, but that's just something that will become muscle memory after a while and I won't have to think, just do it. It took about 5 hrs to cut out those boxes, with just a tablesaw I'd venture to guess it would've been a bit over six, but the parts wouldn't be nearly as accurate, or as square as they are right now. I think the true time savings from this will come from accuracy down the line. Both in assembly and in the case of inset jobs, when the boxes are getting staged. Right now the cumulative errors on a large box are killing me as everything gets twisted up in assembly and those errors have to be compensated by spending large amounts of time fitting doors and drawer fronts to the openings. They'll still have to be fitted, just hopefully it'll go quicker now. Sheet stock handling is way more efficient, that I am certain of.
Overall I think it did save time, though it was hard to tell with this initial run. I've got some complicated and goofy cabinets going in my kitchen, mostly because of an almost 10' ceiling height and all the box work going basically all the way up. (Everything is being held down 4" to accomodate a 7-1/2" crown, plus a paneled cieling.
My first stack of box parts with the Striebig.
