Folks -

As I mentioned last week, SWMBO and I went to the SF Bay Area last week and
amont other things, purchased a General Table Saw and accessories. I'll
tell you what all I paid for the package in my next post, but here's a
progress report on setting up the saw and *making room for it* in the
sho...er, garage...

It was a fairly easy process loading and unloading the saw with a big hand
truck, like they use for loading refrigerators... We laid the saw on the
truck on its' side to load it and then stood it up - it was easier than I
thought and the truck (small nissan) handled the load okay. I was afraid of
the truck being top heavy and had given thought to taking off the top and
removing the motor to lower the center of gravity. No need...

Unloading was simple and I was able to crab-walk it and tip it into the
mobile base without trouble. The problem is that the saw sat lower than my
bench, which I had set up as an outfeed table for the contractor saw I had
been using. I pulled the saw back out and built up a plywood frame to raise
the saw a bit over 2 inches leaving it about 1/4 inch higher than my bench.

While I had the saw off of the base, I was considering removing the top to
do a "full tilt" job of cleaning, adjusting and lubing everything "under the
hood" - SWMBO talked me out of it and said I should just lube it up and RUN
it to see how it was without adjustments, and then IF it needed tweaking, I
could do so.... Then she started rattling off all of the projects that are
supposed to be done by Kwanzaa, er, Christmas... I figured then I could do a
"before and after" after the holidays, so I just sprayed some chain lube on
the trunion gears and worm shaft bearings.

I built an extension table and mounted the Biesemeyer 50" commercial fence,
but discovered that the fence had been mounted about 1/16 too low, so I
shimmed up the rectangular tube that bolts to the angle that mounts to the
saw proper. The fence had been adjusted to "heel out" at the back by almost
1/4 inch, but the adjustments were a snap. I didn't use a feeler guage or
dial indicator to set the heel to start, I just aligned it even with the
miter slot and then nudged the allen screw adjustment a tad to heel the
fence out in the back just a smidgen.

Until I got the extension legs mounted the saw was pretty tippy in the HTC
mobile base and I had some lingering thoughts about its' 3 point wheel set
up. As soon as I mounted the extension legs the whole assembly firmed up
nicely, so it wasn't a problem.

I rewired my power outlet to match the saw power plug and FIRED IT UP....
Whoooeeeeee! The Forrest WWII cut through some oak like butter and the cut
was very clean - there were just the faintest crosshatch blade marks on the
cut (after I highlighted them with some chalk) so the fence seems like it is
aligned okay. I cut a couple of 24" squares of MDF for jig componeents and
they were dead on square; not within a 1/8, 1/16 or 1/32... They were
EXACTLY the same across the diagonals... It was SO nice after having put up
with a contractor's saw for so long. I think the trunions on the General 350
weigh more than the whole saw I had been using.

The big problem has been making room for the bigger saw and table in the
shop. I've been working for the last two days organising, ****-canning and
moving things about so that the shop is organized and clean. I am a bit of
a clutter-bug, and the shop does seem to get messed up pretty quickly, but I
already feel alot better about the layout and general shop set up.

All in all, so far, I am *very* satisfied with the saw. The stops for 90
and 45 are dead on, the adjustments are nice'n smooth and I am looking
forward to jumping into all of the projects after I finish cleaning things
up.

I'll post again after I've made some more cuts, and let everyone know what I
paid for it. As for Mike in Mystic and his lowball guess.... watch your
back! hehehhe - oh - and thanks to everyone for your offers to "take the saw
off of my hands" to see that it recieves a full inspection. All in all, a
selfless act that even now has me choking back tears.


John Moorhead
Lakeport, CA