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john moorhead
 
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Default Follow up on purchase of used General 350 Table Saw - not the gloat vote, yet!

Brian -

On a lark, I decided to keep an eye on the "for sale" section of Craig's
List (http:www.craigslist.com) and did searches in the Bay Area, Socal,
Sacto and on up to Oregon/Washington... As of a few days ago there was a
Jet listed for sale, FWIW.... I also know of a Uni for sale in
Stockton/Molesto area as of last week... FYI

John


"Brian" wrote in message
...
There was a used General 350 in the Bay Area for sale, and I didn't know
about it? Hmmph!! Where'd you see the ad?

Brian.


"john moorhead" wrote in message
news:gzvBb.494609$Fm2.475865@attbi_s04...
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