Sawstop vs PM tablesaw ... thoughts

[Chet]

Submitted on he old forum by bushwacked

I am curious to hear people’s thoughts on SS vs PM. I own the SS industrial 3hp with 52” table and love it. It also doesn’t hurt that it has safety features built in as well. 

Thoughts on why you picked one or the other. Or why you would pick one over the other. 

I don’t consider money a deciding factor when you are about to spend the $$ the get either of these saws. 

Follow up posts

1) Powermatic was maded in my hometown McMinnville,Tn back in the day. They had a foundry and a factory. Now I would buy the Sawstop.

I have the powermatic 20” planer and I like it. I don’t like the Made in Tawain tag on it.

2) Let me start by saying that there's no wrong answer! Both are great saws! I've used both so, do have some personal experience.

Sawstop's technology is really the main reason behind me choosing PM. Yes, the technology is awesome and worth the price when you consider a major table saw injury. The technology also has faults. We've all see the stories of the brake tripping when the glue joint wasn't quite dry enough, or we touched the aluminum miter fence, and, of course, changing blades has additional steps and concerns.

I don't believe that the technology makes you more complacent. In fact, I would say it's just the opposite because you're constantly considering these things that trip the brake because you just don't want to pay for the replacement brake as well as the blade. Between the 2, you're probably looking at a couple hundred bucks a pop - well worth that cost to prevent an injury tho!

So, my choice will be the PM because of it's simplicity and I will continue to treat the TS with respect.

3) 

I have been woodworking in some form for over 30 years and I was a meat cutter for 32+ years were I was around a bandsaw, meat slicer and other sharp tools.  When I got around to replacing my Delta Contractor saw I was going toward the SawStop almost from the get go.  My thinking at the time was that I had an aggregate of over 60 years around "dangerous" tools and the odds of any type of accident were growing against me.  When I bought my SS I didn't even know that PM existed if you can believe that.  When I was looking the only other saw I would have looked at, because I was aware of the brand was Delta Unisaw.  I have been super happy with the SS and I have always looked at the safety system as an "in addition to" not an "instead of" safe operation feature. 

I don't see the changing of blade and brake a big deal.  It's one thing extra to unlock and remove and then install and lock.  If you are someone that uses a combination blade like the Forrest II the the only time you ever deal with this is when you put on your dado stack. 

4) Heck I’m still using the original blade in my sawstop. When it fills I’ll look into a new blade/blades for it. Right now it still cuts good enough for me and no complaints.

5) Not being familiar with SS, do you buy their blade or will all blades work on their cartridge? I guess I could look it up but I like the experience answer.

6) You can use your blade of choice on the SS.

7) I thought there was issues with the use of thin kerf blades in the SS.  I could be wrong as I don't own.  I do feel that these are the only real options if you are buying a new cabinet saw, and probably can't go wrong with either choice.

[Bushwacked]

Hah! Now this could be interesting to bring back up ? 

[Kev]

10 minutes ago, Bushwacked said:

Hah! Now this could be interesting to bring back up ? 

Maybe but, I doubt it..  I know my thoughts haven't changed and I'm sure the many in the SS camp haven't changed their thoughts either.  However, in reality, we're not really talking about PM vs SS, we're talking about technology vs no technology.  

[Tmize]

It is a fight that will never be lost or won. Like so many in our hobby everyone is so strongly opinionated. It is fun to sit back an watch the battles tho. 
 

Personally I don’t I answered this when it came up before I would take either one as a gift ( if anyone was looking for a gift idea?). I’m with kev on the sawstop. I really would hate having to remember to put it in bypass everytime I need to rip a 2x4 or I buy air dried lumber from time to time an that could be bad. I don’t much for safety tech anyway I’m more common sense than we need to make this rule to keep the idiots safe and alive to reproduce.