I am interested in buy a General Table saw 3hp. Any feedback or comments from owners? How is customer service, my dealer would be 60 miles away. How does the saw perform? I need a very accurate saw.
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Replies
Hi Stevey - My General saw is only the GI contractor saw, not the 3hp cabinet saw, but I'm very satisfied and my experiences with the company and their service have been excellent.
FWIW, Wood Mag picked the General 650 #1 over the PM, Uni, Shop Fox, Jet, Grizzly, and Sears industrial cabinet saws.
Owned the 3HP cabinet version, sold it during a move. Best conventional tablesaw I ever owned. Only get "General" made in Canada, not "General International" made who knows where.
The General 350 and 650 get good reviews. They had an old General in the carpenter shop at the plant where I used to work. Never had a spot of trouble with it in the 30 years I was there.
The 350 is my "dream" saw.
IMHO General 350 or 650 is the best 10" cabinet saw manuf today.
Jim
I bought the general 50-185 builders saw last week for $549 at woodcraft. I had to drive to Clearwater to get it. Three hours from Port Saint Lucie.
I have only used it a few times but I am wondering if I could get General to switch the 2 horse moter for a 3. I may try to rewire it for 220 and see if I get more power.
Also has anyone tried the link belts with the general? I seem to have a lot of vibration. Also that gaurd and splitter is hilarious.
More HP motors usually weigh more. With that saw and using a heavier motor it will most likely tend to angle sideways at the rear as you move the saw to a steeper angle causing a binding betweeen the blade and fence or the other direction. Usually more HP motors tend to also be longer in length.
I was afraid of something like that. Any experience with the link belt?
The Link belt helped mine and I would recommend switching to one. Beware that the General uses an odd size belt and the typical link belt you see at woodcraft is to large although since woodcraft started carrying General they may now have the correct size. I believe Grizzly among others stock the smaller size you will need.
How about wiring it for 220? mine can barely rip a 2X4 as it is.
As others will probably tell you 220 doesn't give you anymore power the 110 it just lowers the amp requirement. I'm not sure why you would be having that kind of problem but a link belt is supposed to be more efficent at the transfer of power and that should help some.
I use a Forest WWII and a Freud rip blade. I don't do softwoods and have cut 12/4 cherry and walnut with no problem and I run on 110. The General is certainly not as powerful as some Delta and Powermatics I have used but it does work.
I did take the time to tune the saw up using a dial guage and square up the blade and the rip fence and perhaps that helps. You do have to have the belt properly tensioned and as I said the link belt work better then the factory belt. I would double check everything and of course the possibly exists that you have a defective unit.
It was preassembled at woodcraft. I need to get a good reference book and run through it. I have been told that I will get a little more performance and less of an electric bill with 220. This saw seems to be gravity tensioned. I will definitely get the link belt as soon as I can find the right size. Do you recomend better pulleys as well?
I didn't bother with changing the pulley's on mine as the General ones weren't that bad but that may make it run smoother. If you have 220 available changing wouldn't hurt anything.
Depending on Woodcraft to fine tune the saw is probably not a good idea. Even if they have someone with the knowledge to do it the time requires would be cost prohibitive.
There are a couple of company's, A-Line it for one, that sell a basic dial indicator and jig for setting up a table saw. If you buy the basic kit try to get the video. If you can get or borrow a dial indicator there have been articles on how to use one to align a table saw. There are also a few methods which don't use a dial indicator. Probably anything would help.
The 220 vs 110 question has been asked many times on various web sites and in print, and there is a lot of confusion. The only direct advantage of a 220-240 supply for a saw is reduced current flowing through the wires between the panel and the saw. This can have provide convenience, since a single circuit can supply more than one machine, but that is not what most folks are trying to achieve by going with 220. They are hoping for more mechanical power, and in some cases will get a modest improvement. That is because a lot of residential wiring is 14 gauge, which is fine for short runs or light loads. However, there can be long runs from the panel to the shop, and in those cases 14 ga. is inadequate for high currents. Too much voltage is dropped along the wire, and performance suffers. Using 220 cuts the current in half, and with it the voltage drop. Another possible issue is a fault in the wiring. The power deficiency you describe seems pretty severe and if it is not due to a saw defect and unless you have an extremely long run from the panel, you should check for a possibly hazardous wiring problem. Incidentally, the electric bill is for energy, not current, so 220 will not save money unless the performance gain is large enough that it reduces the time the saw has to run. You'll probably have to cut a whole lot of wood to notice a savings.
Jim
I had an electrician friend over yesterday and he said the same thing more or less. My garage only had one outlet and I had been using extension cords to power the saw. We realized that when I had the problem ripping the 2X4 I may have used the 50' cord. That alone would probably acount for it. I still havent decided on going with 220 or not. It might be worthwhile to have a 22o circuit anyway. Thanks for the input.
"How about wiring it for 220? mine can barely rip a 2X4 as it is."
Sounds to me like something's amiss. With good alignment and the proper blade, you should be able to rip to full blade height at a reasonable feedrate. If you're 110v circuit has high voltage losses, you might benefit from switching to 220v, but any significant savings to your utility bill are a myth. The amount of energy consumed is the same. The percent of voltage loss on a 220v circuit is likely to be lower than with a 110v circuit, so the motor may run more efficientlydepending on the severity of the losses you may have at 110v. So you don't really get "more" power, you just get what you theoretically should have been getting all along, so there may be some relative inverse gain by eliminating loss.
I'd check the pulley alignment, the belt tension, blade/fence alignment, blade sharpness, blade selection, and likely upgrade to a 3/8"x4' link belt first, just to cover the basics...the alignment and blade are especially important. I never had a need to change the pulleys on mine, but that doesn't mean yours wouldn't benefit from an upgrade...usually bad pulleys result in noticeable vibration. A link belt cured any vibration issues I had.
Edited 2/24/2006 6:43 am ET by scotty
I have a 50-185 for about two years and think it was a great choice of saws. If you are looking for a better splitter, go to the woodcraft site and search on merlin splitter. I have been using one since I got my saw. Easy on and easy off. I also made a blade guard similar to the one Penn State Industries sells for about $200. Mine cost a few hours and about $50.
I am glad to see that the smaller link belt is available. I tired the larger one and it was a disaster. In-Line industries does not make the trunion pulley as it is an odd sized shaft.
Enjoy the saw...
I talked to john at woodcraft and he said that one of the delta upgrade kits would work so I ordered it. I would love to see some picks of the splitter and guard that you made.
You didn't mention what blade you put on the saw. I don't know about General, but most saws come with a blade best suited to be fitted out as a clock for the shop.
Fortunately this one didnt come with a blade. I bought several CMT blades, and picked up a cheap plywood blade at homedepot.I think this saw will come around. I just haven't set up a piece of machinery in years. After I get my link belt and new pulleys I am going to try to align the blade. I have been reading old articles and have a fair idea how to do it. I wish I could rent a gauge somewhere. I hate to but one just to use once every year or so.
Thylacine, regarding two comments:
1. 220 - do it. I was running my Powermatic 64A the same way w/ extension cord and inadequate wiring in the garage (I'm getting ready to install a subpanel). At some point you will probably have another machine that is or can be 220, and it is nice to have that availability for the bigger equipment. The difference on my saw was pretty amazing. Not a huge power gain, but certainly better. And it is amazing how quickly it comes up to speed. Voltage drop can be significant between inadequate wiring and an extension cord. Plus, with only one 110 receptacle right now I was always plugging/unplugging. The 220 was already there, so I just switched the saw over. I made a short extension cord for about $15 in materials.
2. Dial indicator - you don't have to get the Align-It setup. I finally got a indicator for $20 and for another $20 you can get the magnetic base. I have used it to setup and check several tools now, so it is a pretty cheap investment considering what we spend on everything else.
Jake
I have owned my General 350 since 1988 and it had been in use many times in a shop I once owned. It has performed very well.
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