Well I was home for 1 day. Right back up to MD early tomorrow for the week.
But I spent a few hours (about 4 actually) putting my new saw together.
Thought I'd do a quick write-up for anyone contemplating the purchase.
Heaviest box was 425 lbs but the way it's packed, along with my son, we were
able to slide it off the back of a pickup on to the floor. Hint - lay it on
it's side in the truck when you pick it up - the packaging handles it fine
and it's real easy to unload that way - just slide it and tip it down to the
floor.
The banded box top lifts right off. 2 bolts in a wooden skid release it from
the skid - two of us lifted it - swmbo slid the skid out - I might very well
regret that tomorrow. I elected to leave the plastic cover and table
preservative on while assembling the extensions and rails - no particular
reason except I wanted to make only 1 mess when I cleaned and treated the
table later.
No scratches, dents etc. to be found. Followed the direction and found most
of setup to be uneventful. Small issues hardly worth mentioning:
1. The tapped holes (6) in the actual fence guide weren't real easy to get
started at first - I turned it over and sort of eased the bolts into and out
of the threads a few time to be sure I wouldn't snap them off. If I'd had a
tap, I would have been tempted to run it through there to clean them up a
little.
2. You will have to drill holes (wood only) to mount the side table. No big
deal. BUT - the directions show the legs for the ext table in such a fashion
that you can't quite tell where they mount - be sure to mount them on the
side that will NOT interfere with the last bolt in the guide rail - it's
easy to do !
3. Have a set of metric allen wrenches handy - they send you a couple but
not all you need.
4. If I had it to do again, I'd replace all the 1/4 20 HW they sent with
better quality - every time I tightened one, I kept feeling like I needed to
be really careful.
5. Once you've figured out the hole pattern in the rout lift - it goes
together easily as well.
I have to say, after messing about with probably half a dozen router tables
over the years, I shocked at the complexity of this router lift. Man, we've
come a long way. This is quite a piece of machinery - I only hope the mdf
table extension it sits in is up to the task. I think I'm going to put a
layer of something (suggestions ?) under the router plate for the leveling
screws to sit on though.
All in all, I'm extremely happy. Those few things I mentioned above don't
amount to a hill of beans. The quality and fit/finish of this tool really
is very nice - first class. I didn't see a reason to shim/trim anything
right now.
I'm ready to start cutting but I don't have my 22o circuit over to it yet.
I did put a coat of Boeshield on the table though - check out the tests on
this (and other cleaner/preserve products) in the latest Wood mag.
More later.
jim bailey