Tablesaw Choices - I went Minimax SC3

[Pondracer]

I apologize in advance for not having contributed to this forum in a long time.  I recently decided to upgrade to a new saw as my neighbor bought my old saw at a decent price.  I didn't have to move it, so now was the time to do something crazy.  I had always wanted a SawStop, and I had always wanted a Euro style slider.  I ended up buying a Minimax SC3 primarily because of my interaction with their sales rep Sam Blasco.  He really understood where I was coming from in terms of precision, and my shop layout.  I wanted to pass along my experience with choosing this company and the result.

I will do my best to update this thread with the result of that decision.

[barryvabeach]

Love to see the photos when you have it up and running.

[daddo]

I looked it up- That's a nice saw with the outboard options!  I'd need a bigger shop, but a new saw wouldn't be enough excuse to tell my wife that.

[jteneyck]

Good on you.  If you have the room a slider makes a lot of sense.  Your decision is the same I would be faced with if I ever decided I wanted a new saw.  I look forward to your review of the new saw and how it is to use compared to a typical cabinet saw.    

John

[Pondracer]

Sorry for the delay, I have been fighting with SCM Group's customer service, and I didn't want the thread to spiral into a manufacturer bashing mess. For now, this is my decision process and how I came to end up ordering a Minimax table saw.

I had a Grizzly 1023Z for years and it was mated to an Incra TS fence system.  The whole thing sat in a ShopFox mobile base, and I didn't run a big right side table so I got away with not having extension legs.  The whole thing was wicked accurate, so long as about once every 1-2 years I pulled the fence and aligned the table.  Mostly I blame this on moving the saw on the base.  It doesn't get moved a lot, mostly just back and forth but still its not the best thing to be doing, though I am careful. It was so crazy stupid accurate that my neighbor lusted for it.  His son manufactured PC boards for these crazy Christmas light setups.  It was his home business and side work, but he was very successful at it and he loved my saw.  Hey 1/64th repeatability is worth something I guess, and he offered me about 65% of the retail price for the saw and fence.  I took it.  My excuse to upgrade.

I had always said if I had the money I would buy a Sawstop.  I played with the industrial version and it was a beautiful thing.  But one of the things I deal with often is my sled - meaning I use it a lot.  I make cutting boards lately, and in a lot of my other projects I require a 90 degree cut.  The sled is ok, but limited to 19" width.  I have a Rockler miter gage (sic), a cool piece but limited to the length of the slot.  I also buy a lot of rough lumber and end up screwing a guide into the boards to get my initial first edge. 

So there we are.  Sliding table saw.

It was either buy the Sawstop, which had one feature that my past rig didnt have, which happened to be a feature I also would end up hoping I would never use.  Or I buy a European slider and get a feature I would use often.  And hope to just keep my fingers out of the blade which to be quite honest has not been a problem so far.  I am a safety freak.

The Sawstop slider had bad reviews.  That left a Powermatic sliding table which I couldn't find as a current product.  I had two saws I looked at on the Euro side, the Hammer and the Minimax.  I never considered the Altendorf because I wanted a small saw, and I expected to buy a 5.5' version like the Minimax SC 2C.  I jostled around and contacted Sam with SCM/Minimax and he had an end of the year deal on a SC3, a 7.5' slider.  Well... So I measured and thought screw it, I will make it work.  I liked Sam, he was a good salesman.  He understood my obsession with accuracy and he had mated an Incra fence to his Minimax table saw.  He got it and he had more deals.  I almost pulled the trigger on the 16" planer/jointer combo too.  Thank goodness I didn't do that.

I ordered the saw at the end of December with a 12/27 ship date, and a 1/3/2018 projected arrival.  It was shipped to the business I work at where we have a full crew, unloading area and fudge (I guess we can't say "f0rk "?) lift to take care of my new baby.  Everyone was informed of the situation, and we waited for the truck to come.  I was out of the country (in China) but we were ready for the saw's arrival.  I was excited.  This was a serious piece of equipment that I fully expected to last me the rest of my life.  Italian/European design and quality.  Yes it was 3 times (or more) the cost of a western table saw, but I was getting one of the best saws money could buy.

Remember this.  If you are buying a piece of machinery that you expect to own for decades - the machinery is only one part of the purchase.  The company that stands behind it is as much if not more than the equipment itself.  You will have to buy parts.  You will need to call into support and ask questions.  The manufacturer's customer service is an essential part of the purchase.

[Tapper]

I hope you can bridge the squabble with SCM. I've never owned any of their products, but a friend who owned a millwork shop had at least a couple of their large machines in his operation until the fire that took his business, spoke positively of the equipment.

I'll preface my response by saying that I am a Sawstop owner (PCS) and am known on these pages as a supporter of the product. I bought my saw on an introductory Field Test program they offered at a discount ($2,500, which included free shipping). After using it for a period of time (six weeks IIRC) I filled out their questionnaire about its performance and my view of this model and the company. After sending it in to them, they later sent me a "parts package" of several mods they had made to the saw as a result of feedback during this time, at no cost to me. That was many years ago now and I'm still glad I bought this saw (so far no cartridge fires). I sold my Unisaw and never looked back.

About a month ago I had an occasion to call their CS dept. with a couple of questions (hadn't called them in years). Can't remember the gent's name but he was courteous, informative, cordial and never rushed the call. I only mention this because of the statement you made about "the machinery is only part of the purchase." There is an old saying relative to doing business that I've found to always be true, "people buy from people they like", it never changes. Best of luck with your situation.

Doug

[fredhargis]

I'll be interested to see more of your comment on the Minimax. One thing, there was a lengthy thread over at LJ. The poster there had just bought a MiniMax J/p (I think) and ran into some problems with Sam, at one point he (Sam) threatened to hang up the phone on the customer. Don't want this to go sideways, just curious that he acted that way....maybe it was a different Sam.

[Pondracer]

Thanks Tapper.  I liked the Sawstop too, its a quality piece of machinery.  For me, when I was looking back at the operations I was doing that were the most unsafe it was almost always with the sled or miter.  I am doing more larger boxes too, some guitar cabinets and the kitchen remodel is coming up.  So more boxes and those big cross cuts looked more enjoyable on the slider.

[Pondracer]

So the saw shows up on 1/3 right as I am coming out of immigrations at the airport.  My guys at the store call me and are worried because the end of the crate has popped off.  They send me some pictures, and I call Pauline Hall in shipping to ask her what we should do.  She doesnt pickup, but I leave a voicemail and we wait.  She never calls back, not that day... not the next day.  Not that week.  While I am driving over they look it over, the driver marks up the delivery paperwork with the noted problem with the crate.  There is no visible damage, the crate is totally unmarked, only the end has popped off because the saw shifted in the crate.  The knob that pushed out the crate seems fine, just a little very minor abrasion  So we unload and take it.  Here are some pics of what we saw.



And here is the side where the saw had pushed up against the crate.



And one last shot of the crate end.  This is only place where the plastic that the saw was wrapped in was even tore.  In the end the main unit was perfectly fine (or at least I think so), not even the side that was against the crate was scratched.

[giradman]

I apologize in advance for not having contributed to this forum in a long time.  I recently decided to upgrade to a new saw as my neighbor bought my old saw at a decent price.  I didn't have to move it, so now was the time to do something crazy.  I had always wanted a SawStop, and I had always wanted a Euro style slider.  I ended up buying a Minimax SC3 primarily because of my interaction with their sales rep Sam Blasco.  He really understood where I was coming from in terms of precision, and my shop layout.  I wanted to pass along my experience with choosing this company and the result.

Hi Pondracer - looking forward to your future posts - but just for my understanding (and others who may not be familiar w/ the Euro sliding saws), is the machine being discussed the one shown below or are there other models?  Thanks - Dave