Thread: Table saw recommendations...again...Harvey HW110LGE-30??

I think both saws are great, with the Sawstop having the added safety feature but at a decent price premium and also carrying the ongoing cost of cartridge replacements due to mistakes and possible miss-fires. You'll also need a Dado cartridge if yoh intend on running a Dado stack and will need to swap catridges each time you switch from a regular blade to a dado.

I don't think you will go wrong with either. The Harvey is a great saw and will save you a heap of money whilst the Sawstop is also a great saw by all accounts and may give you peace of mind.

I'm curious if you already have a good set of tools, like a nice bandsaw for example or a good cyclone dust collector? If not, and you don't have the budget to buy all the other major tools you might want I'd suggest that the extra money may serve you better spent on these than the Sawstop. Particularly a good dust collector, which in my mind is a far better, and guaranteed, safety device than the sawstop. Dust is guaranteed to affect your health long term, and you'll always be wondering/stressing about health issues that may be brewing (which used to keep me up at night before getting a Clearvue) whereas you can go to bed easy knowing you haven't cut a finger off (you'd know) and it's in your control to prevent it.

Having said that, I am yet to hear anyone regret buying a Sawstop so I don't think you'll regret either choice.

Cheers, Dom

I bought a SawStop and glad I did. Triggered the safety mechanism with a resultant slight scratch on my thumb. If the cartridge is triggered by a hand/flesh SawStop replace it free of charge. I did have to buy a new blade a small price to pay for my thumb that I am quite and still attached to.

Cheers, Bucky

Thanks for your advice Midnight Man. I take your point that the 3HP Harvey is the one to compare with the SawStop Professional which has the same power motor. Since I posted yesterday I’ve seen the 3HP Harvey 110LGE-30 advertised at Bigger Boyz Toyz for $2199. So that makes it less than half the price of the SawStop! That’s tempting.

I also take your point about the “finger on the floor “ scenario and that, despite all care taken, accidents do happen. In that awful case $2,300 in the bank might not be sufficient financial compensation, quite apart from the pain and trauma!

I’ve been using a Triton table saw for many years on and off, and more recently a Dewalt table saw, neither of which have the SawStop feature of course. So far I have all my fingers and both thumbs. However it may be that I’ve used up my quota of good fortune. Until it happens no one can be sure.

However if it does happen, I would, like you, rather be using a SawStop. The other reason for me to go with SawStop is that I can buy locally from Carbatec. I don’t know how they compare with other companies for after sales care; but at least I don’t need to get on a plane to talk to them in person.

I guess that you have been happy with your SawStop. Have you ever managed to trigger the stop mechanism accidentally by earthing the saw blade via something metallic or by using damp wood?

Thanks again for your input which I really appreciate.

Originally Posted by ozcroz

Have you ever managed to trigger the stop mechanism accidentally by earthing the saw blade via something metallic or by using damp wood?

I haven't yet, nor do I recall reading of a case where that has happened - logic tells me though that unintended triggers could happen, I just cannot recall off the top of my head reading about one.

Originally Posted by DomAU

I think both saws are great, with the Sawstop having the added safety feature but at a decent price premium and also carrying the ongoing cost of cartridge replacements due to mistakes and possible miss-fires. You'll also need a Dado cartridge if yoh intend on running a Dado stack and will need to swap catridges each time you switch from a regular blade to a dado.

I don't think you will go wrong with either. The Harvey is a great saw and will save you a heap of money whilst the Sawstop is also a great saw by all accounts and may give you peace of mind.

I'm curious if you already have a good set of tools, like a nice bandsaw for example or a good cyclone dust collector? If not, and you don't have the budget to buy all the other major tools you might want I'd suggest that the extra money may serve you better spent on these than the Sawstop. Particularly a good dust collector, which in my mind is a far better, and guaranteed, safety device than the sawstop. Dust is guaranteed to affect your health long term, and you'll always be wondering/stressing about health issues that may be brewing (which used to keep me up at night before getting a Clearvue) whereas you can go to bed easy knowing you haven't cut a finger off (you'd know) and it's in your control to prevent it.

Having said that, I am yet to hear anyone regret buying a Sawstop so I don't think you'll regret either choice.

Cheers, Dom

Thanks Dom for your input.

Unfortunately I don’t have a nice bandsaw yet. I use a DeWalt 7491XE table saw (10”) and a Bosch 12” Miter saw. My only dust collection device is a Karcher 6WP vacuum which I connect manually to the saw I am using at the time. This has a nice feature which turns on the vacuum when the device plugged in to the auxiliary power output is switched on; when the saw is turned off the vacuum runs for a number of seconds after to clear the vacuum line. That is my only concession to dust collection and I’m afraid it is less than completely satisfactory.

I have the usual hand power tools like drills, sanders, circular saw, jig saw and router. I recently added a cheap bench top drill press. As part of the current upgrade exercise I started looking at jointers and planers first as I thought I could afford a small one of each. At first I was thinking of a 6” Jointer and a 13” benchtop planer. I have looked at H&F, Timbecon and Carbatec for these products and oscillated between 6” & 8” Jointer and 13” to 16” thicknesser.

Of course rather than keep it simple I then looked at Tablesaws and wondered why I recently bought a DeWalt because I thought I couldn’t afford a “real” table saw with proper ground cast iron top with standard size slots. I chose the DeWalt because it was the closest thing to a “real” table saw with rack & pinion fence movement, “fairly” standard slots and provision for mounting a dado blade set on the arbor. I figured I could manage with home made extension tables. I’ve since been frustrated using nominal dimensioned pine which I would like to size accurately to better follow the plans I draw in Sketchup.

Ideally I would purchase all of the above mentioned tools plus a decent dust collection system.

The dust thrown at me from the DeWalt saw is a nuisance and I wondered if the dust collection from a SawStop Professional would solve this (SawStop claim 99% dust collection). I thought maybe the Harvey would be comparable to the SawStop for dust collection and with the money saved I could purchase one or more of the other tools. So I keep going round in circles.

I need to decide to get the SawStop I think for the safety insurance it will afford. I would certainly welcome your advice regarding the priority I should give for the other tools if I follow this course of action.

I appreciate your feedback. Cheers, ozcroz.

Originally Posted by Bucky

I bought a SawStop and glad I did. Triggered the safety mechanism with a resultant slight scratch on my thumb. If the cartridge is triggered by a hand/flesh SawStop replace it free of charge. I did have to buy a new blade a small price to pay for my thumb that I am quite and still attached to.

Cheers, Bucky

Thanks for your input Bucky. It sounds like your close call is confirmation that you made the right decision in buying the SawStop. I think I am persuaded.

Cheers, ozcroz.

Hey Dom,

I’ve just posted a lengthy reply to you which had to go to a moderator because I think I was logged out.

so hopefully the reply will appear here soon.

Thanks for your input. Cheers, ozcroz.

Today I was working away on the saw running dados in some MDF. Absent mindedly pushed the sheet with my hand at the rear of the sheet and missed the blade by about two centremeters.

Makes you think.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by ozcroz

Hey Dom,

I’ve just posted a lengthy reply to you which had to go to a moderator because I think I was logged out.

so hopefully the reply will appear here soon.

Thanks for your input. Cheers, ozcroz.

Hi ozcroz,

Without a proper dust collector eg. 3HP or larger system (Please look up various dust collection threads or Bill Pentz's site as this is a big topic in and of itself) the Sawstop will do little to help your dust collection issues unfortunately.

Based on your situation, I, personally, would be inclined to forego the Sawstop for a Harvey and put the money towards dust collection, combination planer-thicknesser, bandsaw etc - obviously there would only be enough (maybe not quite enough) for one of these but I think you would be better served in your woodworking investing that extra money there.

The Harvey is a solid, good quality table saw. I have spent many tens of thousands of dollars on hand and power tools the last couple of years as I've gotten right into it and to be honest I have never once thought; I would really like to upgrade to a Sawstop. The Harvey is a really great saw that leaves me not wanting any more.

Now the Sawstop has the safety feature and it's a good thing for sure. If you ever cut yourself badly or cut off a finger etc you'll wish you had have had one. And if you knew you were going to cut off a digit you'd gladly pay the $2000+ premium to get it back. But the way I see it, I'd be paying $2000+ dollars to remove a maybe 1 in 1000? chance, if I'm careful, of doing so. Which places the premium at closer to $2million dollars on a risk-based approach. Not worth it for me, but everyone has to make that decision for themselves and I'd hate for you to have an accident and regret it - it's just not for me. I'd also be worried about ongoing cost of missfires, or when hitting a nail, or staple, or wet timber, or whatever.

To me, risks that are within my control and consequences I am instantly aware of are far less stressful than ones that I cannot measure, properly assess or control. Hence inhaling wood dust, a known carcinogen, is far more stressful to me as I know for a fact its damaging my lungs to some extent, I can't be sure what it's going to do to me in the long-term (accute sensitivity, cancer, heart disease, etc) and there is no way I can check this - unlike counting my fingers after I stop woodworking. So until I sorted my dust collection, the unknown and uncertainty, as well as sinuses and mild sensitivity, kept me awake at night. The thought of losing a finger never has me losing sleep or worrying - although I'm sure I'll be in pain and upset if I ever do!

Anyway, I guess with your limited range of the key power tools (bandsaw, planer thicknesser, dust collector system) I'd suggest you save the cash on the Sawstop and put it towards those tools. Unless you know you will have the cash and end up buying top-shelf everything in the end anyway and it isn't a question of needing to compromise or prioritise - then buy your last tool first and if that's the Sawstop for your tablesaw then go for it. If that's the case I'd also suggest a Clearvue Cyclone, a helical head 12" planer-thicknesser (or seperate large helical head machines) and a good 16"-18" Bandsaw.

Cheers, Dom

The SawStop can be triggered accidentally by a nail or damp timber. However, the SawStop does have an override whereby the safety switch can be bypassed if one is concerned about the condition of the timber. Once the machine is shut off it resets so there is no chance of forgetting to reset. I consider myself to be very safety conscious around machinery and it may have been a 1 in 1000 chance, but when using machines regularly that 1 in 1000 comes up eventually.

Cheers Bucky

Thanks dazzler for your input. I’m sure glad for you that you missed the blade!

Yes it does make you think! Despite experience and careful procedures a second’s in attention can be disastrous. So it makes sense to have safety features working for you.

Just saw an add from Carbatec - 15% off all thicknessers and this is following a recent reduction in price on Jet of approx 15%. A 12" Jet combination with helical head is going for $3399- . That's a super good price and would require just a little additional spend if you got the Harvey vs Sawstop. I would far rather have a 12" helical head, quality combo and a Harvey than any Sawstop. But then I wouldn't even pay $500 more for a sawstop.

Just letting you know because you said you also need a planer and thicknesser.

Cheers, Dom

Originally Posted by DomAU

Just saw an add from Carbatec - 15% off all thicknessers and this is following a recent reduction in price on Jet of approx 15%. A 12" Jet combination with helical head is going for $3399

That is an incredibly good price - assuming it's the 310HH, I paid $4600 for mine about 6 months ago.

Let me go find that "kick me" button

I have been thinking of getting one of these https://www.carbatec.com.au/search?P...arch=MIC-GR200. From the You Tube videos it looks like it would greatly reduce the chance of an accident