New Granite Topped Tablesaw From Steel City

[Gotcha6]

I remember being told some years ago by a hotrod buff that in the flathead V8 days, Ford would season and anneal their their engine blocks to make them more rigid. It could be that these cast iron components aren't getting that chance since China's buying every bit of scrap they can get their hands on. I like the granite idea, though. Who'da thunkit?

 

[NCPete]

I remember being told some years ago by a hotrod buff that in the flathead V8 days, Ford would season and anneal their their engine blocks to make them more rigid. It could be that these cast iron components aren't getting that chance since China's buying every bit of scrap they can get their hands on. I like the granite idea, though. Who'da thunkit?

I don't think that would have worked very well in the manufacturing supply chain.... But I do know some guys that were happy to find junk-yard motors in good shape! seasoned naturally:lol:

 

[Nativespec]

After reading all these comments it appears that everyone has already damaged their new saw.

 

[thrytis]

Jerry's experience with the mis-alignment in cast iron doesn't surprise me with a start-up firm like Steel City -- they may be using some of the same SE Asian factories as other US companies like Jet, Delta and Grizzly, but they clearly don;t have their own quality control apparatus in place to resolve these issues before they get to the customer. Grizzly tackled all of these problems in their early years and I think they are pretty well eliminated now. My Grizzly G1023slx table saw wings and top are shim-free -- they even sent me an extra C.I. wing when I bought the extension version.

It isn't just Steel City having issues with cast iron. Delta had to send me a new wing because mine wasn't milled right. According to the sticker on the machine, this was made in the US, not China.

I'm not going to rush out and be the first one to buy a granite top tablesaw, but if they can produce these flat within 0.002", i'll be impressed! My table isn't anywhere close to that. I guess time will tell if there are any significant drawbacks to granite, and if not we'll likely be seeing them on other manufacturer's saws.

 

[newtonc]

Jerry's experience with the mis-alignment in cast iron doesn't surprise me with a start-up firm like Steel City -- they may be using some of the same SE Asian factories as other US companies like Jet, Delta and Grizzly, but they clearly don;t have their own quality control apparatus in place to resolve these issues before they get to the customer. Grizzly tackled all of these problems in their early years and I think they are pretty well eliminated now. My Grizzly G1023slx table saw wings and top are shim-free -- they even sent me an extra C.I. wing when I bought the extension version.

I don't know if I'd call Steel City a start up company.True,it's new.But it was started by x-ceo's,sales,and the designers from Delta.They left Delta due to it's going in a bad direction(being bought by Black and Decker).They are being made in the same factories,but with any new product/company you have to expect them to have some wrinkles to iron out for the fisrt few years.

 

[walnutjerry]

It isn't just Steel City having issues with cast iron. Delta had to send me a new wing because mine wasn't milled right. According to the sticker on the machine, this was made in the US, not China.

It is good for me to know other makers are having issues with cast iron. However, that is no comfort when you have to deal with the issue after plunking down a lot of money. My experience with the wings has been a dissappointment to say the least. I do not remember seeing this problem with the older saws. I have not seen it on the Powermatic or General saws. So is it poor casting and machining or poor quality control?

Jerry

 

[thrytis]

It is good for me to know other makers are having issues with cast iron. However, that is no comfort when you have to deal with the issue after plunking down a lot of money. My experience with the wings has been a dissappointment to say the least. I do not remember seeing this problem with the older saws. I have not seen it on the Powermatic or General saws. So is it poor casting and machining or poor quality control?

Jerry

From looking at the rough machining on part of my replacement wing, i could support the poor machining theory. It is still flat overall, but it has pretty deep texture to it. I wouldn't think casting would be an issue since machining should fix up any problems with that. Other possibilites could be the quality of iron (no idea if this could be a problem), or that the parts aren't aged long enough before machining and warp.

I can see granite being a cost savings because of no aging required. You aren't tying up capital in the tops for 6+ months, you don't have to have space to store 6+ months of tops, you don't have to have 6+ months of lead time to release a new product, and you don't have to anticipate your demand 6+ months in advance. (Six months is a number i heard someone else state for cast iron aging time, but i have no idea how accurate it is).

 

[Travis Porter]

Good luck with trying to find somewhere to mill the wings or top. I cound not find any company or anyone in Raleigh that could mill anything wider than 8 inches.

 

[walnutjerry]

Good luck with trying to find somewhere to mill the wings or top. I cound not find any company or anyone in Raleigh that could mill anything wider than 8 inches.

There is a company---"GrindTech"--- within 3 miles of my house that says they can do the job. We were talking about machining the edges which are about 2" wide. However, I got the impression they could do the top of the wings also.

Jerry

 

[Gofor]

re: the granite top: Wonder how that 2" thick top will affect depth of cut.
however, with the granite top, it would also make a superb surface for flattening planes and for the "scary" sharpening method!

Go

 

[Bryan S]

re: the granite top: Wonder how that 2" thick top will affect depth of cut.
however, with the granite top, it would also make a superb surface for flattening planes and for the "scary" sharpening method!

Go

Theres a post at SMC where someone talked to a rep and was told they moved the position of the trunoins to allow full blade height