New purchase for the "shop"

[russellellis]

Saturday i was going through my dresser and found a gift card to HD that i forgot about. It was expired by about 2 months. But we decided to head up there anyway. needed new two inch blinds for the rooms as we are finishing them up. Grabbed 8 blinds and then saw the Ridgid 3650 on the floor was marked down. On sale i thought. But it was actually because they were moving them out for the 3660's to come in. This was a minute or two after closing and they were actually cutting off the lights and i asked him to help us load up one since it was marked down to $467. Figured that with the 10% coupon i had, it would at least make a decent deal that would be hard to come by other than a used saw. Got to the counter and asked them first to check out the gift card. The cashier said it really didnt matter how old it was, they still generally take them if it doest look suspicious. It had 250 on it. I nearly passed out thinking about how ive had 250 bucks laying around i didnt even know about. i never even checked to see how much was on it when i got it. ugggh.
well they rang up the saw and it came up as 549 because it was a 3660 instead of a 3650. we called for the tool dept to bring a 3650 out and the guy came up without a saw. i started to fume just seeing him walk up without a saw especially when he informed me that there were no more 3650s in the store............so they were going to give me the 3660 for the same price. sweet!!!!! so all in all. so all in all i got $280 worth of blinds and a saw for 541 bucks. but i like to think i got the saw for 217 and the blinds for 280.

 

[nelsone]

Sounds like you scored pretty well! Nice find on the gift card! Glad everything worked out for you!

 

[TracyP]

YOU ROCK!
I have the 3650 and for my uses it is a darn good saw. No troubles whatsoever. You will enjoy it. The herculift instructions were a little vague but if you apply common sense "I had to borrow some":rotflm:, it goes together well.

 

[Bas]

Oh man, YOU ROCK. It's a good think I'm so happy with my own saw, or you would have SUCKED on this one. A TS3660 for $217? Un-smeggin'-believable. I'm tempted to go buy one just so I can gloat along with you. :icon_thum:icon_thum

If the police show up at your door, it's because that was a STEAL! :tool::tool::tool:

 

[russellellis]

aw man, i messed up my own "gloat". even with that long long ramble of a story. the math should have been 182 for the saw and 280 for the blinds.

 

[Bas]

Don't matter, still an awesome gloat. Discount, upgraded model, gift card, this story has all the gloat elements, math is optional

 

[cskipper]

You Rock! That's what you call a deal!!!!!!!!!!

 

[LeftyTom]

Ah, the idle rich. Toss $250 in the sock drawer, and forget about it. :rotflm:

You ROCK.

 

[NCPete]

Un-smeggin'-believable.

Watching more Red Dwarf, Bas????



Great deal on the saw!

 

[Canuck]

What a SUPER deal there, Russell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now you know that you have to ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!

By the way. I would be interested in knowing how the 3660 compares to the 3650. Would you have time to do a quick review for our members?

Enjoy and saw safe!

Wayne

 

[Don Sorensen]

Yes, I'd be interested in a review/summary of the differences between the 3650 and 3660. Some time ago, I'd read the number one complaint about the 3650 was the flimsy legs...and it every case it was a BORG assembly problem and not the actual hardware....the 3650 came out to be a darn nice saw.
So I have to wonder about the "improvements"....

 

[russellellis]

i was kinda freaked out when i started to unpack it wondering....oh crap why did i buy something i hadnt checked out first. but when they start turning out the lights on you, you kinda do things without thinking. so last night i sat and read a million pages online about the 3660. supposedly from other reviews...the only things that are different are the legs are beefier, the hurculift is more fluid and the 3660 has (maybe) a little less table behind the blade.
i can deal with the first two. eh, the 3rd one isnt too bad either. i should have time later tonight to start assembling it. ill see what i find in the next week or so.

 

[Bryan S]

Nice gloat/deal Russel. Its allways good to bring new toys er tools in the shop

 

[Trent Mason]

Very nice score Russell!!!! :headbang:

Trent

 

[JimmyC]

Nice score Bro', It never hurts to find $250, eh? Well good luck with the saw:icon_thum.

Jimmy

 

[KC7CN]

Good for you. Home Depot has treated me good on the few tools I have purchased from them. One thing for sure, they don't want you to go to Lowe's :no:.

Enjoy...

Don

 

[Gofor]

That was a steal for sure!! If you have any problems on assembly/set-up, visit the Ridgid forum at www.Ridgid.com and look for the TS3650 assembly thread or just PM me. Believe it or not, one of the areas most difficult and causing the most problems for people is getting the splitter assy straight and aligned behind the blade. If they haven't changed the manual from the 3650, there is an adjustment not covered in it that makes it much easier.
Congrats on a stellar buy!!

Go

 

[toolman]

[PIE]WOW YOU ROCK!!![/PIE]

:wav:

 

[russellellis]

For those who wanted a review of the saw. I spent last night assembling it and giving it a test run. It took me 3 hours and 15 minutes, give or take a few, to assemble it by myself, since i didnt have a helper. I decided to put the wings on after i uprighted the saw since i was concerned about being able to get it on its feet with the entire table on. This actually made it very easy to set up.

If the main difference between the 3650 and 3660 is beefier legs, then i feel sorry for anyone with a 3650. I really highly doubt these legs are beefier at all. they have shakes and twists in them. i KNOW im going to pick up some steel to reinforce them in the next few weeks or so. It seems they cheaped out when designing the feet of support of the legs. They could have welded the heavy gauge steel directly to the leg instead of the user having to use two nuts to sandwich it in place. Which makes leveling it quick a chore. One complaint is the mish mash of metric and standard size nuts and bolts. And my supposed 1/2" bolts for the wings are not even close. either that or craftsman, snap-on, and stanley all have different ideas of what 1/2" is. werent metric either. my only other real complaint is with the motor pin bolts. One of them is almost completely obstructed and without a very thin wrench, almost impossible to tighten up.
BUT... all that is just whining when it comes to the actual saw. I am so far extremely pleased with it. Without having to shim the rails, or adjusting the fence, it came almost dead on perfectly parallel. Very satisfying. I know i can get it closer but im going to roll with it for now. I dont think i need to upgrade to a Biesmeyer or any other aftermarket fence. This one is pretty **** nice. Not sure if its the same as the one from the 3650 or not. I ran a piece of 1/2" oak through on all four sides and it came out square across all diagonals and directions. The blade is definitely just suited for ripping and not fine work, but it had no problem going through a 10 year old piece of 2 1/8" red oak. Didnt feel it struggle at all, but the chipping was something not worth seeing.

 

[Canuck]

Thanks for the detailed review, Rusell!!!:wsmile::wsmile:

It sounds like it is a winner to me! Like most saws, an aftermarket blade can make a world of difference.

I am quite sure that you will be very happy with this saw for some time to come!:icon_thum:icon_thum:icon_thum

Enjoy it and please stay safe. (Oh ya. Leave the guard and kickback fingers on. I had my first taste of kickback yesterday and fortunately I got out of the way of flying plywood frisbie in time! The guard stays put from now on!!!)

Thanks Again!

Wayne