There are several questions in there so I'll answer them as best I can.
I can see that a lot would be easier, and maybe I would keep the PM 66 still, but I have a hard time with a vertical panel saw. I get to go to a cabinet shop where I work when I go to Kansas City and they have one they paid $20K for. Pneumatic hold downs, power up and down, it is a sweet, but huge machine, and way out of my league. I have seen a few smaller ones, like at the BORG, but I just don't see how you will get as clean a cut or the level of accuracy that I want with one.
The Vertical Saws you see at the BORG are typically just above entry level equipment. All of the verticals from Safety Speed Cut or Saw Trax will give very accurate cuts on Plywood! Their accuracy is dependent primarily on the operator and while quick set-up for a slider is much easier on entry level (>$2,500) vertical saws. When you go to their middle of the line machines that argument is very limited. I recommend the "SR-5U from SSC which also comes with a router so you can do dados and the like on the same machine. There is a new saw manufacturer near Atlanta, GA, Saw-Trax and they offer some outstanding values in my opinion. I'm personal friends with the guys at Safety Speed Cut so I push folks to the established product, but my honest "unbiased" opinion is that currently Saw-Trax offers the best bang for your buck. They have a new bearing system to support the saw carriage that makes them significantly easier to use. I offer both products on our website,
www.factorynew.com.
On a vertical you move the saw through the material for cross cutting and for ripping you lock the carriage in place and push the material through.
You current impressions of this class of saw are likely due to who you've seen running them at the local BORG! I know when I worked for Lowe's in College we completely abused our saw and it was rarely maintained. If you wanted an accurate cut you could do one, but you had to pay attention which I confess we rarely did. Honestly me and a couple other guys were the only ones who knew enough about what was going on to get an accurate cut. We always fed folks the line it's got a 1/4" blade and that's as accurate as we could get.
Is it harder to do solid lumber on a slider?
Knowing what you do for a living and your background, what are your comments?
It's simply a matter putting the correct blade on the saw. Typically a slider is equipment with a minimum 80 tooth panel cutting blade. These quickly bog down cutting solid wood and so the impression spread throughout shops in the US that sliders don't cut solid wood. No one took the time to explain you just need to change the blade. These saws were typically sold to cabinet shops for panel cutting and shops using 32-mm style construction so they weren't cutting much solid wood. In europe they use sliders for straightline ripping and all of their general cutting.
Doug V, it sounds like we are in the same boat. I can see Bernhard's point as the Grizzly slider hasn't been around that long and I doubt they have worked the kinks out of it.
The CAM-WOOD slider we are importing comes from the same facility as some of GRIZZLY's sliders. Their GO501 is essentially the same as ours except they have a shorter table, we have a full 10-1/2' table for essentially $ 900 more.
I think the notion that GRIZZLY doesn't have the kinks out of their saws is moderatly accurate. The more accurate assesment is they don't have the kinks out of their sales force. I took a hard look at their jointer planer at AWFS and any question I had was met with a blank stare by a guy who said he was their lead technician!
As for the Rojek, I thought I heard somewhere they were in financial trouble, but I am not sure. As for the ones I have looked into, I have looked at the Hammer, Laguna, and Minimax. The others are out of my league in more ways than one.
I have heard zero rumors about Techmark the importer of Rojek being in financial trouble. It may be on the horizon but I haven't heard it. If you heard that from a competitor it's likely salesman BS. Of course I didn't see Whirlwind going under last month until I got a returned check on an order so who knows for sure.
Ultimately, I may beg to go to Bernhard's and use his for a while and see how it feels to work with one compared to a standard cabinet saw.
There's your best bet! Bum off of Bernhard! He certainly has one of the best saws on the market! I'd rate it in the top tier just below MARTIN and ALTENDORF and they way ALTENDORF is cheapening their saws who knows!
