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I use the saw for cabinet making, rough cutting of full dimension rough sawn lumber, dado-ing and ripping. I purchased mine with an Excaliber cross cut left side table which allows me to cross cut 4 x 8 and cabinet sized sheets with no additional assistance.
It is solidly made, continually runs smooth and is very precise. I have owned my saw for almost 8 years and have not had any problems with it.
This will include aligning the tables and trueing up the arbor to the table and the stops; trust me it is well worth the time spent. It has plenty of power and does not require constant adjustment.
You will however need to spend some time setting it up properly. I also purchased and HTC outfeed table which is extremely helpful when handling large sheet or long peices.
I highly recommend this saw to both professional and serious 'hobby' woodworkers, it is a real workhorse.
I've owned this saw for over 20 years now and it works as well today as the day I bought it. I'd be cautious about buying their PM2000 as it's foreign made and seems inferior in quality. The PM66 is still made in America. With an occasional oiling of the gears and waxing of the top this saw will last longer than a life time.
Had this saw for a little over 2 years now. Works like crazy and just laughs at the tough stuff. Precise, stable, predictable and a joy to use. If you want to use the good blades and do the good work, you need this saw or one very similar.
As far as how the saw works and cuts, I have nothing but praise. Powermatic knows this and has provided an arbor lock on their Model 1000 series. However, my only pet peeve is I can't stand having to use a piece of wood to keep the arbor from turning whenver I change blades. I know there are blade locks when using a single blade, but you still have to jam a 2X4 in there whenever you have to change a dado set. But, for the rest of us 66 owners, there is no relief. I have checked with my local Tool Zone and Woodcraft stores, and they both do not have or know of where an arbor lock/wrench can be acquired.
But my son and I suffered through the assembly and alignement over 2 beers (for me) and a pop (for him). Thought it looked funny when I unpacked it especially when I pulled the two pieces of angle iron out of the carton, but I have been using this saw now for near 5 months and am truly convinced that PM is by far an exceptional piece of machinery. Impressive manual and easy to follow instructions provided you go slow and pay close attention to each detail as you progress in the assembly process. hehe, I even missed an adjustment in the initial setup 5 months ago, (might have been the beers that night) but used the saw for 4 months and never noticed it until I tried to cut some complex miter joints. Absolutely no problems with assembly or adjustments and alignments. Heavy metal needs 4 hands in some cases, but that is what my son was there for. Oh My God, this saw is a dream, but when I first unpacked it and saw the 2 7 foot long pieces of angle iron I was VERY SKEPTICAL. I suppose from looking at the earlier reviews, the WMH Tool group may have had some problems in the past but as far as i am concerned, I am CONVINCED that POWERMATIC has been the best bang for my buck in a long time.
Man this saw is about as good as anyone could expect, spend the time, go slow, follow the instructions, hehe dont just look at the pictures, and trust them to get you through the set up, you will be glad you invested the time. It is HEAVY, QUIET, VIBRATION FREE (or at least very close to vibration free). And 5 months down the road. FORREST is a perfect match for this saw. total time near 3 hours to first spin of the blade. Dug out the manual and reviewed the setup procedure and 20 minutes later recut the miter joints.
The saw cuts like a dream, blades do make a difference, have experimented with a few different brands and agree with other reviews. The fence is wonderful. wa-lah perfect. you wont care how much the saw cost you in dollars, it is worth every penny.
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