Euro Saws

Shopsmith put out one of these at some point in the 1980s called the
SawSmith 2000. It did not sell very well and was discontinued. See it
at:

http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/faq/sawsmith2000.htm

Dave Hall

On Mon, 11 Jul 2005 12:56:45 -0700, charlie b <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Going through the Sept 2004 issue of The Woodworker, published in
>England, I came acrossed two interesting truly hybrid portable (bench
>top) “table saws” that didn’t look like anything I’d seen before , One
>by Elektra Beckum is called the Secanta and the other by - who else? -
>Festool - called the Precisio CS50 EB (don’t them Eyetalyan names
>conjure up images of ridiculously fast, “what the hell was THAT?!”
>automobiles - not just cars?)
>
>Unlike the more familiar U.S. Contractor’s saw with a tilting fixed
>blade, these units also allowed for pulling the blade forward - an
>upside down radial arm saw. And rather than have the fence fixed at the
>front and back, with a separate cross cut miter/mitre fence, these saws
>attach the fence to either side of, or the front of, the saw table. The
>Elektra Beckum took it one step further by allowing the saw to be
>rotated in the horizontal plane as well.
>
>At 1,200 and 1,075 pounds sterling, these units are in the low to mid
>price range of a good cabinet saw. But add in a 12 inch sliding
>compound miter saw’s cost and the capabilities per unit cost gets more
>attractive. And both units have an integral set of legs rather than the
>sheet metal folding “stands” that are extra on most U.S.
>
>Since most of us have limited shop space, often shared with the washer,
>dryer AND a car or two, you have to wonder why these types of
>combination units aren’t available in the U.S. market. When you look
>at the Festool “System” of bench/work table, plunge saw and router with
>fence, . . ., other than the astronomical prices, why aren’t they more
>popular? We can’t ALL be frugal Yankees.
>
>Anyone out there have experience with either of these units?
>
>charlie b

On Mon, 11 Jul 2005 12:56:45 -0700, charlie b <[email protected]>
wrote:

>these units also allowed for pulling the blade forward - an
>upside down radial arm saw.

Scheppach also did one a few years ago. It was great for cross-cutting,
pretty lousy at ripping. So it was popular with shopfitters and their
like doing on-site tubafour carpentry. Or at least with well-heeled
carpenters in Germany, as it was very expensive.

So it's too flimsy to be a good workshop saw, costs as much as a real
saw, and is only really useful for rough work. It was killed dead by big
mitre saws, and finally by sliding cross-cut saws.

Isn't Festool is German?
"charlie b" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Going through the Sept 2004 issue of The Woodworker, published in
> England, I came acrossed two interesting truly hybrid portable (bench
> top) "table saws" that didn't look like anything I'd seen before , One
> by Elektra Beckum is called the Secanta and the other by - who else? -
> Festool - called the Precisio CS50 EB (don't them Eyetalyan names
> conjure up images of ridiculously fast, "what the hell was THAT?!"
> automobiles - not just cars?)
>
> Unlike the more familiar U.S. Contractor's saw with a tilting fixed
> blade, these units also allowed for pulling the blade forward - an
> upside down radial arm saw. And rather than have the fence fixed at the
> front and back, with a separate cross cut miter/mitre fence, these saws
> attach the fence to either side of, or the front of, the saw table. The
> Elektra Beckum took it one step further by allowing the saw to be
> rotated in the horizontal plane as well.
>
> At 1,200 and 1,075 pounds sterling, these units are in the low to mid
> price range of a good cabinet saw. But add in a 12 inch sliding
> compound miter saw's cost and the capabilities per unit cost gets more
> attractive. And both units have an integral set of legs rather than the
> sheet metal folding "stands" that are extra on most U.S.
>
> Since most of us have limited shop space, often shared with the washer,
> dryer AND a car or two, you have to wonder why these types of
> combination units aren't available in the U.S. market. When you look
> at the Festool "System" of bench/work table, plunge saw and router with
> fence, . . ., other than the astronomical prices, why aren't they more
> popular? We can't ALL be frugal Yankees.
>
> Anyone out there have experience with either of these units?
>
> charlie b

"charlie b" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

>> At 1,200 and 1,075 pounds sterling, these units are in the low to mid
> price range of a good cabinet saw. But add in a 12 inch sliding
> compound miter saw's cost and the capabilities per unit cost gets more
> attractive. And both units have an integral set of legs rather than the
> sheet metal folding "stands" that are extra on most U.S.

Hmm - 1200 pounds is about 2KUSD at todays rate...

BillyB