Powermatic Reviews

The powermatic 3520B lathe is exactly what I wanted and it has lived up to all the billing. Delivery worried me since I live in a rural area. The truck backed down a narrow road and lowered the 700 pound box via the lift gage right into my garage. Set up of the lathe was fairly easy BUT attaching the legs on the lathe bed was a real pain. One needs a 8 mm hex wrench to do this properly. I don't understand why the hex wrenches are not supplied with the lathe. In fact you really need a socket wrench to hold the hex piece. I actually had to cut off a 8 mm allen wrench to get this to work. This is a minor problem. The lathe works great, the price was about $500 less than any other supplier I could find, delivery was totally free and included delivery to my garage. Must suppliers do not have free shipping.

Delivery of the lathe was a treat (completely off loaded by the driver into my garage and he would not accept a tip - all within the "free delivery" promo by Amazon). The Lathe's product manual is thoughtful, well written, and quite logically done. The crating and packaging of the lathe was simply great. Foil covered the wood pallet base; addition of wood blocks prevented shifting; boxes within boxes and a large thick mil plastic wrap protected the contents (despite a hole/tear in the outside of the box during shipping there was no damage or even scratches to the lathe). The extremely high quality of this Powermatic Lathe will speak for itself. I have been an amateur woodworker for over 30 years. At age 50 I now want to concentrate on platters, bowls, and also turn piano stool seats. This is indeed my dream lathe!

The item is good, but you are short one box in my order and that puts me in a jam with an incomplete saw, I missing one box that contains parts to a Excalidur sliding table, sowe if you can give me the proper attencion to this matter I would be very geartful, I tried e-mailing 4 diffrent links and no result. I just hope I do not have to take it a step further in this matter.
Thank you for your full attention.
Ezekiel Sandoval

Ok, so I've been spoiled rotten. I used this saw in the shop at the university where I taught for several years, and when I moved, I had to buy one for myself. For a serious furniture maker like me, it's a great saw-- powerful, precise, heavy, and it turns out, easy to set up, if you have help. My husband and I put it together over the course of a day and a half, with very little disagreement or confusion. I suppose you could assemble it alone, but an extra pair of hands makes wrestling the hefty thing into place, alignments, and leveling a lot easier. There are five different instruction booklets and as many boxes and bags of hardware, but the directions, along with the pictures, are quite clear, and every nut and bolt is accounted for. This is the first time I've ever set up my own saw, and I really expected assembly to be far more difficult than it was.

The Rout-R-Lift is a worthwhile, space-saving addition, with clever, well-made hardware. The March/April 2002 issue of Fine Woodworking has a review of this router-table mechanism, along with some others, and they are quite complimentary about it as well.

I have only a few reservations about the whole package, all fairly minor. The first is that this tablesaw requires you to jam a piece of wood into the blade in order to loosen the arbor nut. It would be so much better if there was some other mechanism that didn't endanger the blade, your fingers, and the arbor nut. I hope Powermatic (now owned by Jet) will address this in subsequent models. I'm also not crazy about the splitter and blade guard, which seem clunky and distracting. I plan to replace them with a Biesemeier removable splitter, but I haven't decided what to do about the guard. Seems as if being able to keep an eye on the blade and your fingers' relationship to it might be the best kind of safety device, although I know there are others who would disagree. My second reservation is that the legs on the cabinet, while easily assembled and adjustable, are made of plastic, and only plastic! I think I might eventually replace them with something a little more substantial. They are set up rather strangely in the picture above, by the way. All the legs go on the cabinet, not right up against the tablesaw. If you want to put the entire thing on a mobile base, or set up the cabinet and router lift separate from the tablesaw, they have instructions for doing that as well. One other helpful thing about set-up that is mentioned in Ian Kirby's tablesaw book is that you should be sure to clean off the thick gunky grease that is slathered on the movable parts for shipping and storage (mineral spirits will take care of this) and replace it with some light machine oil, or the sawdust will collect in it and eventually bog the mechanism down.

I am thrilled to have this machine. It is expensive, but I expect to still be using it when I am an old lady, many years from now.

This is an update-- I've now had the chance to use this machine for several months. I still love it, but some of the things I thought were problems are not, and a couple others are that I hadn't really noticed before. Here goes... Plastic legs-- not a problem, I don't even notice them anymore. Blade changing? Also not a problem-- I got one of those plastic things you fit over it to protect the blade and it works fine. The router mechanism is great, very easy to set up, change bits, etc. The only problem I've had with it is that I don't yet have my dust collection system in place, and ALL the dust from the router ends up IN THE CABINET! Yuck. I think this will improve once I connect the dust collection, but in the meantime, the cabinet is virtually useless. The other problem is that on the Powermatic, anyway, you apparently cannot use a Biesemeyer splitter with a Forrest blade-- they bump into one another. NOT GOOD. Powermatic and these other 2 companies need to get together and relocate their connectors, and they would be a great team. The splitter was great, while it was on my machine with another blade, but I like the Forrest blade even better than the splitter. So guess which one is in use?

This mortiser is easy to set up, very accurate and has a lot of power. Included with the mortiser is an extension if you choose to use another brand of chisel & bit. (Powermatic chisels are about 2" longer than most other brands.) I used this tool most often in making blind mortises on face fronts. When finished, the joint requires little hand work to clean out the bottom of the mortise.
The only improvement that Powermatic could do is to make adjusting the angle on a bevelled mortise easier. Though the gauge is accurate, you have to hold the cast iron table in position while tightening the locking nut.

I am very happy with this saw so far. It is a great upgrade from the 10" benchtop saw that I have used for the past 10 years. I ordered it from a local supplier. When the saw arrived they loaded the main box into the back of my pick-up truck with a fork lift. I bought the saw with the 30" table, router-lift and mobile base. I loaded the rest of the boxes and drove home. After unloading everything except the main box, I unloaded it by opening the box and taking everything out part by part and my son and I unloaded the saw.

The instructions are good. One interesting tidbit is that there is a hint at the beginning of the instructions that says not to remove the protective wax coating until the saw is assembled. Then immediately after this list of hints, before step one in the instructions, it says to remove the protective coating from the saw table. I removed it first so that I wouldn't be sticking my fingers in it during assembly. WD-40 works great to remove the wax coating. Spray it on, wait a couple of minutes and scrap it off lightly with a scraper and wipe with a paper towel. I used a plastic scraper just to be sure that I didn't scratch the table top.

One review mentioned that there was no information in the instructions on aligning the blade with the T-slots. There is information in my instructions about this. Mine came pretty well aligned, however, I think they need some fine tuning. I ordered an alignment tool and am waiting for that to arrive before I delve into making that adjustment. If I had had the alignment tool I would have done this when I first opened the box. Stand the saw up on its back or side, put a blade on the arbor and adjust it while you have easy access to the bottom and top of the table. If this process proves difficult I will check into the after market devices that you can put on the trunnion bolts to make small adjustments.

Others have mentioned the difficulty mounting the pulley cover on the motor. The pulley cover assembly sandwiches between the motor and the motor mount. When mine rubbed the belt, I loosened the motor mounting bolts and adjusted the postion of the pulley cover assembly and it works fine.

I attached the cast iron table extensions. On one side I had to use a couple of sheets of paper as a shim to flatten the extension with the main table surface.

I also bought the table extension with the Router-Lift insert. The extension is OK but could be of higher quality. I attached it by laying the tubular steel from the front T-Square rail across the back of the table and clamping it down and then clamping the extension table to it. I did the same with a piece of wood on the front of the table. I would drill and attach the rear of the table, then move the tubular steel to the front of the table and do the same. The extension table did not come with hardware for mounting it to the rails. I have no idea why this hardware is not included. That required a trip to the hardware store.

The T-Square rip fence is great with the exception of the plastic faces. There was a slight bulge in the fence just past the center screw. The fence face bulged out on both sides of the fence. I tried fixing it by adjusting the the screws and checking the steel behind the plastic face. It was flat. Since I didn't really like the plastic faces anyway, I replaced them. I went down to the home store and bought a half inch thick 36" x 6" high pressure laminate shelf with finished edges. I cut a 2" strip off each edge (using the T-Square without the plastic faces), drilled the holes and mounted it on the steel T-Square. It works great. It is flat and takes a pencil line much better than the plastic.

This is my first table saw. I bought it after reading previous Amazon reviews and doing some reading of reviews in the woodworking magazines. I was very careful to make sure I did my homework, so I was aware of the saw's attributes before I clicked "Order" during Amazon's ordering procedure. Delivery came with the packaged saw secured to and sitting atop a clean, sturdy pallet. The freight company, I was told, added a pallet which its forklift could fit at the warehouse. The freight company brought the saw in a truck with a lift on the back end and used a pallet truck to roll the saw directly into my garage. I used a 1-ton chain hoist and tow straps to lift the saw slightly, and I had my not-so-strong wife pull the pallets clear of the saw. After the saw was safely lowered to the floor, I followed instructions and everything fit in place according to instructions. One should be patient in fitting the cast iron extensions and the table extension (wood drilling required). I wired the machine to a circuit, using using 2 15A plugs (1 for the saw-switch cord and the other for the extension cord I rigged up), a 15A connector (for the extension cord), 12-3 water-resistant wiring (to make an extension cord), and a 20A receptacle. For the circuit regular Romex works with a 2-pole 20A circuit breaker on my GE workshop subpanel. I carefully read the instructions for operation. I also studied a couple of woodworking books I have and now I am ready to work on some projects (I just retired). Ahead of time, my biggest worry was over the delivery process. Eagle Freight did a great job! I am very pleased. PS: use rust preventative to maintain that beautiful shiny cast-iron table top.

I just purchased this saw and love it. Saw came in 5 or 6 boxes, directions were easy to understand. I put this saw together by myself in about 1 1/2 hours. It took an appliance dolly and a buddy to get it off the crate, but once in my shop, things were easy. I used a 4 roller stand to help hold the pieces up while I installed the bolts. Everything went together well, except for the extension table. The bolts they sent were only 3/4 inch long, and on the back side it calls for 1-1/4 bolts. I just ran down to the lumberyard and bought them. The only other problem I had was with the casters. Two were hitting the floor and two were a little higher. After I got the rails on the saw, I tipped the saw up to see what was under there. All I needed to do was crank down the casters, then crank them back up to fix the problem. I have a wood floor, and the casters raise the saw plenty to move around. Saw just uses a 20 AMP 220 breaker, I hard wired it in and everything works great. I'm glad I spent the extra cash to get this saw. Now if they just had some accessories for it.

I recently purchased a Powermatic 2000 saw, 3hp, 1ph, with a 50" fence. The saw arrived in excellent condition in a big sturdy crate along with several heavy boxes containing the fence and rails. A few comments on this saw. The fit and finish of the saw are excellent. The cast iron top and wings are ground to a fine polish and match up well. The cast iron top on this saw is much larger than that of the Powermatic 66 and the Delta Unisaw. After uncrating and assembling the wings to the top I checked the alignment of the miter slots to the arbor and found it to be less than 0.01" right out of the crate. There was virtually no arbor runout. The arbor is a standard 5/8", but the arbor nut is huge, about double the width of the one on a Unisaw and much thicker. Instead of using a cheap stamped wrench, Powermatic sends you a 27mm box end wrench to use on the arbor nut. Even with the big nut the arbor still accomodates a 13/16" stacked dado head. In addition, the saw has an arbor lock which locks the arbor in place while changing blades. The lock mechanism works well and is fairly sturdy, but I'm a little concerned about its long term durability. The dust collection assembly for this saw is excellent, with the dust being mostly collected immediately below the blade by a "hood" with a dust collection hose hooked to it which is in turn hooked to the dust collection port on the back of the saw. The key to this system is to always run your dust collector whenever you have the saw on, even if its for one or two little cuts, otherwise you'll end up with dust in the cabinet and will have to vacuum that out yourself. The Powermatic 2000 uses a wide flat drive belt instead of the 3 v-belts found on a 66 or Unisaw. The single wide, flat belt seems to work well, but it will be interesting to see how it performs over the long haul. The fence for the 2000 is the same as the one used on the 66, 72A and 74 (in fact my boxes didn't say anything about fitting the 2000) and uses slightly heavier tube than the Biesemeyer and much heavier rails. While the saw itself is made in Taiwan, the fence is stamped "Made in USA". The motions on the saw are very smooth and work effortlessly. The lock knobs for the motions are big in diameter and heavy and work great! The saw cabinet is stamped steel, but the base is cast iron like the old Unisaws were. The On/Off switch is pretty cool and is another massive piece of hardware. The On button is inside a donut shaped red Off button. When the saw is plugged in the On button glows green. The saw starts smoothly and runs really quietly. Now for some of the minor issues...the built in mobile base system works nicely, however it only raises the cast iron base off the floor about 3/16" if that. So unless you have a perfectly level concrete floor you may have some issues moving the saw around. Plus you run the risk of damaging the legs on the extension table due to the lack of floor clearance. I would have like to seen the saw go up 1/2" clear of the floor. One plus is that all four wheels under the base swivel so you can move the saw in any direction you want. The splitter/anti-kickback system is a European style which curves part way around the blade. It also raises and lowers and tilts with the blade which is great. The minor downfall with it is taking it on and off the saw is a little cumbersome since the throat plate and splitter must be put on at the same time and its a little tough to get big hands under the throat plate to throw the lever that locks the splitter in place. Another concern at this time is the lack of availability of accessories. The throat plate for this saw is huge! The saw still has the same amount of clearance ahead of the throat plate as the Unisaw, but the plate extends back a lot further than is does in the Unisaw or 66. At this point I can't purchase a dado insert for the saw, nor can I purchase a zero clearance insert, so I'll have to make some. The stock throat plate uses a total of five allen screws for leveling, three in the front, and two in the rear. Overall this is an excellent saw and I think that it will probably replace the 66 in the future as Powermatic's primary saw for the serious hobbiest or professional user of 10" saws.

I had been mind set for a while on the Powermatic 64 after looking at other makes and although I did not much like to put such a machine on a separate base I needed the mobility. I am pleased that I held off and bought the PM 2000.

The wheel system works well (lots of handle turns) but one can move the saw with one hand. Overall, the fit and finish is satisfying. The polished handwheels operate smoothly and effortlessly and look good in their finish. The cast iron table top and wings are milled the best that I have seen on other makes and were flat. The safety switch is sizeable and allows you to see if power is on at the machine. The blade guard and riving knife slip off with ease for those operations when they have to be removed.

I had a problem with a faulty lower support bracket that allows the upper support for the riving blade to sit pararell to the table. I found the technical support from WMH Tools very helpful and prompt in their attempts to solve the problem sending out an engineer to rectify the fault. Both the engineer and I felt that the arbor lock can be subject to deformation if the arbo lock nut is just over tightened. Inside the arbor lock housing there is a cutaway in the lock itself for the return spring which reduces the cross sectional area of metal against shear.

Generally though, everything about the machine feels solid, no vibration and a smooth quiet cut with a Woodworker II thin kerf blade and stabiliser. I am very happy with the purchase and it is a pleasure to use. It would be good if Powermatic applied the built-in wheel philosophy to their bandsaw and jointer models.

If you order the 30" rail model you need to order the laminated plywood extension table separately.

Yes,I believe even the renouned TV Home Maker would approve of this saw. I received the saw yesterday afternoon and had it unpacked, assembled, and running in about 3 hours. I spent an hour this morning tweaking the Accu-Fence and the mitre gauge, and have been using the saw today. I was pleased to see that it came with a power cord, and all that was needed was a new plug to match my 230V socket. The casters work great for moving this 600 lbs. plus unit. The total shipping with saw,accessories, and fence totaled over 700 lbs., so this is no light weight machine. The arbor lock is great for changing the blade, and the dust chute works good. I have owned a Uni-saw, and two Jet Cabinet saws, all of which were excellent, but the Powermatic 2000 is a step above all the others. The adjustment handles work effortlessly, and the saw runs as smooth as silk with no vibration what so ever. The power switch is ideally located, and easy to shut off with the knee while keeping both hands on the stock after cutting. The fit and finish is great, and it looks good just sitting there. I think "it's a good thing".

I have owned my Model 54A for about two years and it has been everything I expect from Powermatic. Apparently mine was built during the time of the transition because the biggest problem I had was with the owner's manual which was obviously in the middle of change.

The machine came in two boxes; one for the base cabinet and one for the jointer body itself. I also purchased the Powermatic mobile base. The mobile base went together in minutes. With the base cabinet mounted on the mobile base, the tailgate of my pickup accommodated a fairly easy slide of the body from pickup to the base - some grunting but I was able to do it myself (I do, however, recommend a helper). While the machine assembled fairly easily, I started finding discrepancies between the book and the machine. Some were substantial. During this time I stopped assembly and looked at some basic procedures such as rabbiting. That section was obviously wrong because the illustration was there with only part of the text. There were also some assembly instructions in error. I muddled my way though the assembly and the machine has been perfect since then.

I contacted Jet regarding the book errors and initally got a very defensive answer. Within days I received a second email and also a call apologizing for the state of the manual. Apparently a version was released during a wholesale conversion to Jet formatting. They assured me it would be corrected.

Again, the machine is perfect. It has had a lot of walnut, Oak and other hardwoods run through it and it works flawlessly. It is smooth and relatively quiet. I purchased the plastic exhaust fitting but removed it. Without dust collection hooked up it just plugs up the exhaust chute. Without the fitting shavings clear the machine nicely. I have had to remove blades once and realigning them was about as much fun as most jointers. I recommend buying a jointer pal or similar tool when you buy the jointer.

I rate the machine itself with 5 stars. However, discrepancies with technical data concerns me enough that I dropped my overall rating to 4 stars

I do alot of woodworking from cabinets to furniture.

I've had this jointer for about 4 years now and have been very pleased with it.You can't go wrong with this jointer.

When looking for a jointer you want to get the longest and widest bed you can afford.

I buy all my wood in kiln dried rough cut form from the sawmill and my jointer had over 10,000 bdft run threw it over the 4 years Ive had it.

It does an excellant job preparing the wood before going into my planer and edging for all my glue ups.

If your serious about woodworking and want to do quality work this machine will do nicely in your shop.

This is simply the best! Don't waist you time and money on any others. The machine came in two boxes. One contained the base with motor and such. A big long box had the "Head" and other heavy stuff. Please note: Unless you like to see how macho you are, you better get a helper to unload and unpack the "Head" box. The assembly was very simple. After cleaning the light oil off of the tables and fence I ran through the set up procedure and found NOTHING that required adjustment. I made a lot of saw dust and everything works great. I stood a nickel on edge with the machine running and it never moved! I bought mine at the local Woodcraft store.

We sent our son a powermatic saw for Christmas. When it arrived and when assembled the table was way out of tolerance.
So he called Tool Crib and arrangements were made to return the old one and send a new one, which you very nicely did. That one was more out of tolerance than the first. So he called and both saws were picked up at the same time. I have an email which states that you will credit us for the saw. He (son) has made other arrangements for a saw. We do most of our tool business with you and are sorry that this happened, which I am sure you are also. Perhaps you received a bad batch of saws from Powermatic. Vernon Harrington

I have had this saw for three years now,all in all it is a pretty nice saw but it does have some issues.I am very picky on my machine accuracy and i always have to fiddle with it to get it to be as accurate as i want.When I first got the saw it had a terrible vibration and couldn't figure out what the problem i called customer service and they sent a tech right out to my house of course he found the problem right away it was the one thing that i overlooked,the pulley on the arbor was never tightened down to the shaft upon assembly at the factory in taiwan.all in all i kind of wished i had bought something else but at the time it was the only left tilting saw on the market besides the crapsman.I think if i were on the market right now i would go for the jet supersaw with the fully enclosed stand and sliding table i have had a chance to inspect this machine firsthand and man what a nice piece of equipment.

This saw is a great saw for the price. It set up well and is a joy to use.
Thank-you
John Adams/Adams Custom Builders
Eldorado Springs, Co