For anyone thinking of buying one, this is my experience so far...
Most of it arrived on Friday, but the long rails for the sliding table were missing. I contacted Rutlands and was informed they ship them separately because they are too long for the pallet. They arrived on Saturday morning.
The majority of it was packed in a plywood crate with the aluminium parts for the fence in a separate cardboard box. Everything was well packed and no parts were damaged.
It was too heavy to move on my own but my son (15) helped me and we managed to put the main saw together in a couple of hours. The instructions aren't great but the drawings are good and we assembled everything by referring to the drawings. It was all pretty straightforward and only needed a couple of spanners and screwdrivers. The main body of the saw, motor, table etc are already assembled when delivered so it's a matter of bolting the base together and adding the handles, extension table and the rails for the rip fence. These rails were the only fiddly part with a couple of the nuts being hard to get at but apart from that it was simple.
Adding the sliding table was equally simple but the rails are heavy and would be difficult to manage without a helper. Everything is adjustable and after about an hour I had the sliding table correctly aligned with the main table. The bearings needed no adjustment and run smoothly on the rails.
The machine comes fitted with a standard 13amp plug so does not require a separate 16amp supply.
Mine is set up in a double garage and I wouldn't recommend it for anywhere smaller as it is a fairly big machine, especially with the sliding table, the rails pretty much double the depth of the machine so it needs plenty of space around it. I will try to post some pics tonight to show how it fits and give a better idea of the space it needs.
I gave it some use over the weekend and have found it a pleasure to use. The (induction) motor is quiet and starts up smoothly, it's also braked so it stops in a few seconds. The rip fence moves smoothly and locks well although it is necessary to check it's perfectly aligned before locking it as it can be a fraction out front to back. It's a full length rip fence.
The hand wheels operate smoothly and the blade tilts has positive stops at 90 and 45 degrees.
The sliding table is great and can accomdate a 2ft wide board with the fence at the front edge of the table. The clamping device is strong and holds the work securely on the table. The fence can also be positioned at the rear of the table and that would allow a much wider board to be cut. I did a cross cut in an 8 x 2 sheet of 3/4 MDF (sorry I haven't gone metric yet!). The sliding table is probably strong enough to hold such a board but the board sags a lot under its own weight so it is much easier with a helper to hold the end of the board. The resulting cut was very clean and as square as my framing square or try square.
I ripped some inch and a half beech and it didn't seem to put any strain on anything, I didn't have anything thicker to try it on but I wouldn't expect any problems as it is a pretty substantial piece of kit.
The only thing which is a bit ropey is the angle indicator for the fence on the slding table but I will probably scribe marks on the table itself.
In summary, I think it's a bargain, especially at £500, it's well made, powerful, solid and very heavy.
Also full marks to Rutlands for delivering it quickly and answering my emails and phone calls quickly.
I've tried to put down everything I can think of but if anyone wants to know anythign else, please ask away and I will try to answer.
Cheers
Mike
