I was in the market for a new table saw, as the contractor saw I had just wasn't cutting the mustard anymore. The fence on it was crap and the table wasn't sturdy. It was perfect for a job-site saw, but was causing more problems and taking more time than I wanted to deal with.
My wife is a Phsician's Assistant specializing in hand and upper-extremety injuries. Basically, she sees the aftermath of injuries caused by table saws and other tools. I brought up the idea of a sawstop to her as a joke figuring it would be out of the price range we were going to spend. After all, I was looking mostly at the Grizzly G0175P. Turns out, she was 100% on board for the SawStop and its ability to stop the blade and move it into the cabinet and you barely, if at all, bleed.
You can check out all kinds of sawstop reviews around the web, including this video review from Matt's Basement Workshop if you're not familiar with how they work. One of my favorite ones includes some fried chicken.
I ended up grabbing the 3HP single-phase 230v Professional Cabinet Saw. They were running a special where I could get a free mobile base with purchase. Sounded like a good idea since the saw weighs over 700lbs.
I had to run a 230v line in the shop to get this to work. Luckily, I had left-over conduit from a basement remodel and an unused 230v breaker from the old well before the house was annexed onto city water. All I needed to get was a 20amp 230v outlet and some 12x2 awg wire. After I wired that up, I flipped the switch on the saw and it went through its startup procedure. Successfully! I took a few pictures during the setup, which was incredibly easy with the instructions and parts being well labeled, numbered, and in bubble packs.
