Robert Morse Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 I'm setting up a new PM2000 (yay! Black Friday sale!), and having all kinds of issues getting the caster system to work right. I pull the wheel out, as indicated, and when turning it, I can get about three turns in before it gets REALLY hard to turn, and I end up moving the saw by the handle, rather than getting the casters to extend or retract. I can see the gear turning inside during those three turns of hte wheel, so I know it's engaging... Anyone have any experience with these? This isn't the experience I expected from a new Powermatic. I called Powermatic support yesterday morning, and they're evidently going to dispatch a guy at some indeterminate point in the future... now it's the weekend, and everyone is closed. Kinda having some buyers remorse on a pretty expensive tool... Thanks, Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted December 20, 2014 Report Share Posted December 20, 2014 It should get hard. It only raises the saw a hair maybe 1/8". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boatworks Today Posted December 20, 2014 Report Share Posted December 20, 2014 and it takes a LOT of cranks to raise it up (guessing here, but maybe 50 turns?) There will be a fair amount of resistance; gotta remember you're lifting roughly #600 . Is there any chance the castors could have been damaged when taking it off the shipping pallet? fwiw, I think you're going to really like the way the saw performs . It's a dream to run... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mzdadoc Posted December 20, 2014 Report Share Posted December 20, 2014 I have one and love it! The casters were a major selling point for me and it took doing it a bit to really understand the workings. As said above it will get hard to turn because of the weight. You will crank it quite a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mzdadoc Posted December 20, 2014 Report Share Posted December 20, 2014 Forgot to say Welcome to the forum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morse Posted December 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2014 Thanks everyone for the feed back, I was aware of the many turns off the wheel, but since I'm only getting three turns in before it freezes up, I'm guessing it's not something I can self fix at this point. It came off the palettes smoothly, so no chance that caused any damage. Hopefully they can get someone out here quickly to check out out. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boatworks Today Posted December 20, 2014 Report Share Posted December 20, 2014 I'd check where the gears inside the cabinet engage; after the turns are you seeing any metal shavings? There is always the possibility of the shafts / gears being out of alignment or not machined properly causing a bind. Not likely, but worth looking into .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted December 20, 2014 Report Share Posted December 20, 2014 I would just pull the belly pan. May be something as simple as the one of the chain drive gears being out of time. At least you can see if something is bent without turning the saw on its side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morse Posted December 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2014 I pulled the pan out, and I can see the gears turning as the handle turns, and I can't see any shavings or obvious issues. I'm going to leave this to the pros, they are supposed to call for an appointment on Monday. Thanks again everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted December 20, 2014 Report Share Posted December 20, 2014 To get a feel for the effect of the weight, I will jack or shim the body up and try to lower the casters or feet with no weight on them. If it turns with no weight it may just be a little burr on the threading or just a super heavy object. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mzdadoc Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 Are you fully engaging the mechanism. Is your blade tilting at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morse Posted December 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 Yeah, the blade tilt works fine with the wheel pushed in all the way. It's only the casters that are giving me fits. Thanks again everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 Hope it all works out for you Robert! I had horrible luck with PM's customer service and will never buy another PM product but, hope your luck is better. Not sure where in the Puget Sound you are but, you can't be too far from me.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morse Posted December 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2014 A quick update - Powermatic sent out a guy from Eastside Saw to take a look at it - he determined that one of the casters was not aligned properly. Evidently, the casters move freely when in the "up" position, and it had been tweaked somehow (it wasn't when we moved it off the pallet, I was sure to have them raised before we gently walked it off). The repair guy had me lift one side of the saw, and he braced it on a 2x so he could monkey with the mechanism. We were finally able to get the saw to raise and lower, but he was concerned that the "wonky" side was not working right because that corner of the saw wasn't raising as high as the others. So he's ordering a new caster/assembly for that corner, and he will come back to install it when it comes in. The system that engages the casters is a bit "meh" in that it doesn't seem to always catch the gear cleanly, But it's a much more elegant solution than an external mobile base, and I figure I won't move the saw that often anyway... I spent the 26th getting the rest of the saw assembled and aligned (rails, extension table, etc). The blade was pretty much in alignment out of the box - I made a tiny tweak and it was good. I spent an hour making some test cuts, and roughing out a mallet head from chunk of scrap sycamore. Other than the casters, I'm impressed with the saw, it's a REALLY nice upgrade from my Ridgid R4512. TIODS, I'm in Redmond, so not too terribly far from Custer... PM's service has be OK so far, but for how much the saw cost, I really expected a better "out of box" experience. It also would have been nice to have someone out sooner to check out the problem, but given weekends and the holidays, I guess I'm OK with the timing. Next time I buy something big like this, it will be from a local store. I'll probably spend at least the next month re-arranging everything in my garage shop, getting dust collection and the drum sander up and running, etc. I'll make a final post once the repair is complete. Thanks again everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldwurker Posted December 29, 2014 Report Share Posted December 29, 2014 Robert. How level is your floor? My basement floor seems level, but there are areas when the saw won't even budge with the casters fully engaged. There is a bit of 'feel' involved with getting into gear when your pull the handle out. Hope you attached the extension table before the rails went on . Ask me how I know. Enjoy the new saw. I love mine, and it's the most accurate tool in my shop. Let me know the first time you saw through your mitre gauge . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjeff70 Posted December 29, 2014 Report Share Posted December 29, 2014 Robert, may I ask where you bought the saw and how the shipping experience was for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldwurker Posted December 29, 2014 Report Share Posted December 29, 2014 Also Robert you mentioned the local store bit....not sure it would make too much difference...didn't help in my case. Powermatic's customer service on the other hand was very impressive. I stripped my nylon screws on day one, and they next day'ed the replacement parts, gratis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morse Posted December 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Vinny, my floor is "mostly level" - being the garage, there's a bit of slope to the center and towards the door, but it's not enough difference to foul the casters. That was one of the first things I checked actually (after a few years of remodeling this place, I know for a fact this house doesn't have a single level, square anything...) . My comment about the local store was more around being able to have a face to face conversation with someone if there's a problem - I find I usually (I'm looking at you Frontier Communications...) get better results that way. SJeff, you asked where I bought the saw, and about delivery: I bought it from Acme Tools on Black Friday. They were fine, and I'd buy from them again without hesitation, other than the "big tools being purchased locally from now on" thing. I ordered a bunch of clamps, a couple of blades, as well as dust collector accessories at the same time, and those showed up on the Monday after black Friday - I'm very satisfied with that. I did have a problem with my credit card company putting a security hold on my account ("Whoa, this guy's spending money in a way he never has before..."), but a quick call to the bank, and then to Acme fixed it right up. The one downside of my experience with Acme was that it took over a week and 3 emails to get a status on the equipment portion of my order. The customer service rep (Becky) indicated that Powermatic/Jet were behind due to the holiday orders, and they couldn't get a tracking number for things that were listed as "in stock, ships in one day." Ordinarily, I wouldn't care too much about that, but with a freight delivery, I had to plan to take some lost time from work, and getting an answer about when the items were being delivered was a bit of a challenge. The saw was transported across the country by Road Runner Freight. They handed it off to a local delivery company, and those guys called to schedule a delivery time with me, giving a 6 hour window... I asked for a more precise time, and they told me they wouldn't know until they loaded the truck and routed the driver for the day, so I should call back the day of the delivery. Also, even though I requested lift gate service from Acme, neither Road Runner or the local guys were aware of that, nor did they have it on the bill of lading. It turned out I was the first stop of the day. The driver showed up in a ~26' box truck with a lift gate. He first handed me a long heavy box with the fence rails in it - this box was damaged and not on a pallet, but the contents were fine. He then used a pallet jack to wheel in the first pallet with the dust collector, drum sander and assorted table saw accessories. He brought it over the curb, right up my driveway and into the garage. He went back and did the same with the table saw. I tipped him because he was great, and then he was off. The saw body ships in a beefy cardboard box with the saw base bolted atop a smaller than normal pallet. In my case, they put the shipping pallet on top of another, larger pallet - it was just resting on it. My wife and I were able to walk the edge of the top pallet onto a 4x4, and then she pulled the bottom pallet out while I held up the other side of the saw. I unbolted the saw, and then we did the same thing - walked the saw off the top pallet onto a 4x4, and then pulled the pallet out, and lowered the saw gently to the floor. It wasn't hard at all, just a little - OK, a LOT - heavy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjeff70 Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Thanks Rob for sharing. I'd chalk this one up as a pretty good experience if it were me. Congrats on your purchases and what a great way to start the new year off with an awesome saw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morse Posted December 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Yeah, no real complaints on the purchase or delivery, just disappointment in the out of box experience on an expensive item. I get that stuff happens, but it shouldn't. I'm very happy with the saw, other than the caster issue, and looking forward to using it a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Yeah, no real complaints on the purchase or delivery, just disappointment in the out of box experience on an expensive item. I get that stuff happens, but it shouldn't. I'm very happy with the saw, other than the caster issue, and looking forward to using it a long time. Thats the nice thing about Powermatic they don't have a problem sending out a warranty tech. As far a I know they are the only ones that will do that with this class of machine. I broke my planer table being an idiot and they covered it under warranty, took the tech 2/3 of a day to get it swapped. Im happy I didn't have to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mzdadoc Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Rob, I too bought my PM2000 from Acme and had the exact same thing with my bank. The other weird thing I had was I had my very expensive saw but they didn't take the money out of my account. Of coarse my wife wanted to go shopping. LOL I called Acme and they said it was because it came straight from Powermatic and until something cleared on their end Acme couldn't charge me for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Rob, I too bought my PM2000 from Acme and had the exact same thing with my bank. The other weird thing I had was I had my very expensive saw but they didn't take the money out of my account. Of coarse my wife wanted to go shopping. LOL I called Acme and they said it was because it came straight from Powermatic and until something cleared on their end Acme couldn't charge me for it. It has something to do with PM's ordering system. I bought nearly 30K worth and was called by PM to arrange delivery before the tools were paid for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morse Posted December 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2014 Hey PB and MZ - I actually had the tools for a week before the charge finally hit. My wife and I actually joked about cancelling the card (of course we wouldn't, but it was fun to dream ). ~R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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