Awesome!!! I am really impressed with the entire experience. Tool as well as Harveys customer service.!
Love this. WY smoother than my old one. Should have upgraded once they came out! But I am glad I did now.
The products were packaged perfectly for shipping and arrived with no damage. The product was fairly easy to setup and configure. Operation has been precise and easy. The stand is exceptional as is the entire setup. I have several Harvey tools and find them to be high quality, decently priced and in stock and fast shipping. Truly exceptional products!
Just finished unboxing the new lathe. It is everything I had hoped for. Perfect alignment out of the box. Plenty of power. This lathe is going to be fun to work with. Love it
This fence is robust, firm, and accurate. Quite a difference from the fence my c-14 had originally. Very satisfied with this upgrade.
I have the RG-2. I use it mostly on my bandsaw because that is what I use for almost all my ripping and resawing. My bandsaw does not have T-slots so I got a BOW Products anchor hardware kit (available from Taylor Tools or Amazon), which locks the RG-2 into the plain miter slot securely. The pressure rollers can press very hard and have never slipped in 7 months of use. I don't think I would pay $299 for it, but it always seems to be on sale.
Shipping updates were very good the entire process. The machine arrived in perfect condition with no damage from the shipping distance, across the country. Have used the machine for a little over a week and I am very pleased with the construction and the power. I have this lathe, a Harvey table saw and a Harvey band saw and I am well pleased with each of these machines. I would recommend Harvey to anyone who is serious about power and quality.
Really well thought out system. I only used the fence’s advanced capabilities once so far when making a sliding dovetail, but creeping up on the cut for a perfect fit was nice and easy using the main fence fine-tuning. Chip collection works very well. I installed an Incra/Jessem lift and JessEm motor. The ventilation hoses for the JessEm motor were an extremely tight fit in the Harvey cabinet, and I had to assemble the whole thing with a fair amount of hose trimming with steps in just the right order. The Harvey cabinet stays so clean inside that the optional JessEm vent hoses were probably not necessary anyway.
Removing the fence can be tricky. The t ends of the t-bolts need to be lined up with the holes in the slots, which means the fence needs to be in the right position and the t’s need to be aligned with the elongated holes. Then pull straight up. Things usually line up if you haven’t loosened the handles too much, but if there is a problem look underneath the table to make sure the t’s and holes are lined up.
I wanted a saw capable of keeping cuts within tolerances of 0.004” (0.10 mm). So as I set the saw up I checked alignment and flatness at every step, aiming to have measured tolerances of 0.001” This may sound a little extreme to some, but I have tried to do fine work with a warped table and extensions before and will never waste my time and money like that again.
Here’s what I learned about Harvey's manufacturing tolerances and what it takes to properly set up the table saw.
First, check alignment of saw blade to miter slots. Do this BEFORE adding wings, fence or sliding table to the basic saw. (The manual says add the fence first, which would just make this critical step more difficult). Some adjustment was necessary and grub screws would have made adjustments a lot easier (this is a suggestion to Harvey). I used a vernier caliper, but checked later with a dial gauge with miter slot block and it was good.
Second, assemble wing(s) and fence rails. Check wings for flatness. (The table was flat within my tolerances). On the right side I was adding two cast iron stainless coated wings in addition to the stainless router table ( I ordered a EWN 8365 wing to replace the laminated panel provided with the 52Pro saw. Laminated pressboard panels are never flat enough - the supplied one was warped over 0.020” - and don’t stay flat in my experience).
Both metal wings were warped. The worst had a 0.010” (0.25mm) cup at the edge. After communicating with Harvey customer service and finding this was apparently normal and correctable I proceeded to straighten the wings. First I got some Grade 8 (metric 10.9) 5/16” (8mm) bolts and lock nuts (the all-metal Grade 8 Type) to replace the softer hardware provided. I assumed I would need to apply a lot of torque to prevent the warped pieces from sliding out of place once they were aligned, and also did not want nuts to vibrate loose.
To align the first extension wing with the 0.010” cup I aligned the front and back edges and tightened those bolts, and left the center bolt just snug. Then I used one of the metal t-shaped legs as a jack to push the cupped edge up, using the height adjustment in the foot (see photo). I was a little surprised that it provided enough pressure to bend the cast iron. Then tightened the bolt.
The next wing - the EWN 8365 - was warped in the other direction so I again aligned the front and back, tightened those bolts, then snugged up the middle bolt pretty tight. Then hit the crown in the middle of the edge with a rubber mallet to bend it down. Again I was surprised at the flexibility. I had to experiment a little with the proper tightness on the middle bolt to allow movement while still staying in place after the adjustment until I could do the final tightening.
I needed to shim the wing joints to get everything coplanar. The only way to do this accurately and permanently is with metal shims. Stainless steel shim assortments are inexpensive - available on Amazon. The last piece - the router table - was flat.
I checked flatness at every step with a straightedge and feeler gauges and kept all gaps under 0.0015” (0.04mm) at all measured points. Seven months later the table is still as flat as when I set it up. I doubt many saw owners assemble their saws with this much care. I’ve never seen this done or even mentioned in the YouTube unboxing videos. But it’s essential to unlock all of the potential of any saw and produce professional cuts. It’s also nice to have a huge reference surface in the shop that I know is dead flat by woodworking standards.
Some other notes:
The miter gauge is great, but since I have the Harvey sliding table I replaced the fence with a sacrificial block that is milled square. Run it through the blade and the edge is dead-on aligned. I can clamp small pieces to it. If I need to measure length I just use the Big-Eye scale and pull back the sliding part of the fence Euro-style to prevent pinch and kickback.
The finger hole of the riving knife and the blade guard have sharp edges and could easily slice your fingers. Filing the sharp edges smooth is a good safety measure (and should have been done at the factory). I also spent some time aligning the riving knife. With the knife and blade guard aligned just right I am able to use my 3/32” Forrester blades without having to switch to the Harvey thin riving knife, and can also still use the blade guard (though to tell the truth I usually leave it off unless I’m especially concerned with dust collection, like when cutting MDF).
Stainless coating is great! It is durable - surface scratches have not gone through the coating. I didn’t know that wind-blown rain along with some corrosive leaf litter would drop down from the roof vent right onto the saw and router table in my new shop space. I keep the saw covered when I’m away, but it has gotten wet, with no corrosion damage.
I’m writing separate reviews about the Big Eye Fence, Sliding Table a...
The rollers work well. I got the RG-2 (double stacked). Resawing is more precise and also safer.
I am very impressed with the packaging, setup, instructions and quality of my new Harvey bandsaw. I am moving up from a small 6” bandsaw so I can resaw hardwood. While I haven’t used the new saw much yet, the limited testing I’ve done has been great. It is very powerful and solidly built.
Great hold placement and doesn’t move gives accurate cuts
I was nervous about making such a large purchase on a product where the brand was new to me and I was not able to view it physically. The review in the various forums encouraged me to take a chance. Customer support was extremely helpful in coordinating with the freight company the logistics required to get it to my residential shop. The saw arrived on time and very well packaged. Assembly was very straight forward and I was making my first cut within the next few days. The quality of all the components has surpassed my expectations. I’m sold on Harvey.
I was looking for a simple and easy control through the bandsaw. I had done feather boards historically but this easy to setup device was way better for small things and resewing. I was putting a 1/8th inch piece through and the fence was the limiting factor, I put an 11 inch piece through to resew and through it only held the bottom, I held the top stead. It was really fast, I felt safe and super easy to use and adjust. I was really impressed.
First time Harvey customer. I ordered the Compass cast iron router table and stand. The entire experience was excellent. Placing the order was easy. Shipping was quick. Packaging was excellent. Assembly was a bit tricky, but not bad - instructions were clear and all parts were included. Harvey even packaged all needed hex wrenches and a full set of allen keys. After getting the stand and table assembled, I saw the dust cabinet was still on sale, so ordered that as well. Same positive experience on this component. I just added Jessem Master-Lift II and it fit perfectly. Was up and running right away. I'm saving for the Compass fence system next to complete the system. Will absolutely be looking to Harvey for shop tool needs going forward. They are a first class operation delivering outstanding quality and value. Highly recommended.
I got this for my ALPHA HW615Pro bandsaw. The base is heavy and designed really well. The build quality is exceptional. Moving that heavy bandsaw around my shop is much easier than you would expect on this base.
Installed it on my Sawstop PCS. Kept the extension top on the table and works great for square cuts. Only issue with keeping the extension is the angle for the miter fence doesn’t really work, only really good for 90 degree cuts. The fence is way too far away from the blade to really use for angle cuts. May eventually take the extension out and move the slide closer to the blade like the instructions advise. Did use some 0.05” metal shims on the table to get perfectly aligned. I installed it by myself and was a bit challenging getting it aligned, having some help is a good idea. It is very well made and impressed with the quality. Overall was easy to setup and align. Haven’t cut large panels yet but looking forward to using it for my next project.
Just installed the Shark S-10 on my vintage General 360 table saw. Along with the Harvey sliding table, the Shark completed my upgrades and improved safety and efficiency. So far, the dust collection has improved significantly due to the Shark. I really like the design and how it operates. It is very easy to adjust for any operation. I had to make a few minor modifications to my saw, drilled three holes in the back fence support angle iron. Overall, I'm extremely pleased with my Shark S-10. Well worth the wait!
I mounted the Shark S10 on my Delta 5hp unisaw with Router in extention wing. Fairly easy to mount. works well when if you don't try to fast feed the wood. Definently happy with the purchase.
