Precisio CS 70 vs Harvey Alpha

[thomisab]

I have a selection headache that I hope you can help me out.

I just started out woodworking. Though I may be considered as a hobbyist but I plan to grow this hobby into a serious one, and even as a second career, mainly in solid wood furniture and cabinet.

I happen to know someone selling a used CS 70 full set (with 2 sliders) with the price of a new Harvey Alpha 110-S36. I know it’s an easy choice for anyone that I should go for a proper, more stable cabinet saw in the Harvey for more precise work in the long run. But my headache is the location of my workshop.

My workshop to-be is an auxiliary of a factory that is big enough to contain most sizes of table saws, but it’s not a fully enclosed space that may get rain to spill over if there’s a thunderstorm. It won’t have flood issues but will have streams of water on the not-perfectly-flat concrete pavement. And I’m based in Asia that rain is frequent and with very high humidity. Though I can pull the saw to a safer place and cover it when not in use, I am worried that I might be dealing with rust on the cast iron (or even the metal inside the cabinet) in the long run and waste a piece of equipment.

An aluminum CS 70 may not give me rust problem, with the addition that I have a MFT3 to match the height and workflow, and a MIDI that I don’t need to invest in another dust collection machine. But I find it hard to justify the price tag that is identical to the Harvey with superb fence and miter gauge, and of course the great difference in power.

The Harvey 110S is a fairly new saw that I have yet to see a genuine review after prolonged use. And I have heard extreme reviews on both ends about Harvey’s quality over the years that Festool is a more reliable choice. Note that I won’t have warranty for any of them that reliability is a key factor for me, given that the far-from-ideal environment I place the saw.

Thank you for reading such a long post, and I appreciate any kind of help.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ThisVeteranVlog]

My advice would be to start out with a cheaper, used table saw if you are just starting out. There have been many people in these forums that have dropped some serious cash on tools, only to sell them months later because they fell out of the hobby or just couldn't get a grasp for the skill involved.

That's not to say that you'll do the same - it's usually better as a skill development progression to learn on something cheap and easy to sell, than on something expensive and less likely to be picked up second hand.

The CS70 is great as a compact saw, and goes well within the Festool ecosystem.

 

[tjbnwi]

I bought a 110S 52 for the shop.

The saw is well built and easy to assemble. It does what it is susposed to do very well. The factory blade is just okay. I like it much better than the Laguna we have.

Unless you put the saw on a moble base moving it easily will be tough to do. Once set up you want it to stay where it is.

I have no experiance with the CS-70, it is not available in the USA.

Tom

 

[ChuckM]

I'm afraid that the two saws you mentioned are an apple vs an orange, like trying to decide whether to get a truck or a van.

Rust issues can be prevented or dealt with, but not under power if you settle for a jobsite/contractor level of machine.

If serious (fine?) woodworking is at play, you'll need a cabinet saw with enough power. Hobbyists (I'm one of them) can live with any types of saws, but not someone who wants to run a (side) business in an efficient manner (of course, you can find exceptions, just like me seeing people transporting 4x8 sheets or a mattress on the top of a sedan!).

I'm not familiar with any Harvey machines though.

 

[AlexThePalex]

I own the CS 70 and while it is a fine saw for a lot of tasks, if you want to venture into professional furniture making you're better off with a solid stationary saw like the Harvey.

If I were you I'd worry more about that water problem than about which saw. You can't have water running into your shop.