I recently sold my K700S and replaced it with a K450 X-Motion. As requested by one FOG member, these are my initial impressions of the two saws.
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As background, I am a retired old fogey who has done woodworking as a hobby for some 35 years. The backbone of my shop was a Delta Unisaw. It was a fine saw, but after 30+ years I was ready for something else.
The K700S was a good machine, and really did everything I wanted it to do. Mine had no electronic controls, but was accurate and smooth. The upgrade to the X-Motion was largely to get the M-Motion fence and blade height, and I was also interested in the PCS system. I have never been close to having an injury with the Delta or the K700S, but if I ever did I would mentally have a hard time enjoying this hobby.
In no particular order, my thoughts are as follows.
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Size: The K450-X is a large and heavier saw. While the rip capacity, slider length and outrigger fence are the same, the sheet metal of the K450-X is thicker. The K450-X has a much larger and sturdier outfeed table, and I find that additional working surface to be quite helpful.
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Overarm Guard: The overarm guard of the K450-X is much larger. At first I thought it would be awkward working around it, but that does not seem to be the case. It is much easier to move the guard out of the way, as the guard releases with a toggle instead of having to unscrew a bolt to loosen it and then walk back around the saw to re-connect it. That sounds like a small thing, but it is a big change in convenience.
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The dust collection hose at the overarm guard is 3 ?” diameter in the K700S and 4” on the K450-X, but I do not feel like there is a noticeable difference in the performance.
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Power: The K700S had a single-phase 4 kW motor, while the K450X has a 5.5kW three-phase motor. The K450-X is a more powerful saw than the K700S, but since the K700S never seemed short on power that is not a significant difference for me.
The K450-X is a very noisy saw. Without measuring sound levels, it seems to be quite a bit louder than the K700S even with the same blades.
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Blades: Changing blades seemed easier on the K700S. I cannot quite put my finger on why it is easier. It is partly because the pins on the K700S go completely through the blade flange and the pins on the K450-A do not. I could align the flange more easily on the K700S.
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The K450-X will accommodate larger blades. I used 300-mm blades on the K700S (and those looked huge compared to my old 10” blades!), and I also have a couple of 350-mm and one 400-mm blade for my K450-X. Normally that is not a significant thing, but I did have one instance with my K700S where I could not cut as deeply as I wanted. A 400-mm blade is a monster!
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The K700S has blade pins attached to the arbor, while the blade pins on the K450-X are attached to a flange. When mounting a dado set (a Forrest Dado King, in my case) on the K700S the pins engage the dado set. On the K450-X the flange with the pins is removed to mount the dado set, so there are no pins to secure the dado set. So far I have not attempted to use the dado, so I do not know how to deal with this difference.
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Adjustments: Adjusting the outrigger fence for a square cut was much easier on the K700S. The mechanism is simpler, and when using a square and dial indicator I could see the change in the indicator while I made adjustments. With the K450-X I have to move the square out of the way, disconnect the fence at the adjuster, make an adjustment, and put everything back together to see if the adjustment was right.
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The X-Motion fence is fantastic! No more walking around the slider to adjust the fence!
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Using the display panel to set blade height and fence position is particularly helpful. I am in the middle of making a frame and panel chest (toybox for a grand-daughter) and I can switch back and forth between plowing grooves and making tenons, or even change a blade and cut pieces to length or width, and then go back to a previous operation by keying in the appropriate settings. That makes a change in operation, as with previous saws I had to complete all of one operation before moving to a different operation. It was very hard to get back to the same depth, position, and width of a groove, for example, with the manual settings.
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I simply snap a photo of the display to save the settings for a particular operation. I suspect there is a way to save settings in the machine, but I have not figured that out yet.
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Having the controls up high on the display, instead of under the table, is certainly convenient.
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The X-Motion fence will not approach the blade closer than about 0.12 inches. This is a disadvantage if trying to mill a rabbet (or rebate) or a tenon while using the fence as a bump stop. For a simple end tenon I can clamp a block to the fence to make a bump stop close, but for a rabbet along the edge of a panel there does not seem to be a way to make a zero-distance bump stop.
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This version of the K450-X has a DRO for the outrigger fence angle. I’ve only used that once, but it seems to be pretty accurate. My K700S has a scale printed on the outrigger, but it is possible that in over two years I did not actually cut an angle with that saw.
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PCS: My version of the K450-X has the PCS safety system. Felder says it is not reliable without having a PCS-certified blade (available only from Felder, I believe). When starting the saw the PCS system checks itself, and flashes a green light when the PCS is active. The green light comes on with my Tenryu and Amana blades, but according to the Felder technician that does not mean it will always work properly. I plan to test it a few times to see if it ever fails to work.
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The PCS goes through the check-out process every time the blade starts spinning. It takes just a few seconds, and so far does not seem to be affecting work flow.
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It cost me at least US$40,000 to make this change. That includes selling my K700S, some new blades, three-phase power, paying a rigger to move the old saw out and the new saw in, and an extra $675 to repair my lawn after the rigger drove over it with a forklift multiple times. Was it worth it? Certainly not from any economic sense, but as a hobbyist economics don’t play into anything. I had the cash, and don’t regret making the change.
David P. Best