Good Choice of Table Saw for very casual home use ??

[jloomis]

[Van Chocstraw]

You can get a good Black and Decker table saw for $99.00 good enough for your use. Also handy is a miter saw. I bought a Ryobi 10 inch compound miter saw for $59.00 before Christmas. Watch the sales and you might get a table saw with stand for 50 bucks.

[Van Chocstraw]

You can build a bigger table around it and build extensions.

[George]

I gave away a really good condition crafstman radial arm saw last year. The thing was a moose to move around, took up a lot of space and the slightest jam would knock it out of alignment.

[aemeijers]

(snip)

And >> unless you have a walkout basement, barn, or extra bay in the garage, >> they are pain in the ass to store and set up. Surprisingly easy to >> get them out of adjustment if they get moved around a lot.

Yes, I know all that. And if I had a good space to build all that and leave it set up, I would. Idiot previous owner, when he added a two-car garage and abandoned the original one-car in the basement, filled in the wall where the old door was, and filled in front yard. If he had put in a 3-0 steel door and left a walkway, it would make a great place for a walkout woodshop. But the way it is now, I can't even get 4x8 plywood down there (tight turns in kitchen and down narrow stairs, etc.) For the few things I will ever do around here, just not worth it- wait for warm weather, park the cars in driveway, and set up camp in the garage. With the amount of snow around here, leaving the cars outside all winter is not an option.

-- aem sends...

[Jim Elbrecht]

Sure one can. But first one needs to get it down to size with one's skil saw.

Jim

[Ulysses]

I have older Craftsman tools such as a router, circle saw, belt sander, and air compressor. All (over 30 years old) still work fine except I had to replace all the plastic parts (pressure release valve etc) on the compressor using standard pipe fittings..

I have a Makita table saw and I have been using it regularly for over 30 years. The only problem I've had is the height adjustment gets stuck and needs to be lubricated. As an option you can get extensions for the sides that are simply bars that attach underneath the table. I made one into a

48" extension using plywood. It's also very handy to have a couple of sawhorses that are built to the correct height for holding full 4' x 8' sheets. You can also get adjustable height rollers but I've never used them. I don't know how much the Makita sells for these days but no doubt it's over $150. Harbor Freight sells some pretty decent carbide saw blades for very little money. They are cheaper than the cost of getting a good blade sharpened. I have some blades that cost more than what you are planning on spending on the saw.

[Ivan Vegvary]

Around here (Portland, Oregon), used Craftsman table saws are always available for around $60±. Not necessarily the old cast iron table extensions, but they do come up often.

Ivan Vegvary

[Ulysses]

It's much easier and more accurate to use a properly set up table saw to cut full sheets than to use a circular saw. If you don't care that the cuts are

1/8" off then you can use a circular saw. You still need to support the section that is going to fall off or you can end up in a precarious position.

[SteveB]

Huh? If you don't mind snaky cuts, a circle saw will do. If you want it to match at the joint, you will need to use a table saw, if even a cheap one.

Steve

[SteveB]

I hope you were talking to Steve Barker. I didn't say that. But having said that, having a big miter saw is sure nice to get accurate cuts on boards, and they will cut fairly wide boards.

SteveB

[dpb]

SteveB wrote: ...

A decent circular saw w/ a guide will do as well and far easier than a small table saw w/o sizable extension infeed/outfeed tables on ply.

For a casual/occasional user, the space to dedicate to a tablesaw and it's supporting outfeed table in order to be able to make a good, straight cut safely is generally not available and by the time one gets it out and sets it up unless there's a whole lot of work the cut-to-size could have been done already w/ the circular saw.

It's no mean feat to wrestle a full sheet of 3/4" ply over a table saw and definitely not recommended w/o sufficient table to support it.

It's one of the prime reasons I keep the radial saw in the long bench -- it makes ripping 4x8 sheets child's play from whence they can then be taken in reasonably-sized pieces to the next stage.

But, that's not an option for most w/ limited space, resources and, even more importantly, interest to have such resources invested in shop equipment.

imo, ymmv, $0.02, etc., etc., etc., ...

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[AndyS]

Andy writes:

The above is the best advice I have read on the subject.....

If you buy more than you need, you waste money.....

... AND you can use a couple 2 X 4s and a sheet of OSB to accommodate damn near anything you need to rip, tear, or cut off....

A portable, inexpensive, SKILL saw is all you seem to need for your widely spaced applications.... and a little effort to figure out how to use it for your task....

ON THE OTHER HAND, I picked up a radial arm saw at a garage sale 15 years ago for about $130..... I love it.... I DON'T need it.... ... but it is damn handy....... and I ain't givin' it back !!!!!

Sometimes you buy more than you need just because you WANT IT !!!!

Andy in Eureka, Texas

[Ed Pawlowski]

I have a Delta saw, outfeed table, etc. I still have my plywood cut into a couple of pieces at the supplier to make it easier and safer to handle. Some do it free, some charge a buck a cut. Worth it.

[Joe]

Odds are what you have been using and calling a skill saw is really a wretched sidewinder 7 1/4" circular saw. What pros use is the genuine worm drive circular saw and the difference in following a straight line is like night and day. The balance of the right tool and the blade visibility make the all the difference. The famous model 77 SkilSaw worm drive is now made by Bosch and marketed as well under their name with a different color and a Twistlock cord. The 77 design has been made with few changes for around 80 years I'm told. It's easily worth the $50 premium over all the other direct drive saws. My DeWalt direct drive saw now sits in the corner covered with dust along with some other purchasing mistakes destined for the village auction while the 77 gets a workout. One of the neat things about the 77 design is that the blade offset is

1 1/2" on one side and 3 1/2" on the other, perfect for framing. There is also a hook to hang it on a rafter. With a smooth 2 x 4 and a pair of clamps (and sawhorses) accurate cutting of full plywood panels is a breeze. Try one out from a rental place and see if it will work for you.

Joe

[dpb]

I've the PM Model 66 and the setup, too, but I still use the RAS for ripping ply to width since it has the full-length (20+ ft overall) support both in and out.

The suppliers generally have such rough machines and use so little precision I prefer to do all myself so I can match grain, etc., and all to my satisfaction at leisure rather than just take the random selection of the moment.

Again, ymmv, $0.02, etc., ...

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[dpb]

... But neither addresses the issue of the OP of what to do for the casual/occasional homeowner who doesn't want such an investment or to dedicate the required room.

I survived for quite a number of years through school and early years past w/ the above way of using the hand saw only w/ temporary benches/sawhorses and guides and clamps.

One can do as precise of work that way as one wishes to take the time to learn to use the tools available and get better results (and particularly, more safely) than trying to use a small table saw w/o the ancillary support mechanisms that invariably is attempted by the inexperienced.

Once the material is down to a reasonable size that can be handled, _then_ a small tablesaw can indeed be useful.

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[Robert Neville]

You may wish to consider a 10 or 12" miter saw. They take up far less space and handle most of the home cutting needs I've come across. The 12" ones will do most framing lumber. I have this one and it works fine:

If you plan to rip any wood, you'd still need a table saw. That was the only advantage a good radial arm saw with a head that turns a full 90 degrees has...

[dpb]

Robert Neville wrote: ...

Au contraire, good buddy... :)

The RAS is also the perfect tool for cross-cutting long material that is otherwise a pita for the tablesaw...fitted w/ a long table and rollers, it is the cat's meow for the sizing of large stock prior to next step...

It does, of course, imply one has the resources in both money and space to dedicate to it... :)

If I had to eliminate one or the other, it would be a hard choice at this point. It would help in that decision if one had a specific dedication to a type of work as, say, a cabinet shop or specialty furniture of some variety that would favor a given size/type of material. As a general-purpose do everything and anything as it comes up, having the flexibility is something I'd hate to do without.

So, in the end, "different strokes..." :)

ymmv, $0.02, etc., etc., etc., ...

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[HeyBub]

The same argument applies to guns. I often hear or read the comment "No one needs 259 guns..." I try to respond: "NEED is not the operative word - WANT is all that should count."

I recall talking to a customer in Massachusetts who was appalled that someone in her town was discovered with over 2,000 guns stored in his house! The newspaper article said his newest gun was manufactured in the 1880s.

"Oh, a collector," said I. "Yeah, but nobody, not even a collector, needs 2,000 guns!" responded my customer. "I agree. A stamp collector should be content with one large stamp, one small stamp, a red stamp, and a blue stamp." "IT'S NOT THE SAME THING!" she almost screamed. "Carol," I said, "it's exactly the same thing."

But, of course, this was Massachusetts.