Alid have a cheap table saw on offer starting this friday.
It's "CRAFT" branded, looks OK for £30. Anybody have any experience of them?
I have a "CRAFT" router which seems quite good for the price, although it is my first router so have nothing to compare it with. It is certainly good enough for what i've used it for.
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's the spec from the website. Save your arms from aching and keep those longer cuts dead straight.
a.. Powerful 1000W b.. No load speed: 2950rpm c.. TCT saw blade 205 x 16 x 2.4mm d.. Maximum cutting depth at 90º: 43mm e.. Maximum cutting depth at 45º: 25mm f.. Magnetic safety switch and parallel guide g.. 45º table tilt for accurate, parallel, mitre, bevel and compound cuts h.. Extension table for cutting larger work pieces i.. Dust extraction facility j.. Size: 600mm x 515mm
From the spec, it's going to depend on what your expectations are.
A few noticable things:
- The blade has a 16mm bore. This is relatively unusual in Europe - most are 30mm. You can get 16mm, but it's relatively unusual, as is the 205mm diameter. Blades could easily turn out to cost half the price of the saw.
- The entry level £200 table saws have 1800-2000W motors and are marginal for cutting material such as 18mm chipboard. At 1000W, this product would have severe difficulties.
- Because of the plastic construction, the small motor and the thin sheet metal top, the product will be light in weight. This is not a problem for cutting small pieces of material, but attempting a large sheet would be highly dangerous.
- It mentions dust extraction. This appears to be either on the back of the motor unit or the back of the guard. Either way it is fairly limited. If you were to cut MDF or thin hardwood, you would need to wear a dust mask because this extraction won't be enough.
- Fences on the entry level £200 saws are the second weak point after the blade. They have a mounting which is too flimsy to ensure that the fence is aligned repeatably, straight and square. There is a second fastening arrangement at the back of the saw to lock the fence, but it has to be adjusted and checked for every new cut if you want reasonable results. This one appears to have a similar arrangement.
So it's very limited, as you would expect for the price. However, if you just wanted something to either do small rough work, or as the name suggests, "craft", then it may be OK.
Keep in mind that most people find the £200 entry level saws woefully inadequate fairly soon. It's necessary to spend around £500 to get into the realms of the decent saw with repeatable fence.
As long as you set your expectations accordingly, then you can decide reasonably whether this is worth it or whether putting £30 towards something better makes more sense.
I ran one for a while last year and agree the fence wasn't very straight and needed setting up with set square every time. It hadn't any plastic bits apart from the knobs and handles.
But for just trimming a few skirting boards it was no problem. A lot neater than a circular hand saw that cost a lot more.
16mm is easy to find. It's the old 5/8" that's standard on older British kit. If you can't find a blade to fit, just use a 30mm bore and an adapter washer (quid or so from Axminster).
It's a bargain (How _do_ they do it?). But that doesn't mean it's any good. As an answer to "How do I buy an absolutely minimal table saw for
30 quid?" it's a good solution. For the question "How do I buy a usable table saw?" it's not. It won't even cut a 2x2 in half.
I just can't think of any sawing task I might reasonably be able to do on this saw.
Someone on another group Spouse goes to said it was well worth the money, it did everything he asked of it - including cutting bigger sections than 2" x
2". Spouse wasn't tempted because he has his own necessarily butch kit but for anyone who doesn't need such high specs why not?
A reasoned augment that's hard to nitpick, apart from obvious price discrepancies. The only thing I would add is if you really have a use for a _very small_ cheep bench saw this one is IMHO better and even cheaper then the Argos/B&Q challenge ones.
Everytime the vertical Powercraft bench drill comes in Aldi (been around twice), it's on a pretty heavy pallet of about thirty boxes (one of which is a bit of a struggle to lift - not light). Selling price is about £30, but eventually drops to £25. I bought one of these for my new workshop. Works fine. Still don't how it's made and transported and sold so cheap!
With the original blade? This is one of the biggest improvements that can be made with an entry level saw, although at £30 for the saw, a decent blade could cost the same or more.
I saw some of Charnwood's products at a woodworking trade show and generally they seemed better than others from the DIY stores in the similar price range.
In entry level tools and machines, the motor is often the cost compromise item because it's the single largest factor. For example, with routers, the sub-£150 ones perform especially poorly for this reason. 1800W in on one motor does not give the same result mechanically as 1800W in on another, for example.
Obviously another factor is supporting the material safely where a small table saw is used.
Mine came with two blades. The one fitted was a 30 tooth which I swapped for the finer one since I cut a lot of thin ply etc.
Difficult to buy anything decent below £500/600 agreed, but it was the best 'under £200' I could find. Induction motor made the difference for me, limits the depth of cut to 58mm @90degrees but that doesn't bother me.
Not only couldn't justify going abouve £200 but in my 16' x 8' garage/workshop, size was a criteria as well.
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