B&Q table saw under £30.00

[Stephen Williams]

How good can a table saw be for under £30.00? I've got a few sheets of 3/4inch ply to cut to size, would this be good enough?

Steve

[Andy Hall]

That entirely depends on your definition of "good enough" and the application.

.andy

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[PoP]

You aren't really going to be entering the domain of a decent table saw until you are spending £150. You could put another '0' on the end to get a quality saw.

I guess you might be able to hire one for a day for £30.

It depends on the job. If you are ripping up the ply to use as general boarding (say for a window if a hurricane is coming) then it might well do the job acceptably well. But if you are into serious woodworkery and furniture making I very much doubt that £30 will get you anything reasonable.

Where are you able to buy a table saw for £30 anyway? Cheapest I've ever seen was in the region of £70 and the words "barge pole" featured in my thoughts.

Finally, a word of warning in case it is needed. Like many tools table saws can be highly dangerous machines and generally speaking they are NOT for use by weekend woodworkers. At £30 I'd have to question whether the saw was complete with all its safety guards etc.

PoP

[Mike Faithfull]

IME a decent (sharp TCT blade, 1000W+ power) hand-held circular saw and solid straight edge is the best way to cut 3/4" ply or similar sheet material - unless you have a substantial table saw with a table extension(s) and are maybe called Norm ........

[dave]

Saw an ad on TV the other night - not only a table saw for less than £30 but a pillar type bench drill also for less that £30!!! What the heck is it made of I thought - plastic? The motor alone would probably cost more than that on a real one.

[Witchy]

We bought the Power Devil one they used to do back when they were £115 and the build quality leaves a lot to be desired, particularly with the fence which takes AGES to align perfectly straight - its clamping mechanism is *bobbins*. Forget about using the ruler that's built into it too.

I only use it for cutting wood where exact size isn't an issue.

£30? Nah. Might take 'em up on the bench drill though....

-- cheers,

witchy/binarydinosaurs

[PoP]

Folks around here will remember my little saga with a PPro router a short time ago.

To give them credit, B&Q were very good about my taking it back. They issued a full refund so I'm not overly complaining about what happened.

A few days after I returned my PPro router I saw what looked to be the exact same router being offered on ebay. I would hazard a guess that either B&Q might be selling these things off to claw back some of the money, or else an entreprenureal employee at B&Q is making a few bob on the side by removing things from that skip at the back of the store.

Assuming it was the same router of course. But its description and photo fitted perfectly.

PoP

[Elessar]

I bought the Rolson pillar drill from Screwfix when it was reduced from £39 to £29 two years ago or so. It's perfectly OK - solid, rigid chrome-steel pillar, machined cast-iron "table" (or whatever it's called), good 13mm chuck with no wobble on the shaft, a quiet smooth motor and a NVR switch. It's had a fair amount of use too.

[Witchy]

The bench drill looks OK actually, if underpowered if recent discussions on 'ere are anything to go by. 3 speed too, though I suspect the slower speeds won't be up to much :)

-- cheers,

witchy/binarydinosaurs

[PoP]

I know Rolson kit is bargain priced however I've purchased a few of their hand tools (screwdrivers and similar) and rate them highly.

There's a bargain basement shop in Bracknell that has a whole window full of Rolson kit. Whilst I can't speak from direct experience of using it I am of the opinion that it looks to be reasonably well made, and the prices are definitely attractive!

PoP

[Dave Plowman]

I bought one of the early 39 quid jobbies from B&Q about 5 years ago - it's green. ;-) I'd say it's had moderately heavy DIY use and I still think it remarkable value. I did remove the spindle thingie and have the groove re-machined for a couple of quid which allowed the 'slop' to be set to near zero. I also made a slightly longer pillar to give me extra clearance which I found too limiting with a vice in use. I only use the slowest of the five speeds, and I'd guess the power would be marginal at the higher ones. But as a replacement for the B&D in a stand I had before, it's brilliant.

[Toby]

Slot slop is the Achilles heel of this machine and it's clones, it's the grub screw that's all slanty/worn on mine (well my father's on permanent loan I think). I suggest trialists tweak their grubscrew & plunge to about 95% and give it good waggle to see if they can pick out a good one.

[PoP]

You know, if that comment turned up on alt.sex.fetish I imagine it would create no end of debate.....

PoP

[Dave Plowman]

Yes - the problem with mine was that the slot the grub screw runs in wasn't well machined, so tighten the screw to remove most of the slop and the pillar would bind in places. New ones might well be better made, and I'd guess there is a tolerance, so check before buying.

But a decent machine shop will re-do the groove if you feel like stripping the thing down.

[Andy Dingley]

I'm not going near a £30 table saw....

But has anyone tried the £30 scroll saw in the same advert ?

-- Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

[PoP]

Good plan.

Haven't seen the advert, but a scroll saw for £30 sounds doable given that you can get a reasonably good scroll saw for twice that.

PoP

[MrCheerful]

I bought the 30 squid scroll saw, when there was a special about a fortnight ago, it was down to 22.98 !! I had to buy one, it works really well. As far as I am concerned well worth thirty quid, incidentally I bought the little table saw when they were 40 quid (two or so years ago) It is excellent value, but the blade was only ordinary and gave up. As soon as I put in a tct blade the saw was even better. I find it handy to have my two table saws set up to do different parts of a job, saves resetting the big one. Also the little cheapie is easy to put in the boot.

MrCheerful

[Mungo Henning]

Anyone bought the pillar drill for the same dosh? I had heard that the drill uses a belt drive, hence there's the risk of slipping way in the future. Comments anyone?

Mungo

[Witchy]

I thought all pillar drills used a belt drive so you could select different speeds by moving the belt up or down the different sized drive spindles?

-- cheers,

witchy/binarydinosaurs

[Andy Hall]

Most pillar drills have belt drives, normally with stepped pullies to facilitate speed change.

Normally there is an adjustment to the motor bracket to adjust the belt tightness, similar idea to a car fan belt.

.andy

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