craftsman table saw decent?

[D.Mo]

Car in the Garage? Heresey. Garages are for our tools.

D. Mo

[<nolove]

When I was TS shopping, I also had about a $400 limit. And I came very close to getting that one. But, this one

was on sale for the exact same price (now $60 more). It's the exact same saw plus an accessory kit.

But that $60 gets you alot of extras:

- mobile base (alone worth the extra dough)

- dust collection cover (plate on bottom with 4" hole)

- router mounting kit (kind a sucky tho)

- micro-adjusting feature on the fence (nice)

The mobile base is worth the $60. That suckers gonna be a PITA to move without one. If you're like me (working in your garage), it is a necessity. Making one will prolly cost $60 for the casters and materials or a new ready-made one will cost more.

As for the rest of the items, well, after the mobile base they are basically free.

If this saw (with the accessories) is out, the saw that you are looking at does have the mountings for the micro-adjuster, you could probably get it separately from Sears Parts and install it yourself.

Actually, in the end, I got a used Craftsman contractor saw (2HP [15A/110V or 7.5A/220V], cast iron top and wings, Jet Xacta fence, mobile base, dust collection plate, link belt with machined pulleys, Freud combo blade, and more for about $325). Then I used the extra $75 towards a Incra V27 with the fence/stop combo.

[sorry for the drive-by gloat, but with a little time you can get a great deal on a used]

Anyhoo, just throwing that out there. Don't you hate it when you say you have a budget and someone knucklehead tells you to spend more anyway?

Scott

.> This looks to be a good notch above the el cheapo benchtop models that

[Tom M.]

\> I stopped by sears to take a look at it and it looks like a fairly

I'd go with the full size contractor saw...you won't be sorry. I have the same saw, except I got the one with the router wing and mobile base, and I am quite happy with it. Once I trued everything up right, it cuts perfectly square, and it's still true almost a year later. It's real easy to move around the garage on the mobile base too. I did have to do a little filing where the two-piece rail fits together, but the fence isn't bad. Once set, it locks down square every time, and is much better than you'd get on a benchtop saw. The router table works great also (although it's drilled for only Craftsman or Ryobi routers), and it will save you that much more shop space. I think the router wing model would serve you better...even if you don't use the router table, you get the cast iron wing plus the mobile base for nearly the same price. I got mine for $449 (Craftsman Club days), and it went on sale a couple months later for $399. The manager went ahead and credited me the $50, which was pretty nice of them.

Tom

[Silvan]

I miss that show so much. I saw Jill the other day on Law and Order, covering for her murdering teenage daughter or something. Tim is of course busy playing Santa Claus.

I'm making due with a "$200" saw that I got for $50. Whatever the OP is looking at, I'll bet it's something I'd love to have myself.

One thing about starting with a crappy saw, it teaches you to appreciate a good one when you get it. It's hard to get much crappier than a Skil 3400. You can do it, but you have to get a saw at Big Lots or something.

Whether or not I would consider the OP's saw in question a "crappy" one I can't say. I know everybody hates Crapsman, and I sure hate my Crapsman POS 2000 router. Buying a Crapsman as my trade-up saw would probably be a mistake.

It's not off the table though. I might get a Crapsman. One thing about Sears, they're *there*. Most of this other stuff is mail order or drive to Big City USA. Lowe's stocks three table saws. HD has the BT3100 and the Skil 3400; maybe a Makita or Hitachi benchtop. Reed's has a few benchtops from Delta and Makita and such. Nobody stocks JET, nobody carries a full line of Delta... Motor freight isn't cheap, and it's an added PITA. I like to just buy the damn thing and take it home.

I looked at Delta and I looked at Crapsman when I had $300 to spend on a DP. I got the Crapsman.

I got the Crapsman when I needed a drill too.

Circular saw...

I guess 1/3 of my power tools are from there, and I use them all the time. No, I'm not above buying Crapsman again. I won't buy another one of these horrible routers though.

[Silvan]

Absolutely. My grandpa has had a Chevy Caprice outside since 1972, and it's still fine. The paint looks a little rough, mind you, but who cares what a car looks like? :)

[Bruce]

i just heard that the actor that played Wilson died of lung cancer.

[Wm Gardner]

Chad,

Bought the one with the router table wing a few years ago. Not the greatest saw out there but certainly worth you $200 out-of-pocket cost!

Good luck and happy New Year! Bill

[Bridger]

[jo4hn]

[roger]

I have a Delta Contr. saw-that I made a mobile base for 'cause it's a heavy sucker! I work outside (when I can) here in Montana and need to move it over rough surfaces (dirt and gravel) to use it. I made a frame across the bottom of the sheet metal stand it's on, mounted 8" lawnmower wheels on the frame so that they're approx. 1/8" off the ground. Simply tilt the saw forward a bit and drive it like a wheelbarrow. It sits outside (tarped, of course) as we speak with about 8" of snow on the tabletop. Seems the garage is too full of other crap to take it inside...hmmm.... maybe I make some room in there come Spring. Sure am glad I made up that ultra-durable hard wax last summer-- everything on the saw that's metal is coated with it.

Roger

[rodgerp]

[Silvan]

[Chad Cunningham]

Nope, probably not :) But it would serve as a throwaway introduction.

Of course I'm thinking I'm not in a hurry and there is quite a bit i can do for now to practice with some hand tools and circular saw. I'm thinking I'll just take my time and keep an eye on yard sales and classifieds. Only problem is knowing what is decent. This thing is not far from me:

lord knows what it actually is.

[Mike G]

Decent is a relative thing Chad. With a direct comparison to my Jet Cabinet saw probably not, with a direct comparison to a lot of the bench top saws, probably much more so.

The question is will it do the basic job you want done in, at least, a workman like manner and fit into the budget. The obvious answer is yes it will as long as you understand and compensate for it's limitations. You aren't going to be able to feed stock through the way I do with a three horse power motor saw and you may have to check your alignments a bit more often but we all have to start somewhere and if the saw will spin the blade somewhere over 3K rpm it will do the basic job of cutting wood. .

Good luck

[Dick Durbin]

I used that saw last week at a friend's house. It's just fine. You will be able to do a lot of nice work on it.

Don't buy a benchtop saw. I used a Delta benchtop saw for a few years and it was totally frustrating. I now have a Jet contractor's saw and don't find it to be any more accurate than my friend's Craftsman.

Go for it.

Dick Durbin

[stoutman]

[Anthony Diodati]

should go look at it if your close, It don't look like a bad saw,

Its the full 27" depth table too. tony D.

[LRod]

I was partially correct. There are 19 different model numbers that were used. Of the 18 other than 6100, most were only assigned once, with the net result of about 24 or so tools with model numbers other than 6100. There were 38 tools with the model number 6100.

Thanks for the link.

LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999