Seeing that I probably won't be using a TS more than 15-20 times per year do they make a decent saw in this price range. I do realize of course that we are talking some real entry level saws here. I would like to find one that has a steel top rather than cast aluminum and a 3/4" miter slot. Maybe I am asking for the moon..... Feel free to thrash on any saws that you think are real junk. $350 is my ceiling price......I have no problem with buying any brand as long as I get my $350 worth.
Another $100 gets you the best "small" table saw, Bosch 4000, complete with stand, back and left side extension. Look at Toolcrib on the net, it's a deal!. GCS
I agree that you should look to see what used saw you can get your hands on seeing how it will be used somewhat infrequently. I am still partial to the good old fashioned belt drive table verse the direct drive. easy to maintain and repair if needed
You may be able to find a used one in good shape. Good brands include Jet, Powermatic, General, possibly Grizzly. Avoid table tops that are plastic or pressed metal--cast is much better Look for a flat table, a good solid fence, and with the blade parallel to the fence. Try ripping a board and moving all the gears before you buy. Doubt you can find anything new with reasonable quality at that price, but you might settle for a quality circular saw instead.
I have two C'men, one to rip and one to crosscut, probably from the 70s. One was $150 and one $75. Sorry fences, but usable...never used on the crosscut anyway. One has steel wings and one cast. Both are straight, with no runout. I've put link belts on them, but never touched anything else.
You'll get far more for your $ used, unless you have a pride problem.
BTW, you might want to think about RAS. They are $75-200 and can do many things fairly well and some very well. I've owned one for over 30 yr and now have two!
Appreciate all of the help. I guess for this price a good used saw is probably the way to go. Will have to start searching the papers. Thanks Again to All!
Whatever you end up with, spend some dough on a nice blade. A good combination crosscut/rip Freud blade will be around $50 or so at home depot and is well worth every penny. Stock blades that come with saws are crap.
I just took advantage of a promotion that the local Home Depot had to buy a Rigid 3650 contractor's saw. I believe it is priced at $547 on the sales floor. It's a decent saw- cast iron top and wings, 1 1/2 HP belt drive, serviceable fence, built in mobile base, regular 3/4" miter slot, arbor long enough to accept a full stack of dado blades, warranty. I was able to purchase this saw for 1/2 price when I signed up for a commercial account. All it took was filling out the application and returning it to the pro desk. Out the door the saw was under $300. I'm not sure if this was a store-specific promotion or a chain wide thing. Also, I'm not sure if this promotion is still going on or not. However Lowe's is currently (through tomorrow) offering 20% off power tools and Amazon often runs specials (and price matches as well). I just ordered a Delta drill press from Amazon. Lowe's has this drill press at 20% off and Amazon matched the price plus took off an additional 10% of the difference. I would read some archives of this news group and do some research on reviews of saws in your price range and then keep your eyes peeled for a sale on a decent saw. Used machinery can be a bargain if you know what to look for, otherwise it can be a headache (and quickly wipe out the bargain aspect) to replace parts and tune the machine to get it in working order.
I have no idea how we could work shipping, but I bet we could ship it for $100. I have a friend selling an old Crafstman contractor's saw. Not sure what vintage, but it's old enough that the micro-adjust feature on the fence is a rack and pinion system with metal parts, and I don't reckon Sears has made (had made for them) anything like that since the '80s. He's asking $200. It needs some cleaning up, but it's a good runner. He's been using it for jobsite stuff, and not exactly babying it. It's rusty all over, but would clean up good I think.
I third or fourth or fifth everybody's recommendations here. I started off on a Skil 3400 that I picked up new for $50. It was better than nothing, but the only really good selling point was that I got it new for $50. It was a real piece of crap all around. Crappy fence, crappy miter gauge, non-standard miter slots, CRAPPY aluminum table (warped even), screaming universal motor with enough vibration to shake things off shelves two doors down. I must be a pretty damn good woodworker to have ever produced some of the stuff I did with that pile of crap. :)
I replaced it last year, and I did a lot of dollar-conscious shopping for low end stuff trying to get the minimum saw I would consider "decent" for the least money. I wound up with a ~$600 Crapsman contractor's saw that I got for something around $400 IIRC on closeout. It was the cheapest, lightest, smallest saw I felt would do the job for me.
I probably would have bought and cleaned up this friend's old saw if I had known the guy was getting rid of it last February. C'est la vie. Anyway, what I'm getting at is I don't think there's anything out there new right now for less than $500 that's worth looking at unless you just like smashing your head into a brick wall.
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