I need a chop saw or compound miter saw...

Robatoy wrote in news:33fcbdae-26b9-4fc2-98e0- snipped-for-privacy@t2g2000yqe.googlegroups.com:

Table saw, CMS, and power screwdriver set. (Ok, maybe I'm cheating a bit with the set... It's just so much more efficient to have a drill AND a driver.)

Runners up include a router and a sander (belt/disc combo). These 5 tools will allow you to build 90% of the projects out there and still have a decent result.

Add the planer, jointer, and drill press and the same projects can be built nicer, faster, and with more precision. It'll be a noticable step up.

Puckdropper

I would have thought a router to be essential. Drill/driver, sure. Track saw? That'd be my 3 followed immediately by a Rotex sander. We won't count the vacuum as a power tool.

I graduated up to a 12" HFT slider when I started doing more deck work. I needed the capacity and portability. Once you know the saw's characteristics, you can produce accurate work even on a $160 cheapie like I got, not that I need to. Hmm, maybe I'll keep the $25 Delta

For shop work, the table saw is the main go-to machine for most of us. And it's time to upgrade for me. Something I can actually install a ZCI into this time, methinks.

-- Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed. -- Storm Jameson

Unless they're framing a roof.

Would a Shopsmith be cheating?

Wow, that contributed a lot. Thanks so much.

Oh yeah, google "emoticon" when you get a sec.

Do you have one? Do you like it? The people I know who have had them have spent more time switching the thing from one operation to another than using it. Also, I'm guessing you could get the same quality in individual tools for the same or less $$.

honestly asking...

Neither did I, Mike. I used it as an example mainly for the crosscut distance of the RAS, which I DID use occasionally. I made many of the Jake's Chairs in prototype and then in final versions for my own use and for neighbors. There, I'd get cypress and after planing it, would cut it to rough length on the RAS.

I think one of the "luxuries" of having a RAS, cabinet and CMS is the lack of time spent changing settings when making something, and for my own purposes, I include most of the 'sleds' used with a cabinet saw in that category.

Micajah

Not too many of us are set up like a production factory (or Norm for that matter) to have dedicated power tools at dedicated station for dedicated tasks. :-)

Robatoy wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@a36g2000yqc.googlegroups.com:

It's tied for 4th on my list, but I simply don't use it that much. There's nothing wrong with square edges (with the sharp edges knocked down with some sand paper), and most the time I need material removed from the center of the wood it's a drilling operation.

If you're doing things like sink cut outs, I could see where a router (or a Bosch jigsaw) would be essential.

Puckdropper

What? No Timesaver at your shop, Mike? :-)

The hypothetical case was that you could have only three power tools. In that scenario Shopsmith becomes attractive and that leaves me wondering what I'd do for the other two.

What would _your_ three tools be?

Right now if I had to limit myself to three it would have to be the drill press, band saw, and table saw. A couple of years ago it would have been Skilsaw, impact driver, and Multimaster. Two years down the road, who knows?

Table saw, router table and cordless drill/driver, since that's what gets the majority of my time, now. If we're not counting hand tools, then I'd add a lathe, since with all the attachments I've made for it, it's sort of my shopsmith. :-)

So, er, ah, what, it's a...sex toy?

-- Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed. -- Storm Jameson

Those three would be my choice as well. The drill press was one of the first "big" tools I bought and it continues to be one of the most useful.