Re: Ryobi BT3100 on clearance

. . . been researching for a 1st time table saw purchase, and thanks

> to this group have found a lot of very useful info and tips. My budget > and expected usage (weekender, small diy projects) has me leaning > towards the Ryobi BT3100.

I bought the same saw at Home Depot. Similarly, it is my first table saw, and I've been learning a lot with it. After having used it for about six months or so, I'm happy with it and have made a number of things with it. In a few years, I'll likely want something bigger, better, beefier and with more power, and that'll probably cost 3 to 4 times as much. :)

Any thoughts/tips are welcome; thanks in advance.

You can live without the stand. It should be easy enough to make one for it. My suggestion would be to get the accessory kit (model BT3KIT). I seem to recall this was about $100, but the kit includes some very useful stuff:

o) Dust bag. o) Dado throat plate o) Zero clearance throat plates o) Miter table clamping kit o) Miter slot insert o) Router table kit o) Wheels for the stand

Obviously the wheels the for the stand aren't going to do you any good, but the rest is pretty handy. You'll espeically want that dado throat plate and the miter slot insert are very useful. Hopefully one of the local Home Depot stores will have one of these kits still in stock.

Regarding the miter slot insert, in the kit. The BT3100 comes with a "sliding miter table" which you can use to make miter cuts and it does work pretty well. But when you get ready to try some things like making a simple box joint jig[1], having a standard miter gauge comes in very handy. And for a miter gauge (which you don't get in the accessory kit), I just recently picked up the Incra V27 on sale at Woodcraft[2].

[1]:
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Bob Moos
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