Ridgid Table saw

I just purchased a Ridgid portable table saw. It seems like a nice saw. However, I found the set up to be much more extensive than I would have thought for a professional quality tool. It is true that a more experienced woodworker could have likely adjusted the tool in half the time. Still, I couldn't help but be disappointed after spending the money and traveling to the nearest home depot to get this particular saw. I've owned sliding miter saws made by Bosch and Hitachi and out of the box they were dead accurate. The good news is that I'm confident the saw will work fine. I just wanted to see if this is a common occurrence with the portable saws (or the Ridgid saw in particular)? It comes with a 90 day Money back guarantee (Ive still got 87 days), I could always return it if it turns out to be a lemon. I don't want to have to do that though.

Thank you,

Michael

Reply to
Michael Billings
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All of the large tools that I own had to be assembled. That includes a Ridgid table saw and 15" drill press, 8" jointer, and 18" bandsaw. I learned a lot about the operation of the tools by being involved in the assembly. While I've paid somebody to help me in one case, I've always been involved.

Consider the time you've spent already a wise investment. If you have half the luck I've had with my saw, you'll be happy. It's been my experience that the nay-sayers are all people who've only had the most cursory of exposures to Ridgid (i.e, they saw it in the store). None of them have owned one.

Reply to
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

Mine flew right out of the box. The only thing I touched was the tension on the rod (Done at the back) that locks the tilt. It wasn't positive enough for my liking. Other than that, it performed well beyond my expectations even though all it has to do is cut strips of solid surface and up to 1" MDF. I will post some pics, one of these days, showing how I mounted a Milwaukee router to the saw. I dropped an acrylic panel/router base between the slide-out extension and the fixed table. I am very pleased, knowing full well what it is. With a $50.00 Shopvac and that Milwaukee 5616 router, it's an unbeatbale combo... YMMV

Reply to
Robatoy

days), I could

learned a lot

exposures to

I just bought a Craftsman (yeah, I know I spelled it wrong) portable job site table saw and was very surprised at how accurate it was right out of the box. The fence was dead on and locks down square to the blade. The only thing so far was the miter guage was off by about 1/4 of a degree which was easily corrected. So far I like the thing, the blade kinda sucks but that is to be expected.

Fred

Reply to
Fred

| I just bought a Craftsman (yeah, I know I spelled it wrong) portable | job site table saw and was very surprised at how accurate it was right | out of the box. The fence was dead on and locks down square to the | blade. The only thing so far was the miter guage was off by about 1/4 | of a degree which was easily corrected. So far I like the thing, the | blade kinda sucks but that is to be expected. | | Fred

Why did you choose Craftsman? Why didn't you choose portable Ridgid, Bosch, DeWalt or something like that?

Reply to
Newbie

I'm not sure what kinds of setup operations you reference. When I bought my table saw (Jet), the dealer cautioned me that all big stationary tools from any manufacturer will require some fine tuning and shimming to make them dead accurate. The saw blade alignment with the miter slot was spot on from the factory. So were the 0 degree and

45 degree stops for the blade angle. I had to slightly shim to make the right side cast iron wing level. The sliding table was another story. It took about 2 hours to get it set up correctly.

Bob

Reply to
bluemax1811-newsgroups

I think your expectations are out of place.

First-off, I would not consider a Ridgid to be a professional quality tool. A decent home-owner grade tool capable of doing professional-quality work in the right hands.... but not really a pro tool.

Secondly, the bigger the tool, the more likely the need for a significant set-up ritual. As a point of reverence, a $1500 Delta Unisaw is arguably the "standard" pro-quality non-portable (cabinet-style) table saw. I would dare say that most people here that buy one *expect* to spend 3 or 4 hours setting it up (cleaning off the shipping grease, modest assembly and tuning the settings). You would think that $1500 would buy you a perfectly ready to go out-of-the-box experience, yet the truth is quite the opposite.

Any tool which weighs over 90 lbs will be shipped in pieces and require assembly and therefore tuning. The weight thing is simply a practical matter of packing and shipping. It would be really hard to ship a Unisaw with the wings and rail attached. I say 90 lbs, only because that's about what am able-bodied adult can expect to dead-lift.

I don't know what model you bought, but it may be on the hairy edge of that range. TS's tend to not pack well as the fence tends to stick out, making them a better candidate for assembly than, say, a miter saw.

-Steve

Reply to
Stephen M

portable

I dunno. Don't have access to a lot of other brands and shipping by internet is a killer on larger things. I liked the features of the saw and I've had pretty good luck with Craftsman. I'm not a pro, and it does what I need it to do (very well).

Fred

Reply to
Fred

| > Why did you choose Craftsman? Why didn't you choose portable Ridgid, | Bosch, | > DeWalt or something like that? | | I dunno. Don't have access to a lot of other brands and shipping by | internet is a killer on larger things. I liked the features of the saw | and I've had pretty good luck with Craftsman. I'm not a pro, and it | does what I need it to do (very well). | | Fred |

I am not a pro myself, but heard Craftsman was notorious for bad, inaccurate fence. Did you get 21830 model? I heard that one is actually made by Bosch. Have you tried installing a router base between extension and the table?

Reply to
Newbie

"Fred" wrote in news:1112831680.974045.146240 @z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:

Not necessarily. In the past few years I've bought a jointer, planer, compressor, miter saw, and several other big items over the net. All were shipped for free by Amazon. Some other dealers offer similar free shipping now too, or at least "reasonable" shipping for large items. I've been shopping for a new dust collector recently and found at least four options that will ship what I'm looking at for free or at least for less than $20. Given that my only local options are HD and Menards, I'm much more inclined to shop over the net-- better tools, better prices, and often better service.

-kiwanda

Reply to
Kiwanda

Well put. So was the rest of your post.

I 'tuned' a mitre saw with a pipe-wrench once. Whatever woiks.

Reply to
Robatoy

Robatoy wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@nr-tor01.bellnexxia.net:

Yabbut, you're a 'pro'. Very little good has ever come from the use of _my_ pipe wrench.

I use a big rubber mallet. It hurts less when I drop it on my foot.

Patriarch, who has friends who go looking for old rusty machinery to play with, just for the fun of it. Otherwise, they are fairly normal, whatever that means these days.

Reply to
Patriarch

Yes, that is the model. I was very surprised and pleased with the fence. It operates smooth and locks down rock solid and dead on. Haven't tried a router base yet but probably will at some later time. The only thing that seems a little cheesy is the out feed extension.

Fred

Reply to
Fred

In article , Patriarch wrote:.

aHA! Now you know why I use an aluminum pipe-wrench and wear steel-toed Nikes. Besides, I don't think one can buy a rubber mallet in Kanuckistan without a permit...with the seal hunt and all...

Reply to
Robatoy

I liked the features of the saw

A few of my tools are considered 'high-end'.. most are pretty decent, and I have a few 'odd-ball' tools that do the job, but lack the cache of a brand name product. So it is with my Craftsman mitre saw. I paid very little money for it. Sears had a sale: Reg $ 45333.00 Sale $ 159.00 so I thought: "with SUCH savings..."

Make a long story longer, it was a cheap and dirty saw which happened to do everything it was supposed to do. It weighs very little, which is why I bought it... it lives on the truck and I got tired hauling my 20-year old Delta 10" around. All in all, I am very happy with THAT particular purchase....UNLIKE..(sorry..had to laugh for a bit here) a Craftsman sander (1/2 sheet) that a buddy of mine sold me for 20 bucks. Everything on that sander vibrated...'cept the sandpaper. Kid you not. We've had a lot of laughs over that 'sander' over the years. Not everything that Craftsman makes is crap though.

I am looking at a 12" Sliding mitre saw this summer... don't know what yet.... or whether I even need a 12".. I mean.. if it slides..why the need for that big blade? Haven't given it much thought.

Reply to
Robatoy

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