"Budget" Table Saw recommendation

[twodoctors]

Hi all,

I'm hoping Santa will bring me a table saw... but Santa is on a tight budget (and is a tight *******! ).

I was looking at the Evolution Rage 5-S. It was £200 during Black Friday but I had to spend the cash on something else instead at the time and now it's back at £250. :-(

Now I'm looking a bit wider and considering the Charnwood W616.

I just want a saw that cut clean, straight and square! I don't have any particular project in mind, but I'm only a hobbyist and have half a single garage as my workshop.

Advice welcomed.

Thanks.

Adrian

 

[lurker]

I have this saw.
I was lucky enough to get it cheap as it was shop soiled.
And I collected it.

It needs a bit of fettling initially but has done its job for at least four years.

I notice you are not far from me and Coalville (where Charnwood are) is another fifteen minutes further on. Even if you buy at full price I think it would be worth you collecting. The chaps there are very friendly.

If you want to look at mine and what I have done, you are welcome.

 

[harryc]

If you only have half of a single garage you would be better off getting a half decent track saw.
It will do most of what you can achieve with a table saw and if you are dealing with sheet material then it’s a must.

 

[LoveMonkey]

For what it's worth, I have the Evolution Rage 5S.

I'm a beginner when it comes to woodworking and don't have any other table saws to compare to, so take my words with pinch of salt.

Pros:
Rip fence is easy to set up and once done so seems solid enough. It hasn't moved on me yet.
Rips through long boards easily
The built in table extensions mean I have been able to cut 1800x600mm OSB sheets into the sizes I need without any additional tables either side.
Folds up and wheels around the workshop easily. It also fit in the back of my small car with the seats down and the parcel shelf out

Cons:
The main problem I have with this saw is that the bulk of it underneath is made from plastic. Due to this I have problems when trying to do anything that requires a degree of accuracy due to the blade not always staying at the angle I set it to. Perhaps this is common with all saws, but I have to reset it to perpendicular with the table pretty much every time I use it and if I'm doing a lot of cuts it might not be straight by the end.

I imagine this saw is good when you need to move about a lot because it is not too heavy, I'd estimate about 30kg, and compact when folded up. Not so good when you are trying to make cuts with a degree of precision. I've got some good use out of this saw, and will continue to do so, but somewhere along the line it is something I will need to replace for what I'm trying to achieve.

Hope that helps.

Thanks

 

[MikeG.]

........ I'm only a hobbyist and have half a single garage as my workshop.......

You haven't got room for a table saw. It isn't the saw itself, but the working space around them, which mean these things are space-hungry. A hand held circular saw and straight-edge (no need for a track saw) and a chop saw/ mitre saw would make much better use of the small area you have. For ripping smaller items a bandsaw is useful, otherwise saw horses and a (hand) ripsaw.

 

[woodbloke66]

........ I'm only a hobbyist and have half a single garage as my workshop.......

You haven't got room for a table saw. It isn't the saw itself, but the working space around them, which mean these things are space-hungry. A hand held circular saw and straight-edge (no need for a track saw) and a chop saw/ mitre saw would make much better use of the small area you have. For ripping smaller items a bandsaw is useful, otherwise saw horses and a (hand) ripsaw.

What Mike said, but you don't even need a chop/mitre saw; these tools are generally aimed at chippies on site working out the back of a Transit van. I've known a couple of folk who bought a chop saw thinking it would be a 'good idea' and it ended up gathering cobwebs - Rob

 

[transatlantic]

As others have said, half a single garage isn't really enough space for a saw like the the 619. Having said that, if you can work outside, then you could get something like the Dewalt 745 that you can wheel out.

Not sure I'd agree about not having a mitre saw, I use mine all the time and wouldn't be without it.

Track saws are only really good for cutting sheet materials, unless you go all out and build yourself an MFT type table, then the options open up..... but you need a lot of space for that too.

If you're not going to be working with sheet materials, then I would go for a wheeled table saw you can use outside.

 

[AES]

When looking at the following, PLEASE bear in mind that A) I don't even own any sort of table saw, and B) I have no knowledge of them whatsoever. BUT......

Walking around Aldi the other day I saw (sorry) a very compact-looking fold up table/site saw for less than 100 quid equivalent. I didn't even look at it, and have no idea if it's any good or not. But it's there, and what comes into our (Swiss) Aldis & Lidls soon appears (or has just appeared) in their UK shops.

Ditto walking around one of our DIY Emporia I also recently noticed a very compact/low-line table/site saw by Bosch. Again above comments apply, and I can't even remember if it was Bosch green or Bosch blue. But again, if it was here it'll also be available in UK for sure. Price was around the 200 quid equivalent (but that was a special Xmas offer). And sorry, no, I didn't even notice the Bosch tool code number (I'm definitely not in the market for any kind of table saw - space)

Don't know if the above's any help at all, but as I've often said about other Aldi & Lidl tools in the past , you at least have the benefit of their no quibble 3 year guarantee.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

If it is any help, a band saw is much smaller, and nearly as much fun as a table saw. It can also do things a table saw can't do.

Edit: not my work, just in case anyone was wondering

 

[twodoctors]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

A bit of background about myself. I would only call myself a hobbyist. I'm a tools hoarder also. I have a Scheppach Basa 3 (old model) bandsaw and I do make bandsaw boxes. I have a budget tracksaw which I don't use as much as I should. I have a jigsaw, scroll saw, mitre saw etc. I do have a table saw but as mentioned before it's a crap one. My problem is I would like a saw that I can cut clean, straight, square without measuring 20x (and still get it wrong). A table saw with a good fence and mitre slide is what I'm looking for. The bandsaw do cut fairly good, but the cut is not clean enough, and is also prone to drift if I'm not careful.

It's still between the Evolution Rage 5-S or Charnwood W616 for me. Charnwood might edge it as they are just "down the road" from me and I can pop down if I run into issues... I think.

It's a bit tight in the workshop but everything is on wheels so I just push everything to the "storage" end of the garage when I'm "at work". :-D

Merry Christmas all!

Adrian

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

A bit of background about myself. I would only call myself a hobbyist. I'm a tools hoarder also. I have a Scheppach Basa 3 (old model) bandsaw and I do make bandsaw boxes. I have a budget tracksaw which I don't use as much as I should. I have a jigsaw, scroll saw, mitre saw etc. I do have a table saw but as mentioned before it's a rubbish one. My problem is I would like a saw that I can cut clean, straight, square without measuring 20x (and still get it wrong). A table saw with a good fence and mitre slide is what I'm looking for. The bandsaw do cut fairly good, but the cut is not clean enough, and is also prone to drift if I'm not careful.

It's still between the Evolution Rage 5-S or Charnwood W616 for me. Charnwood might edge it as they are just "down the road" from me and I can pop down if I run into issues... I think.

It's a bit tight in the workshop but everything is on wheels so I just push everything to the "storage" end of the garage when I'm "at work". :-D

Merry Christmas all!

Adrian

I have two methodologies with tools. If they are not important and won't get much use, I buy cheap ones (often from Lidl). If I want a specific tool to do a precise, specific job, and I want it to last, I don't have a budget: I buy the tool for the job. If I have to wait to get the cash together, so be it. It sounds to me as though you need to buy an accurate, small table saw. The obvious one to recommend would be the Axminster Craft AC216TS (which just happens to be the one I bought). It is, however, double your budget, and a bit more.

The thing is, if you go just a little bit up from your current saw, are you not going to have the same (but perhaps not to the same extent) problems as before? You currently have a table saw, you know you need an accurate table saw, so you need to spend sufficient money to get an accurate one. Better to wait and get one that does exactly what you want, rather than make do (again). Imagine spending a lump and having a new saw which isn't good enough, and because it's new, you're stuck with it for years. Buyer's remorse is really depressing.

I don't know if Charnwood have a similar offering to the Axminster, but of course once you have decided to spend "just a little bit more", the world suddenly opens up, and you could have any saw you want. Apologies if the above doesn't help.

 

[twodoctors]

:-D

As a occasional hobbyist, I think the ones I'm looking will have to do for now! :-D

I took a similar path with by bandsaw. Started with an Aldi-style one 2nd hand. Managed to shift that without loss when I upgraded to a Scheppach Basa 1.0. Then found an old Kity one, and sold the Scheppach for a profit(!) and kept the base that came with it! :-D Bought a a Basa 3 from a member here and sold the Kity on Gumtree for a small profit also. It's great when you buy pre-loved stuff! The Basa 3 is going nowhere!

I was looking at 2nd hand Axminster ones but nothing nearby. I was also looking at DeWalt 745 but also no joy.

Charnwood cabinet saw starts at about £650, and its design is the same as a Scheppach ones. Sure it will be better than a "budget" saw, but I don't think I have the room for one in my current "workshop"! Maybe when I realise a decent table saw and a band saw is all I need, I might sell the other saws and upgrade to a cabinet one...

Merry Christmas!

A

 

[lurker]

The Charnwood is decent value for money.
And yes they will help out if you have issues.
If you do get it, I have a few changes I made to mine over the first year that have made it a bit easier to use and am happy to pass them along.

 

[Lonsdale73]

Like you, I started with a cheap and really nasty tablesaw. At two and a half times the price of the C&N I thought the Charnwood W616 would be a significant step up. It wasn't. I struggled with it for about a year afore finding this forum where I was told to ditch the blade it came with and fit a decent one. That improved the quality of the cut but getting the fence square - and keeping it there - continued to be a problem. Once I bought a track saw I used the table saw less and less and as mitre saw and band saw were added o my armoury the Charnwood became little more than an additional work surface / dumping area. I sold it for peanuts, thinking the other saws would cover all eventualities. Maybe they could but there are times when a tablesaw is the best option, for me at least. I have now a Dewalt DW745 and it is much better than any of the other two table saws I've owned. The full length fence is dead simple to set up and remains parallel to the blade, square to the table top. I still have a hankering for one with a cast iron top such as Charnwoods W619 or the new(ish) Axminster AC216TS. I had some issues with the W616 (some parts were missing and others broken on arrival) and I didn't find Charnwood's customer service at all helpful and there ae mixed reviews of the Axminster one so for now sticking with the Dewalt.

 

[tony359]

Hi all
I thought I would add my question on this thread, I hope it's fine.

I am looking for some advice. I am a hobbyist, my main hobby is more electronics than woodworking. Some time ago I bought an Evolution mitre saw as I hoped it would help with the small wood projects I sometimes start. I have used it for a while and realised that it's good for chopping studs and small pieces of wood but whenever I need to do something more accurate, it's just not the tool for the job. Today for example I wanted to make a 40x25x15 box: I was just unable to get straight cuts out of it despite trying to adjust the angle of the blade several times.
Some time ago on this forum I asked how I could do accurate cuts with my jigsaw and I was explained that that wasn't the right tool either.

Again, I do not use my cutting tools very often but I really would like something that could give me an accurate result whenever I have something in mind.

This afternoon I ended up using my home-made guide for the circular saw: eventually I ended up with something usable but that method doesn't work very well with SMALL pieces of wood!

Before I start spending money on tools, I would really appreciate your input on this. I understand Evolution tools are not the best (my mitre saw went back twice before I could get one which was machined correctly) but I am not sure I would like to spend lots of money on a tool I use every now and then.

I wouldn't mind if I had to fiddle with it a bit before it can deliver good cuts but I am very concerned by the above comment:

Cons:
The main problem I have with this saw is that the bulk of it underneath is made from plastic. Due to this I have problems when trying to do anything that requires a degree of accuracy due to the blade not always staying at the angle I set it to. Perhaps this is common with all saws, but I have to reset it to perpendicular with the table pretty much every time I use it and if I'm doing a lot of cuts it might not be straight by the end.

I understand that it's better to spend money on good tools once and then enjoy the results - all my other tools are mostly Makita and Metabo) but I hope you understand my point.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!
tony

 

[Steliz]

You could use what you have to make the cuts and then use a shooting board to make them more accurate.

 

[tony359]

Thanks Steliz,

I have to admit I had to google what a "shooting board" is. Interesting tool. However, that would take quite a lot of space to set up and I guess I would need some kind of woodworking vice too?

But I see your point: instead of looking for perfection on a budget - which is seldom achievable - let's try to have a system that can amend the small imperfections. However: I mainly work with plywood, MDF and particle boards: would a shooting board work with that?

Thanks!

 

[Droogs]

As long as you have a nice sharp hand plane to use on the shooting board yes. But be aware modern manmade materials blunt and wear plane irons a lot faster than solid wood. So you would need to be prepared to sharpen the plane iron more often

 

[sunnybob]

If youre tight on space then a very good compromise would be a dewalt 745. These have just been superceded with the same machine but a smaller blade (god know why). If you can find a 745, they are the perfect compromise. The fence is a work of art and accurate repeatable cuts are guaranteed. The fence extends out to 600 mm.
It can be lifted and stored on end when not needed.
Its a lot more saw than I thought it was going to be.
The single downside is that the motor is very noisy all by itself.

 

[tony359]

Well I guess that DeWalt speaks by itself. Maybe a used 745 is what I need? Considering I would sell the Evolution mitre saw, maybe not too expensive either. I'll check that out, thanks.

Droogs,
Thanks. I'll bear that in mind.