Table saws for small home workshop

[Paparoche]

Hi All.

It's that time for me to get rid of my hobby saw and start to consider something a bit more substantial. I'm limited with space and was considering a job site type saw or something like the evolution that comes on a trolley. Has any got or had one of these saws and are they recommended for small to medium sized projects? Looking for opinions and recommendations at this stage.

Thanks

 

[Bodgers]

Hi All.

It's that time for me to get rid of my hobby saw and start to consider something a bit more substantial. I'm limited with space and was considering a job site type saw or something like the evolution that comes on a trolley. Has any got or had one of these saws and are they recommended for small to medium sized projects? Looking for opinions and recommendations at this stage.

Thanks

If size is more a factor than weight, consider the Axminster AC216TS. It has an induction motor and a cast iron top in a small package.

It will be more pleasent to use in terms of noise and stability than a job site saw.

Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Steve Maskery]

Have a look at the Bosch offering. The saw has extenders to accommodate quite substantial workpieces, yet the footprint is quite small. I don't own one but I have used my bro's; I was impressed. They do a folding stand for it as well. It's all well-designed.

 

[sunnybob]

If price as well as size is important, i heartily recommend the dewalt 745 site saw.
22 kgs all in weight. An EXTREMELY clever and well made fence with a cast alloy top.
Available at under £500 delivered.
I spent a long time looking and would not recommend anything with a pressed steel top, they are truly awful for precision work.

 

[Paparoche]

Thanks guys. It's more or less came down to the bosch or the dewalt. Both have features that the other doesn't. Decisions. Decisions.

 

[sundaytrucker]

Is there any reason you have discounted the Axminster Craft saw recommended by Bodgers in an above post?

I am also looking for my first small TS and have been thinking over the Bosch, Dewalt and Axminster saws. At present the induction motor in the Axminster is pushing me toward that although I don't really want cast iron.

 

[sunnybob]

If you have room to leave the saw where it is, you REALLY do want cast iron. :shock:

If you have to move the saw around, then cast alloy is the best option.
Pressed metal is the worst choice.

 

[sundaytrucker]

If you have room to leave the saw where it is, you REALLY do want cast iron. :shock:

If you have to move the saw around, then cast alloy is the best option.
Pressed metal is the worst choice.

Yeah I certainly wouldn’t waste my time/money with pressed metal and I understand the strengths of cast iron but the machine will be in a leaky garage in the short/medium term.

I don’t plan to use much in the way of sheet material with the saw being used primarily to accurately crosscut hardwood to length and rip to width.

I think for my needs the Axminster saw is probably the best compromise.

 

[MusicMan]

Keep it waxed, and cover when left unused.

 

[Bodgers]

although I don't really want cast iron.

Why?

 

[sunnybob]

I'm normally an axminster kind of guy. maybe a third of my machines have come from them, but having owned the dewalt for a few months now, I really recommend it. I work almost exclusively with hard woods and am normally cutting pieces less than 2 foot square.

couple of points to note whichever you buy;

Induction motors may be quiet. Whizzing saw blades are definitely NOT quiet. When the saw blade is cutting, aint nobody in the world could tell if you have an induction motor or not. You MUST use ear protection on a tablesaw!

Cast iron is not too difficult to keep looking good. I live on an island, so humidity is everywhere, always, even if the temps are over 35c (38 today 8) ). I went through all the usual gimmick stuff with my bandsaw table and bobbin sander table and drill press table. Nothing worked for more than a day or three untill one day I just grabbed a stick of Liberon beeswax and just rubbed hard with it over all the iron. That layer of beeswax lasts weeks, many weeks.

 

[MikeJhn]

+1 My workshop is in the Dordogne and it rains a lot in the winter, and hot during the summer, humidity can be astonishing, Liberon wax works on all the cast iron surface's without any undue effort, not a reason to discount the obvious advantages of having a stable cast iron table on any machine.

 

[sundaytrucker]

although I don't really want cast iron.

Why?

Mainly because of how quickly my bandsaw table rusted even with wax, although the Liberon wax sunnybob and MikeJhn advise may alleviate that.

I'm normally an axminster kind of guy. maybe a third of my machines have come from them, but having owned the dewalt for a few months now, I really recommend it. I work almost exclusively with hard woods and am normally cutting pieces less than 2 foot square.

couple of points to note whichever you buy;

Induction motors may be quiet. Whizzing saw blades are definitely NOT quiet. When the saw blade is cutting, aint nobody in the world could tell if you have an induction motor or not. You MUST use ear protection on a tablesaw!

Cast iron is not too difficult to keep looking good. I live on an island, so humidity is everywhere, always, even if the temps are over 35c (38 today 8) ). I went through all the usual gimmick stuff with my bandsaw table and bobbin sander table and drill press table. Nothing worked for more than a day or three untill one day I just grabbed a stick of Liberon beeswax and just rubbed hard with it over all the iron. That layer of beeswax lasts weeks, many weeks.

My ears and eyes are always protected when using machinery. I have a lot of experience in a wood machine shop from various courses but also from my day job where I regularly use a Wadkin panel saw.

Thanks for the tip on the Liberon wax, I will check it out.

+1 My workshop is in the Dordogne and it rains a lot in the winter, and hot during the summer, humidity can be astonishing, Liberon wax works on all the cast iron surface's without any undue effort, not a reason to discount the obvious advantages of having a stable cast iron table on any machine.

Thanks for your recommendation, I will check out the Liberon wax.

 

[woodbloke66]

I don’t plan to use much in the way of sheet material with the saw being used primarily to accurately crosscut hardwood to length and rip to width.

How 'accurate' to need accurate to be? If you want to cross cut to a tolerance of 0.1mm then you need a Felder or similar. If you want to chop off hardwood to length so it's square and reasonably accurate, all you actually need is a cross-cut T square and a hand held circular saw...and it is pretty accurate. If you want to rip hardwood to length, 'G' cramp a known straight edge to the board and use the same hand held circular saw. Both processes assume that you'd do further work to get them really accurate and to size.
For your intended use, you don't really need a tablesaw in a small workshop; if you're desperate to part with the 'folding' my advice is to buy a bandsaw instead which is much more versatile - Rob

 

[MikeJhn]

That's right 'G' cramp a known straight edge to the board and crawl up the board whilst trying to keep the circular saw on line, catch the cord on the end of the board and pull the saw to one side, or run it through a table saw, hard choice, now which way to go?

 

[woodbloke66]

That's right 'G' cramp a known straight edge to the board and crawl up the board whilst trying to keep the circular saw on line, catch the cord on the end of the board and pull the saw to one side, or run it through a table saw, hard choice, now which way to go?

Nope, you don't need a 'line'; the edge of the known straight edge determines where the cut will be. All you need to do is to keep the circular saw pressed against the known straight edge (a chunk of 15 mdf is pretty good) and as you go along just make sure the cord doesn't foul the end of the board or anywhere else. If it does, stop the cut, sort out the cord and carry on. It really isn't complicated and a very simple, straightforward cut to do. This is an example of the set-up:

Select the board, a nice, wide, board of prime English Walnut here, making sure it's well clear of the bench

Clamp a none too straight edge to it; teak used here but anything will do. Set the saw to the required doc and make the cut. I generally start off on the 'shop floor and then jump on the table to finish off:

It ain't difficult and you don't need a tablesaw to do this sort of work...in fact a small table saw might struggle with a 2m long board like this.

Edit: this is exactly how the sapwood was slice off this board - Rob

 

[MikeJhn]

Just put an outfeed table on the end of the table saw, its simple, does not rely on clamps and is much easier for anyone to do than faff about with boards and straight edge's and even cutting through your work and cutting into your bench, it does not matter how often you say it, the table saw is the easier option for ripping a board, its what they are designed to do and they do it very well.

 

[woodbloke66]

Just put an outfeed table on the end of the table saw, its simple, does not rely on clamps and is much easier for anyone to do than faff about with boards and straight edge's and even cutting through your work and cutting into your bench, it does not matter how often you say it, the table saw is the easier option for ripping a board, its what they are designed to do and they do it very well.

They're also expensive and they take up a lot of room in a small workshop, even more when you add extension tables! Say again, for this particular operation, you don't need a table saw. A circular saw and two G cramps is all that's required...end of . That 'faffy' set-up took me all of five mins to sort out and take the pics at the same time I've had two hobbyist table saws and got rid of both of them - Rob

 

[MikeJhn]

A table saw is easier and better at ripping down boards, I just don't know how you can argue that point, it's a nonsense.

 

[woodbloke66]

A table saw is easier and better at ripping down boards, I just don't know how you can argue that point, it's a nonsense.

See above and please read wot I writ If you care to have a swift peek at the 'Workshop Projects' in my Sig Block below, all of those projects were made without recourse to a table saw.
In a small hobbyist workshop, you don't need one. I rest my case m'lud - Rob