What table saw to buy?

[ReVolt]

I'm no professional joiner but I'm looking in to buying my first table saw and have been looking though older posts on this site and most older posts seem to be looking for a cheap table saw sub £150. But normally further commenter’s advise to buying the best saw you can.

Let’s say my budget is around £800 with the following requirements
Needs to be single phase and work from a standard 13 amp plug
Cast iron work top
Repeatable cuts so a decent fence

The plan is to mainly use it for creating storage boxes and kitchen cupboards as well as general cuts. But as with most plans this can and probably will change.

This may be a lot to pay for a first saw but I would like one which will give me decent results preventing me wasting materials or time using a cheaper saw which may not give me accurate results. Also If I went for a cheaper table saw at some point I may need to upgrade to a better one which would cost me more in the long run.

 

[Chems]

I'd say that if you plan on doing kitchen cabs and lots of sizing of sheet goods then you want a track saw not a table saw. For £800 you'd be hard pressed to get any saw that can handle a full sheet. And if you did it won't run on 230v.

Have a look at Festool, Mafell and Dewalt track saws.

As for the table saw, get one of these:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-ax ... rod832683/

and

http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-ax ... rod832687/

Also have a look for second hand SIP 01332 its the same saw and can often be picked up cheaper. I got my full SIP 01332 with sliding table and everything for £700.

I think the axminster one is better, but when Rutlands do a 10% off sale which they will either before Christmas or just after you can get one of these within your price range:

http://www.rutlands.co.uk/workshop-&-po ... -table-saw

 

[Gerard Scanlan]

Have you considered buying a bandsaw instead. Safer than a table saw and certainly as versatile. I got a bandsaw a while after my decent table saw and I have hardly used the table saw for 2 years. You could get a fantastic secondhand startrite for the money you are considering spending.

 

[Harbo]

Bandsaws are not really suitable for cutting wide boards?

Rod

 

[eribaMotters]

I have a Startrite saw bench at home, and use one at work. This is a nice accurate saw. The TA 275 had a 12" blade and near 4" cut. The TA 175 had a 10" blade and near 3" cut. The body of both saws is exactly the same but the 275 has a larger motor. You can pick them up easily 2nd hand as a dimension/panel saw with nice big tables that will do what you require. If you move the riving knife assembly rear wards on the 175 you can fit a 12" blade. If its a thin kirf blade the smaller motor copes fine. This is what I have done.

I do not have the space for the extension tables so I use a Makita cordless saw run against a straight edge to cut 8' x 4' sheets to manageable sizes. The sawn finish is excellent. I then cross-cut on an Elu radial arm saw. I have this set up accurately built into a long bench with a long fence and cutting stop facilitiy. My approx 400mm cross-cut doubles as I can flip the material over and the two cuts meet. I find this a flexible arrangement, but we are all different.

Colin

 

[Gerard Scanlan]

It is true that bandsaws cannot cut very wide boards but most will cut 30 to 40 cm (12 to 15 inches) off a board and they can also rip a lot deeper than table saws.

 

[Jacob]

Have you considered buying a bandsaw instead. Safer than a table saw and certainly as versatile.

Except nowhere near as precise. A good TS can produce a fine finished surface, square and straight, accurate to a fraction of a mm.

I got a bandsaw a while after my decent table saw and I have hardly used the table saw for 2 years. You could get a fantastic secondhand startrite for the money you are considering spending.

Exactly the opposite for me! I was really surprised to discover what I'd been missing when I first got a TS (Maxi 26 combo many years ago).
My next one also had a long sliding table which is extremely useful

 

[Oryxdesign]

How about something like this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FESTOOL-TS75- ... 41d&_uhb=1

 

[Gerard Scanlan]

My suggestion was made as I bought a table saw before I was aware of the versatility of a good bandsaw. I just wondered if ReVolt had considered the possibility of trying one out if he was new to woodworking. They are a lot safer to use. An he might like it. That other people have other preferences is quite understandable.

 

[Chems]

Good recommendation from Oxy if you really want a decent panel solution for the price.

Think the bandsaw recommendation is a bit off the mark, both have their uses and for some things one is far more suited than the other, but panel products are surely the ball park of the table saw.

 

[ReVolt]

Chems, I've seen the SIP 01574 on eBay for 850 new but if rutlands have a sale it would make it cheaper so may be worth waiting to see. Anyone know if the fence is any good?

Gerard Scanlan a bandsaw is something that will be purchased at some point but without the same budget.

Oryxdesign thanks for the suggestion but unfortunately I don't think I have enough free wall space available for a panel saw. It's not imperative that the table saw can do massive panels as they can always be cut to a rough size then corrected on the table saw. If the space situation changed it does look like a worthwhile investment.

 

[Oryxdesign]

In which case I would recommend that you bought a rail saw with some parallel guides