Another bloke gets new T/S .....but

[cerbie]

Having read Tony's review of his new saw (and yes I AM jealous), I have been prompted into this.
Let me say from the outset - I'm new to this dark art of the wood, relatively, so ..........
My only previous experience with a table saw was a SIP 315mm contractors saw, and I burnt the motor out on that !! Soooo, I have now picked up a FOX F36-527 T/S at cost of 220 euros, about 152 sterling.

I bought this in preference to the Ryobi 1525 s/c, a look alike, as I had seen/felt a Ryobi 1526 in a store here and did not like it at all.

I actually wanted, and would have bought (I think) the SIP 254mm t/s, if I could have found one here at UK price, but as I said, I'm new to this, so perhaps a cheap piece of kit in the first instance is the way to go - practice an' all that.

First problem occurred as I put the tin foil legs together, 4 of the 32 bolts had knackered threads, not too serious, but this was the first part to be touched !! I detected a subtle dark cloud of impending doom wisping through my workshop. However, the rest of the assembly was OK.

Having put all together, plug it in and fire it up.
I pressed the button and saw the blade leap up, seemed like a foot or more, but that may be an exaggeration, frightened the daylights out of me.
No soft start then.
Oh, and a bit on the noisey side.

Having put a piece of scrap oak through, I found the guide appears to be parallel but after a little repetition the clamp let go letting the guide wander off. Hmmmm, maybe it was me, perhaps.
The magnifier on the guide doesn't, but it does obscure the scale and I find I am having to bob and weave all over the place to see it.

The throat is not wide enough for me to pass a hand into without difficulty, but I do have big mitts, apparently, so the blade/rive knife assembly is not a comfortable thing to play with. The throat plate, plastic, is insufficient, which allows the end of a (narrow) work piece to dip in the void. Not nice.

This t/s has a laser on top of the rive knife assembly, why?!! What is the point of that?
It also has a mounting point for a router so it can double up as a router table. But the top is ribbed ally, a router is rather heavy and as a result I foresee a deflection issue if it was to be used as such.

In summary, a big disappointment, but I suppose I was expecting a little too much for my money?

If YOU are thinking about a similar purchase - don't.

 

[DomValente]

Cerbie,
You are in the Loire with all that wonderful wine, forget the saw sit back, relax

Sante

 

[Scott]

Don't suppose they'll take it back??

 

[Anonymous]

Cerbie, that sounds like a real disappointment to me. Possibly try to give it back and look for something a little better? I'm sure you can find a half decent saw fort the budget

 

[seaco]

Hi Cerbie

Welcome to the forum, sorry to hear about your dissapointment with the saw but alot of people do as you and buy a cheap first saw to see how they get on and as you've seen get really bad results which in turn put you off that in turn stops alot in their tracks and they decide that woodwork isn't for them, which is a shame because if you had bought a half decent saw to start with it all would have been a much more rewarding experience...

You will find most on here will agree that a table saw is the heart of their workshop and most do have a good saw for the exact reason I gave above when I have to cut a piece of wood I actually enjoy using my tools...

I as you started with a cheap direct drive saw and as you it scared the rubbish out of me nearly all the time not to mention the noise...

Please go and try a better saw to see how great woodworking can be.

 

[johnnyb]

my gorgeous saw i wouldnt swap for anything.....no sir. after setting up it always but always cuts square and true. what this means is that i can make joints on it (with a few accesories) i found this completely impossible with other poor(er) quality saws. the saws could rip and crosscut reasonably well. but jointing was almost impossible. my favourite matl is birch ply as i can make doors, drawers, etc etc. with hardly any wastage. my doors i use 18mm birch ply for the frames with slip joints on the corners and thinner ply in grooves as the fill in..... completely made on the table saw(using a dakota tenon jig, highly recommended)very strong drawers are also made on the table saw. basically you could make good furniture with ply and a qualitytable saw WITH GREAT EASE AND NOTHING ELSE. if i cut my frames from the same ply sheet they dont need sanding and line up perfectly. not because im a great woodworker because i use a good saw.

 

[martlewis]

I totally agree from experience. I used a pretty good quality contractors table saw for a year or so. Direct drive and ribbed top like yours. Every project meant lots of work to get things to fit and was more a chore than a pleasure. Given my limited budget when I got the new shop setup I decided to put the most cash into the saw. I bought the SIP 254mm cast iron, only a basic saw by a lot of peoples standards on here, but it makes such a huge difference to the quality of work I produce.

I would rather recommend 6 months out of the shop (my god, what a thought :shock: )waiting and saving money for a good saw, than buying a cheap one and struggling with it.

Martin