First big tool purchase? £800 budget

[Mangokid]

I have searched the forums endlessly for tips for beginners on table saws and the like and, honestly, I think I'm more confused than ever....

I have a budget of £800 to get more seriously into the hobby, this is a lot of money for me and I really want to use it intelligently.

A lot of people advise getting a quality item second hand, but I am in Northern Ireland and this isn't really an option, as not much comes up for sale here and shipping a second hand item from the mainland isn't realistic most of the time, so I'm looking at new.

I'm considering just getting the best table saw I can for the money, but which one? The Charnwood 619 or 629, but it's hard to find many reviews and some seem to complain about the fence but surely this is critical to a good saw? Or the scheppach ts82, again hard to find many reviews, but available from screwfix which is a good option for me ref postage and returns etc. Or Axminster? Again mixed reviews, and really hard to differentiate between all these!

My other thought is to get a good contractors saw like the dewalt 745, great reviews mostly and an excellent fence system, and would probably do all I need as a beginner, apart from a low profile riving knife. I'm struggling not to pull the trigger on this. That would leave me money to get a mitre saw also - the metabo KGS 254 which I really like. My thoughts here being the safety of crosscutting on a mitre saw rather than a table saw for a beginner and the fact that the first 3-4 projects I have in mind require a lot of cross cutting of 2x4's etc.

Any thoughts appreciated thanks!

 

[pcb1962]

Make yourself a crosscut sled and crosscutting on the table saw is as safe as just about anything else you do in the workshop.
Having said that the mitre saw would always be my weapon of choice for cutting 2x4s.

 

[AJB Temple]

Think this over carefully if £800 is a major outlay for you. What are you going to make? What will you spend most time on? A table saw is just a quicker way of dimensioning timber. My table saw is probably the least used machine in my (fully equipped) workshop. I can go weeks without touching it. I use the band saw far more. I even use my track saws and circular saws far, far more than my table saw.

If you are dimensioning sheet goods all day then it may be different for you.

 

[Doug71]

Depends on what you want to do and how you are going to do it.

I have a 1 man shop and have made my living from woodworking for the last 30 years. Everything I do is bespoke, sash windows, built in cabinets, whatever comes along. My only table saw for the last 3 years has been a second hand metabo site saw I bought for £150.

To me my miter saw, track saw and bandsaw are much more important, I have never used a cross cut sled in my life and it scares me when I see people using them.

Like I say depends how you are going to do things, if you watch American youtube videos you will want a crosscut sled.

 

[Cordy]

Mangokid
I have owned the Dewalt 745 for a couple of years which is excellent

Made a cross-cut sled for it from standard ply [not Baltic Birch] which works great - loads of free videos on construction and use on the net

Got a Metabo mitre saw which is very good but I hardly ever use it, sled is more convenient for me; especially with 6 x 1 inch and similar timber

Dewalt is noisy so good ear-defenders a must

My idea was to upgrade to an Axminster table saw, probably the Trade Series AW10BSB2 -- although the Axminster Hobby Series TS-250M-2 looks OK and appears to attract a cult following

However, after further consideration I will keep the Dewalt; the fence is great - just dial in the required width

Good luck
Cordy

 

[AJB Temple]

BTW, as regards safety of table saw v mitre saw, I would be far more confident teaching a beginner to use a mitre saw safely, than a table saw. Both need treating with respect obviously. Be wary of you tube videos that emerge from the US - they treat as normal the use of unguarded table saws, often with no overguard or riving knife. I have even seem mitre saw videos with the blade guards completely removed.

 

[transatlantic]

All kinda depends on the projects you plan on doing, although I think any project will make heavy use of the mitre saw, so I'd definately pick one of those up first. As for the table saw, you generally have to spend a fair bit to get something decent (at least your £800 for a cabinet saw if buying new). The Charnwood 619/629, Axminster TS200/250 and Scheppach TS82 all appear to be very similar, but be careful as there are differences, such as the fence on the Axminster (and obviously the stand).

I have a job site saw (Scheppach HS105) and although I am very happy with it for the amount I paid, if given the choice again, I think I would have picked up a track saw and saved for a cabinet saw.

 

[sunnybob]

Assuming you are making this a HOBBY and not a living....

mitre saw/table saw combi like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4WxH43t_eA
For all cross cut and angle work, and also a small table saw for ripping medium length pieces.
I have this particular model, and often rip 3 metre lengths on it.

Then the rest of the money on a band saw. Get the biggest bandsaw you can (squeeze that money box to death).
My personal motto is this.. "you can cut small stuff on a big bandsaw, you cant cut big stuff on a small bandsaw".

These two can do a very large percentage of any thing you want to make. A table saw cant do much more than cut sheets unless you are a very skilled person.

Then save like mad for a router table.

 

[Cordy]

Bob wrote

A table saw cant do much more than cut sheets unless you are a very skilled person.

Can't agree with that Bob
When making my bench last Autumn I cut these 4 x 4 inch & lap joints with D/W T/saw no probs and I am but a novice

I don't have or want either a track saw or bandsaw

edit; there is the sled too

 

[Paddy Roxburgh]

Depends on what you want to do and how you are going to do it.

I have a 1 man shop and have made my living from woodworking for the last 30 years. Everything I do is bespoke, sash windows, built in cabinets, whatever comes along. My only table saw for the last 3 years has been a second hand metabo site saw I bought for £150.

To me my miter saw, track saw and bandsaw are much more important, I have never used a cross cut sled in my life and it scares me when I see people using them.

Like I say depends how you are going to do things, if you watch American youtube videos you will want a crosscut sled.

Just to throw some more mud in the water, I have a fully equipped workshop in my dry dock and I never use a mitre saw. I crosscut with a sled on the table saw, with the track saw, or, probably most often with a hand saw.
If I could only have one woodworking power tool it would be my bandsaw (an 8 foot tall wadkin, older than me), the second would be a planer thicknesser and the third a track saw, mind you what about drills? I'll count them amongst my metal working tools. I feel like a little kid listing their best friends in order, then feeling guilty that some are so low on the list. I haven't even mentioned the three routers or the domino.
Paddy

 

[pcb1962]

I have never used a cross cut sled in my life and it scares me when I see people using them.

I'd be very interested in what you see as the possible dangers of using a crosscut sled, other than that you need to remove any overhead guard that is attached to the riving knife.

 

[sunnybob]

Cordy, no track saw (yet). The mitre saw/ table saw combi is an extremely useful piece of kit that takes about 1/10th the space of a table saw. yes its a compromise, but when space AND money are tight, its very useful indeed.

I couldnt function without my bandsaw.

 

[Doug71]

The thing that scares me about a cross cut sled is the way you see people using them in such a blase way with no guarding and fingers so close to the blade, my fear is always that someone inexperienced will copy this and not see the danger before it is too late.

I guess my opinions also come from the fact that until a few years ago I employed people in my joinery business. I don't know what the HSE would make of a home made cross cut sled, it might be fine I don't know but I would not want someone I employed using one.

I am sure one can be used safely and I am sure I would be fine with one but only because I have been around woodworking machinery all my life, it's just the weekend warriors I worry about.

 

[Cordy]

Doug
Look at my above photo of sled

It has a finger guard on it

 

[Mangokid]

Appreciate all the feedback, definitely makes me look at things again from a different perspective. Especially some of the experienced guys (AJB and Doug71) making so little use of the table saw in relation to other things.

Many of you have also mentioned the bandsaw as a great tool which I hadn't really considered too much, I will be looking into those right now in depth.

I think I will still start with the metabo mitre saw which I'm confident is a decent machine for the money, which I think i will use often and will get me started quickly on the first few projects I have in mind, a single bed frame for my son and a new gate to replace the crumbling one in my back garden.

I will look into the bandsaws before deciding where to put the rest of the money or stretch my budget a bit more.

Cody - good to get some more positives on the Dewalt above, it's still top of the list if I go down the table saw route. I had planned to make and use a cross cut sled if I went for a table saw. Thanks.

 

[MikeJhn]

Or buy a table saw with a sliding table facility, best of both worlds, a cross cut sledge is just a way of using a table saw to cross cut if you done't have a mitre saw, do some more research on different options, as others have said, since getting a bandsaw its used more often than the table saw.

Mike

 

[Mangokid]

Bob wrote

A table saw cant do much more than cut sheets unless you are a very skilled person.

Can't agree with that Bob
When making my bench last Autumn I cut these 4 x 4 inch & lap joints with D/W T/saw no probs and I am but a novice

I don't have or want either a track saw or bandsaw

edit; there is the sled too

Cordy,

Finally found a local place with a decent selection of tools and got a play with the 745 today. Like it even more now. As solid as i thought it would be.

Just a quick question on the riving knife, it doesn't sit flush with the blade. I have seen on youtube a guy used an angle grinder to alter the riving knife to sit flush, as he couldn't find an alternative for sale. seemed to work well for him. Wondering if this was something you had issue with? you have any thoughts on this, or have considered anything similar? angle grinding it down wouldn't be something I personally would try to do!

 

[pcb1962]

Just a quick question on the riving knife, it doesn't sit flush with the blade. I have seen on youtube a guy used an angle grinder to alter the riving knife to sit flush, as he couldn't find an alternative for sale. seemed to work well for him. Wondering if this was something you had issue with? you have any thoughts on this, or have considered anything similar? angle grinding it down wouldn't be something I personally would try to do!

Rather than grind away your existing riving knife you'd be better off getting a piece of gauge plate and fabricate a new one, then you can keep the original intact and still able to support the overhead guard when you come to sell the saw.

 

[MikeJhn]

When I wanted to modify the riving knife on my table saw, I just bought a spare and cut it down.

Mike

 

[pollys13]

Cross Cut Sled That Allows Guard To Be Kept In Place.

Before I bought my 2nd hand sliding table. I looked into making my own cross cut sled. All of the " American " plans I found,except one involved having the blade unguarded and fully exposed.
This is the link for the sled http://www.popularwoodworking.com/proje ... lesaw-jigs
If you are interested in buying, I still have the formica sheet and stuff to make it?