Newbie table saw advice needed.

[alex163]

Hi all,

I stumbled across this forum yesterday whilst doing some research into table saws. There seems to be a vast amount of knowledge on here so i thought I’d join up.

I’ll just start with a quick introduction. I’m Alex, 24 (25 next month) and i live in Cheshire. In 2008 i finished my BA in Contemporary Crafts at Manchester Met. I’m currently doing my MA at Salford uni studying Fine Art. I specialise in sculpture (anything 3d really) and much of my work consists of casting and moulding techniques. This quite often involves me having to make moulds and formers which are usually from the dreaded MDF or Pine.

Which leads me onto why i need your advice on a table saw. I’ve been mulling this over for quite a while now and as it’s my Birthday soon i have the opportunity to get one with no cost to myself (get in! )

My requirements : –

My workshop is 16” x 8” and i don’t have masses of room. Over two foot of the whole of one side of my space is taken up with a work bench roll cab and shelves. So i have approx 16”x 6” of floor space.

It needs to be reasonably portable as much of the time i will be moving it outside to either use it on my drive or garden.

Because space is important i need the saw to be as small as possible however at the same time big enough to perform the tasks i require it for.

I want the highest quality piece of kit for my money (or my girlfriends money) I’m not into buying things twice. And want something that will give me years of reliable service.

My budget is £400 max, ideally no more than £350.

I’m not going to be using the saw fairly regularly (few times a week) but certainly not all day every day as I’m sure some of you do. So i need to find a balance between price, size, quality and performance. (Which is where you guys come in)

Here are some I’ve been looking at : -

The Makita MLT100 below seems good value (the cheapest I’ve considered) Seems to be some mixed reviews though.

http://tooltray.com/Table-Saws/Makita-M ... le-Saw.htm

This Dewalt DW745 is the lightest by far (which is good for me) and also the smallest. Depth of cut is slightly down on the Makita but it has a more powerful motor.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWAX:IT

Below is my wild card. The Jet JTS-315 is a bit larger than i would ideally like but it seems good value and has an induction motor which I’m really drawn too. At 50kg I’m going to be able to wheel it onto my driveway but carrying it into the garden over gravel is out of the question.

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Jet- ... -32026.htm

I don’t know what the fences of any of these machines are like, which i understand is very important.

So i suppose my question is, do any of you hardened woodworkers have any experience of these machines? Any views good or bad would be appreciated.

Or can you throw any other examples into the mix.
Thanks.

P.S. i'll get the all important pic's of my modest workshop up soon.

 

[DaveL]

Hi Alex,

Welcome to the forum.

Your links have been caught by our spam trap, this stops once you have a few more posts to your name, your post is below so everyone can use the links.

I hope you miss typed the size of your shop, 16 inches by 8 inches is just a tad on the small side, unless your into dolls house furniture , made by imps. :lol:

Hi all,

I stumbled across this forum yesterday whilst doing some research into table saws. There seems to be a vast amount of knowledge on here so i thought I’d join up.

I’ll just start with a quick introduction. I’m Alex, 24 (25 next month) and i live in Cheshire. In 2008 i finished my BA in Contemporary Crafts at Manchester Met. I’m currently doing my MA at Salford uni studying Fine Art. I specialise in sculpture (anything 3d really) and much of my work consists of casting and moulding techniques. This quite often involves me having to make moulds and formers which are usually from the dreaded MDF or Pine.

Which leads me onto why i need your advice on a table saw. I’ve been mulling this over for quite a while now and as it’s my Birthday soon i have the opportunity to get one with no cost to myself (get in! )

My requirements : –

My workshop is 16” x 8” and i don’t have masses of room. Over two foot of the whole of one side of my space is taken up with a work bench roll cab and shelves. So i have approx 16”x 6” of floor space.

It needs to be reasonably portable as much of the time i will be moving it outside to either use it on my drive or garden.

Because space is important i need the saw to be as small as possible however at the same time big enough to perform the tasks i require it for.

I want the highest quality piece of kit for my money (or my girlfriends money) I’m not into buying things twice. And want something that will give me years of reliable service.

My budget is £400 max, ideally no more than £350.

I’m not going to be using the saw fairly regularly (few times a week) but certainly not all day every day as I’m sure some of you do. So i need to find a balance between price, size, quality and performance. (Which is where you guys come in)

Here are some I’ve been looking at : -

The Makita MLT100 below seems good value (the cheapest I’ve considered) Seems to be some mixed reviews though.

http://tooltray.com/Table-Saws/Makita-M ... le-Saw.htm

This Dewalt DW745 is the lightest by far (which is good for me) and also the smallest. Depth of cut is slightly down on the Makita but it has a more powerful motor.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWAX:IT

Below is my wild card. The Jet JTS-315 is a bit larger than i would ideally like but it seems good value and has an induction motor which I’m really drawn too. At 50kg I’m going to be able to wheel it onto my driveway but carrying it into the garden over gravel is out of the question.

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Jet- ... -32026.htm

I don’t know what the fences of any of these machines are like, which i understand is very important.

So i suppose my question is, do any of you hardened woodworkers have any experience of these machines? Any views good or bad would be appreciated.

Or can you throw any other examples into the mix.
Thanks.

P.S. i'll get the all important pic's of my modest workshop up soon.

 

[alex163]

Thanks Dave,

Yes ,i ment 16 foot by 8 foot. :roll:

 

[Chems]

Are these formers all made out of straight edges? You may be better off with a bandsaw, smaller footprint and able to do curved as well as straight?

 

[alex163]

Not always no. I was thinking about a bandsaw but i was concerned that the ones in my budget didnt have a big enough throat. And so thought a table saw would be a better option.

A band saw would still be on the cards for the future though.

 

[Chems]

A site saw like your showing won't have massive capacity for sheet goods, I used to have one and anything bigger than about 1 foot would have to be cut up with circ saw and guide rail. Give us an idea of what sort of cuts your going to be doing?

 

[alex163]

Straight, mitre's, rebates. Come to think of it i dont think i'll be doing many curves at all. But you never know.

Do you have any band saws in mind that i could take a look at?

 

[Chems]

I'm a complete table saw guy, I love my table saw. To do rebates on the table saw you'll need a dado set, and they are expensive and not all saws take them. Its probably less hassle to do it with a router to begin with. You can do rebates on the TS with multiple passes but it won't be pretty.

 

[Streepips]

Have you considered a radial arm saw?

 

[alex163]

I've not considered a radial arm saw at all as yet.

What would be the advantages of one of these?

 

[Chems]

I think the radial arm saw is the least versitle and safe of the 3 choices. I could be biased thou as I completely love my table saw and when using a RAS haven't liked it at all.

 

[alex163]

^ i was thinking that myself.

Just been looking into dado set's. Seems the Makita will take them up to 3/4".

I'm leaning towards the Makita at the moment.

 

[Streepips]

Chems, you surprise me with your distaste of radial arm saws!
I used a RAS for 5 years before I could consider a table saw, then I bought a Scheppach 2500. So I know the advantages and flexibilities of both. and given the space that our dear enquirer has to put and use a machine, I feel a good RAS would be much more useful than a tiny table saw.
As for a RAS being "dangerous". that is utterly wrong. A poorly set up machine in the hands of an ill trained operator may be dangerous, but that applies to any machine.
I still think a RAS is worthy of consideration in this case

 

[Chems]

Your probably right streetpips, I've only dabbled for a few minutes, not long enough to get comfortable or used to the machine. It has to be said thou its definatly not the best for ripping!

Makita is a good strong make, your probably along the right tracks there. I'd love a dado set, but they are expensive!

 

[Streepips]

I too have no hesitation in endorsing Makita equipment, I have Makita equipment myself, but only powertools, apart from a 190mm RAMS which I suppose is an intermediate between a powertool and a bench machine.
Makita design and engineering is good, very good, but the table saw we are considering here is really quite small in terms of what most think of as a table saw. Will it be large enough for the scale of work required? As we know, when buying a machine it should always be capable of more than we require of it because the scale of the work will always at some point exceed the capabilities of the machine. Yes we can fabricate extensions, add ons, and coax more out of it, but it is always wiser to initially buy bigger than what we initially need.
Saying that, we still do not know what scale of work is intended here, perhaps an idea of dimensions of the work intended will help to define what machine will be most suitable?

 

[Streepips]

PS Chems. I spent 5 years ripping oak and mahogany sawn inch boards , usually 4.2m length, on my RAS, never had a kickback, machine was set up right. Most are not.
PPS Yes its a chore with a small motor like the RAS, thats why it was such a pleasure to get the Scheppach when I got the room !

 

[roadman]

If you don't already have a band saw, this seems like a more sensible purchase for someone who is cutting curves in wood to support his primary work.
In a book published in the states small woodworking shops the sole contributor offered space to choose 5 power tools for a small shop makes a bandsaw the first. In particular, with a band saw you can buy capacity without large cost in footprint.

Changing gears, radial arm saws are very versatile tools and, though not as portable as the lightest bench table saw, they're well suited to narrow shops. In this model, the largest sheet goods are broken down with a portable circular saw over saw-horses.

The USA, from which I type, has for years been awash in radial arm saws of all sizes, resulting today in very low prices for some of the most durable models which hold their alignment over time (crucial in a tool with as many degrees of freedom as a RAS).
The wider reaches of function in a RAS are unlocked by shop-built auxiliary jigs. They don't take up a lot of space in storage, but their construction is a part of gaining the functionality. To borrow from Gertrude Stein: there's not as much jig construction for a table saw because there is not as much there there. Getting back to the start of the paragraph, I don't know whether the secondhand market in small radial saws in the UK offers as many opportunities. If so, I would think seriously about a small (8-10 inch) RAS which isn't knackered instead of a TS, as a complement to a band saw.

Art

 

[alex163]

Thanks for the replies and advice so far, it's much appreciated.

Re the size of the machine and if it will fulfill my needs.

I think it will, yes. As has been mentioned i can always cut down larger sheet stuff with my CS first. Not ideal i know, but a workaround. I need any potential TS to be portable and it seems finding one that is whilst being able to cut down large sheet stock just isnt going to happen. I knew this already and im fine with that. the larger ones also don't fit my budget. I'm a poor student remember :wink:

Been looking more into RAS and there doesnt seem to be the same choice of them on UK sites.

How do these differ to a compound mitre saw for example? As i was originaly going to get one of these but thought a TS would be more versatile.

Still thinking about a band saw, but again i'm struggling to find a quality unit of a decent size for under £400.

 

[Streepips]

There are LOTS of RAS on the UK market! DeWalt is the most common, and ELU, Eumenia, Shopsmith, Shopmate, to name some..I just sold an Elu in great condition for £250, with stand, I have two old dewalts bought for £100 the pair ( Perfect working order, I have a larger 721 bought for £600 and only used for 2 hours. There is a great choice on the RAS market.
Plus with these you get horizontal drilling, router attachment, dadoes, drum sanding, a very versatile unit for a small shop

 

[alex163]

Couldnt really find many in my budget. I'll have a harder look.

Perhaps i'm steering away from them because i've never used one and don't know anything about them.

What are the differences between these and a compound mitre?