DennisCA":3gj9xwt9 said:
Everyone I've talked to says it's a very good saw, what makes you say it's a bad saw? Price wise it's around what I'd pay for a contractor saw with a similar engine power and specs, even with shipping being what it is. And it takes dado blades and a 5/8 arbor means I can fit any number of american, or european blades on it using bushings.
I looked at the finnish used market and most saws that where not cheap 1 to 1.5hp junk saws where ancient and cost 1000€ usually.
I'm also a native swedish speaker and I did check blocket.se a few times but didn't see anything that jumped out at me, mostly the junk saws in the 400€ and below range that I won't be bothering with. And some of the more expensive ones like the Dewalt contractor saws uses crappy loud brush motors and strike me as really overpriced. The woodford has more powerful and quieter induction engines like on a cabinet saw, so it looks alot better for the money than anything else.
I would love to find a good used cabinet saw, that can take dado blades and 5/8" arbor so I can use the american stuff.
What makes me say it's a bad saw is that you could get a much better one for that amouint of money. You will end up paying well over 1000 euros for it all included ans still you have a saw that cannot rip a 2 inch board without a lot of fiddling and the risk of burning out the motor. If the Woodford costed you 500 euros it would indeed be a very good saw.
The Finnish secondhand market has gone totally overboard with expensive scrap machinery but when looking around for a while one may still find a good saw amongst all worn out junk sold for over 1000 euros.
-For instance I know about a very solid cast iron built Griggio table saw/ spindle moulder with a small sliding table on it. It is for sale locally right now though not advertised on the net. It is partly disassembled but all important parts were there in good condition when I dug through the shop looking for some parts for another machine that I was interrested in. You could probable get it for 600 euros or thereabout plus the cost for a couple of parts and new cables and a new switch so let's say 1000 euro would be an expected total cost plus some work. Tell me if you are interrested. Then you could run any profiles you need using the spindle moulder instead of a dado blade setup.
-I have also seen several elderly cast iron saws made by Manko or Wadkin Bursgreen or Waco go for between 500 and 800 euros. Most have been in need of some minor repairs.
-If you look for a compact cabinet saw that would take up no more room than the one you are looking at there is little on the Finnish market but a lot in Sweden. I found an Ejca L18 cabinet saw in great condition for 400 euros here in Österbotten. My cousin bought it. That is a great hobbyist's saw. Ejca L18 and L20 are essentially the same. They were also sold under the Luna brand. The table and motor suspension is all cast iron and the cabinet is made from thick sheet metal. That was a rare find in Finland but they regularly turn up on blocket for roundabout 5000 kronor. I have even seen Stenberg cabinet saws sell for that prize in Sweden. Stenberg is the Rolls Royce of compact cabinet saws with cast iron cabinet.
All theese machines have induction motors of cause. What I do not understand is why you prefere a single phase induction motor over a much superrior three phase induction motor. The internet is full of people advocating the single phase alternative but that is because they live in countries where three phase power isn't supplied except to industries. We have three phase power in our country so why not use it?
A 5/8 arbour is 15 mm in diametre. That isn't much. The americans tend to prefere small underpowered single phase saws because they do not have access to enough electricity to power anything bigger. European three phase saws have a correspondingly larger arbour to handle the greater torque from a better motor. Both the table saws I have in use have 25 mm arbours and have 3 and 3,7 kW motors respectively. The saw I am currently rebuilding for serious rip sawing has a 39 mm arbour and a 7,5 kW three phase motor. That saw costed me 20 euros secondhand plus rebuild costs. I think the total cost will end up a little below 1000 euros.
I think you are in too much of a hurry..... but theese are just my personal oppinions. Feel free to do what YOU think is right.
