Best small table saws?

Re: Best small table saws?

Jerry Gibbs

Been awhile since I bought mine. Make sure the mitre slots are standard.

Re: Best small table saws?

paul in AZ

I just went down that road. Very similar criteria to yours.

Looked at just about everything out there and wound up getting the 10" portable worm drive Skilsaw. SPT70WT-22 and the folding base.

I've only had it a couple of weeks but have been very pleased with it's solid construction and performance.

Re: Best small table saws?

roger lance

Frankly, if it were me, I'd keep my cabinet saw.....have a good mobile base.....and get rid of all the other little replacement saws you mentioned including the track saw.

I'd plan to push my cabinet saw against a wall or in a corner when not in use.....create shop space that way......and use my saw when I had to use it and back to storing when not (which is a lot of the time).

My basement shop is 13' x 28' and my Uni occupies the prime central spot.....but, when I'm using my planar or doing some other shop operation, that saw gets moved......no big deal.

My garage saw is the Ridgid portable....

Kneale Brownson

with the folding roll-around stand. When not in use, it takes up maybe three or four square feet of floor space.

Used Unisaw

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Is any saw smaller in footprint than a Unisaw or Powermatic? On a base they can be wheeled around as convenient as any other saw. Most important they are accurate. Either will run fine with a 1.5 HP motor on 110. One son in law has the Delta choice and the other the Powermatic. Both bought used for likely less than what one will spend for a new hobby saw. They wheel around as needed and do anything that a table saw will do. I'll bet they show up regularly in FL estate sales.

I was at IWF a few years ago and some company was proudly introducing a saw that fit your text description. They encouraged me to try it. Miter slot had too much play for the work I do and there were other limitations.

Re: Best small table saws?

Mark Nowicki

With a Hammond and a bandsaw, I don't think you need a table saw.

Re: Best small table saws?

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

Hi Ellis

I recently changed table saws to free up space in my workshop. My set up was similar to yours. The issue, I realised, was the 52" fence. The answer comes down to two options: either swap out or cut down the 52" rail to 30/32", or get a table saw with short rails.

Unless you are working with ply, 30" is more than adequate. And you can break ply down with a circular saw.

In my case, I came in for an unexpected windfall from the taxman, and my wife said "get the saw of your dreams" (no, you can't have her). I purchased a Hammer K3. This has a 32" rail for the rip fence. It also has a 49" slider, which does need more space than a strict single garage offers. I have a double garage and use one half for machines ...

I had a crappy Taiwanese contractor saw for over 20 years, not a nice Powermatic. If I had one, I would cut down the existing 52" rail to 32".

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: Best small table saws?

Stuart Hough

I have hear from a few folks that have the Bosch portable worksite saw with the "gravity-rise" wheeled stand. Every one of them says the saw is accurate, powerful and takes up little space with the stand folded up and stood up against a wall.

Re: Used Unisaw

Jesper, Denmark

I'm with Bil. Anything less than a Unisaw will not be satisfactory.

Interesting

Ellis Walentine

Thanks, Paul. I didn't know about this saw, and it looks like a serious contender in this category, with the worm drive torque. I'll keep it in mind.

Two questions: Are the miter gauge slots standard? And, is it stable in use? (I assume you are using the stand they sell for it?)

Ellis

My instinct, too

Ellis Walentine

I've owned two Unisaws and a 12" Powermatic, and I can't imagine not having a 3hp cabinet saw after 50 years, BUT... time marches on. I'm looking to have a capable but compact assortment of stuff, and I only have one 220 circuit in the new garage, at least for the moment.

I'm still considering the options. I guess I'll have to think more carefully about the uses I think I'm going to have for the saw.

Thanks for the reality check.

Ellis

Re: My garage saw is the Ridgid portable....

Ellis Walentine

Thanks, Kneale. Are you satisfied with the way it works?

Ellis

Re: Used Unisaw

Ellis Walentine

Yes, as I mentioned to Roger, my instinct is to have a cabinet saw. I'll look on Craigslist and local estate sales to see if any are available and how much they're fetching.

I was out in California a year ago, helping my son with some homestead projects, and we were using a DeWalt jobsite saw. I must say that it managed to do just about everything we needed to do, so in the interests of weight, portability and power consumption, I think I could live without a cabinet saw. Everything is a compromise I suppose.

Thanks for another cabinet saw vote.

Ellis

Lacks the power of my 3-phase cabinet saw....

Kneale Brownson

But the slots are fine, fence is fairly accurate (as a belt and suspenders type, I always measure anyway), and it folds/rolls nicely. Against a wall, it takes half the room a cabinet saw would.

Agreed

Ellis Walentine

I will have my 10" Inca jointer/planer as well as a bench and some nice hand planes. When Frank Klausz and I were building a run of workbenches in a past life, I noticed that he never ripped anything 8/4 or thicker on the tablesaw, yet somehow he managed to build world-class furniture, faster and better than almost anyone.

One of my considerations, actually, was to go the whole Neanderthal route, since I'm hoping not to have time constraints, and I can use the exercise, but I'm going to need at least a 14" bandsaw anyhow for turning blanks.

No matter what I decide, downsizing is going to be a radical departure from my woodworking past, at least machinewise. Gotta own that. Think in terms of spending more time at the beach and less time in the shop.

Ellis

Watch out for that beach stuff

Kneale Brownson

Too much of it can kill you. Sun can lead to cancer.

'Twould be nice

Ellis Walentine

... to turn back the clock a decade or two, and outfit myself with dream equipment. I just don't have the room or the time at this point.

Still, you're right: of all the machines it would be nice to have, the tablesaw is probably the most important. Maybe I shouldn't skimp there, or kid myself. All options are still on the table.

Ellis

Re: Watch out for that beach stuff

Ellis Walentine

I'll wear a big hat.

Re: Best small table saws?

Ellis Walentine

Yep, Bosch tools are always contenders. If I do go with the small-saw plan, I'll keep your recommendation in mind.

Thanks, Stuart.

Ellis

Re: Used Unisaw

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

My son in laws Delta and Powermatic both were bought for $500.

"interests of weight, portability and power consumption, " Both these saws have, and run fine, with a 1.5 HP motor that can be successfully run with 110V, though running a 220V line to wherever is not much of an impediment should a 3 HP saw show up. On a mobile base weight and portability are not an issue.

As for your shop size, it is hardly tiny. In fact that in more acreage than I have in the part of my shop where woodworking is done. It way more than out local Cartouche winner used to build a house full of Period furniture.

Re: Watch out for that beach stuff

Bruce Schoenleber

Dark sunglasses. If your wife catches you ogling those young girls running around in bikinis, she may kill you. The sun is a secondary danger. I know, I grew up at the beach.

Groucho...

Jason Roehl in Lafayette, IN

...has a little bit of "shade" already!

Jason

Re: Best small table saws?

Barry Irby

My shop is almost the same as the one you are looking at. I have a Shaper, Compound Miter Saw, RAS, 5" jointer, DP, Lathe, bandsaw, 12" planer, Performax, and a 24" dual drum sander. Oh, and a combo disk and belt sander on the bench and a 10" Contractors TS with 30" Beis fence. Just built a racetrack style poker table. It was like having an aircraft carrier in the shop. All of this requires some three dimensional thinking. The Performax parks under the wing of the TS. The top of the planer is a outfeed table for the BS. The TS is parked 5' inside the garage door so with the door open I can rip a 16' board. The jointer fence serves as a support for the RAS. I open the door to the house to joint anything over about two feet. I have to reach as high as I can to activate the Dust Collector. Now you see why I call working in the shop "going to the Gym".

I would really hate to give up my TS. I would cut the rails down first. Look at cutting them down to the point you can rip at 34 1/2" so you can fabricate kitchen cabinet ends. Never know when the urge to re-do the kitchen might strike.

In Lowes they have a 13 Amp 10" Delta TS for $599. I glanced at it. Does not fold up, but comes with a rolling base and has a Beis style fence. When I saw it I said HMMM? but its no smaller than yours if you cut down the Fence.

I used a Dewalt jobsite saw for a while remodeling a house for a friend. Liked it. And I have heard good things about the Bosch version.

Good luck. The other option is to enlarge the shop.

My son just got a small saw

Lee Schierer in McKean, PA

My son asked for some help locating a small table saw. After looking over reviews of the various portable saws, we determined that the best values for the money was the Ridgid MOdel 4512. It is a 13 amp 10" TS and it comes with a mobile base.

I was impressed with how well it was aligned out of the box. I only had to make very minor adjustments to get the blade precisely aligned with the miter slots. The guards and riving knife work well once you figure them out.

The $500 price tag was nice for the features the saw has.

The weak areas are the assembly instructions, which took a bit of head scratching in one or two spots and some back up and take things apart in regard to the fence rails and end caps.

Lee