Table Saw help for relative noob

[Andre Murphy]

Hey all, I'm new here obviously but I'm needing some help with choosing a table saw. I'm fairly new to woodworking, been doing it as a hobby for the last few years mostly building furniture for myself and family. I am beginning to get more serious and have found my combination of craftsman benchtop table saw and circular saw/straightedge is getting a bit tiresome. In short, I need a new table saw. My problem is I'm having a lot of trouble deciding as there are so many "pretty good" ones in my price range. I'm looking to spend upto $1000 for the saw and a good 52" fence. I am leaning toward a contractor style saw as I am currently limited for space, have no real dust collection system, and only 110v in my garage/shop. I've been primarily looking at Delta, Grizzly, and Jet saws. Any experience suggestions?? Thanks for the help.

[Jerome Hanby]

The new Ridgid from Home Depot might hit the spot. Definitely in the right price range, looks better than a contractor style saw in many ways with similar footprint. My first hand look at one left me wondering about the fence, but other Creekers have expressed that it's fine...

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Are you set in getting a new saw? With the economy in a down turn, there are a lot of great deals coming up. You may be able to get a really good used Uni for that much money. Just a thought. There was just a couple threads on finding a cheap Uni. (One of the best saws, in my opinion) If you do get a good used cabinet saw, you won't need to upgrade. There are a LOT of good cabinet saws. Something else to ponder.

[Robert Strebler]

The craftsman zip code saw, or it's Steel City hybrid cousin are very nice saws.

[Jason Strauss]

Andre,

It too am relatively new to the hobby, but recently wanted to pick up a "middle of the road" table saw to replace my benchtop Craftsmen. Around Christmas time 2008, I found this Hitachi on sale at Lowes. I got it for around $450.



Their current price is $549. With a 10% off Moving Kit coupon from the USPS, you can get it for under $500. There's some discussion about this coupon in the Deals and Discounts area of the Creek.

I've found the saw to be relatively powerful, especially compared to what you're used to. I've only had the build in breaker kick out once while ripping 3" thick hard white oak. The fence is pretty solid and runs very smoothly on the rails and is easy to adjust and fine tune. I've made my own zero clearance inserts as the ones provided (both regular and stacked dado) while adequate, were a bit flimsy. The table base is stout and the wheels lock nicely into place for a solid foundation.

What I particularly liked was the built-in dust collection shoot. The picture above doesn't show it, but directly underneith the saw is a hard plastic funnel type shoot that accepts a 4" hose.

I too am working out of the garage at the moment and wanted to be able to move the saw w/ relative east. I know I'll want to upgrade at some point, but this works great for now. Good luck!

[Brian Holvenstot]

I would suggest checking for the Delta 36-979 contractor saw at a few Lowes stores. It has no fence, but they are not going to sell them anymore, so they have been trying to clear them out. I was in the same position a week ago, and picked it up for $250 (with a little bargaining from the clearance price of $399) and bought the Delta T2 Fence (only 30") for $150. I remember someone else on here posting the same thing a few months ago and found one for $175. The beauty of getting the saw with no fence, is that you can put whatever fence on it you want since most contractor saws (sold with fences) only go to 30" anyway.

[Prashun Patel]

If you are willing to spend a tad more than $1000 and are willing to relax the 52" fence constraint, you might consider going for the Grizzly 1023. It's about the best 'budget' cabinet saw, and you'd likely never need to upgrade.

You'll have better DC and more power on the cab saw than from a contractor or hybrid. Contractors and hybrids are FINE saws and adequate for many (including me: Jet JPS10). But most people go for them because of power or $$ constraints. Your price ceiling is sufficiently high that I'd consider jumping to the 'highest' category; you won't regret it.

[glenn bradley]

The search for a 52" fence rail setup and the statement about wanting a contractor to "save room" is a bit confusing. I run a C-man 22124. It takes up less room than my old contractor's saw because the motor is inside. The Beisemeyer fence is . . . well, a Biesemeyer and can be shifted to allow 40" of fence reach.

The saw will run on 110 if that's an issue. Sear's seems to be a little proud of this saw lately, you used to find it on sale for $700 - $800 and then use your C-man Club card to get it lower. I haven't seen those discounts much lately.

Same folks make the Ridgid mentioned and you'll note that body style has disappeared from Sears line up. The SCTW goes on sale now and then and is a cousin to the 22124 with a lighter fence but a longer warranty.

I guess if you're looking for someone to say "get this saw" it may be difficult. As you state, in your price ramge there are several to choose from. Things like shipping, warrenty and such may effect your decision. Here's what effected mine after reading all the reviews (this is a few years ago mind you):

No. 1 - Cabinet mounted trunnions.
I never wanted to fight my contractor into alignment at 90* only to find I had to tear it down and shim it once I leaned it to 45* again. Like p-beds to a jointer, cab mounted trunnions ease adjustment greatly on a TS.
No. 2 - Beisemeyer (or better) fence.
In this price range this was the only saw that offered the "Bies level" fence (at the time).
No 3 - 110/220v operation.
This was one of my driving parameters as I had no 220 service but knew I would get some "someday". Turned out I put it in very shortly after the saw arrived to serve my new bandsaw. I switched the TS to 220 but it ran no different than it did on a dedicated (it ran poorly on a circuit shared with the lights.) 110 circuit so I switched back.

Other features were less important to me (I really don't like the red colors on the 22124 even years later). The Griz had steel hand wheels and a little more power. The Delta (although visually like the 22124 and SCTW hybrid) was generally poor in fit and finish and lacked the cabinet mounted trunnions that were high on my list but, had the Bies fence.

You'll get plenty of varying opinions on this subject so I would do some hard tool review . . . er . . reviewing, narrow your list and then start asking actual owners about their experiences. Good luck and have fun!

[Darius Ferlas]

One thing you may want to make sure of is that you want the latest trend - granite top. I see relatively many posts from people complaining about chipped edges, chipped miter slots and the surface getting surprising rough after some use.

[Matt Day]

I'd suggest looking for a used cabinet saw. Heck, I got my Bridgewood 3HP for $350 and it's been great. My only qualm is that it's a right tilt, but I haven't run into a situation that this affected me yet. If I were to buy new at the price range, I'd go with some form of a Grizzly 1023 most likely.

[Paul Ryan]

If you have $1000 to work with I say CRAIG'S LIST all the way. You should be able to find your self a used cabinet saw with the 50" rails you are after for $1000 or less.

Then spend a few extra bucks and run a seperate circuit box into your shop. Then you should be already to go.

[Bill White]

Grizz! Can't go wrong, and don't completely discount a contractor saw. The 0444Z that I have is just fine.
Bill

[Chris Kennedy]

I would consider a hybrid -- cabinet construction wired for 110. I understand the whole wiring issue, which is the main reason I have a hybrid. The space and 52" rails . . . that one I don't. Width won't matter, but a hybrid/cabinet will have a smaller footprint than a contractor.

I have a Craftsman zipcode (22124), and have been very happy. There's the Steel City variant -- same saw, but not a Biesemeyer fence. You may consider the DeWalt (forget the number) -- heard good things about it.

Cheers,

Chris

[Jason Hallowell]

If I were you, I'd seriously consider used. There are some great deals to be had on used equipment right now. I recently bought a powermatic 64 in new condition w/ 52" rails for $250, and the guy threw in a nice outfeed table and several expensive blades.

[Andre Murphy]

Wow guys, thanks a lot for all the posts, didn't expect this kind of response outright.

As for the Rigid, I'm going to have to look at it I suppose, it's kind of sacreligious since I work for Lowe's but I'll give it a look.

I've bee looking at the Delta 36-979 very closely since I work for Lowe's and can get it really cheap and probably a U50 rail and biesemeyer fence.

The search for a 52" fence rail setup and the statement about wanting a contractor to "save room" is a bit confusing. I run a C-man 22124. It takes up less room than my old contractor's saw because the motor is inside. The Beisemeyer fence is . . . well, a Biesemeyer and can be shifted to allow 40" of fence reach.

The saw will run on 110 if that's an issue. Sear's seems to be a little proud of this saw lately, you used to find it on sale for $700 - $800 and then use your C-man Club card to get it lower. I haven't seen those discounts much lately.

Same folks make the Ridgid mentioned and you'll note that body style has disappeared from Sears line up. The SCTW goes on sale now and then and is a cousin to the 22124 with a lighter fence but a longer warranty.

I guess if you're looking for someone to say "get this saw" it may be difficult. As you state, in your price ramge there are several to choose from. Things like shipping, warrenty and such may effect your decision. Here's what effected mine after reading all the reviews (this is a few years ago mind you):

No. 1 - Cabinet mounted trunnions.
I never wanted to fight my contractor into alignment at 90* only to find I had to tear it down and shim it once I leaned it to 45* again. Like p-beds to a jointer, cab mounted trunnions ease adjustment greatly on a TS.
No. 2 - Beisemeyer (or better) fence.
In this price range this was the only saw that offered the "Bies level" fence (at the time).
No 3 - 110/220v operation.
This was one of my driving parameters as I had no 220 service but knew I would get some "someday". Turned out I put it in very shortly after the saw arrived to serve my new bandsaw. I switched the TS to 220 but it ran no different than it did on a dedicated (it ran poorly on a circuit shared with the lights.) 110 circuit so I switched back.

Other features were less important to me (I really don't like the red colors on the 22124 even years later). The Griz had steel hand wheels and a little more power. The Delta (although visually like the 22124 and SCTW hybrid) was generally poor in fit and finish and lacked the cabinet mounted trunnions that were high on my list but, had the Bies fence.

You'll get plenty of varying opinions on this subject so I would do some hard tool review . . . er . . reviewing, narrow your list and then start asking actual owners about their experiences. Good luck and have fun!

I guess I phrased that kind of strangely. I really need atleast a 50" fence, I've even looked at the U96 from Delta because most of the furniture pieces I've been building are fairly sizeable. I'm a pretty big guy, 6'6", 315 lbs, and I'm very hard on furniture so I tend to build big and sturdy. My concern with a hybrid or cabinet saw at this point is since I'm working out of my garage I want a saw that I can wheel out into the middle and then stow away fairly easily. The ability to run on 110v but be convertible to 220v is kind of a big deal for me as I don't really have to ability to run 220 right now (no room in break box for new circuit and I don't want to hack it into the range or dryer circuits) but I intend on adding a sub-box later. If I could find a real good deal on a used saw I might just jump on it. I'm just not concerned right now about getting my last table saw because I plan on getting a Saw Stop cabinet saw eventually once I get a real shop and a better job.

Thanks again for all the input guys, keep it coming!