Craftsman 1 3/4 hp. Tablesaw

[Bob Weisner]

Hi.

Does anyone have the new Craftsman Tablesaw? I was looking at the 1 3/4 hp. tablesaw and was wondering if anyone has bought that model tablesaw and what your opinion is of it. Would that tablesaw be better if the motor were changed to a 3 hp. motor?

Thanks,

Bob

[Jason S]

See Table Saw advice post above. Haven't ran into anything I can not do with it. Look at my mobile base I built. It is 1 1/4" solid oak. Ripped with ease. Been ripping and sizing 8/4 maple for my workbench lately no problems.

[Ted Shrader]

Bob -

Check out this <a href="http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=14226">thread</a> for a good read.

Ted

[Paul Do]

Jason,

Any chance you can elaborate on how you made the mobile bases for the tablesaw and Band saw? It looks like the tools legs sit inside the frame. What do they stand on for support? I would like to build something as simple as that instead of paying $$$ for commercial ones. What size of casters are those? thanks.

[Paul Do]

bob,

Just put together my new Craftsman saw (model 22124. The one with the Biesemyer fence) I have not done much cutting yet but it is a lot quieter than the (old) one I have. Smooth start, no noise. Can't say much yet but it seems to be powerful enough for what I do. Of course, you can always go for 3HP but have to have 220V. If 3HP is what you really want, why not go for the Grizzly 1023? You have only one more day before they increase the prices.

[Jason S]

Jason,

Any chance you can elaborate on how you made the mobile bases for the tablesaw and Band saw? It looks like the tools legs sit inside the frame. What do they stand on for support? I would like to build something as simple as that instead of paying $$$ for commercial ones. What size of casters are those? thanks.

It was a design from a year or more ago's Wood Magizine Shops Issue, I modified the design some and after building this one show recently I am going to change it some more.

First how I constructed them. The one from the band saw was made from 3/4" stock. Plant good enough for that saw's weight. The feet sit inside the rails on 1/8" X 1 1/2" angle iron (I painted it to match color sceme of particular saw grey for BS, red for TS). I put 1/4 metal plate slightly wider than the feet at each end of the base that steches from side to side. Over this is two layers of rubber gasket material and the feet through bolt all the layers to the angle iron. I followed the design exactly on the band saw base (you can see the plans on the Wood Magizine web site), on the table saw base because the tool weighs so much I doified it by making it out of 1 1/4" thick stock so I had to change a bunch of stuff and re-engineer it to a certain point. I am pretty happy with them and they cost about the same as if I had bought mobile bases, maybe a little more for the table saw base. But I did get to do a fun little shop project for myself.

As to the casters. I am going to upgrade them to Woodcraft heavy duty casters when I make a run there this weekend. The plans had me mount the swivle casters in the front. I did that and that's how the pictures are. When I remount new casters this weekend (nothing wrong with the Home Depot casters on there to be honest with you though) I am putting the swivles casters in the back and the fixed on the front lift section. Will make the tools easier to move around. Oh they are 2" casters.

[Paul Do]

Jason,

so the angle iron gets screwed onto the sides of the wood rails and the tablesaw stand on the protruding ledge(s)? Is that sturdy enough? I was just wondering about how the parts on which the tablesaw stands on get attached.

[Jason S]

There are 5-3/8"X16pitch pan head bolts that go through the wood sides into T-nuts for the table saw and for the band saw I followed the plans and used 5-1/4X20 bolts into T-nuts. The legs do not sit right on the angle iron. A piece of 1/4" thick steel plate about 3" wide goes between the angle iron that the legs sit on. But the wieght is supported by the angle iron. It is all bolted together with one bolt at each corner. It is dead sturdy. When the lever is in the down position the base is supported by the casters to move around where you need it to go. When it is in the up position the wieght of the machine gets transfered off of the casters and onto leveling guides. Mine on both machines are 3/8" levelers into 3/8" T-nuts modified with fender washers underneath to more fully support the load on the table saw and 1/4" levelers with T-nuts into the side rails on the band saw. I can take some more pictures tomorrow if you want. Like I said I semi-followed the Wood plan but modified it where I saw a need to. Here is a link to the wood plan.

http://woodstore.woodmall.com/roltoolbas.html

On the picture for the plan you can see the sides with the T-nuts and kind of into the inside of the strechers. It really does work well. Like I said though it is a break even propisition. If you are looking to save money by doing it you will not. BUT it was fun and a learning experience to make and modify it which is why I try and do all my own shop stuff when I can.

[Paul Do]

Jason,

thanks for taking the time. I feel the same way about building my own jigs and having fun. will give this a try.

[Byron Trantham]

My brother-in-law bought the "Professional" version of this saw. It has a Bies fence, cabinet style chassis and a fold-able out-feed table. I helped him assemble it a couple days ago and just got back from his house after helping him tune it up.

I really liked the machining of the wings and table proper. They are finished nicer than my Unisaw. The out-feed table seems a little flimsy but may work very well. The fence? Well it's a Beisemeyer, enough said there. The cabinet seems sturdy enough. There is a dust collection fitting at the bottom of the cabinet and internal sheet-metal routes the dust to it. One thing I don't like is that the belt is in the back of the cabinet and hard to get to.

After spending about and hour with a TS Aligner Jr., we got the fence perfectly aligned with the miter slot (now .750", finally, Craftsman!). The blade was .030" out from the slot! That took a bit of effort to get the trunnion straight (parallel). The manual doest not mention trunnion adjustment at all.

The arbor looks like it will take a dato blade now without one of the chippers falling into the threads. Yet another improvement.

All in all, it's a very nice improvement over their previous saws. I owned one of their earlier saws and replaced it with a Unisaw, so I have some reasonable reference to make this assessment. I think that anyone who buys one of these saws will be happy.

[Jason Roehl]

Well, Sears may have finally gotten the slots to 0.75", but they're still up to their old tricks. The "Professional" model, at first glance appears to have a motor upgrade at 1.75HP over the 1.5HP motor of the model just below. However, according to their website, both motors are 15/7.5A at 120/240V.

I guess the Enron managers have found jobs in the Sears marketing department...