Hi folks:
My first post ever on this board.....
I've been using Craftsman/Emerson table saws, mostly "100" series from the fifties, for years. They have obvious limitations but seemed to get the job done for someone not that serious about woodworking.
Now, I'm using a later model, from the 80s I suppose. There is radial and axial play in the arbor, not a lot but it can be felt. There is noticeable-to-the-naked-eye runout in the blade hub. The blade wobbles. (My others did too, until I ground the flanges with a die grinder.). The blade seems to reposition itself sideways a sixteenth or so, in some way I haven't figured out yet (very loose trunnions?). Worse, the fence--a fabricated sheet metal thing--isn't straight, it has a belly in it, and the sides aren't perpendicular to the table. (The older saws used aluminum extrusions). I suppose I can fill it out with bondo but it will be a pain to work it down.... It does lock down reasonably consistently as to parrallelism to the blade. The legs have no lower supports--easily enough added--and the the castors are flimsy, bendy things. It has the smaller, not the "3 horsepower" version. Belt tension needs attention after every blade height change.
Seems to me the quality has slipped overall......
Maybe each of these issues isn't fatal, but the combination is making me wonder if this tool is worth bothering with at all, or if I will every be satisfied with it. Are my experiences typical or do I have a bad-Monday saw? Would I be happier with a Taiwanese-Delta-contractor-saw clone? Or?
I could certainly put a better fence on it, and I think it would run smoother with machined poly-vee pulleys and belt--cheap as Ridgid parts--but I'm not sure if any investment is this saw is really justified. I can't really justify much of an investment in another saw, but what would be the next step...?
Thanks for any advice.
Alan