Advise on Saw for cabinet building

[Jared Sankovich]

40-60k would be a lot of cabinets.. a unisaw or clone And a tracksaw at the minimum. If you are thinking raised panel I wouldn't even consider any thing less than a shaper, preferably with a feeder

[Bill Ryall]

Personal experience, take it for what it is worth. Upper end contractor style saw with an aftermarket sliding table and a track saw for knocking down sheet goods. Total investment about $1500.
I kept putting off the track saw purchase. I'm kicking myself now for waiting so long.

[Bill Space]

Hi,

My my two cents.

Those with sliding table saws love them and think they are the best, which they may be.

SawStop owners would have nothing else! Who can argue against the safety feature?

Many have produced find cabinetry using a simple Sears Craftsman table saws, saws that those of us with better saws do not even take a moment to laugh at. Saws that are found on Craig's list for under $200 !

I used one of those Sears Craftsman tablesaws for years with perfectly satisfactory results. The saw does not make the craftsman… For lack of a better expression.

I am totally happy with my Grizzly RL1023WRlX table saw (hope I got the number right) that I bought a couple years ago. If I Remember right it was under $1500 delivered to local freight terminal.

I don't think you have to spend near $3K for a very functionable and useful table saw.

Bill

PS... I have made some very nice raised panel cabinets with my old Craftsman table saw with a router table built I into the right wing. You simply do not have to have the latest and greatest to produce very satisfactory results. Doesn't hurt thought if you do!

[Charles P. Wright]

I've got a SawStop PCS with a 3hp motor and 52" rails, it is really nice to have something so big and heavy for building cabinets; but it was also very expensive. I truly enjoy working with this machine.

You can get a quite capable cabinet saw from Grizzly for less, but without the same safety feature.

No matter what, you should have a circular saw and jig for breaking down sheet goods. A real track saw would be better, but I don't yet have one and have done OK by getting things close with my circular saw and a shop-made straight-line rip jig and then getting a clean cut on the table saw afterwards.

You can also get away with a contractor saw. They are heavy, you should be able to get 36" rails. I did build quite a few cabinets in my house with the RIDGID TS3650 that I had before the Sawstop. It was only 1.5hp (or something similar); but it had plenty of power for cutting plywood, and didn't bog down when I was cutting 3/4" wide 3/8" deep dados with a 6" stack.

The current incarnation of that saw is $529:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-13...4512/202500206

Dust collection isn't as good, and it takes up more space than a cabinet saw because the motor hangs off the back, but mine served me well for about eight years until I had the financial ability to upgrade and was sure I would be sticking with it.

[Peter Aeschliman]

My view after a few years of woodworking...

1. Running a full sheet of plywood through the table saw is probably one of my least favorite things to do in the shop
2. A track saw will break full sheets down very easily. Makes it WAY easier to handle on the table saw
3. A standard cabinet saw can only make parallel sides. It cannot make square corners without a miter gauge or a sliding table. Miter gauges do not allow you to make very deep cross cuts (not deep enough for cabinet work). Cross cut sleds can help, but you'd have to make a really big/heavy one to do the squaring cuts needed for cabinet work. Thus, a sliding table attachment for your TS is a HUGE help.
4. The normal base cabinet depth is 24". You should not need more rip capacity than this for cabinet work. I originally bought a TS with 50" rip capacity.... I only thought I needed it because I thought I would use the fence for cross cuts (but again, you can't make a 90 degree cut without a sliding table, miter gauge, or cross cut sled). Over the years, I've cut the rails down to save space in the shop.

So, no surprise that my recommendation is to get a smaller rip fence and to use the space saved for a sliding table attachment (or better yet, a european saw with an integral sliding table)... and a track saw. This setup will handle all of your sheet goods processing.

If you don't want to mill your own face frames or door frames, you can by S2S lumber (be picky with your selection to make sure it's quartersawn and flat/straight/square). Otherwise you will need a small jointer and planer to mill your own lumber.

That should set you up perfectly.

[Terry Hatfield]

Well I might be ok with it... But the boss lady would enjoy if I didn't spend $3k. Lol. But if I produce some nice built in units and cabinets she won't mind as much. The used market seems strong around here just looked at a jet for 1600 must be 8+ year old.
The other issue is I enjoy features and things that make life easier. I hate fighting with stuff in life. Those sliders look interesting, saw one on a saw stop... Need more research. Love the ideas everyone keep then coming.

Thanks
David

I'd suggest that if you are in the Seattle area it would be worth the trip to Bellingham to see and touch the Grizzly saws. I've had a G1023 cabinet saw with an aftermarket Exaktor sliding table for many years and the combination has been rock solid. If I was in your position today I would probably buy a Grizzly G0690 cabinet saw and a Festool, Makita or Dewalt track saw. You can do that for well less than $3k.

[John Goodin]

I suspect you will have a hard time finding a used Sawstop. They have not been in production for decades like delta and powermatic. And more importantly, for most people that saw is the last one they plan on buying.

I have a grizzly with a 26" cut and built in router table and just plan on getting adding a track saw when I build kitchen cabinets.

[John Goodin]

I suspect you will have a hard time finding a used Sawstop. They have not been in production for decades like delta and powermatic. And more importantly, for most people that saw is the last one they plan on buying.

I have a grizzly with a 26" cut and built in router table and just plan on getting adding a track saw when I build kitchen cabinets.

both can be had for less than 2k and the track saw can be sold at a good price easily after you are done.

[Randy Rose]

Don`t forget to budget a fair amount for the tooling and accessories.

Dedicated rip/crosscut/combination blades.

A dado set

Quality miter gauge.

Perhaps a Wixey DRO

Some older saws may also need an improved fence retrofit

[Kevin Womer]

If you'll be working with sheet goods, a reasonable alternative to a large saw (and the material handling that comes with sheet goods) is a good quality track saw for breaking down sheets with precision. You can then use a smaller table saw to accommodate any narrow rips.

Those are my thoughts, a good track saw and a smaller table saw with a good blade will get you there.

[Rich Engelhardt]

If your plans include an upper corner cabinet, that alone will justify the cost of a track saw.
Just make sure that once you complete the carcass, you turn it upside down on a large piece of cardboard and trace the outline on the cardboard. That way, you'll have a nice handy template to use later on to make a shelf or shelves.

The cutting part of my modest kitchen project went very smooth.

- Ridgid TS3600 contractor saw w/Freud Glue Line Rip blade
- Festool TS55EQ track saw.
- Milwaukee 5625 router - table mounted
- Marc Sommerfeld T&G system (bits and featherboard)
- Kreg K3 Master jig

[Bradley Gray]

If your goal here is simply to save money on cabinets for your new house I would suggest you at least look into outsourcing cabinet parts. Boxes, drawers and doors can be ordered with 7-10 days lead time.

There are dozens of "little things" needed in addition to a table saw. Tooling to do quality work is expensive. Setting up shop is in it's self a huge project. Then there is the space issue - if you plan to take over the house to build cabinets it will slow down other progress on the project.

Do you work a day job? If so, when will you work on cabinets? If you are borrowing money to build, interest will pile up while you build cabinets.

It is not as glamorous, but staying ahead of subs making selections on fixtures and keeping the job site picked up can save a lot of money with no cash out.

[scott spencer]

A full size cast iron (or granite) saw with a belt drive induction motor is a step in the right direction IMO. That would include the traditional contractor saws with the motor hanging off the back, the newer hybrid style contractor saws with the motor inside the cabinet, the hybrid saws with a full enclosed cabinet, and the industrial cabinet saws with large cabinet mounted trunnions and usually 3hp+. New or used, Jet, Grizzly, PM, Delta, Shop Fox, Saw Stop, Bridgewood, Ridgid, select Craftsman, or Steel City all have worthy choices. Any of those will do a decent job once setup properly and fitted with a decent saw blade.

New will get you a warranty, and the modern riving knives. Look for a good fence, or be sure the price allows for a decent aftermarket fence. Heavier saws are generally more stable. 2hp or larger are best run with 220v. If you have 220v, it's hard to beat the value of the Grizzly G1023RL series or G0690 3hp cabinet saws in the $1500 range.

Most sheet good suppliers can rip full sheets down to rough size for you.

[Bob Vaughan]

A commercial point of view would be $40K worth of quality custom made casework = roughly 8K worth of materials. If half of that is sheet goods (3/4 & 1/4 birch plywood), that's a lot of plywood for one man. $32K left for labor, that's 533 man-hours for a $60.00/hr shop. A simple table saw will increase the labor time significantly. When considering doing your own casework there's a lot more to it other than the cheapest table saw capable of doing the job. It took me years of on and off work to get my tiny kitchen done the way I wanted it, but I did get it done. A good table saw was an asset, for sure, but it wasn't anywhere as near as efficient as an Altendorf slider type that the pros use. I also found that storage of work in process and a finishing area were a bigger concern than simple parts detailing. Its worth the hassle if you can't get the quality you want from commercial custom builders. If you're just trying to keep from spending money on big box store cabinets, then you'll find it difficult to beat a man at his own game.

[David Ashley]

My view after a few years of woodworking...

1. A standard cabinet saw can only make parallel sides. It cannot make square corners without a miter gauge or a sliding table. Miter gauges do not allow you to make very deep cross cuts (not deep enough for cabinet work). Cross cut sleds can help, but you'd have to make a really big/heavy one to do the squaring cuts needed for cabinet work. Thus, a sliding table attachment for your TS is a HUGE help.
2. The normal base cabinet depth is 24". You should not need more rip capacity than this for cabinet work. I originally bought a TS with 50" rip capacity.... I only thought I needed it because I thought I would use the fence for cross cuts (but again, you can't make a 90 degree cut without a sliding table, miter gauge, or cross cut sled). Over the years, I've cut the rails down to save space in the shop.

So, no surprise that my recommendation is to get a smaller rip fence and to use the space saved for a sliding table attachment (or better yet, a european saw with an integral sliding table)... and a track saw. This setup will handle all of your sheet goods processing.

If you don't want to mill your own face frames or door frames, you can by S2S lumber (be picky with your selection to make sure it's quartersawn and flat/straight/square). Otherwise you will need a small jointer and planer to mill your own lumber.

That should set you up perfectly.

Peter

Thank you for reminding me a cabinet saw can only make parallel cuts, with the fence I think I knew this but it was buried deep in my head. yes I can make tooling but that's a lot of work. I think this is where having the correct tools at hand really help, and for someone that might not have thought about things I can see frustration ensuing after making some cuts and items not aligning correctly. I know when I was in HighSchool I built a speaker box with a skill saw, it wasn't pretty.