I have a pretty nice table saw at home which is too heavy to move. I buy houses and fix them up and was thinking of buying a low price (<$150) table saw to move around for ripping trim to size and other small jobs. Are there any people out there who would recommend any particular saw or are they all so frustrating to use I would be better off just saving my money until I feel like spending more. Thanks in advance. Brian
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I used a delta portable table saw a year ago on a trim job that a buddy of mine picked up for $99. I tried to put a Thin kerf blade on it, but it wouldn't tighten up. So I used what was provided. It was primitive, and the motor had to work hard, but it worked. I decided to pony up and buy a Bosch 4000 from CPOBosch...saved quite a bit from what it was going for elsewhere, and I couldn't be happier. I saw a Hitachi outfit for around $150 at the Lowes I go to...not sure if it was a loss leader or not. Good luck.
"The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a governmental program" -Ronald Reagan
Bought a Craftsmen 5 yrs ago and love it. The best feature is the angle
has a screw adjustment just like the height. Very easy to use. It also has extension to the rear to hold your stock up. Light weight, takes a thin kerf blade, for about $150.00.
Look at the Ryobi saw from Home depot. It comes with a built-in wheeled stand. Surprisingly good saw for the money, less than $200 I think.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
I'm no fan of Ryobi, and I'm just not as daring as you are with $200......... BUT..... I've read two seperate reviews of that saw and it has faired well against the $400-$500 saws. It doesn't beat them, by a long shot, but like you said, for $200 +/- it holds it's own.View Image
Spring training is right around the corner. Thought of you this morning when I got this email:
The tickets you have purchased are: ---------------------------------------------------------- March 23 - New York Yankees & March 26 - Toronto Blue Jays Box Seating Section Row Seat Price Type BOX 20 2 11 $30.00 WEB BOX 20 2 12 $30.00 WEB Total Convenience Fee for 2 seats $10.00 Price for 2 seats $70.00 ---------------------------------------------------------- Subtotal : $70.00 Order Processing : $3.00 Total : $73.00 Thank you, Pittsburgh Pirates
Tune in Tokyo.
Hey i might be at one of those games too!
Sweet. I'm already counting the days 'til pitchers and catchers report. Thinking really hard about a trip to spring training this year too. What I'd do right now to be sitting at Fenway, with a warm summer breeze, Papi at the plate, and a $50 hot dog in my hand.......
View Image
and a $50 hot dog in my hand.......
Seeing all the money that these teams are throwing at the players this winter and your probably not that far off!
After making $500,000 last year, Utley gets a $2 million signing bonus and salaries of $4.5 million this year, $7.5 million in 2008, $11 million in 2009 and $15 million in each of the final seasons.
Just the latest example.
I shoulda played baseball instead of this carpenter shid. Only thing stoping me was talent!
Doug
I'll second what fast eddie said. For the money, the ryobi is a good buy/saw...buic
I had the cheap delta and i put a Rousseau table/ fence on it. It worked decent. The blade wouldn't alight with the factory fence. thats why I got the Rousseau. Eventuall the built-in overlad breaker went bad on a job at hte worst possible moment. So I figured for a $99 saw, I'd bypass the breaker. Saw worked fine for about 6 more months and died. Other things I didn't like about the Delta were there is no way to put a zero clearance insert in it unless you fabricate it out of 1/16" steel like the original. Also, it doesn't have much power. I killed the breaker cutting through 3/4" prefinished oak flooring (My blade was decent). It's also super loud. Anyway, I got the Bosch as it's replacement. Nice saw.
my experience exactly...I just was more impatient that you were!!"The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a governmental program" -Ronald Reagan
jet recently came out with one for 200 it looks pretty nice for the price. tell us about it if you do get one
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--> measure once / scribble several lines / spend some time figuring out wich scribble / cut the wrong line / get mad
I was working with a guy on a remodeling project last year that involved a lot of framing. He bought this Ryobi saw at HD for $99, mainly so we could leave it on the site and not worry about theft.
http://tinyurl.com/2mpkay
It certainly could not compare with the Bosch, but I was frankly surprised with how well the thing worked for our purposes. And, it is light enough to carry around with one hand.
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"It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."
John Wooden 1910-
just was wondering if anyone remembered who coined the phrase here--"friends don't let friends buy Ryobi"?BTW, i don't know about the Ryobi table saw but...FWIW, I have the Bosch and it's worth the extra couple hundred, I use it instead of my Powermatic when it is in the shop!Scott
I think it all comes down to how often/what kind of use the saw will get.
I don't use my tools all day every day like most around here, but I will tell you that the Ryobi stuff works great for when I do use it. It's more than powerful enough, as accurate as a lot of the higher priced stuff, and the batteries on the cordless stuff last a long time and are cheap t replace or buy extras.
If you're using a table saw every day to build cabs or rip material on the jobsite, I wouldn't buy a Ryobi, but it you need it once a month for an occasional trim job, it'll be more than sufficient. The same goes for some of their other tools, like their cordless planer- I wouldn't use it if I hung doors all day every day, but if you need to pull it out once in a blue moon to shave a door, better to have a $70 planer sitting in the truck than a $300 Bosch, no?
Bob
Don't remember who coined it, but it's words to live by.For the orginal poster, if all you need is a "cheap table" ryobi probably fits the bill. We all need someplace to sit the coffeecup and handtools on the job. But if you're looking for a saw, I'll vote for the bosch.At work we have a DeWalt, Hitachi and 2 Bosch. The Bosch is always first out the door.
Barry E-Remodeler
I'm with you on Ryobi.And that's why I was surprised with my friend's saw. You have to think about it as a light-weight, cheap, disposable TS.I have a Bosch 4000; it's a much better saw, but I wouldn't leave it in an unoccupied job site.********************************************************
"It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."
John Wooden 1910-
Not the change the subject, but I have Ryobi's surface planer that cost me $299, and in our shop we have the nice expensive dewalt surface planer. On two occasions, I've had to bring my Ryobi becasue it produces a much nicer finish than the dewalt. Both planers have new knives, so thats not the problem. It doesn't have the bells and whistles, and problable not hte power of hte dewalt, but it does what it's supposed to do, and it does it very well. I can't speak for the table saw, but their products live up to their claims.
Hey everyone,I'm not really against him buying the Ryobi, I really don't know about that particular item, I just thought i'd bring back that funny little tagline someone here used to have. I bought the Bosch partially because I've used cheap table saws on many jobs and I absolutely swore at the junk Delta, had okay luck with a junk Protech I picked up at a garage sale for twenty bucks and resold later for 50, and much better luck with a little Makita that had a very nice Rousseau fence, but still nowhere near as nice as the Bosch for just a little less money.I have had the misfortune to use other Ryobi tools over the years and haven't had to mess with any of them for a long time. for all i know they are the best you can buy now, LOL!Scott
I bought the Delta benchtop for jobsite in 1992 and laughingly called it my "disposable saw" and basically dared anyone to hurt it. I also keep a thin kerf blade on it, and a few years ago added the Rousseau table and the later the outfeed extension. Still haven't killed it. I was always planning to buy the Makita when the Delta gave it up, but it still works great. Someone said the original fence sucked and yes it did. Buy the Rousseau setup immediately and throw the dinky fence away. The start switch box sometimes fills with dust and must be taken apart and emptied out, but maybe the engineering is different on that seeing as it's been 15 years. My brother loves his Ryobi but he's a weekend warrior so it's fine for him. It does seem like a lot for the money.
I have had the Bosch 4000 since it was first released, 5-6 years ago - it's a great saw.Mine is mounted on a Ridgid wheeled tablesaw stand - works great.For a budget alternative - spend a $100 more and pick up the Ridgid jobsite saw - it was at Home Depot online with the stand for $315 refurbished. The Ridgid gets great reviews and that would be a good value if it's still available.Ryobi tools are made to quit working someday soon after you buy them - probably just when it matters - I personally won't buy a single one of them.JT
somethings wrong the stars are misaligned or something,but here goes another vote on the ryobi.200. at hd ,get a 10% off coupon. 180. i don't think you can beat it it cuts good,and has a stand that comes with it that will work as good or better than any stand around. rips out to 26".i've had mine 3yrs and it does great. i use it to move around to rentals.larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
I have the bosch as well, and I have to say that it's stand is far superior to the Ryobi. And i understand that it's more expensive, but it's just plain better. The Bosch saw is very nice and worth the money. But the Ryobi may be worth the money as well.
ok,theres no way to defend a ryobi to be better than bosch,i'm not that big of ryobi fan! but.... amazon shows that the stand is a extra 110.00 over the stationary stand,another 80 bucks and i've got a saw that does pretty good. i set this saw up in a rental and there it stays till i finish,if someone walks with it i'm not going to lose a lot of sleep.larryhand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
I won't touch Dewalt, much less Ryobi. But...a friend of mine has the Ryobi table saw and it seemed to work fine as long as you didn't ask too much of it. So when I needed a second small saw to take to trim jobs in the ghetto where I work, I bought it. It was the right tool for me because of those cost, security, and portability reasons. I say go for it.
Peace,
Casey
I have an old 8.5" Makita that has held up for almost 20 yrs now and is light enough to carry with one hand. I saw a 10" Hitachi at Lowes for $200, and it has wheels on the stand so you dont have to carry it. Has anyone here tried that Hitachi?
I have it. It is portable. Motor is decent. Fence is acceptable but not great. I use it for ripping hardwood flooring and it works great. I would not try to do anything really precise with it.
I have the Hitachi too. My complaints are loud and too much vibration but good leave on job saw.
OK, thanks. For $200 I guess you cant expect too much, although they all seem to look pretty good in the store. It looks like alot of Bosch fans here. Looking through a catalog I see there is a Porter Cable 3812s for $399, but I havent seen one up close yet.
What's wrong with the Makita? I have the same saw and love it as a field saw. Couple it with the Rousseau table set up and you have an unbeatable combo.
Also have the DeWalt 10" which is a fine saw. I keep that mostly at home in the garage to use.
There is nothing wrong with the Makita, it still has plenty of power.It has never quit on me, although there is a small chunk broken out of the plastic or composite base. I Iost the safety button, so I need to use a nail or nail set where the button was, but no big deal. The fence needs to be lined up every time you move it, but I just eyeball it in line with the TS grooves. Does that Rosseau table have a fence that goes with it or can you use the Makita fence to cut wider materials with that table? I plan on keeping the Makita, I just like to keep informed on what else is out there. Do you know if parts are still available for them? There is a Makita place nearby that does the repairs if I need them.
The reason I bought the Rousseau was because of the ease of it and the professional shop-saw fence on it. It's the same design as the Beisemeir fence for the big cabinet saws.Click on table saw stands
http://www.rousseauco.com/
Thanks, that would definatley be a good upgrade for the old Makita.I am going to check that out, but first I am going to call the Makita place and see how the parts availability is on that table saw.
I recently felt the need for a new table saw for a job on which I am currently working. I have a Bosch 4000 but it is needed at home. The new DeWalt portable caught my attention so I bought one. A nice saw for its intended purpose and plenty of power.It is a little pricey but it is nicely made even if the fence is a little on the flimsy side.Compared to The Ryobi, Delta and the like, this new little Dewalt is a much better saw.
Try the Ridgid with the collasible wheeled stand. Stay away from Ryobi. Ridgid has a lifetime parts warantee. It goes for about $400
Are yu kidding me,you buy and sell houses and cant spend more than 150 on a table saw.BOSCH 499 with stand.
The $200 Ryboi saw with the foldup table works great for me. Easy to roll away and set up, but a bit awkward to lift up into the van.