"matthew silver" wrote:

I am considering a new tablesaw, mostly because I need a much larger fence
system.
I'll get to your main question, but first, what do you mean by "a much
larger fence system"? I don't see much difference in the sizes of
fences--some, but not to the extent that one is considered much larger
than another.

I came across the Ryobi BT3100 - which looks like a pretty neat although
different saw.
In my initial Googling research, I found that additional rails are easy to
acquire from Ryobi and that the saw has a cult like following.

Requirements:

Annual Run time: under 50 hours / home dyi / furniture / hobbyist
small foot print: (I'm not moving so I can have a bigger shop - not
with this wife atleast )!
set up & accurate easy / uncomplicated set up where repeatable cuts are
simple
long lasting / well built - not a "5 season machine"
large cutting capacity - with / available extension rails
my list goes on, but excludes the unreasonable

I have only read good things about the BT3100 - maybe I may have developed
tunnel vision

What are the cons of this machine ?

Matt, I have one, which I like very much. I think it is an incredible
machine for the money. Sometimes the "cult-like following" forgets the
"for the money" phrase, resulting in a gross overstatement and this
sometimes gets strong reaction. While I appreciate the engineering and
manufacturing that went into this saw that you can get for not a whole
lot more than a good circular saw, it is no cabinet saw.

Here are some tradeoffs:
Aluminum main casting. I have no problems with the auxiliary table and
sliding miter table, but the main casting is too flexible. The base
needs to be solid and square if you want the saw to be accurate. If it
is not, the table has enough flex to twist unacceptably. While this
saw may be okay as a portable for rough carpentry, you wouldn't want
to do precision joinery after toting it in the bed of your truck.

Universal motor, lack of power. The universal motor screams, but not
as badly as I anticipated. It is underpowered compared to a cabinet
saw, but not much compared to most contractor's saws. Shouldn't be too
much of a problem for your stated mission, just don't feed 12/4 oak
through too fast! g

Lack of miter slots. These are available after market, but still are
not standard configuration. Many jigs (store bought, or plans in mags,
books, etc.) run in the miter slots and will not work with the BT3100
as is. I haven't found that to be an issue--you can usually vary the
design to work.

Setup and alignment could be easier. however, once set up, my
understanding is that it holds its alignment very well. I don't have
enough first-hand experience to confirm that, but a friend who has
been using one for several years claims this.

The fence is a PITA to get on and off, (which I believe to be the case
with lots of OEM fences). There is a very nice after-market fence that
is easily removable while the riving knife stays in place.

On the positive side, the sliding miter table is much better (IMO)
than a miter gauge. But I still plan to build a crosscut sled for
really precision work. And the fence locks very solidly, and with
alignment that is very repeatable. I have my fence aligned to be
about .002" farther from the back of the (fully raised) blade than the
front, and repeatedly moving and relocking it varied this reading by
no more than +/- .002". The aluminum extrusions used for the rails and
fences are very rigid and straight. The stock blade is very good
(again, for the price--no, it's not a Forrestg). Blade runout at the
rim on my saw was .003". The riving knife is great -- the stock one
that is part of the guard assembly, or one you can make from sheet
stock--I used Lexan.

No tool should be mistreated. But while this saw is not "fragile", if
I get clumsy moving a 10' 2x12 through the shop and have an end swing
into a tool, I'd rather it hit my Delta bandsaw or Jet jointer than
this saw.

Hopefully this gives you some sense for the tradeoffs. I think it
would be an excellent choice for the mission you described, subject to
clarification of what you mean by a larger fence system.
--
Alex -- Replace "nospam" with "mail" to reply by email. Checked infrequently.