I am planning to gift a table saw to a friend. He is not a full time
carpenter, but does to some pretty intensive work aroudn the house. I
am not sure what his purpose might be, but I can think of his plans of
building some cabinets and adding an atrium.

What table saw would you recommend? I do not want to go too expensive.
I saw the
Ryobi 10 inch portable Table saw priced for $209.00 and think it's a
resonable buy
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80HDUS/...Ns=P_PRICE%7c0

Please advice..

You were absolutely right to ask.

There are 3 classes of 10" table saws, benchtops, contractors and cabinet
saws which fit into price bands of roughly:

150-500, 400-1000 and 1000-2200 respectively.

For the most part, the benchtops are light-duty machines that are cheaply
made and perform poorly. The main reason to purchase a benchtop is for
portability. Although the best benchtops are actually pretty good but still
suffer from the some of the limitations of a benchtop. They are also closer
to $500.

Limitations of a benchtop:

* loud underpowered universal motors
* Small top means it is difficult (less safe) to manipulate larger
workpieces. This is one of those places where size matters.
* Light weight components. (weight matters) Cast iron and beefier components
absorb more vibration resulting in a cleaner cut.
*Small lightweight fence systems of the cheaper models suffer from
deflection and often do not align properly with the saw blade. This results
on poor quality of cut and safety issues.

At the $250 price point, a used contractor saw is a better choice. For new,
$500 is a more realistic price point.

Cabinet saws are just beefy versions of contractor saws suitable for pros
and really serious hobbyists.

-Steve


wrote in message
oups.com...
I am planning to gift a table saw to a friend. He is not a full time
carpenter, but does to some pretty intensive work aroudn the house. I
am not sure what his purpose might be, but I can think of his plans of
building some cabinets and adding an atrium.

What table saw would you recommend? I do not want to go too expensive.
I saw the
Ryobi 10 inch portable Table saw priced for $209.00 and think it's a
resonable buy
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80HDUS/...Ns=P_PRICE%7c0

Please advice..




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Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

wrote:

I am planning to gift a table saw to a friend. He is not a full time
carpenter, but does to some pretty intensive work aroudn the house. I
am not sure what his purpose might be, but I can think of his plans of
building some cabinets and adding an atrium.

What table saw would you recommend? I do not want to go too expensive.
I saw the
Ryobi 10 inch portable Table saw priced for $209.00 and think it's a
resonable buy


Unfortunately, "good" and "cheap" are antonyms :-). There are a few portable
saws that aren't too bad, but they cost a lot more than that. Look at the
Bosch, the General, the Porter-Cable, and the DeWalt.

If all else fails, start going to estate sales :-).

--
It's turtles, all the way down

On 19 Apr 2007 07:41:49 -0700, wrote:

I am planning to gift a table saw to a friend. He is not a full time
carpenter, but does to some pretty intensive work aroudn the house. I
am not sure what his purpose might be, but I can think of his plans of
building some cabinets and adding an atrium.

What table saw would you recommend? I do not want to go too expensive.
I saw the
Ryobi 10 inch portable Table saw priced for $209.00 and think it's a
resonable buy
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80HDUS/...Ns=P_PRICE%7c0

Please advice..

I was looking for a table saw in the $250-$300 range also. But after
careful consideration, reading all the reviews, and checking out the
Ridgid user forum, I recently bought the Ridgid TS3650. It sells for
$499 at HD now. I bought it during their recent tool event with the
Ridgid drill/driver combo pack and got $125 off. I paid for it with a
new American Express card that gave me a $100 gift card on my purchase
of $500 or more. I knew I was going to buy the saw, I simply waited
about two months for the right timing toi get the best deal.

On 19 Apr 2007 07:41:49 -0700, wrote:

I am planning to gift a table saw to a friend. He is not a full time
carpenter, but does to some pretty intensive work aroudn the house. I
am not sure what his purpose might be, but I can think of his plans of
building some cabinets and adding an atrium.

What table saw would you recommend? I do not want to go too expensive.
I saw the
Ryobi 10 inch portable Table saw priced for $209.00 and think it's a
resonable buy
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80HDUS/...Ns=P_PRICE%7c0

Please advice..


Not good--for making cabinets this saw would be a royal pain. For
$200 you can get your friend a Starett combination square.

On Apr 19, 10:41 am, wrote:
I am planning to gift a table saw to a friend. He is not a full time
carpenter, but does to some pretty intensive work aroudn the house. I
am not sure what his purpose might be, but I can think of his plans of
building some cabinets and adding an atrium.

What table saw would you recommend? I do not want to go too expensive.
I saw the
Ryobi 10 inch portable Table saw priced for $209.00 and think it's a
resonable buyhttp://www.homedepot.com/prel80HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?CNTTYPE...

Please advice..

mania,
Stephen M has distilled a goodly amount of usefull information in his
posting. One way to leverage the quality, safety and capacity of any
table saw is to build ( a useful first project) proper surrounding
extension tables. There are as many versions and approaches as there
are wood workers. In general, and if you plan to use full sheets of
plywood, MDF, melamine board etc. the bigger the better. Size is
usually determined by the available space. I recommend the top be made
of high pressure laminate(read Formica, Wilsonart et al), to help
reduce friction while feeding the stock. Some cabinet shops build
their tables on three sides, some on two sides with a portable
dutchman to the left of the saw table. This idea is not precisely what
you originally asked but it seemed apprpos.
Joe G

'70s vintage or earlier craftsman with an iron top. if you can pick it
up by yourself it's not the one.

On 19 Apr 2007 07:41:49 -0700, wrote:

I saw the
Ryobi 10 inch portable Table saw priced for $209.00 and think it's a
resonable buy
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80HDUS/...Ns=P_PRICE%7c0

Reasonable for what? Just about all benchtop saws, regardless of
price, are going to be poor performers, they're loud, they vibrate,
they have very little cutting capacity, their fences and guards are
cheap and unstable, it would probably end up frustrating your friend
more than anything.

If you're serious about helping him out, you're looking for at least a
contractor's saw, I'd recommend the Rigid TS3560 at Home Depot, it
runs about $500 and it's very well put together, I've helped two
friends set them up now and have used them and was impressed. If you
don't want to spend that kind of money, get him a HD gift card and he
can throw in the rest of the money himself.

I simply cannot recommend that you purchase any benchtop though,
especially for anyone who might be building furniture, cabinets or
other large projects, it just doesn't work well.

Ike wrote:
I was looking for a table saw in the $250-$300 range also. But after
careful consideration, reading all the reviews, and checking out the
Ridgid user forum, I recently bought the Ridgid TS3650. It sells for
$499 at HD now. I bought it during their recent tool event with the
Ridgid drill/driver combo pack and got $125 off. I paid for it with a
new American Express card that gave me a $100 gift card on my purchase
of $500 or more. I knew I was going to buy the saw, I simply waited
about two months for the right timing toi get the best deal.


Looks like you did well for yourself. I own an older Ridgid tablesaw (the
TS2424) and have never regretted the purchase. Of course, I didn't make out as
well on it as you did, damn it. But it's been a good saw and can be tricked out
tremendously.

Take any negative stuff you read about Ridgid saws with a very large grain of
salt. It's been my experience they're always posted by people who don't have
one.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

On 19 Apr 2007 07:41:49 -0700, wrote:

I am planning to gift a table saw to a friend. He is not a full time
carpenter, but does to some pretty intensive work aroudn the house. I
am not sure what his purpose might be, but I can think of his plans of
building some cabinets and adding an atrium.

What table saw would you recommend? I do not want to go too expensive.

Please advise..

My advice is different from all the others so far. Here it is:

Do NOT buy your friend a saw without discussing it with him. This same
holds true for spouses (not buying--discussing).

Most of us here are somewhat tool snobs. By that I don't (necessarily)
mean that we look down our noses at anything but the best, merely that
we have our prejudices about what we would prefer.

In your friend's case, imagine that (unbeknownst to you) he is
cranking pretty hard toward the making furniture point on the curve.
He'd probably like a cabinet saw. If you were to buy him a benchtop,
no matter how generous and gracious the gift, he is likely not going
to be happy with it. Naturally, he'll thank you for your thoughtful
gift, but he'll be left with the predicament of what to do with a
piece of goods that does not meet his needs.

Similarly, suppose you won the lottery and had all the money in the
world and you bought him a top-of-the-line cabinet saw. It turns out
he's just a hacker and tool abuser. While he might not mind bending a
top notch machine, if you were ever to find out it was WAY more
machine than he needed or could appreciate, you'd be disappointed in
how much more money than practical you spent on your friend. This is
probably less of a predicament than the first, but still worth
considering.

Frankly, it could very well be that your friend, if asked, might have
higher aspirations in the saw market than you're prepared to spring
for. I would think the best thing to do to avoid that awkward
conversation would be simply to give him a check in the amount you
wish to spend. Although technically (and etiquettely--is that a word?)
that concludes your involvement in the transaction, you might indicate
your intention with regard to the saw in hopes that he pursues that
avenue.

I wish I had a friend who would buy me a saw, but I sure would hate
for him to buy me something I couldn't/wouldn't use.



--
LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

http://www.woodbutcher.net

Proud participant of rec.woodworking since February, 1997

email addy de-spam-ified due to 1,000 spams per month.
If you can't figure out how to use it, I probably wouldn't
care to correspond with you anyway.

On Apr 19, 10:41?am, wrote:
I am planning to gift a table saw to a friend. He is not a full time
carpenter, but does to some pretty intensive work aroudn the house. I
am not sure what his purpose might be, but I can think of his plans of
building some cabinets and adding an atrium.

What table saw would you recommend? I do not want to go too expensive.
I saw the
Ryobi 10 inch portable Table saw priced for $209.00 and think it's a
resonable buyhttp://www.homedepot.com/prel80HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?CNTTYPE...

Please advice..

I agree with the other posts. A $200 table saw is a waste of money.
How about giving him a Gift Certificate to Woodcraft, Rockler, or
other woodworking supplier? Let him make the decision about what saw
to get, rather than have him think of you every time he uses the crapy
$200 saw and gets frustrated.

wrote in message
oups.com...
I am planning to gift a table saw to a friend. He is not a full time
carpenter, but does to some pretty intensive work aroudn the house. I
am not sure what his purpose might be, but I can think of his plans of
building some cabinets and adding an atrium.

What table saw would you recommend? I do not want to go too expensive.
I saw the
Ryobi 10 inch portable Table saw priced for $209.00 and think it's a
resonable buy
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80HDUS/...Ns=P_PRICE%7c0

Please advice..


A TS is a pretty personal tool that gets used as much as any tool in the
typical shop.
The safest bet would be to ask you friend which TS. If he is an
accomplished woodworker perhaps a Gift Card would be a better choice. A
decent NEW saw is going to be 3 to 10 times what you are thinking.

wrote:

What table saw would you recommend? I do not want to go too expensive.
I saw the
Ryobi 10 inch portable Table saw priced for $209.00 and think it's a
resonable buy
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80HDUS/...Ns=P_PRICE%7c0

Please advice..

I was given one of those saws. Recognizing the value of tradition, I
gave it to the next guy, too.

The table is too small and the miter guide & fence are simply dangerous.
This is a saw with a full - sized blade spinning at full - sized speed
and TOYS for material control. Dangerous toys.

Take the advise to buy used / larger.

Bill


--
http://nmwoodworks.com/cube


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