This is for anyone contemplating buying this saw. Paid $197 for it from
Home Depot. The saw was packaged well with the only hard part was removing
some styrofoam packaging wedged inside protecting the motor. Directions
were great and really not much to put together..... wheels and hubcaps.
Really nice mechanism that takes the saw from a folded position to an
upright position. Seems real stable when upright and has a weight of approx
95 pounds. As far as setup goes... Luckily the blade was spot on and needed
no adjustment. The fence was out of alignment and adjustment was was done
by two screws located on top of fence so no problem. There was a small
scratch across the table top that you could see in reflected light but of no
real concern. Paint seemed good and all handles, latches, etc seemed pretty
strong. I did not put on the splitter/bladeguard (not my normal practice)
but will do so when I start working with it and/or replace it with some
after market one. Now for some downsides..... The face plate consists of a
couple of ears that slide down and under in the back and then the front
snaps down in the front and is held by a screw. The face plate was already
attached and you could see that it was sunken down under the table by more
than 1/16" so that your wood would catch up as you pushed it over the back
end of the face plate. I had heard that the face plates were not so hot and
now I know why. I removed it and placed some duct tape build up under the
back end and all is well. Might replace it with some shim stock later if
necessary. The second thing that is not so great is the miter gauge which
is pretty sloppy, not as bad as a lot of saws, but not great either. It
does have a 3/4" slot which is nice. I crosscut some 1X6 and it worked
well. Ripped some 2" maple and it handled that with no problem. No drag
noticed. During sawing the table seemed pretty sturdy. It has an outfeed
support table that will come in handy. Lots of other stuff that you can
read about.
My Overall Opinion is: For real serious woodworkers who will be doing a lot
of projects and are really into making "nice stuff" you would be better
served with a better, heavier, and more expensive saw. For average weekend
woodworkers like myself who like to build some non-complex bookcases,
headboards, tables, chests, etc this saw would work fine. It will just
require a little more time setting up to make sure everything is square. If
you don't have room for a big contractor saw in your garage, this saw folds
up in about 10 seconds and takes up no space at all. So............. for
$197 (including carbide so/so blade) I think this saw might be what some of
you are looking for. Oh and one last thing. I have heard how loud these
saws are. I was really suprised how quiet it was, but then again I have
been doing a lot of router work... LOL!
-JMHO

Nice review Buck and really a fair appraisal. I have had mine for nearly a
year now and find it to be quite adequate for my needs. A darn good saw for
the money and as you say, a real space saver for limited space.

Cheers.....

Bob


"buck" wrote in message
ervers.com...
This is for anyone contemplating buying this saw. Paid $197 for it from
Home Depot. The saw was packaged well with the only hard part was
removing
some styrofoam packaging wedged inside protecting the motor. Directions
were great and really not much to put together..... wheels and hubcaps.
Really nice mechanism that takes the saw from a folded position to an
upright position. Seems real stable when upright and has a weight of
approx
95 pounds. As far as setup goes... Luckily the blade was spot on and
needed
no adjustment. The fence was out of alignment and adjustment was was done
by two screws located on top of fence so no problem. There was a small
scratch across the table top that you could see in reflected light but of
no
real concern. Paint seemed good and all handles, latches, etc seemed
pretty
strong. I did not put on the splitter/bladeguard (not my normal practice)
but will do so when I start working with it and/or replace it with some
after market one. Now for some downsides..... The face plate consists of
a
couple of ears that slide down and under in the back and then the front
snaps down in the front and is held by a screw. The face plate was
already
attached and you could see that it was sunken down under the table by more
than 1/16" so that your wood would catch up as you pushed it over the back
end of the face plate. I had heard that the face plates were not so hot
and
now I know why. I removed it and placed some duct tape build up under the
back end and all is well. Might replace it with some shim stock later if
necessary. The second thing that is not so great is the miter gauge which
is pretty sloppy, not as bad as a lot of saws, but not great either. It
does have a 3/4" slot which is nice. I crosscut some 1X6 and it worked
well. Ripped some 2" maple and it handled that with no problem. No drag
noticed. During sawing the table seemed pretty sturdy. It has an outfeed
support table that will come in handy. Lots of other stuff that you can
read about.
My Overall Opinion is: For real serious woodworkers who will be doing a
lot
of projects and are really into making "nice stuff" you would be better
served with a better, heavier, and more expensive saw. For average
weekend
woodworkers like myself who like to build some non-complex bookcases,
headboards, tables, chests, etc this saw would work fine. It will just
require a little more time setting up to make sure everything is square.
If
you don't have room for a big contractor saw in your garage, this saw
folds
up in about 10 seconds and takes up no space at all. So............. for
$197 (including carbide so/so blade) I think this saw might be what some
of
you are looking for. Oh and one last thing. I have heard how loud these
saws are. I was really suprised how quiet it was, but then again I have
been doing a lot of router work... LOL!
-JMHO

I think saw has it's own forum somewhere and maybe a fan club. Not sure
why people like it some much but it seems like a pretty good value for
less than the price of a good dado set. IMHO, I think you can do just
as good of work with this tool as any TS it just might take a little
longer to get there.

The fan club you're talking about is for the Ryobi 3100, which is a table
saw that has a sliding table. This saw, the BTS20 is just your ordinary
blue coller hard working saw.... At least I hope it will be.... LOL


"SonomaProducts.com" wrote in message
ups.com...
I think saw has it's own forum somewhere and maybe a fan club. Not sure
why people like it some much but it seems like a pretty good value for
less than the price of a good dado set. IMHO, I think you can do just
as good of work with this tool as any TS it just might take a little
longer to get there.