Can I live without table saw?

[daveferg]

Paul, the bandsaw doesn't take that much space and it's my go-to tool for cuts like notches or thin strips, too dangerous on the table saw. Heck, on my last outdoor project, I used the bandsaw to cut darned near perfect lap joints. But I greatly appreciate all the support for keeping the table saw.

Mike, glad the drip system worked out. Keep an eye open for improved products coming on the market. Last time I was buying parts, found emitters tha disassembled for cleaning!

[jteneyck]

Barnowl, I watched the video.  Is a CMS a compound miter saw, or?  It looks like it is somehow mounted upside down so that you can use it as a table saw.  Is that correct?  That would be quite a game changer for a jobsite saw.  Before I bought my jobsite TS I used to mount my circular saw upside down to use it in that fashion.  It worked pretty well even with a home built rip fence.  Anyway, I'm curious about how this all works and any info. you have is appreciated, or if you can point me where to look for more info.  Thanks.

John

[jteneyck]

OK, I went to Festool's site and found out a CMS is a router.  How they came up with that nomenclature escapes me. 

Anyway, meh.

John

[WaterlooMarc]

It's the router table here. In Europe they make different inserts for it, such as one to hold their circular saws. Unfortunately they neutered it here and we can't get any of the available inserts. Such yes, on these shores it is just a very expensive router table and fence.

[daveferg]

A few years back Rockler sold mounting plates for a router table for things like an inverted jig saw and for the Porter Cable hand held spindle sander, etc. Then one day they disappeared from their catalog. Too bad. It was a good idea for an economical, small shop.

[Eurekan]

I gotta vote for the RAS. I only had that for years cause of a small shop. I now have a table saw and love it but keep my RAS for most of my cutoffs and dadoes. My son just bought a house and I gave him the option of a small table saw or RAS and he jumped at the RAS. He saw me for years do some pretty good work with it in a small space. That's what he has and knows how to use it.

Yep, all things considered the RAS would be the last to go.

[daveferg]

My first large power tool was a Dewalt/B&D RAS, in the late 70's. While I was glad to have it, it's a poor tool compared to a table saw. Always getting out of alignment and very hard to rip safely.

Don't get me wrong. An RAS does a lot of things well and would be a great complement to a large shop or if like me 40 years ago, is all you can afford.

[Lynden]

Dave -- Maybe the question you should be asking is not "Do I need a table saw?" but "Do I need a 3HP or 5HP Unisaw?" to do the kind of woodworking I intend to do in the future. My guess is you will decide you don't need the Unisaw. If I were in your situation, I would sell the Unisaw and buy a Bosch 4100 table saw and a Makita track saw. Since I wouldn't be taking the Bosch to a job site, I would probably build a small saw station rather than buy the gravity-rise stand.

http://www.woodsmithplans.com/assets/img.../thumb.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736...56db32.jpg

[Steve N]

In a thread like this, someone needs to post that video of the African guy with the open air shop, and 2 or 3 crude tools at his disposal. Need is just a word, and it never gets any woodworking done.

[Anji12305]

I use the EZSmart track with a Porter cable circular saw.

If you already own a good circular saw, it makes sense. If not, the all in one systems might be sensible.

I use mine to break up sheet goods, where it excels. You'll need some sort of low bench to use this effectively. I use two of the VIKA adjustable tables for this.

If your mobility diminishing, this may be more difficult to use than your unisaw.

If i had any amount of money to spend, i would buy the Mafell.