Table saw purchasing advice

[ez-duzit]

The table saw is the backbone of any wood shop. Get a real one. Not some portable substitute.

[daddo]

1 for a real one.    

[Gentleman Jim]

Watch classified ads for an old unisaw or equal. They pop up for less than $500 frequently. It is a great saw, will last for several lifetimes with care, and you will never need to buy another saw. Parts are commonly available. Learn how to make table saw jigs.

[Kansas City Fireslayer]

Skip the new Delta. If you buy new and want to swing $800 for the new Grizz hybrid, I'd buy that. Personally, if I was starting out I'd buy an older Delta, PM or Jet contractors saw. $200-300 and plenty of money left over for other tools. Most of these older contractor saws work fine for 1-2" thick stock. Dust collection isn't great but can be made to be acceptable by most. I guess it comes down to how much you want to spend and how many other tools do you want to buy within a certain timeframe.

[AHill]

so far we have;

5 for the Delta (two against).
4 for the Grizzly.
4 for the Unisaw.
3 for the PM.
2 for the Bosch.
2 for the Sawstop.
3 for the Dewalt.
3 for the Ridgid.
1 for Porter Cable.
3 for Craftsman (older ones).
1 for Jet.
1 for Shop Fox.
XXX for craiglist.

That should simplify things for ya.   :laugh

The votes are nice, but in the end, I don't think you want your choice to be dictated by the majority.  List the pros and cons of each and make your own decision based on how YOU rate them.  I, like many others, would recommend putting more money aside for a new hybrid or used cabinet saw.  If you get one of those, it'll be the last saw you buy.  I used a US-made Delta Contractor's saw for several years, and it was a decent saw, but dust collection was horrible (well- non-existent), and it bogged down on heavier cuts.  When I upgraded to a PM2000 3HP cabinet saw, the difference was night and day.  All cast iron wings, motor that had handle pretty much everything I throw at it, WAY less dust, and much quieter. You won't get the HP out of a hybrid, but you get most everything else.

Good luck on your purchase and let us know what you end up with.

[Smoothjazz077]

I am not sure if Home Depot sells them any longer, but I purchased a Ridgid Contractor's saw several years ago that Home Depot was running a special on at the time, because they were getting ready to introduce their new granite table top saw.  The model number of the saw I purchased is the TS 3650.  My woodworking consists of hand tools, and power tools, and this table saw has been fantastic.  It doesn't have the power of a cabinet saw, so I use a thin kerf blade, but it has handled anything I have run through it.  I have cut Purple Heart, Hard Maple, Walnut and Cherry with this saw, and with a slow consistent feed has worked great.  I am sure there are some available through Craig's list or Ebay.  Just a thought.  Good luck.

[Aram]

I am going to as brutally honest as I can 

Skip the Delta I do not care how nice it looks 

the way things shook out when the present owners took over I would not give them a penny 

when companies dump inventories of replacement parts for quality machines so the best you can hope for is to find things on the secondary market I have no desire to support any machine they presently make 

AFAIC recent history will hold true build em cheap stop supporting them in a year or three so you are forced to purchase all over again

This and a half.

I bought a 2004 left tilt X5 Unisaw. Blew through an arbor, probably my fault, but what wasn't my fault was the new owners' decision not to stock parts. Lucked out, had a machinist friend fix it for me. Two years ago, it was getting hard to raise and lower the blade. Now I kept that thing clean, never abused it, and always used a duct collector -- so there was no reason for cast part to fail. But the teeth on the elevation rack were toast. Guess what? No replacements available through Delta, eBay, or anywhere I looked. So much for my lifetime purchase.

I bought a mid-80s Powermatic PM66 off of Craigslist. Except for inferior dust collection, I am a happy man. Ironically, it will be much easier for me to get parts.

I'm done with Delta.

[Steve N]

I agree buying anything with Delta stamped on it today is asking for trouble. I have followed this thread but haven't jumped in. I own the same TS that Carolyn either still has or used to, it was a Delta Contractor with cast tables, and was from when they still offered a good product. I also own a Cabinet saw of good manufacture, a Canadian made General 350, and it is a very nice saw. I have never owned a job site TS, if I did it would be the Bosch based on what I have seen. For me, if you have the space get either a Contractor saw, or a Cab saw. I find beside the obvious power differences, that the cab saw will just stay in alignment a lot longer than the Contractor saw. You can make a good Contractor saw cut very accurately, but with use, you have to keep going back to adjust it. Maybe because of mass the cab saws stay locked on, unless you do something to change that. General use can change the Contractor saw, and if you don't keep going back and adjusting them, your cuts will suffer.

I see the discussion has gone toward rigid. My experience with them is you get NO help after 60 days. I had been lured to the "lifetime warranty " on 2 tools, both of which developed problems making them unusable after a 1 year period. I had filled out all the cards when I bought, and everything else that was suggested I do, and I got zero help with any "warranty". If anyone here ever did get any help, good for them, but that was not my experience. I wouldn't suggest any of their products ever. My suggestion for buying is increase your drive time and go through CL for a deal on a good Contractor. Delta 36-679 or a Powermatic 64a. Both of those saws will work hard for you, for as long as you would like them to. IOW worth driving a few hundred miles to pick one up. Beyond that there are a lot of cab saws, but if your electric is limited you may be stuck. Sears 113 series saws have been a mainstay, their biggest problem is their strange sized miter gauge slots, and their poor fences. You can add on a fence, but are stuck with the slot. I've not seen any new Contractor saws that I felt were anywhere close to the 600 to 1K prices they want, when I pretty routinely see older saws like the 2 I listed for 400 or so.

[spitfirepete]

We have 2 homes. A $1500 Grizzly cabinet saw in main home and I just got the Delta for 2nd shop.....very pleased with the Delta. have ripped several 2x4s without problems.... dust collection is great with a shop vac...the fence is excellent...I say absolutely best saw in its price range

[RealDealDon]

Depends on whether or not you need a contractor's saw or not. If you plan to set up in a shop or garage, and don't need to move it around and/or take it to various locations, I would recommend looking into a hybrid saw. Jet, Powermatic, SawStop, Grizzly, Shop Fox and others all make good hybrids that bring quality, accuracy, features and capacity to the next level over a portable contractor's saw. Now you're saying "but I said my limit was about $600"... to which I say no worries. Most of the brands I mentioned are going to start at about $1,000, but if you keep your eyes peeled, you can often find a great deal on one either slightly used or discounted one way or the other. My own personal table is a Jet 10TS-30 which retails for about $1,100 (and that comes with the fence and rails). I found mine on an auction website that's local to me here in Columbus, and I got it for $300 without the fence and rails. I was then able to pick the fence and rail system that I liked the best for about $150 (which was a Delta T3), which means I got an $1100 table saw for about $450. And I see deals like that all the time. Of course I do think I have a tool-buying addiction, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I'll attach a pic of my saw so you get the idea. For the price of a contractor saw, I have a far more precise machine with much more ripping capacity than I would have had otherwise. And I don't need to worry about looking for an upgrade for a very long time, if ever. However, if you really want brand new, the closest you'd get to your price range for a hybrid would be Grizzly, which sells for about $775 (link below). Hope that's helpful!

http://www.grizzly.com/products/10-Hybri...rizzly.com