Best table saw for around £150?

[MatthewHUB]

Hi guys,

I'm fairly new to woodworking and i'm looking to buy a cheap table saw to make some things over the summer. My budget is about £150 max, and i'm looking for something with a depth of cut around 75mm, with stand (and preferaby a removable safety thing so just the blade sticks out). I went to B&Q and saw some (excuse the pun) and one seemed ok but the others were really tacky. I realise i'm not going to be able to get loads for my money but if there is anyone out there who knows a reliable, half-decent, amateur one i'd be really grateful!

Thanks in advance.

Matthew

 

[big-all]

well theres this one for about £120
http://www.toolstation.com/search.html?searchstr=ryobi+table+saw

noisy brute complete with stand mines needed a bit of fileing to get the fence strait

i would not recomend you remove any gaurd from any machine but having said that you have to assemble the gaurds to put it together

what exactly do you want to do on the saw that requires the gaurds removed!!!!!!!

 

[Thermo]

cut a groove in the timber its entire length?

 

[H&J]

There are quite a few to choose from in your price range, all much the same and all about the same qualaty.

The one big-all suggested is not bad, if it was me I'd go for that and with the 30 odd quid left buy a better blade, as generally the blades supplied are not up to much.

 

[MatthewHUB]

Cheers guys, I had seen that one and thought of it too... but was just a bit sceptical as i went to B&Q and saw a few in the flesh and deciede there weere a lot that looked tacky. Ah well, if you guys say that Ryobi one is good i'll go for that and try and get a dogs danglies blade. What do you suggest? I take it it's 10"...

Thanks very much again for your help.

M

 

[big-all]

still wondering what you want to do with the gaurds off!!!!!

250 by 40t would be a good blade in m.h.o.
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Blades/CircularSawBlades/d120/sd2586

freid pro 74883 good clean cut

 

[Thermo]

ive got a ryobi and very happy with it, however invest in a decent blade, it will make all the difference

 

[MatthewHUB]

OK guys thanks a lot for your quick reviews and blade suggestions.

I wish to be able to take the guard off for things like cutting grooves the whole length of the wood etc. Can this be done with the Ryobi? Does anyone have any experience of how difficult it is to take the guard off on this saw?

M

 

[big-all]

mmmmmm
my concerns are you are knew to woodwork
things like grooving can be dangerous for people with many years experience

for a beginner its fraut with dangers

it is not a quick job as you have to wind the saw blade to full height remove the 8 screws around the plastic insert and fiddle about to remove the ryving knife
putting it back is equaly akward so i suspect it would get left off and make any job a bit dangerous

the ryving knife also stops the wood closing up on the back edge of the blade

most things you can do with the guards off you can do with a router and table

just remember your groove will only be one thickness unless you make several passes use a router you are likly to get the job in less passes

another idea is a buiscut cutter dependant on nature of grooves

 

[petewood]

On my saw the riving knife is set slightly below the height of the blade so you never need to remove it for anything like this, can you not set the knife on the ryobi like this?

If you need to cut a channel you can make life safer by clamping a piece of timber to the rip-fence to act as a guard, if you do it right it should sit on top of the workpiece to stop it lifting, and it should be wide enough to prevent your hands from getting too near the blade.

 

[big-all]

heellloo petwood

on the ryobi its a combined riving knife and guard support which is about 2 inches higher than the blade and raises and lowers with the blade
it is also on an arc to give you protection on the top of the blade till it goes under the blade guard

 

[petewood]

I think that riving knives must always rise and fall with the blade, the edge of the riving knife must always be about 10mm or less from the back edge of the blade to prevent kickback, regardless of the height of the blade.

On my last saw the guard was attached to the riving knife but I was able to set the knife slightly below the height of the blade to allow for rebating etc. once I had removed the guard.

On the one I have now the riving knife is fully independant of the guard which is a big improvement.

 

[MatthewHUB]

Thanks all you guys for your help on this. I have ordered the Ryobi and it should come tomorow with a nice freud pro blade too. I think i can get round taking off the guard by using my router and other equipment. I have just started work on my first piece of woodworking - an oak bench! Btw, how hard is the saw to put together? (if you need to at all)...


M

 

[big-all]

quite a lot of faffing about
you are aware how big and heavy it is

things to watch my saw wasnt at 90% when i got it and the lock nuts on the rod were to far in to allow proper adjustment[ had to move the nuts virtualy to the rod end]so dont put the pierced base cover on till youve checked all adjustments
also the pierced cover has one screw shorter than the rest for below the off on switch[use the wrong one you may break the switch

ryving knife needed fine tunning i belive i had to put the washers as packing washers to alline it

the fence was a wee bit out had to file the front of the aluminium casting that the fence fixes on to to bring the fence in line[only a few thousands of an inch]could have packed out the other bolt to do the same thing but didnt have a thin enough washer

ooo and get yourself 2 x 3ft strait edges these will come in handy by clamping on on the table front one on the back to give you a level for the extension table to meet up with [yes the table is 2ft back to front and 3ft wide ]

and if you have a cordless screwdriver with hex bits make shure its fully charged you got about 60 nuts and bolts to assemble

 

[MatthewHUB]

Hurray i received my saw today! The ryobi one mentioned above. But sent it back as the blade is completely miss aligned. It's so stupid. As you look at ths saw, the blade was going off to the right, and i couldn't undo it and re-align it as the bolts and welded screws etc. are pretty inaccessible. Big All, you mentioned you had to do alll this filing etc... Shouldn't it be brought to Ryobi's attention that there is this problem with it, as one shouldn't have to spend time cutting plastic etc so that it works properly when it should be correct from the start! Argh! Anyway, the place i've ordered it from was really helpful and said that they'll send me a new one, and have the supplier look over it before it's sent out. (Maybe they'll make it up for me tooo!) Doubt it.

Well, if the new one is also badly aligned, i may find myself eating into my overdraft to buy one a bit better... but let's wait and see.

Thanks again,

M