Need benchtop or job site table saw advice

[tom coleman]

I am out of space and must replace 10" table saw w Biesmeyer fence on mobile base

Need recommendation for quality benchtop or job site saw that can be stored out of the way until needed

[Bill Huber]

From everything I have read the Bosch is the best job site around.
I have a friend that has one and has nothing but good to say about it. He has the 4100-09, there is also the 4100DG-09 with a digital rip fence.


http://www.boschtools.com/Products/Tools/Pages/BoschProductCategory.aspx?catid=25

[Robby Tacheny]

I have been using a Hitachi in my shop (until I can afford a nices saw) and it does very well. Setup was easy and the fence is decent. I have been using it for 2 years and with a freud combination 50 tooth it does a nice job.

I couldn't justify spending $500 for a jobsite saw when i could get a hybrid saw for $200 - $300 more. When I upgrade, I think I'll just stick the dado stack on my Hitachi full time.

If money is not an issue I have always read nothing but good things about the Bosch saws.

-R

[John Buzzurro]

Hi Tom,

I purchased the Bosch 4000-09 a few years back for the same reason. It's a great little saw. I've used it on everything up to 8/4 material, with no problem. Folds up nicely to tuck away in a corner. Bosch has a 4100 model that supposedly has some improvements over the 4000, but I'm not sure what they are.

hth,
John

[George Farra]

Another vote for the Bosch. I've got the 4100-09 and recently ordered the digital fence attachment. I like the saw, has great power for its size. I'm luke-warm on the fence....mine doesn't slide with ease and kinda skips around. It gets worse when you extend the table to get a greater rip capacity.

Overall, I think it was a good purchase. Probably takes me a little more time to set up cuts than a more robust machine but it does the job well

Regards & Happy New Year

George

[Tom Esh]

I have the Bosch 4000 and love it. I recently bought parts and upgraded the guard system to that of the newer 4100. The GravityRise stand is partially responsible for the high price tag, but it's superb - really an engineering masterpiece all by itself.
Things you might miss stepping down from a full-sized saw: 1) table size, particularly in front of the blade. (Think sled if you do much crosscutting wider than 5".) 2) I don't use mine for dados, but the arbor length is limited - looks maybe long enough to squeeze out a 1/2" dado.

[Steve Southwood]

I have the DeWalt Contractors saw and like it a lot. Small, light weight. Has a good fence.

Will not run dados or rip wider than 16 1/4. Works for what I do.

[Gary Herrmann]

I've used the Dewalt benchtop saw for a bunch of projects. Don't have any experience with any others of this type, but I thought the Dewalt worked very well. I was pleasantly surprised by the accuracy of the fence.

[frank shic]

the bosch and the ridgid come on rolling stands. the bosch has a better folding stand and safety features like the riving knife. the ridgid has a better fence. my favorite is the dewalt for its portability. i sold off the bosch and now just have the ridgid for cutting solid wood and the dewalt for 1/4" dado'ing. my contractor saw is devoted to panel cutting.

[Jeff Zanin]

I have the Bosch 4000 and love it. I recently bought parts and upgraded the guard system to that of the newer 4100. The GravityRise stand is partially responsible for the high price tag, but it's superb - really an engineering masterpiece all by itself.
Things you might miss stepping down from a full-sized saw: 1) table size, particularly in front of the blade. (Think sled if you do much crosscutting wider than 5".) 2) I don't use mine for dados, but the arbor length is limited - looks maybe long enough to squeeze out a 1/2" dado.

I also have the 4000 but would like the guard system of the 4100.

Can you advise the parts, supplier(s) and any other details regarding the guard conversion?

TIA.

[Ed Lomax]

I have the Bosch 4000 and love it. I recently bought parts and upgraded the guard system to that of the newer 4100. The GravityRise stand is partially responsible for the high price tag, but it's superb - really an engineering masterpiece all by itself.
Things you might miss stepping down from a full-sized saw: 1) table size, particularly in front of the blade. (Think sled if you do much crosscutting wider than 5".) 2) I don't use mine for dados, but the arbor length is limited - looks maybe long enough to squeeze out a 1/2" dado.

I, too, am the proud owner of a Bosch 4000 and have been very impressed with both the performance of the saw and the Gravity Rise stand. I am also space constrained and this combination has worked well for me. More information regarding the guard conversion would be greatly appreciated.

[Darren Graham]

I also have the Bosch 4000-09 and love it. Its all I need.

GEORGE: My fence did the hop, skip, jump dance and wasn't smooth sliding it until I used some johnsons paste wax on the tracks for the fence. Since then it has slid nice and smooth!

[Tom Esh]

I also have the 4000 but would like the guard system of the 4100.

Can you advise the parts, supplier(s) and any other details regarding the guard conversion?

TIA.

See my post in this thread:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=96602

(Part #s are shown in the first pic)

One thing not completed at the time of that post was cutting off a bit of shroud casting so the riving knife would clear it when lowering the blade. Turned out easier than expected and took about 20 mins. I'll post some more pics of the process on the other thread tomorrow.

[Jeremy Wilcox]

I have the Bosch 4000 and love it. I recently bought parts and upgraded the guard system to that of the newer 4100. The GravityRise stand is partially responsible for the high price tag, but it's superb - really an engineering masterpiece all by itself.
Things you might miss stepping down from a full-sized saw: 1) table size, particularly in front of the blade. (Think sled if you do much crosscutting wider than 5".) 2) I don't use mine for dados, but the arbor length is limited - looks maybe long enough to squeeze out a 1/2" dado.

Yeah i also have the Bosch 4000-09 and love the quick release euro blade guard and separate removable Anti Kick back pawls features of the 4100. So whoever asked what the differences are these are its a 3 piece splitter/riving knife with the possibility of removing just the blade guard assembly or just the anti kick back pawls separately or both and have just the splitter/riving knife. I for sure would love to convert mine and i actually called bosch once and they told me it wasnt possible but i have never had the new guard in my hand to try it out to see if they were BSing me.

[Daniel Berlin]

I have the Bosch 4000 and love it. I recently bought parts and upgraded the guard system to that of the newer 4100. The GravityRise stand is partially responsible for the high price tag, but it's superb - really an engineering masterpiece all by itself.
Things you might miss stepping down from a full-sized saw: 1) table size, particularly in front of the blade. (Think sled if you do much crosscutting wider than 5".) 2) I don't use mine for dados, but the arbor length is limited - looks maybe long enough to squeeze out a 1/2" dado.

I have a bosch 4100.
For both the 4000 and the 4100, if you want to use a dado larger than the space you have to replace the inner washer on the abor with the outer one, and don't use an outer washer.
This is what Bosch told me when i contacted them.
Should handle up to 13/16ths

I've cut 3/4" dado's on mine following these directions and never had a problem/felt unsafe.

[George Farra]

I also have the Bosch 4000-09 and love it. Its all I need.

GEORGE: My fence did the hop, skip, jump dance and wasn't smooth sliding it until I used some johnsons paste wax on the tracks for the fence. Since then it has slid nice and smooth!


Darren.....I was considering using paste wax to lube things up. Thanks for the tip. How about the aluminum top? Have you tried waxing it to create a more slick surface?

TIA

George

[Tom Esh]

Darren.....How about the aluminum top? Have you tried waxing it to create a more slick surface?
George

It's the surface texture. I found wax didn't help much. What does is something like Empire TopLube. However it seems to be less and less necessary as the texture gets burnished from use.

[Paul Demetropoulos]

I have a Makite 2703 that I've had for some time, added a Rousseau 2700XL saw stand/fence that vastly improved it. It's lasted a lot of throwing around but there's way better now, like the Bosch.

[Darren Graham]

Darren.....I was considering using paste wax to lube things up. Thanks for the tip. How about the aluminum top? Have you tried waxing it to create a more slick surface?

TIA

George

George, I have not yet waxed the top BUT in the bosch 4000 manual that came with the saw on page 52 (in my book) under Maintaining your table saw it states " a coat of automobile-type wax applied to the table will help to keep the surface clean and allow workpieces to slide more freely".

So yeah...go for it! But I would use a wood type wax.

[Caspar Hauser]

Don't buy the DeWalt.:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
Nice fence, saw not so nice.

Is there no quality control?

When does the Festool jobsite saw come out? :-)

[Kevin Hauser]

I have the Dewalt DW744XRS, highly accurate fence compared to other benchtop/portable saws in same price range.

For me since i'm a beginner it works very very well.