Best portable table saw?

[J.R. Rutter]

I have been spoiled with good cabinet saws at work, but now I need to get something to have around the house for weekend projects when I don't want to drive to the big shop. Price is not a big factor. I might have an old T-fence that I can re-purpose (if it will even fit on a small saw). Is it possible to get smooth, accurate cuts from a portable saw? Which one?

[John Michaels]

I have the Bosch 4000 (http://www.amazon.com/4000-09-Worksite-10-Inch-Benchtop-Gravity/dp/B00067IX1A), and couldn't be happier. Sure I'd like a nice cabinet saw, but this saw has worked great for me. The fence is very accurate and with a good thin kerf blade I can cut through 2 inch boards no sweat.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
My question would be, why a portable if it's for around the house?

Portables are great - if - you need to take the saw to the work place.

For the most part, they don't take up less room than a contractors saw.

They can if you fold them up after each use - but- that gets old in a hurry. It didn't take long for me to quit stowing mine & leave it setup. that plus, like any other horizontal surface, it quickly became loaded with - "stuff".

P.S. - Don't get a Hitachi portable!
I have no regrets that I got one, especially not now that I've supplanted it with a Ridgid TS3660 and a Festool TS55EQ. It's got a full 15 amp's of power and the fence is dead one accurate & it stows easy in the trunk of my Accord. It's just not made to accept standard miter slot accessories.

[John Callahan]

The Bosch 4100 would be at the top of my list if I were in the market again for a jobsite saw followed closely by the DW744X. I own neither- I have a Porter Cable 3812S which I've been very pleased with but it has been recently been discontinued. You may find one on clearance ........... a local Menard's had one for $350 a few months ago. I prefer it to the Bosch 4000 which I've spent some time on. The 3812S has soft start, and electric brake, a full size table insert, uses a t-slot for the miter gauge (probably my main beef against the Bosch 4000) , decent fence, and has been reliable. Downsides- it only comes with a folding stand. Jobsites I've worked on the last couple of years always seemed to have two, three, and four flights of stairs- a folding stand didn't cut the mustard. No RK- it uses an easily removed splitter. Not an issue for me but it may be for you. I've added a Rousseau MobileMax stand (great stand -rock solid when set up) and an Incra V27 miter gauge- plenty accurate. Hope to add Rouseau's outfeed table later this year. If a folding stand fits your needs and you can find a 3812S on clearance-snag it. Otherwise the Bosch 4100. The Gravity Rise stand is a thing of beauty, a good RK/guard set up, and it has t-slots now. The DeWalt imho, has the best fence. I think any of these saws should be plenty accurate; their main weakness is the abilty to handle sheet goods.

[Tom Esh]

Ditto on the Bosch. The portables are all a bit limited on space in front of the blade, so if you plan to crosscut much in the 6"+ range a simple sled will be very handy.

[John Callahan]

I've found the t-slot helpful in that regard; the miter guage doesn't wan't to fall to the floor if you pull it back past the table. A sled I suspect would be better yet.

[Loren Hedahl]

When I downsized from a Ridgid contractors saw to a portable what I really wanted was a Bosch with a DeWalt fence and a modified table sized to rip up to a 12 inch wide board, i.e., long and narrow.

OK -- such an animal hasn't been created yet, so I settled on a small DeWalt 745.

The fence is excellent.
Power is great.
Dust collection is more than adequate.
Weight is such that I don't mind storing it under the bench after each use. Noise is annoying.

I wish the base were deeper and fence longer.
I wish the base and fence were magnetic.

All-in-all I am very pleased. With a premium blade, clean and freshly sharpened, it will produce a cut every bit as smooth as the tuned up contractor saw I gave to my son-in-law and not leave a mess of sawdust on the floor and everywhere else.

And did I remember to mention that the fence is better than any I've used before?

[J.R. Rutter]

Thanks - I guess i should go out and try to see and touch the DeWalt and Bosch.

As to the why, this has to go into a little loft workshop over my garage. After having a full shop in it for 4 years, there is no way my wife is going to let me put anything in there except cars and a lawn mower! The loft is only 10 ft wide x 24 ft long. . .

[Karl Brogger]

Is it possible to get smooth, accurate cuts from a portable saw? Which one?

Not really, they don't have enough power, and the biggest thing is have a stable work surface. Tough to do if you throw a 95lb sheet of MDF at a 40lb saw. Having a decent outfeed table is nice too.

I've used and like the Bosch models, the only others that I can remember using is DeFalts, and I wasn't impressed at all.

I agree with Rich, and that is they're only good for worksite applications. I'm possibly doing a really big job that is 6 hrs from the shop in Omaha, I've been debating on what to bring with for tools and material should there be an oops. Driving 12 hrs to replace a shelf seems a bit foolish.

[Rick Lizek]

http://www.norsaw.co.uk/
A bit extreme but a remarkable saw...

[Charles Shenk]

Look for a used Craftsman homeshop tablesaw from the 60's. They are good little saws and people practically give them away.

[Steve Southwood]

I had a 745 and it was a very nice saw. Great fence, light weight. Wish I still had it.

[Paul Greathouse]

I just did a quick search to try to find it but couldn't. A while back there was a thread discussing portable tablesaws and several people were praising either the Rigid or Milwaukee, I can't remember which. There were comparisons to the Bosch and Dewalt but the majority of the thread seemed to favor the R or M.
Does anyone else remember that thread?

[frank shic]

the ridgid is solid but very heavy although the rolling base helps a great deal but it doesn't fold up as easily as the bosch 4000 which i originally bought and then craigslisted because i hated the flimsy fence. my favorite thus far is the smaller dewalt portable tablesaw with the rack and pinion fence which ensures straight cuts and is only approximately 35# so you can actually carry it with one hand although i wouldn't recommend walking around the block with it lol.

[J.R. Rutter]

http://www.norsaw.co.uk/
A bit extreme but a remarkable saw...

Is this a cross between a jump saw, miter saw, and table saw? Do you know if there are any videos around? I'm surprised they don't list cove cuts as a feature. Very interesting...

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

As to the why, this has to go into a little loft workshop over my garage. After having a full shop in it for 4 years, there is no way my wife is going to let me put anything in there except cars and a lawn mower! The loft is only 10 ft wide x 24 ft long

10X24 really isn't all that small.
That's probably as much area as at least half the people posting here are alloted for "their half" of the garage.

Heck, there's one hearty soul posting here that set's up his "shop" in his small apartment bathroom!

[Jason White]

By "portable" do you mean a job-site saw? Something that has a fold-up stand with wheels? Or do you mean a contractor saw?

If you mean contractor saw, I just sold my RIDGID TS3650 that I had for 5 years and it was an absolutely wonderful machine. The RIDGID jobsite saw is nice, too.

Jason




I have been spoiled with good cabinet saws at work, but now I need to get something to have around the house for weekend projects when I don't want to drive to the big shop. Price is not a big factor. I might have an old T-fence that I can re-purpose (if it will even fit on a small saw). Is it possible to get smooth, accurate cuts from a portable saw? Which one?

[Jason White]

If space is your big concern, what about a Shopsmith? You can get them used on Craigslist for about $500-800.




Thanks - I guess i should go out and try to see and touch the DeWalt and Bosch.

As to the why, this has to go into a little loft workshop over my garage. After having a full shop in it for 4 years, there is no way my wife is going to let me put anything in there except cars and a lawn mower! The loft is only 10 ft wide x 24 ft long. . .