Table saw recommendations

[Matt Zuko]

I have been involved in woodworking for a short time now and have been doing projects with all the wrong tools. I am looking for recommendations on a good table saw. I was hoping to spend around 1,000.00, but am willing to spend a little more if its really worth it.

I am lookign for something that makes good cuts and i dont have to spend a ton of time dialing it in/fiddeling around with it. i have been looking at the powermatic model 64 artistian, or the JET jps-10xl50cw so far. os there somethign better for the money?

i am a hobbiest and like to make raised pannels, cabinets, furnature.

I appreciate any recommendations. thanks

[Lee Koepke]

I bought a Grizzly 1023 a few years ago and really like it. Back then it was a shade under 900 delivered.

Its been a nice saw for me, it set up well and runs very smooth. Being a 450 lb cabinet saw, its not mobile, so I have it set up and built in to some shop tables now.

[Cary Falk]

At $1000 you are right at the edge of a cabinet saw. I am not sure what you definition of a little more is. I have the new Grizzly G1023RL and am very happy with it. There are a lot of happy G0690/1 owners also. The used market may land you a PM66 or Unisaw if you are in the right area. The new saws have riving kinves and better dust collection though. All that being said, I used to own a Delta Contractor saw and it did everything I needed it to do.

[Prashun Patel]

I had the Jet Proshop. Great saw for 110v. But I ended up with a cabinet saw.

Save a couple hundred $$ for a good mitergauge and aftermarket guard.

If you get a hybrid or contractor, pick one that has good resale, because if yr like me, you'll be selling it as soon as funds permit to upgrade.

Know that if you get a cabinet, you'll have to upgrade wiring to 220v. That's a couple hundred $$ whether you do it yrself or have it done.

[Nathan Dekens]

With the economy as it is I would say look for a used one. Chances are you will find one that someone is letting go for the holidays.

I would have went the same route myself except I couldn't pass up the deal on a new ridgid granite top saw at $299. Heck sure I had to fiddle with it a bit but it does the job and makes reliable cuts.

I can even make it a solid saw by putting a 3hp motor on it and a steel city industrial fence and still be close or under your $1000 mark!

Just trying to say be smart with your cash buying tools when new to the sport. Thats what I have learned the hard way and the easy way (as is the case with my saw).

[Gene Waara]

I was in your exact spot a year ago looking to replace a CM contractor TS I had for years. I planned on buying used but decided a riving knife was an "essential". Read today's thread on riving knives and you will become a believer. If you buy a used saw look at an aftermarket riving knife. I decided on the Griz 690 and love it. What a difference from the saw I had! You will get many opinions and can search countless threads on the topic. Good luck!

[Dave MacArthur]

Welcome Matt, I see this is your first post here and you just joined--you'll find SMC to be a great place with tons of good posts and feedback.

I know how hard it is to wait, after you post a question, for some answers, so I'll point out some things you maybe haven't found here yet. Up on the blue bar is "search", it works quite well on this forum--there is an in-house search and also a Google search, I like them both. In this case, I'd do a search for "best table saw" or "table saw recommendations" etc.

There are literally thousands of threads on this exact subject, and while you're waiting for results, you can actually be reading a LOT of good info already written on this exact question.

Another recommendation is to open up your user profile from your "control panel" and list your location, if you don't mind other folks knowing roughly where you live. Why? Because in threads like this, and really for a lot of questions, it helps to know where you live--quite often folks will actually do craigslist searches for you and post links to good tablesaw deals in response to a question like yours. Hey, any excuse to find a good CL deal right? In my case, I have a used Delta contractor saw and a PM66 that I'm looking to unload to someone for a smoking deal ;)

In my opinion, for $1000, if looking new I'd look at the Grizzly G0690 w/ riving knife. I'd be looking in CraigsList for a used SawStop, PM2000, PM66, Unisaw, Jet, Grizzly. I personally wouldn't look at contractor saws or hybrids if I had $1000, though I will say I was well satisfied with my Delta contractor saw for 11 years and it did all I asked of it. As others have mentioned, you may decide a riving knife is something you really want, then your field is much more limited.

Welcome, and good luck!

[scott spencer]

While the PM64 is a nice example of a contractor saw, it's somewhat dated technology, and IMO it no longer competes well in this price range compared to current offerings. It has an outboard motor along with all the downsides of that design, table mounted trunnions with connecting rods as an arbor carriage, and has no riving knife.

Your price range gets you pretty close to a full industrial style cabinet saw...if you've got 220v, something like a Grizzly G0690 or G1023RL have many advantages over the contractor saw design. If you don't have 220v, I'd look into one of the better hybrid saws.

[glenn bradley]

Having suffered the inevitable and brutally true chorus of "get a cabinet saw", I'm sure you have gotten the message. Many of us have suffered through contractor or even benchtop saws during our early foray into this craft. The dated technology Scott mentions is just that, dated. The design was to allow a portable saw but many lighter, better designs for that particular job are with us now.

I am still running a Craftsman Zipcode saw no longer available from Sears and made by Orion. I wouldn't pass up a couple more horsepower but, thanks to the folks here I bought what was probably the better 110v hybrid of its era. I have upgraded a lot of tools but the hybrid still does a fine job (with a lot of love and affection during setup paying me back in spades).

My point is that your $1000 mark will get you quite a few quality saws. For just a bit more you can move into a 3HP cabinet saw as others have mentioned. If $1000 is the absolute top then I would look for a hybrid with:

- cabinet mounted trunnions
- a fence to die for
- cast iron wings

If you can't get at least those three things, wait a bit longer and save your money for a cab-saw. JMHO.

[Derek Gilmer]

I've got a grizzly 1023 saw and love it. But I remember when shopping for it I went looking for suggestions and prefaced it with "I have X to spend counting shipping/tax" and 60% of the replies ignored that and said buy more expensive so I won't do that I remember how annoying it was and how poor I felt :D.

If not, they have a nice hybrid on sale for $852 shipped. http://www.grizzly.com/products/10-Hybrid-Tablesaw-with-Riving-Knife-Polar-Bear-Series/G0715P Which leaves you room for a nice miter gauge, dado blade set, saw blades etc.

Or as others have mentioned shop around for a good used one. I found quite a few used grizzlies in the 500-700 range when shopping craigslists/forum classifieds.

[Prashun Patel]

You know, most people are pretty happy with their contractor, hybrid, and cabinet saws. Any saw, properly aligned and used will accomplish the job.

Rather than advise you on a particular saw, I'd rather say look for these features:

A good blade guard (or plan to buy an aftermarket one) that is easily removable and replaceable. This will encourage you to use it when feasible.

A riving knife. These are becoming standard and provide added safety on non-thru cuts. This being said, there are good splitters out there that can do the job of a riving knife. The trick is to find splitters that decouple from the blade guard, and come in multiple heights so you can use have the splitter below the top edge of the blade on nonthru cuts. If the splitter or rknife is toolless, it'll encourage you to use it more.

An accurate and smooth fence.

Horsepower is about the only thing that's hard to 'aftermarket' on a saw (sawstop blade braking technology notwithstanding). And even that can be compensated for by doing multiple passes or using the right blade. Even dust collection can be improved on most saws.

Not sure what my point was...food for thought's all...

[Matt Zuko]

Thanks for all of the suggestions and tips. I think the more I look into Table saws, that a good hybrid is what would serve me best right now. I hate to spend money on something that I will outgrow, but a cabinet saw will be difficult to get into my basement, take up alot of room right now, and I will have to get an electrician out.

What does everyone consider the top 1 or two hybrid saws...

Thanks

[Jeremy Greiner]

I just bought a Jet ProShop JPS-10XL50CW after a lot of research. I haven't received the saw yet so I can't really speak about it from personal experience but I can say why I picked it.

- The Jet, Powermatic and Delta cabinet saws would have cost 2k+ which was considerably outside my budget.

- Weight was a major concern, the Proshop is almost half the weight of many of the cabinet saws.

- There isn't really a way for me to order a grizzly locally, and their delivery only delivers to the edge of the truck. I have no means of getting the cabinet saw off the truck and into my garage. Once factoring hiring movers to just unload the truck the grizzly saw was close to the 2k range.

- Not to bash grizzly to much there are a lot of people who love them, but I've also read a lot of horror stories with dealing with their customer service. I wanted to buy local from a shop so that I had a local store I could count on for help.

- The Jet ProShop is fully enclosed making dust collection considerably better than contractor saws.

- I ordered the biggest and best proshop they had (longest fence, cast iron wings) and with the Jet sale it cost me just over $1k

[Matt Meiser]

I really like my 1940's Unisaw. But I have done a pretty good amount of work to get it completed and set up the way I want. I'd still recommend spending some time looking at used before buying anything new. You don't have to buy old to get used. No matter whether you buy new or used you should still go through the exercise of aligning everything. Any good saw should stay in alignment after that.

I can't see a cabinet saw being much more difficult than a hybrid other than the latter being a little lighter. And I believe the top of a cabinet saw comes off easier than a hybrid, but admittedly I don't know a ton about the current hybrids. You can get a cabinet saw with a 30-ish" fence if its a space issue. Easier would be a contractor saw which comes disassembled.

This is my own personal opinion, but if I was buying new, Grizzly would almost certainly get my business based on two Grizzly purchases in the past 2 years I'm very happy with. I'd probably buy their new riving knife cabinet saw. Maybe a Sawstop if I could get over what the company's owner would be doing with some of what I paid.

[David Helm]

Thanks for all of the suggestions and tips. I think the more I look into Table saws, that a good hybrid is what would serve me best right now. I hate to spend money on something that I will outgrow, but a cabinet saw will be difficult to get into my basement, take up alot of room right now, and I will have to get an electrician out.

What does everyone consider the top 1 or two hybrid saws...

Thanks

It may have already been said, but here goes anyway. A cabinet saw and a hybrid saw have about the same footprint. Over the past 40 years I have had many different tablesaws, including contractor and portable (these were great for taking to jobsites). I have owned two cabinet saws and really like my current Grizzly 1023RXL. Yes they weigh more than hybrids, but they are possible to get into basement shops. For the money you have to spend I would definitely go with a cabinet saw.

[Paul Murphy]

If money is an issue consider a used contractor type saw. I had a delta contractor saw for years, and honestly it was all I ever needed. I bought a package deal that was popular at the time which included a unifence. I see these saws in the ads for about $500, and usually the pictures show them in excellent shape. The only thing you might ever want is more power, and only when ripping 8/4" stock. A thin kerf rip blade would help.

[peter leyden]

Someone mentioned a cost of $300 to hook up 220V in a shop. By my reckoning it should be a lot cheaper than that if done by yourself. The materials cost is minimal: a dual circuit breaker, romex cable(12-2), junction box, 220V outlet, and a cover plate. In my case I wired up the outlet, installed it in the junction box and mounted it on the wall. I snaked the wires through an existing conduit to the breaker panel. I wired the breaker and then mounted it in the panel. It was a relatively straight forward operation.
If you are not comfortable working with electricity, by all means hire someone or find a knowledgeable friend who can be bribed with a six pack of beer.
Peter Leyden

[Chris Brault]

if you do decide to buy a hybrid, then make sure you can get the accessories for it and like glenn said, make sure its got a great fence. i myself am stuck in this dilema, bought a hitachi hybrid in a hurry a few years ago, and its time for it to go. I'm tempted at that woodtek hybrid fine woodworking raved about, but doesn't have a riving knife- grizzly (this month) just came out with a new hybrid??? or the 0690 3 HP. I"m leaning towards the 0690 3HP just because of the obvious reasons. Just have to make sure the tax return is enough and get the 220 ran from the house to the shop. Dont know if any of this helped, but i tried!!!!!!!!! Good luck with whatever you do

[Derek Gilmer]

Not sure if you are anywhere near this, but a great unisaw is in the smc classifieds: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=151190

[Rod Sheridan]

Thanks for all of the suggestions and tips. I think the more I look into Table saws, that a good hybrid is what would serve me best right now. I hate to spend money on something that I will outgrow, but a cabinet saw will be difficult to get into my basement, take up alot of room right now, and I will have to get an electrician out.

What does everyone consider the top 1 or two hybrid saws...

Thanks

Hi Matt, I had a General 650 cabinet saw in the basement of my townhouse for years.

It was no larger than the contractor saw it replaced, but boy, was it ever much more capable and accurate.

If you're like me, you don't need 50" rip capacity, I ordered mine with 32" rip capacity, keeping the size smaller.

Getting it down the stairs isn't an issue as it's not assembled at the time, you, a friend and a handcart will have no problems moving it downstairs.

Save your money, buy the saw once.........Regards, Rod.

[Larry Fox]

If there is ANY way you can do it, I would recommend swinging for the fences and getting a SawStop.

If not - roll on over to the classifides section as there is a guy selling a really sweet Uni from the 50's. I already have 2 tablesaws but I contemplated buying this saw just because it looked so sweet and the resto looked very professional.

[Saul Levinson]

I've had my Porter-Cable PCB270TS table saw for about two months now and am quite happy with the saw. I've added an Exactor dust collector/blade guard. This TS has retractable casters and weighs about 300 pounds, so it's quite stable when the casters are up. The TS comes with riving knife and anti-kickback pawls.
It took a few hours to set up the saw, but all the adjustments are still set where I set them.
One advantage of the saw is that is has a built-in lower dust collection port, with the Exactor modification I now have both top and bottom dust collection which makes for a very clean workshop and woodworker.
Interestingly, the saw is made by Rikon for Porter-Cable.

(I tried to upload a photo of my saw, but I keep getting an "error" message)

Saul