Repurposing a ryobi ts sliding miter/table

[mark kosse]

Howdy all.

Being a vintage machine type person, I have never used a ryobi saw at all. When seeing them they looked nice but I just always wondered if tuning the sliding table, or keeping one tuned, would have been a hassle.
Well, this weekend I was given the sliding table from a ryobi 3100 type table saw. Has anyone ever applied the sliding mechanism to another saw or router table? Not having any experience with this system I’m wondering is it accurate enough to be repurposed? Does anyone think it would be worth the trouble to try to add it to a saw or router setup?

Thanks for any thoughts on the matter.

[Duane Meadows]

Ryobi has an avid group of users who seem to think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Personally, I used to repair them occasionally, and wouldn't give you a dollar for a boxcar load of them! I would not waste the time and effort to repurpose any part of one. It was a good idea very poorly implemented in IMHO.

[Phil Thien]

I think the sliding table was the saw's Achilles heel. A good idea, but the execution could have been better.

I ended up replacing mine with a 30" long miter slot table (great for cross-cutting 24" wide material with a sled).

The rest of the saw is pretty brilliant. Once of the first largely available saws with a riving knife, a fence that locks front/back (so good for router table use), t-slots galore, good DC with 2.5" shop vac, doesn't weigh a ton, and very adaptable.

[Mike Goetzke]

I was probably one of the first owners of a BT3000 years ago. I later bought a 3100 then a Unisaw and after discovering what a track saw could do I sold the Uni and now have the Sears version of the 3100. I liked and still like the sliding table. Problem is the saws sliding rails and moving around a lightly built saw can affect the sliding table stability/accuracy. Once I built my BT3XXX into a solid cabinet and never moved the rails the sliding table stayed in alignment. If you are looking for the utmost in accuracy for miters I would like Phil suggests buy something like an Incra miter gauge and use a miter slot (just like most replace the OEM miter gauge on their high quality cabinet saws). For a router table I think it would work fine but it does have limited travel.

Mike