Portable Table Saw Recommendations

[Jay Albrandt]

Hello Everyone,

My partner at work is looking for a portable saw that he can use for trim work. I have no clue and the archives were only helpful with the contractor saws.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Jay

[Bill Fields]

Jay:

If it's strictly trim work--moulding and door facings, etc.--he probably needs a small compound miter saw.

If he is looking for a portable contractors saw, they are getting better and more portable/powerful all the time.

If he wants a small and light table saw, I just gave away a 10" Skil w/ plastic base and aluminum table top. Weighed all of 20#.

Turn him on the this Forum and he will get help for sure.

Bill

[Burt Waddell]

With the info we have, we can give you a firm, well, maybe. I've owned both the Delta and Porter cable porter cable table saws and found them to work well. Also the Bosche gets a lot of good press but I have no personal experience with it. The Makita also gets a lot of good comments but it is a lighter saw.

If he is looking for the best way to accomplish the task, a lot of us are turning to the guided saw systems. The most popular two are the EZ Smart and Festool. These offer some capabilities that the table saws do not offer. The guided saw is especially nice for the "other than 90 degree cuts"

[Bob Johnson2]

If it's a table saw he's looking for then the Bosch is probably the best, not that I own one but I did a lot of research on them for my son at xmas. For a lower priced saw there was a decent Craftsman that as usual you can get on sale every other week, it was a fold up roll away job. But if it's just for trim, a good chop saw of some sort is probably in order.

[Mark Rios]

By "contractor saws" do you mean table saws? If so, then as previiously mentioned, the Bosch got the top nod in the latest ratings that I read. The Ridgid and the Dewalt were 2nd and 3rd respectively, followed by Ryobi, Porter Cable, and Makita.

For 12" miter saws, the Bosch 4212 got the nod in it's catagory, follwed by Dewalt DW706, Makita LS1221, and the Porter Cable 3802L (which is identical to the Delta 36-255L). Six other models followed those with the Ridgid and Ryobi last.

[John Huber]

I have a Bosch 4000 portable table saw with about 100 hours of use on it. There are many good saws in this category. For me, the Bosch had two important features that your partner might find useful.

First is the Zero Gravity stand. With practically no physical effort, the saw drops down into a two-wheel cart posture for transporting, meaning a nice low center of gravity. The six-inch diameter wheels and 29 inch wheelbase ease it over irregular surfaces and even a single-step door threshold. And with practically no physical effort, it raises up to working position.

Second is noise. It starts and stops without the loud ZING common to table saws of all kinds. Over a long period, it will save hearing loss.

[scott spencer]

Hi Jay - Amazon has been offering incentives that bring the Porter Cable 3812 jobsite saw down to $320 delivered. That'd be on my shortlist if I were looking for a saw of this type. Amazon's website should have all the current codes you'll need to enter to see the discounts.