Buying A New Table saw

[Marc Prudhomme]

Hello,
I am new to the forum.I have been somewhat of a novice for about four years with my cheap Skill tabletop table saw.I recently sold it last weekend and I am in the Market for a good contrators saw.I have been looking at the Rigid TS3650 at home depot.Anyone have any Recent comments on this saw.I have been reading some of the older Posts and have gotten some mixed reviews,Mostly good comments.
This is my criteria for my purchase
Good Fence
Cast Iron Wings
Dont care either way for left or right tilt
Belt driven motor
$600.00 Limit
These are the saws I have narrowed it down to

Rigid TS3650
Delta T3350
Grizzly G0575
Hitachi 159372(not that excited about)
Any one got any comments,they would be appreciated.
Thx
Marc

["Jason Belous"]

hey mark, what part of the country are you from. I have a powermatic contractors saw that is only three weeks old that I bought until my cabinet saw comes in.

[Marc Prudhomme]

Hi Jay
I am from mass. Would rather not buy from private party though.But thanks anyway.I am just trying to get some feedback on the saws I mentioned
Yhx Marc

[scott spencer]

Hi Marc - I'm not familiar with a Delta T3350, but if you meant a TS350, it's not a full size saw like the others. That said, I'm none too impressed with the Hitachi either.

The Ridgid and Grizzly are fine contractor saws, but my suggestion would be to skip the contactor saw design all together and get a used cabinet saw or hybrid with an internal motor. The outboard motor offers no advantages over an internal motor and poses several obstacles that the hybrids don't. The Craftsman 22114 fits your budget. The Griz G0478 is a bit more but would be worth it IMO. The Delta 36-715 goes on sale near your price range occasionally too.

Good luck with whatever you decide...

[Steve Schoene]

Not much reason not to buy a venerable older machine of good quality. The wear parts, mostly bearings and belts are available anywhere, and most makers still have the arbors available too. (I was able to buy an arbor from Delta for my 1945 vintage Unisaw. It works just fine. And, when I fitted an after market splitter and fence, the bolt holes fit just fine.)

In addition, older saws can generally be aligned just as accurately as a new saw. (There is absolutely no guarantee that you won't have to realign a brandy new saw, especially if it is an under $700 model.) No real innovations have occurred short of the European saws, the Saw Stop, and a few lower end sliding tables.

[Corey Hallagan]

Marc, there is no comparrison to the Delta TS350 with the others. I have the Delta equivalent of the others you mention and it is a fine saw. I bought it on sale at HD for 299. with TSquare fence but if I had to do it over again I would go with a hybrid for one reason only, the footprint is smaller in the end and you don't have to deal with the motor hanging out the back as in a contractor saws. Other than that they really aren't much more power than a contractor saw but Delta and Sears & Grizzly make a nice one.

Corey

[Marc Prudhomme]

Scott,
I realy like that grizzly G0478 but its a little to heavy for my small basement.I kind of like the contractors saws with the wheel base for movement.
Thx for the advice.
Wish I had more room,I would gear up my shop to put Norm Abrahms to shame(lol)

[Marc Prudhomme]

What about the grizzly G0575?

[Jude Tuliszewski]

Something that was not mentioned is auctions. I do not mean E-bay (although there are some good deals there sometimes). Look in your local paper or the paper from a larger city near by. You would be amazed at the deals you can get. One auction I got 10 full sheets of various sheets of veneer faced MDF for 10 bucks. I have seen several delta cabinet saws go for under $500, but didn't have the space to get them to re-sell. A cabinet saw with short fence rails takes up the same space as a contractors saw and is just as mobile when equiped with a mobile base.

Jude T.

[Dan Drager]

I have the Grizzly G0444Z which is the 575 with cast wings instead of stamped and the 2 hp motor. I love it. It has all the power I need. With my WWII I can blow through 8/4 maple like butter.

It should fit nice in a basement shop too.

Good luck.

Post us what you end up with.

[Matt Lillie]

I just did that... I got the 3650. My budget was the same, $500 was what I wanted to spend. The Delta wasn't really in the running, the Ryobi either. The Grizzly was too much (shipping). Jet had one. The 3650 has cast wings, a shroud for a vacuum, wheels, and 36" right cut. I bought one, and like it.

[Ed Blough]

Marc
The Ridgid 3650 is a fine saw, the stand needs a little beefing up but if you go to the Ridgid forum You will get all the info you need. The price is right and from the feedback of most Ridgid owners the saw does exactly what it claims, it cuts wood.

Depending on how anxious you are if you can wait until HD offers some discount, either for opening a credit card account or sometimes just on Ridgid tools. It usually in the 10% range but occasionally they offer 20%.

At $549 minus 10% or 20% it is a hard deal to beat.

[Tim Morton]

I would pick the Grizzly from that list, you can also look around for a "shopfox" which is the retail equivalent of the grizzly. I have the HD Ridgid at work and its not a bad saw...but not as nice as a the Grizz IMO.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Marc.........I've had the TS3650 for a couple of years now. I works as advertised.

[Bob Aquino]

Hi Jay
I am from mass. Would rather not buy from private party though.But thanks anyway.I am just trying to get some feedback on the saws I mentioned
Yhx Marc

Why? If you stay with this hobby and want to collect more tools, you will find that there are many better deals to be had on older used machines. Buying new doesnt necessarilly mean that you are buying trouble free either. Most larger power tools are not the precision instruments you might think. Some of them take considerable tweaking to perform well. Even a new rigid saw will take some work to set up and run well. Who do you think is going to do that for you?

The newer hybrid saws would be a good bet for you. They take up less space and weigh about the same as a contractors saw. If you go the route of dust collection, they are much better at that too. Cost wise, they are not too much more than a good contractors saw and used, may be less. Its much cheaper in the long run to buy the quality and features the first time than it is to have to upgrade in a few years down the road. Take a look at the Sears hybrid saws, aka the zip code saw, thats gotten some very good reviews and is a good saw for the money.

[Bartee Lamar]

I would look at the fences on each.

The Grizz has a beis style fence which I think could be the better fence in the long run.

The Grizz you specifed has stamped steel wings. For $100 more you get cast wings.

That said, there are a lot of happy Rigid owners.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

You could get a much more refined machine if you were willing to buy a used machine.

Conventional table saws are pretty simple critters. A motor, two bearings on the shaft, a trunnion (that is as simple as a sea-saw) and a table that must possess two qualities: Flatness and the slots must be parallel.

You can inspect for these things as easily - if not better on a used item as a new one.

The factory warranty may nor not weigh heavily in your decision. I suppose some take comfort from it. For my money if the thing isn't broken on the crate then it's not likely to break ever.

[John Michaels]

I have the Bosch 4000 portable. It probably has the best fence in it's class.
Dead on accurate.

[Ed Blough]

Marc
I forgot to mention if you go to Lowes they have a Delta model 36-979 which has a built in mobile base and 2 year warranty
If you go to website you will see the price is $449 with built in mobile base, two cast iron wings but no fence.
The website doesn't mention it but in the store you can then add one of three fences to the package. I think the Delta T30 which is a remake of the T2 adds $150 and I think the Delta Unifence
adds $300 as does the Beismeyer fence.

The saw is Delta's new model contractor with left tilt, and built in mobile base. I personally like the T2 fence. It works on the same principal as a Beismeyer fence. I closely examined the saw and the fit and finish seems to be real good and mobile base is a one pedal affair that works.

I think I like the Ridgid t3650 a little better but if your worried about buying Ridgid this Delta is almost the same price and even cheaper if you have your own fence. Fences do show up as people up grade so you might find a great deal on fence locally.

To compare the two saws Ridgid T3650 and Delta.

The Ridgid uses a cast arbor support that runs between the trunnions.
Delta uses two tube/bars and these have been known to rack but I think they are now pinned in place.

Ridgid uses an alloy trunnion instead of cast iron like Delta but Ridgid claims to never to have a trunnion failure reported to them.

Ridgid's wings have openings where Delta are solid. This is a pro con item some like the opening for clamping others feel it is place for parts to fall through.

Ridgid's base legs wobble but as I said in a earlier post on the Ridgid forum is a super fix for the problem. Delta's legs are solid.

Ridgid comes with a PALS type device built in to make adjusting the trunnions, should you need, easier. Similar devices can be added to the Delta but you should probably only have to make this adjustment once.

Ridgid has a micro adjust on the fence, again a feature some dispute but you can add it to the delta.

I think the fence selection for the Delta offers better fences, than the one fence offered by ridgid. But after about 5+ years on the market most Ridgid owners find the Ridgid fence works as advertised.

Personally I think I like the Delta motor better than the Ridgid but that is mostly due to labeling. Delta labels their motor as if their proud of it, while ridgid labels theirs simple made in china.

Ridgid has a dust collector shield around the blade, Delta comes with a collection tray. I think Ridgid is a 2 1/2 inch opening to connect to DC while the Delta is 4"

Again both these saw work as advertised they cut wood. I tend to stay away from mail order as I like to touch and feel. Also if something is wrong I want to be able to look someone in the eyes when they try to tell me why it isn't their problem.

Both Lowes and Home Depot have good customer service, just keep the box and packing material until your sure everything is first class right. If you have the box and packing and you have any problem throw it back in and take it back for exchange or refund.

Hope this helps

[Roy Bennett]

I have three years on my Ridgid TS3650 and couldn't be happier. Only thing I would recommend is to switch to a better blade! The hurc-u-lift mobile base is good - I even hung a router table w/ Bosch 1715 off the extreme right end with no balance problems.

[Chip Olson]

As someone else mentioned, I'd look at the Craftsman 22114. I got one a couple years ago for $600 and am generally quite happy with it.

[Jerry Strojny]

I have the G0444z....love it. Like someone else said, with the 2hp motor, you can cut through most anything. It's accurate too. IMHO

[Jake Helmboldt]

the fence on the Rigid. I have heard mixed reviews, but I'm always dubious of alum fences on table saws. Upgrading to a better fence is a big expense.

That said, what about the Sunhill contractor saw? Sunhill usually has good comments going for them and their contractor saw is on sale right now for dirt cheap. The only downside I see offhand is the same issue as the Rigid; an aluminum fence. But it is also cheaper and with solid cast iron wings ($389 +$155 shipping). Anyone have experience with the Sunhill saw?

To further muddy matters, I would go used and buy a cabinet saw. I have a PM64A and will upgrade to a cabinet saw, probably vintage Uni or PM 66 soon.

Jake

[Karl Knoernschild]

I have the Hitachi 159372 (Model # C10FL) and while it's a decent enough saw for some things, it has a couple of major flaws. The fence is a real weak point - getting it square each time you lock it down is a real crap shoot. Also, there isn't a zero clearance insert available, and because the insert is made of sheet metal it's not possible to simply replace it with a plywood cutout (although I managed to make one up by epoxying a piece of oak onto the standard insert). The other problem with the insert is that because it is so thin, it's tough to get it to sit flat and flush with the surface. All in all, although it gets the job done (eventually), I wouldn't buy it again.

[Jerry Bittner]

I've had mine for three years and even though I don't have expereince with other table saws, all I can say is I'm very pleased with the operation and the quality of workmanship. Plus there customer service has been great.

[Matt Anfang]

check your local rockler. They had the delta 36-682 contractor with the biesmeyer comm. 30" fence for $450. Add a mobile base and you're at $500. Great saw for the money. The fence alone would cost $300+.

The ridgid is also a great saw. I was close to buying one when I found the rockler deal.

Matt

[John Shuk]

I've heard nothing but good things about the Rigid saw. It is well priced and readily available. I bet if you buy it you will be a very happy camper. If you have a problem I'm pretty sure there is a lifetime warranty. If it needs to go back to the store it probably is easy to get it there.
My $.02