Contractor saw users - opinions on which is best

[Charles Wilson]

Any information on what you think might be the best brands/models to buy and why? Keep going back and forth on buying a TS or not.

Regards,
Chuck

[Anthony Anderson]

Charles, I believe the best bang for buck is the Craftsman 22124 with the Biesmeyer fence. You can get these on sale for around $800. These saws get really good reviews, and most seem very happy with them. Good Luck, Bill

[Charles Wilson]

How about this on Amazon?

http://www.amazon.com/Delta-36-982-Horsepower-Contractor-Biesemeyer/dp/B000H0VHFK/ref=sr_1_46/103-5022219-9115028?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1173330487&sr=1-46

[Brett Baldwin]

Charles, what is your intended use for it and is there a reason you are focusing on contractors saws? I think you'll receive more useful responses if you give us some general info.

[Jesse Thornton]

What price range are you looking at? I've been using the Ridgid TS2650 for about two years now, and for the money I think it is an excellent saw. It's definately not the best contractor saw out there, but it might be one of the best bangs for the buck. I've heard many others say likewise. On sale, I bought mine for $800cdn. I've pushed a fair bit of 8/4 hard maple through it (though I did upgrade to a Forrest blade for that), and ripped, crosscut, and dadoed a wide variety of other materials with it with great results. In fact, just this evening I was 'resawing' some 4 1/2" 4/4 cherry with it to make bookmatched panels, and with nearly 2 1/2" of blade completely buried in the wood, it was like cutting butter (albeit slighly chilled butter). The mobile base is awesome. After aligning the blade and fence to within ~.002" of perfect, it held that alignment through some pretty heavy use.
There's a pretty thorough and favorable review here:
http://benchmark.20m.com/reviews/RidgidTS3650/RidgidTS3650Review.html

From the link:
"I find the Ridgid TS3650 to have quite a few high-end features that belie its low-end price tag. The saw comes with two cast iron wings, a mobile base, an excellent rip fence, a stout trunion design, a trunion alignment aid, a dust collection shroud, and a poly-vee belt drive. Without these items, the Ridgid would be just another okay saw, with these, I believe it is an exceptional value and competes easily with saws costing much more."

[glenn bradley]

You say 'contractor saw' so I won't tell you I decided on a hybrid for the smaller footprint, better dust collection, fence, power, etc. The Ridgid 3650 gets a lot of praise by owners (under $600).

[Bill Huber]

I have been looking at different saws and thinking about getting a new one until I decided to rebuild the old one.
I was already to get the Ridgid TS3650 at Home Depot for $550 when I decided to do the rebuild on the old one.
It looks to me like for the money it was about the best bang for the buck.

I had read a lot of write ups and it was always one that was on top or close to it.

[John D. Thompson]

I have been looking at different saws and thinking about getting a new one until I decided to rebuild the old one.
I was already to get the Ridgid TS3650 at Home Depot for $550 when I decided to do the rebuild on the old one.
It looks to me like for the money it was about the best bang for the buck.

I had read a lot of write ups and it was always one that was on top or close to it.

I'm with Bill on this one. I don't know what saw you have but, my personal choice was the old model Craftsman contractors saw. I preferred the smaller motor as being less dangerous and, as I usually work alone, that was a big consideration. If you get in trouble you can usually overpower the motor.

I got it home and assembled and aligned it and every thing was fine until I needed to cut some two-sided melamine. It blew the edges out something fierce.

I trued up the arbor flange with a mounted stone chucked into a router and it cut melamine with zero tearout top OR bottom!

All I'm saying is that, if you treat a contractor's saw like you would a hand-plane, you can pretty much turn a sow's ear into a silk purse.

JT

[Phil Thien]

The Jet 708100 is a hybrid in a contractor footprint. The motor is IN the cabinet (but the trunnion extends below at 90-degrees a little, no biggie). It has EXCELLENT dust collection because the blade is shrouded (but w/ only a 2.5" dust port). And the unit is available for $400 at Woodcraft. It was on 10% sale last weekend. And this link:

http://www.powermatic.com/promos/RebatePromo2.pdf

seems to indicate a $50 rebate.

Heckuva deal. I didn't do it, but it is a heckuva deal.

[Tim Malyszko]

When I was looking for a table saw, I ended up purchasing the Ridgid TS3650 since it provided a number of features not found in the $500 table saw range. Here are some examples:

Decent Fence - I did not want to have to upgrade my fence right off the bat. The Ridgid fence locks on both the infeed and outfeed table and it's been very easy to repeat positions over and over. It also has very little deflection when applying a side load to it and has a 36" rip capacity to the right of the blade.
Mobile Base - The Herc-U-Lift base works great and makes the saw very easy to move around when I do occassionally have to rip full 4x8 sheets.
Good Belt Drive - Many of the other saws I looked at, users recommended replacing the belt drive immediately. This did not seem to be the case on the Ridgid.
Arbor could accomidate a 3/4" Dado stack - Again, not a big deal, but I noticed this was an issue with some other contractor saws out there.
Ridgid Lifetime Warranty - Emerson is a very reputable company so I felt confident that they would take care of any warranty issues.
Local Pickup - I could drop by HD, and walk out with a new saw in the back of my truck instead of having to wait for it to be delivered.Now that I've had the saw for a while, the only thing I wish it had was a bigger motor. The 1.5 hp motor really bogs down on most hard woods thicker than 5/4 and ripping anything larger than 4/4 was near impossible until I replaced the blade with a Freud Thin-Kerf 24T ripping blade. I knew this would be an issue when I purchased the saw and would be an issue with any saw with this size motor; however, I didn't want to spend more than $600 since I knew I would upgrade to a full 3 or 5 hp cabinet saw in the next 2-4 years once I get a space that can accomidate a stationary cabinet saw.

If you do a search on-line on the TS3650, you will find many favorable reviews.

Good luck with your purchase.

[Julio Navarro]

I just bought the HItachi for under $500. I've bought three Hitachi routers as well as a 4" grinder and they are all built like tanks. I really like thier quality.

I was comparing the Ridgid and the Hitachi and went with the HItachi for its 3hp(15amp) motor as opposed to the Ridgid 13amp 1-1/2HP motor. (please correct me if this is wrong, I know that motors have crazy rating criteria but those are the lable ratings for both motors)

The Hitachi is more of a hybrid since the motor is inside and this machine is very quiet.

One other thing that attracted me to the Hitachi is it's micro adjustment fence, it's very smooth, but so is the Ridgid.

The only bad thing about the HItachi is the two sheet metal wings which though they are very thick guage are still not cast steel so thats one drawback but if they are adjusted correctly they dont make seem to be to bad.

The base has heavy duty casters which like the Hercu-lift can be lowered and raised to move the saw. They are easier to assemble than the Hercu-lift. I have the Herculift on my Rdigid band saw and it was a not the easiest thing to put together, least not for me.

The HItachi is a left tilt saw and has a large top with miter slots on either side of the blade.

With the HItachi at under 500 I was able to get the DeWalt heavy duty two speed planer all for under $1,000.00 and the handy 10% off coupon from Lowes didnt hurt either.

If you compare the Hitachi to the Ridgid I think you may think twice about the Ridgid.


It's definately worth the look.

[Rod Torgeson]

Chuck....I have a Delta contractors saw that I got about 4 years ago. It has the cast iron wings and Biesmeyer fence with the extension table. Fence goes out to 30 some inches. I enclosed the sides and front and back and hooked up dust collection to it. It is not the best for dust collection, but it works pretty good. I am very happy with it. It has the 1 1/2 hp motor. Never had a problem with it bogging down when cutting. Hope this helps.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Any information on what you think might be the best brands/models to buy and why?

It would be well to explain a little about the sort of work you want it perform, how often and the means by which you will transport it from job to job.

There are all manner of contractors saws that range in size and capacity substantially.

[glenn bradley]

"The HItachi is a left tilt saw and has a large top with miter slots on either side of the blade."

Julio, is this the Hitachi with the non-standard miter slots?

[John Hain]

I've noted alot of the pros use this contractor's saw from Dewalt. FWW has at least 2 of their guys on video who use this saw exclusively. I also noted the guys building the house next to mine using it on the job to do high-end cabinets.

http://www.amazon.com/DeWalt-DW746X-Woodworker-Intermediate-115-Volt/dp/B0000302Q7/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/105-5692700-6052449?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1173367313&sr=8-3

[Lou Morrissette]

Another vote for the Ridgid 3650. I've had mine for over 2 years and I love it. With the right blade, it gives me enough power for the kind of work I do. It might be a little underpowered if you rip a lot of 8/4 oak or other harder woods but for general woodworking, it's fine.

Lou

[Andy Livingston]

I have a contractor saw from General International that I really like. It has cast iron wings, Biesemeyer fence and is 2 hp. Most are only 1.5 horse. A few years ago it was named best in class. It cost around 600 then, but it may have gone up since. I put a Forrest thin kerf blade on it and a v-belt and have had no problems cutting anything I tried, including 8/4 hard maple. Good luck with your saw search!

[Curt Harms]

I read about people who buy a contractor's style saw because they don't have "room" for a hybrid or cabinet saw. I don't understand this. A cabinet or hybrid style requires LESS space than the traditional contractor's saw because the motor doesn't stick out the back. A cabinet or hybrid doesn't REQUIRE a 52" table and fence, they can be gotten with 30" as well so as to take up less space. If you want the 52" fence later, it's just a matter of a table and new fence rails. The reasons to not get a cabinet saw are the requirement for 240 volts and cost.

I didn't understand this and bought a Craftsman contractor saw for around $450 in the early '90's It was OK but... Bought a Grizzly 1023 for $650 and sold the Craftsman for $200 after spending money on link belt & pulley upgrades. It would have been cheaper to buy the Grizzly 1023 right off the bat. Too soon old Too late smart....

HTH

Curt

[John Michaels]

I have the Bosch 4000. Great fence, and the stand with wheels is makes it a pleasure to move around.

[scott spencer]

There are alot of good contractor saws out there....it's not likely you'll get anywhere near a consesus of one being the best. Delta, Jet, GI, Grizzly, Ridgid, PM, Bridgewood, Woodtek, Shop Fox, etc. Get one with a great fence and the features you like.

That said, the contractor saw design is a bit outdated compared to a hybrid, which is essentially the same size, power, duty rating, and price range as a contractor saw, but without the hassle of the outboard motor. They have many of the advantages of a cabinet saw, and virtually no downside compared to a contractor saw. There are several available from Grizzly, Craftsman, Steel City, GI, Jet, DeWalt, Delta, and Hitachi. I went from a very nice GI contractor saw to a 22124 hybrid about 2 years ago, and have been very pleased with the advantages gained.

Either way, there are alot of excellent choices, so get the one that makes sense to you and that makes your heart beat a little faster!

http://www.epinions.com/22124 (http://www.epinions.com/content_184778395268)

That Delta you referenced looks like a nice saw...great fence, mobile base, extension table, etc. In the same price range though, you can get into one of the saws shown below:

[Dan Drager]

http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0444Z

I LOVE my Griz!

[Rick Moyer]

Charles, why don't you come down here to PA and buy my old Craftsman so I can justify getting a new Grizzly 1023sl!:D

[Corey Hallagan]

There are alot of good contractor saws out there....it's not likely you'll get anywhere near a consesus of one being the best. Delta, Jet, GI, Grizzly, Ridgid, PM, Bridgewood, Woodtek, Shop Fox, etc. Get one with a great fence and the features you like.

That said, the contractor saw design is a bit outdated compared to a hybrid, which is essentially the same size, power, duty rating, and price range as a contractor saw, but without the hassle of the outboard motor. They have many of the advantages of a cabinet saw, and virtually no downside compared to a contractor saw. There are several available from Grizzly, Craftsman, Steel City, GI, Jet, DeWalt, Delta, and Hitachi. I went from a very nice GI contractor saw to a 22124 hybrid about 2 years ago, and have been very pleased with the advantages gained.

Either way, there are alot of excellent choices, so get the one that makes sense to you and that makes your heart beat a little faster!

http://www.epinions.com/22124 (http://www.epinions.com/content_184778395268)

I have the Delta contractors saw. I bought it as it was a steal at Home Depot and I bought it on Scott's advise. They were closing them out for 299.00 I was a no brainer at the time, otherwise it probably would have been a BT3 Ryobi. It has been a good saw for what I do, I primarily do small projects like boxes and stuff like that. Awesome fence system on it and I think it is a bit underpowerered compared to the Jet's contractors saw I have seen even though it too has a 1 1/2 HP. It wasn't an option at the time but if I had to do it all over again and I had the cash I do now, I would buy the Craftsman Hybrid. The biggest reason, the footprint as I have a small shop and I find the outboard motor to be a pain. Nothing wrong with a contractors saw, but don't get one because you have a small shop. They will definitely do the job and mine has a whole lot more boxes left in it I think!

Corey

[Cary Swoveland]

I have a contractor saw from General International that I really like. It has cast iron wings, Biesemeyer fence and is 2 hp. Most are only 1.5 horse. A few years ago it was named best in class. It cost around 600 then, but it may have gone up since. I put a Forrest thin kerf blade on it and a v-belt and have had no problems cutting anything I tried, including 8/4 hard maple. Good luck with your saw search!

I'd like to second this recommendation. My son has one of these saws. I've used it some, and really like it. It seems well-build and accurate, and is nicely finished. While the saw is made offshore, the fence is made in Canada (as of a year ago, anyway).

Having said this, I'd consider Grizzly also. I've just discovered Grizzly as a purveyor of quality machines and ridiculously low prices.

Cary

[Matt Meiser]

I have a Delta contractor saw with the Biesemeyer fence and extension table. It does everything I want and stays accurate. That said, I'd seriously consider either the Craftsman cabinet saw or a Grizzly 1023 whcih can be had in the same price range.

[Joe Mioux]

I'd like to second this recommendation. My son has one of these saws. I've used it some, and really like it. It seems well-build and accurate, and is nicely finished. While the saw is made offshore, the fence is made in Canada (as of a year ago, anyway).

Having said this, I'd consider Grizzly also. I've just discovered Grizzly as a purveyor of quality machines and ridiculously low prices.

Cary

Ditto re: the GI.... just a nice saw and a 2hp motor, Canadian made Biesemeyer fence, etc.

[Paul Wingert]

How about this on Amazon?

http://www.amazon.com/Delta-36-982-Horsepower-Contractor-Biesemeyer/dp/B000H0VHFK/ref=sr_1_46/103-5022219-9115028?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1173330487&sr=1-46

Charles, that looks nice and a good price.

I have an older (12 years) Delta Contractor's saw with Besemeyer that is wonderful.

[Jake Helmboldt]

First, I have a contractor saw and wish I didn't, so I'm not just saying "go bigger". If funds are limited go with a hybrid.

Point 2 - not all hybrids are created equal. The biggest bonus (in my mind) of the hybrids is that some have cabinet-mounted trunnions which makes balde alignment (and keeping alignment) much easier than the old, flawed design of the suspended trunnions on contractor saws. I may be wrong, but at least some of the Deltas are not cabinet-mounted.

Point 3 -Dust collection on hybrids/cabinets is much better. DC is lousy to start and only mediocre after considerable effort.

Point 4 - horsepower, or is that horsepoop? The Hitachi mentioned earlier as being 3HP (@ 15 amps) is marketing BS and shamelessly deceptive. The other saw noted was 1.5hp @ 13amps. If they are both wired for 110 then they are both effectively 1.5HP saws. In fact the extra 2 amps is worth about an extra 1/4 HP. So look at the amps. not the HP to compare apples to apples.

[Homer Faucett]

The General contractor saw is always highly regarded, with its 2hp motor putting it more powerful than most contractor types. I also think the Delta that was posted earlier would be a good candidate, but that price point seems a little high. You could pick up the same saw with the T2 fence at Lowe's for about $600, and not be losing anything in performance, IMHO.

I've had the Delta 36-675 for about 3 years and find it to be a great saw. Add a link belt, zero clearance insert, and a good combination blade and you're all set to do anything you need.