Bench top table saw safety

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Hi All, I'm going to buy a bench top/job site saw to use in a second temporary shop. It's an Hitachi C10RA3. I've always used a contractors saw and am a little worried about safety with these small saws. Maybe it's the noise they make and just the "unfamiliar factor". Are these any more dangerous than a bigger table saw? Any safety suggestions? Thanks.

[Jim Becker]

It's been a long time since I've used one, Alan, but I've been watching my general contractor's team using two of them here milling trim for the addition. The biggest limitation (outside of keeping the fence aligned) is accommodating material support. You have a somewhat small table as compared to the larger contractor's style saws, hybrids and cabinet saws. Material that is not supported well can begin to lift and that can set you up for some nice, umm..."involuntary stock feed in the wrong direction", err...:D

[glenn bradley]

I'm with Jim; material support. When the board you're cutting outweighs the saw you just have to take common sense precautions. Take extra care with the use of roller stands, triple check the fence to avoid kickback and possibly add a switch that you can get to quickly while cutting in the event of a problem.

[Bill Ryall]

Ditto the material support. I have a hitachi C10FR that "travels". I keep a pair of cheap roller supports with it for infeed and outfeed. Also, since the fence is not as good, doublecheck squareness at every cut.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Thanks guys. I wasn't even thinking of material support but it makes a lot of sense. I have to remember how much smaller this table is than what I'm used to. I have to make some push sticks and pick up some support stands. Maybe some hold downs wouldn't hurt either. Thanks again.

[Tom Walz]

Make sure you have a really good way to hold the saw in place.

First one I bought had four holes in flanges, 2 holes on each side. I screwed it to the table top. As I recall the holes were too big for nails.

I think I mostly worked with quarter sheets. Half sheets were possible. It took three people for a full sheet and results were not good.

I had a job making little cedar slat boxes for a woman who had a line of dolls. It worked pretty well for ripping fence boards into slats.

Tom