Bosch 4100 table saw users - have you experienced the gray paint wearing off?

[Ben Purdy]

I have scoured the web trying to see if I'm alone in experiencing this, I can't believe it's not a common complaint.. Recently I purchased a brand new Bosch 4100XC table saw for home/hobby use. My first project with it is to build some simple cabinets for my garage workspace. After cutting a few pieces of maple plywood I have discovered that the gray paint on the table is wearing off at an amazing rate, and is now embedded in the grain of my plywood leaving gray streaks on almost every piece. This plywood is clean, very smooth to the touch, and I'm not abusing the tool in terms of how I'm feeding the material through.. What's going on here?

A table saw that blemishes any material I pass through it is basically unusable.. it's shocking to me that I don't see countless negative reviews about this issue. Perhaps I got a tool from a batch with faulty paint or something?

In terms of resolving the problem, my current thoughts are either coating the table with something to seal the gray paint down, or attempting to strip the paint entirely. Both of these seem like ridiculous things to have to do to a brand new tool, but otherwise I'm stuck having to replace it. Any ideas what else I might do?

thanks in advance for any advice about this issue..

[John Pendery]

Hi Ben, I don’t necessarily have advise, but have the predecessor to that saw that I used extensively in the past along with a lot of other job site saws. They all have this coated surface, and they all wear off with use. The paint or coating or whatever you want to call it on my old bosch is essentially all gone, and I see the same thing on Dewalt job site saws I have used as well. What’s funny is I never even gave a second thought to this as the material was always either primed and painted, or sanded and stained/clear coated after being broken down on the saw. I understand your frustration though. All I can say is with continued use the surface will more or less wear into itself and the coating won’t transfer to the material you are processing. On the other hand upgrading to a saw with a cast iron surface is the more expensive option. I know this probably was not helpful, but rest assured you aren’t the only one with a job site saw with a surface that wears off.

[Frank Pratt]

This is yet another compromise that you just have to live with if you choose a jobsite saw. They are purpose built to provide an easy to relocate format, as in moving it from jobsite to jobsite. Just too many downsides for me to want one for any other reason.

You might try regularly waxing the top to minimize the paint rubbing off.

[derek labian]

Hi Ben,

I had a 4100 a few years ago and I don't recall any transfer issues to workpieces, but the top did get easily scratched. I assume that if the workpiece that created the scratches also got the transfer at the time and I didn't notice. As Frank said, its just a reality of the saw. My primary issue with the 4100 was the lift getting jammed, a much more common issue that happened frequently for me. Hope that helps.

FWIW, I also had two Dewalt Jobsite saws, (smaller and the larger one), and I overall preferred the Bosch.

Derek

[Dave Sabo]

Yep - all those saws with coated tops show wear. Bosch , DeWalt, Sawstop , doesn’t matter.

Don’t worry about it, it’s a tool not a piece of art.

[Ben Purdy]

Thanks for the replies, that all makes sense. In terms of the paint wearing, I don't care in the slightest if the saw ends up looking worn and beat up. The part I'm having problems with is that the paint is visibly marking the material which means I have to do extra work sanding the marks off of the surfaces after each cut. Also I built a simple cross-cut sled and the paint wearing off the saw was building up on the bottom of the sled to the point that it was hard to slide without frequently scraping off the build-up on the bottom of the sled.

I'm currently working through a customer support process with Bosch about this, they had me ship the saw to a service center where they replaced the top. I've got it back and the same thing is happening. Now I'm attempting to get a refund and just send them the saw back. If/when I get reimbursed, I'll be replacing it with a saw that has a cast iron top (probably one of those delta/ridgid contractor saws). I don't need it to be super portable but I'm also not at the point where it makes sense to invest 1000+ dollars into a higher end tool.

[Patty Hann]

I wish that was all I was unhappy with on my Yellow jobsite saw (7480) I could easily live with paint wearing off in exchange for a flat surface.
I could just chew nails every time I see daylight between the stock and the table surface on the right side of the throat plate.