Thread: Comments on Woodfast TS250RS

I have an earlier version of this saw, slightly different specification and without the sliding panel support. Other differences are mostly minor, fence design, inclusion of flip stop, different design of rise & fall handle.

Mine definitely has a short arbor so dado blades are out. Changing blades and adjusting the height of the riving knife / guard support is a real PIA until you work out that it is easier with the blade at max cutting height. Also difficult to drop the riving knife low enough to leave it in place for dado style cuts. I have overcome that design issue & hopefully they have on newer saws.

There is no mitre slot in the cast iron table, however the sliding table more than makes up for this once you setup cross cut sleds that attach to the sliding table via the "t-slot" etc. I initially struggled to align the sliding table to be coplanar with the cast iron top and to get it to slide parallel to the saw blade as the instructions given are useless and put you into a frustrating loop of endless adjustment. Its not perfect now but it is far better than as supplied (pre assembled).

Dust extraction is poor. Mine has a 90mm dust port and is very restricted at the transition from round into the blade guard, collection entry under the table. It is difficult to come up with a retro fit solution if you wish to keep the saws tilting function.

The half table insert and the wide gap between the cast iron and sliding aluminium table means that it is difficult to design zero clearance inserts. Sleds easily over come that issue however you concede some cutting height. This also means that chipping is difficult to overcome when ripping or cross cutting melamine coated boards, or MDF.

I have found the saw has adequate power to handle most tasks, however ripping thick boards for a lengthy period will actuate the thermal overload protection.

Overall the saw is quite good value and of reasonably good quality for the money, however it requires a different approach to complete tasks compared to the standard table saw setup. If you are ripping a lot of small sheets and performing traditional table saw tasks it is a very good economical hybrid table / panel saw.

Just noticed my unit is now 10yo, how time flies.

Thanks for the comments Moby.

Considering I'll probably need to partially disassemble often to pack away into the shed (I can't have it assembled in one place all the time) and that may be painful for maintaining alignment .... and I think I'll be planning to use dados often, it seems like I should spend money on something else. I'm not in a hurry to purchase so I can afford to wait.

Thanks again.

Cheers
Gilbo

The sliding aluminium table is very easy to remove - simply remove the stop screw on the infeed or outfeed side and slide the table off. You would only leave the panel support frame on for ripping / crosscutting full sheets. I have handled quite a few 2400 x 1200 sheets with only temporary support from those Gorilla / Bailey folding work platforms quite easily. Mine also lives on a mobile base and is wheeled into my work area when required.

Compared to its peers I believe it is a very capable saw. None that I have seen sub $5k tick all the boxes & most have some glaring design defficiencies. Unless they have changed the design it sounds like you requirement to use a dado set would be the main knockout blow.