Thread: Importing a table saw from the US

Sounds like a fantastic idea. Let us know how you go

Wouldn't Europe make more sense, purely from the point of view of them also using 220V? It would be a pity to buy a brand new tool and have to throw the motor out.

For us in South Africa, shipping is cheaper from Europe than from the US, but I suppose in Australia it'll be the other way around.

I'd be interested to hear how you go. Lots of the bigger machinery in these US runs on 230v, not quite the 240 we use here, but close. Reading the woodcraft catalogue that arrived the other day got me thinking of exactly the same thing.

FWIW, I doubt it would be viable. By the time you paid for shipping, waited 3 months, got it through customs, paid the import duty, got it delivered to your house, changed the plug to an Australian 3 pin, I very much doubt you'd be ahead. Plus you've got no warranty. If you bought a whole shed load of stuff it may be a different story. If you went and 'lived' in the US for a few months and used the stuff (therefore hopefully avoiding import duty) it may be even better.

I take your point about the bigger range in the US though.

Trav

Originally Posted by Trav

I'd be interested to hear how you go. Lots of the bigger machinery in these US runs on 230v, not quite the 240 we use here, but close. Reading the woodcraft catalogue that arrived the other day got me thinking of exactly the same thing.

FWIW, I doubt it would be viable. By the time you paid for shipping, waited 3 months, got it through customs, paid the import duty, got it delivered to your house, changed the plug to an Australian 3 pin, I very much doubt you'd be ahead. Plus you've got no warranty. If you bought a whole shed load of stuff it may be a different story. If you went and 'lived' in the US for a few months and used the stuff (therefore hopefully avoiding import duty) it may be even better.

I take your point about the bigger range in the US though.

Trav

My knowledge of US power supplies is almost none, but I thought their 220-230V was usually 3-phase which might create more hassle than just swapping a plug (they also run at 60Hz instead of 50Hz, so you'll lose 1/6 of the shaft speed, or about 166rpm per 1000, as well). Don't forget that shipping several hundred kg, even by sea, will probably run you a few (several?) hundred dollars.

I do like the idea, but I think it sits firmly in the 'too hard' basket.

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

My knowledge of US power supplies is almost none, but I thought their 220-230V was 3-phase which might create more hassle than just swapping a plug.

Not to mention that their HZ frequency is different as well

Originally Posted by DJ's Timber

Not to mention that their HZ frequency is different as well

I was editing that in as you were typing.

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

My knowledge of US power supplies is almost none, but I thought their 220-230V was usually 3-phase which might create more hassle than just swapping a plug (they also run at 60Hz instead of 50Hz, so you'll lose 1/6 of the shaft speed, or about 166rpm per 1000, as well). Don't forget that shipping several hundred kg, even by sea, will probably run you a few (several?) hundred dollars.

I do like the idea, but I think it sits firmly in the 'too hard' basket.

In the US residential 220/240V comes in two flavors 2-pole (2 hot + ground) up to 30A with the NEMA 6-15 type plug being most common on power tools and 3-pole (2 hot + neutral + ground) up to 50/60A. Most utilities supply ~115V per pole. I have seen line voltages run form 105V to 127V depending on the time of year and locale so voltage differences will be less of a problem for you. All 60 Hz but most modern equipment will handle 50 Hz and is so marked. The 220/240V 2-pole has two 120V (nominal) hot lines 180 degrees out of phase. Most of the woodworking equipment of the home shop size, 3 hp or less, is configured for 220v 2 pole NEMA 6-15 or 6-20.
For analog devices it is often possible to get a 220V single pole device to work on a 220V double pole line so it may be possible to do the reverse. I've done it for a heating device by simply changing the connectors. Will it work for a motor? I don't know as it depends on the specific motor.
Another possibility for you is to consider three phase equipment. Using a variable frequency drive you can set up to work off of a wide range of input voltages and frequencies. In the US three phase equipment used is usually really cheap and VFD's are not free but you can often put together a system for less than the price of a single or two phase system because most people are afraid of doing the work. A big plus is that many three phase saws will be in the 3 to 5 hp range. Look online at VFD configuration tutorials, it's not that hard and it gives you the ability to have a variable speed setup

I had a good look at the pic of the Ridgid you mentioned, & to me, it looks like the table is cast iron but the wings look like pressed steel.

I think you would have to be looking at about $300 for freight, & you would need to check on import duties as well, but even if you got it to your door & wired up for $800, you have no warranty & no support.

How much are you really saving?

for another $400 or so, & I recon it would be less as I don't think you will get in your shed & running for $800, you could get one of these.
Table Saws : LEDACRAFT MJ-2325CB 10 inch TABLE SAW

Nearly all of my gear I have bought from Leda & their products & after sales service has been great IMO. I personally only look at other machines to get prices so I can try to talk them down a bit, & I usually do, but I have no intention of moving away from these guys, They have been very good to me & I have brought them plenty of business from family & friends.

Steve

Thanks for all the comments

i agree that it is not going to be worth it especially considering the modifications required and if there is a warranty problem one may need to scrap the whole machine.














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I have seen the ledacraft machines on the trading post when looking for second machines, but had never heard of them so did not give them a second thought. what is the fence like on the mj-2325cb.

I was considering the woodman sb1012os, anny iddea on how they compare?

thanks steve

Arif

Originally Posted by Ticky

I had a good look at the pic of the Ridgid you mentioned, & to me, it looks like the table is cast iron but the wings look like pressed steel.

I think you would have to be looking at about $300 for freight, & you would need to check on import duties as well, but even if you got it to your door & wired up for $800, you have no warranty & no support.

How much are you really saving?

for another $400 or so, & I recon it would be less as I don't think you will get in your shed & running for $800, you could get one of these.
Table Saws : LEDACRAFT MJ-2325CB 10 inch TABLE SAW

Nearly all of my gear I have bought from Leda & their products & after sales service has been great IMO. I personally only look at other machines to get prices so I can try to talk them down a bit, & I usually do, but I have no intention of moving away from these guys, They have been very good to me & I have brought them plenty of business from family & friends.

Steve

My saw has the biesemeyer fence on it and I think that is an option you can have.

Leda are an Adelaide Based company & they deal in big industrial machines more now than when I first started to deal with themhe company

The Owner of the company goes over to the factories at least once a year & is very selective about which factories he will deal with.

I have bought a 10" table saw
17"Band saw
15" thicknesser
25" Drum Sander & a Dust Extractor all from Leda.

My brother has a 10" table saw
a smaller drum sander & Mortising machine all from leda.

I think they are very good.


Steve

I also found the choices here in Oz were limited to cheap Chinese made stuff of questionable quality or expensive "pro" gear that were simply too big/heavy and expensive for the home user so I bit the bullet and imported the Ridgid. It arrived last weekend

The saw is made to be converted to 220v which took all of 5 minutes to do and it runs like a dream. Its rock solid and amazingly quiet. The biggest job was peeling off the inch scales and replacing them with metric ones (bought Kreg tape from Carbatec as the have left to right and right to left available)

Of course I have no warranty but I figured what can really go so wrong that cannot be fixed? in short not much.

All up the whole exercise cost just on $1500 and for the quality I got for the money I'd say it was a good deal. There was no import duty payable because the purchase price of the saw was less than AU$1000 in fact the saw itself cost only US$549 plus $65 tax and $100 delivery charge to the freight company.

It took 6 weeks from order to delivery at home

cheers

steve

Good to hear you were able to change the motor, but while you got a very good deal on the saw it sounds like you maybe didn't do so well on the motor swap.

From your figures, ($549 + $65 +$100) US $ = ~A$925 this suggests you payed $575 for the motor swap? I that is the case then that seems a bit steep to me especially if you did it yourself.

The other issue is, just changing the motor is not a complete solution for a table saw.

The US 60Hz power supply means the saw will run 20% slower under Aussie 50Hz power, so if you want US level performance from your saw the blade speed needs to be increased by 20%.

The same happens with many machines imported into this country.
It doesn't matter for machines like lathes and drill presses which have multiple pulleys combos so optimal speeds are achievable by changing to another pulley pair.

On machines with fixed speeds (like band or table saws) to optimise the cutting speeds, the drive-driven pulley ratio should really be changed inside the machine.
I doubt this is done except perhaps on high end machinery.

I had thought speed didn't matter that much for wood cutting and I guess most people wouldn't know the difference between 2850 RPM and 3450 RPM cutting. Recently I swapped the motor on my BS for a 240V 3 phase motor that could be driven at variable speed and I found that a 20% increase in speed does make difference. As an aside variable speed also allows for a standard BS to be used to be used to cut a wider range of materials

Unlike a BS, there is very limited use for variable speed on a table saw so changing the pulley ratio is the cheapest option for imported machines, but in your case, for the same price you paid for a single speed single phase motor you could probably have fitted a 3 phase motor and variable speed drive unit to restore the 60Hz running speed.

At this stage seeing as you already have the 240V SP motor fitted, the cheapest solution will be to change the pulley ratio. The easiest way to do this is to replace the drive pulley with a 20% greater diameter pulley.

Just in case some folks might think "even more is better" most circular blades are rated to around 4500 rpm so increasing the blade speed too much can be dangerous.

Originally Posted by BobL

Good to hear you were able to change the motor

Sorry maybe I misled you, no i didnt have to change the motor. The saw is made to run on either 110v or 220v all I had to do is switch over some connections in the motor junction box. The instructions on exactly how to do this are in the manual and it only took 5 minutes.

The other $575 was for freight etc.