Thread: portable table saw

hi reevesy, i am looking for a portable table saw myself. i have been researching for 6 months.

i used to own a makita tablesaw. no frills, nothing special, but it did work ok for 6 years. it was pretty light, which was important for me, most sites dont have lifts, lots of stairs!
it cost about $1000 at the time. i then sold it on ebay for $400.

then i watched a video on youtube about a company called sawstop. the portable version of this saw still weighs over 100 kilos, but you can get a mobile stand for it so you can wheel it onto your van or ute. if i do buy this saw, i am pretty sure it will stay in the workshop.

it is an expensive saw at around $3800. for some this is too much money. but i have already forked out $1000 for a basic, plastic makita tablesaw and i was never really impressed with it.

a lot of people have talked about this saw on this forum, some get really hot under the collar, so i better keep this short. anyway, its different strokes for different folks. i have looked at all the other brands, and for me, i can justify $3800. i understand not everybody can justify this amount.

knowledge is power, and even if this saw is not suitable to your needs at least you will now know that this type of product is available.

btw, have you looked at the carbatec and jet models, i see they have very good reviews from people on this forum.

as someone else has mentioned, the festool gear is at the top of the tool chain. they are without a doubt the rolls royce of tools. i highly recommend festool. a vast amount of time is put into research and design and their prices reflect this as well.

good luck, justin.

Originally Posted by OLDPHART

The old ELU flip saw is still available, sold by De walt,around $1100 from memory.

G'day. I have one of these old ELU flip saws. Was starting to search to source a new belt for it and came across this thread so I joined up. I see it's and old thread but maybe some of you will notice this post.

The saw came my way in well-used condition as a birthday present. It's had a couple of problems due to age but has otherwise served me well for several years despite much abuse from regular cutting of often oversized and dirty firewood.
Anyway I'm off to hopefully find a drive belt. If anyone can save me some time by pointing me in the right direction it would be much appreciated. I haven't tried to source a toothed belt before except for an engine timing belt so I only have a vague idea of where to start. I'm guessing that Elu belts are no longer available but that this toothed belt will have been made to some recognised international standard and no harder to find than a V belt.

ELU (also sold as Dewalt) saw spare parts are readily available in England so a search on the web should prove fruitful.

Thanks Bohdan

I did as you suggested and found a UK site but they wanted an arm and a leg for the belt not including freight. I then went through several Australian suppliers that didn't have the right belt but eventually found one that did but at a high price and and finally one that had it at a reasonable price. Unfortunately neither Australian supplier had one in stock locally so I'm up for freight but at $24 for the belt and $17 freight from the cheapest supplier I'm not too unhappy. Both offered air bag freight so I'm going to ask if there's a cheaper way of sending it.

kevin111 - Would you please list the suppliers that you found so that other ELU owners (me included) can have access to them.

Sure thing Bohdan

I'm waiting for another couple of quotes (hoping to find local stock and save on freight), then I'll post all I've found. There is another thread specifically on Elu belts so I might post it there instead. Not sure if you can link directly to other threads in here so this is the web link,

Elu 172 TGS BELT

I'll mention now that the required belt is a 240XL100 (Code for 24" long, XL tooth profile/pitch, 1" wide). One thing I found was that 240XL100 belts were hard to find on a web search. I was thinking of running a pair of 3/8" wide belts and hoping they'd be strong enough if I got desperate.

Will post the list of suppliers tomorrow hopefully

Originally Posted by Kevin111

I'll mention now that the required belt is a 240XL100 (Code for 24" long, XL tooth profile/pitch, 1" wide). One thing I found was that 240XL100 belts were hard to find on a web search. I was thinking of running a pair of 3/8" wide belts and hoping they'd be strong enough if I got desperate.

Have a look at PIES Australia They are a Melbourne based power transmission belt specialist with an enormous range of products. I had a quick look at their site, but it might be worth giving them a call as I couldn't see 1" wide belts in the list. This shouldn't be a problem, as the belts are moulded in long sleeves and cut to standard widths of 1/4", 3/8" etc. A 1" belt would need to be slit from a sleeve for you, this is a standard operation for them.
Another company worth trying are Powergrip Industries - Timing Belts . Their web site isn't the easiest to navigate, again a quick phone call should sort things out.
Have you already made enquiries at bearing suppliers locally? They usually stock common belts, and can get specials in for you without much trouble.
Hope you get you machine up and running shortly.

Alan...

Thanks Alan

Yes I started online searching bearing suppliers but only found three probables and a couple of dead ends. Enquiries resulted in three responses, one "don't stock that belt", one offered but seriously overpriced and one reasonable price but with a $16.50 freight charge. I then searched power transmissions and did much better. I now have a belt ordered at $24.20 ex-Melbourne and zero freight charge.

I'll post the suppliers I found and their prices on the Elu 172 TGS BELT thread, and add your two as well. I did find PIES but didn't send them an enquiry. Can't recall why, but maybe the others sounded more likely to have this belt.

Belt suppliers and prices are now posted on the "Elu 172 TGS BELT" thread (see link in an earlier post), with a couple of extra suppliers I didn't contact, including Alan's Melbourne suggestions.

Rydell is another place in Melbourne for obscure belts. They can also custom make if it's not available.