Thread: What can you do with a table saw?

Easier to ask, what can't you do.

There are a few basic things which separate a good saw from a poor saw, so I'll get the ball rolling.

1. A good fence. By good, I mean parallel to the blade, and which locks firmly into place. With a decent fence you can accurately rip stock, with a minimal risk of kickback. Can also use the saw to joint stock ready for glue ups (if you have a good blade).

2. A good mitre gauge. I haven't seen any saws under about 3K which come with an adequate mitre gauge. Incra makes very good products, starting at about $125. With one of these you can cut accurate angles without remeasuring every time.

Contractor saws of the generic Chinese variety (such as Carbatec and Timbecon sell) can be set up to work OK, but dust control will always be an issue. If you move up to a cabinet style saw you'll do better here, plus it will be easier to set up accurately. Search the forums of threads about setting up a table saw, that's been well covered.

Good luck with your search. Better to wait a while for a decent saw than to waste money on the Ryobi / GMC type of saw, which is really only good for rough framing type cuts.

Hi,

I'm fairly new too but after using table saw for several months I can tell you that it lets you make perfect cuts very easily and quickly. Much more precise than any hand-held power tool. The dimensions of my woodworking projects used to depend on what size timber Bunnings sold. It was more like putting Lego together than woodworking. Now I can cut timber to any size I want and the cuts are always straight and square.

A table saw is also a great tool to remove any spare fingers but this is not a problem for beginners. It only happens after you become experienced and complacent.

The other danger is that after getting a table saw, you will soon want a thickenser, jointer, router table, ...


Al

Thanks for the replies.

Now you will find out just how little I know. What exactly does "rip" mean?

I had a look at Bunnings the other day, I will not be buying any of those saws. What I am hoping for is to find an old table saw in someone's shed, that hasn't been used for a few years. The one's that weighs a ton.

I have a Bosh router, but I am still very dangerous with it. I will have to get a table saw first, so I can make a router table.

Any way, please keep em coming

Rip means to cut along the grain(following the grain)crosscut is across the grain obviously!

Originally Posted by cali1

Thanks for the replies.

Now you will find out just how little I know. What exactly does "rip" mean?

I had a look at Bunnings the other day, I will not be buying any of those saws. What I am hoping for is to find an old table saw in someone's shed, that hasn't been used for a few years. The one's that weighs a ton.

I have a Bosh router, but I am still very dangerous with it. I will have to get a table saw first, so I can make a router table.

Any way, please keep em coming

"Rip" means cut along the grain. Probably, the blade that comes standard with the cheaper saws is okay for this.

Cross cut means to cut across the grain. Rip blades are less good at this, but luckily there are special crosscut blades too. However, unless you are only cutting short lengths of timber, you won't be doing much of this. a compound mitre saw is the go. Better, a sliding CMS.

If you want to cut sheet goods (chipboard, MDF, plywood), you will find the blades for ripping and crosscutting natural timbers aren't so good here. Luckily, there are special blades for this too. OTOH, full-sized sheetgoods are fairly unweildy, and unless you have a panel saw you will find other ways of cutting them, probably using a circular saw.

Remember, the purpose of a tablesaw is to hold a blade at an angle of your choosing while you push a piece of timber over the blade. If you can't reproduce the blade angles reliably, if the fence doesn't stay straight, if the saw bogs dow, yo will not enjoy its use.

I recommend you view videos about them at places such as thewoodwhisperer.com (Marc has a good one on setting up a ts), and buy one or more books about tablesaws (and any other power tools and machinery you are thinking you "must have."). Importantly, read the books. Woodworking mags often have good advice too (and articles about making stuff).

One I recall on youtube shows kickback in action. Kickback is when the blade picks up the workpiece and chucks it at your head.

You will also learn about other safety equipment - hearing protection being especially important. And pushsticks. And the safety kit that should cover the blade.

You could also contemplate a bandsaw. A lot of people have both, as each can do things the other cannot. However, there are jobs both can do.

Bandsaw blades are cheaper, their cut is narrower so there's less waste, they can cut thicker timber and they don't pick up your workpiece and throw it at you.

I've noticed that the editor of Australian Woodsmith magazine uses the table saw for just about anything - he's obviously mad about it. He uses a dado blade to cut tenons, grooves and rebates. He also uses a standard saw blade to cut cove moulding. The uses he finds for the table saw seem to be endless. You would do well to get hold of some back issues of Australian Woodsmith or just start getting it from now on. You would soon find some useful info about making the best use of your table saw, how to build some jigs for it, etc. Tenon - male part of mortise and tenon joint; cove moulding - a kind of curved moulding that you can use for a cornice or around the top of a cabinet.

This is great, the light is coming on. Thank you.

I will have to get some books. I think a good place to start is to look at some basic joins. I think once I have the basics, the different terms would start to make sense.

Thanks for the help.

Look for a saw with a decent sized table. I have a nice 60's compact saw but the table is small (600 deep x 400 wide). This is a major limitation as the fence is limited to about 120mm either side of the blade before the fence runs out of track. A typical table saw has a table in the region of 800mm x 1000-1200mm. This allows you a lot more room to position the fence.

If possible, get a tilting arbour saw. This allows you to position the blade at angles other than 90 deg to the table for cutting bevels etc. Some saws have the arbour housing mounted directly to the table base (no tilt). Others like my compact are a tilting table system, where the arbour housing mounts to the saw frame and the table pivots to provide tilt. Practical for small units but not viable for a decent sized table. Tilting arbour saws come in two varieties, Left Tilt and Right Tilt. With left tilt, the arbour tilts away from the fence in a normal bevel rip. With right tilt the blade tilts toward the fence, increasing the possibility of trapping the offcut between the fence and blade causing kickback.

Aim for a nominal 10inch/250mm saw for maximum versatility. Many saws in this range use 16mm arbours and accept dado blades (adjustable width blades for cutting grooves and rebates). They should provide a depth of cut of about 75mm with a 250 blade, but can also accept 235 blades from circular saws with a slight reduction of depth of cut. Another option is a 12inch/300mm saw, but these normally use a larger arbour and generally do not take dado blades.

Ensure that the unit you consider has an adequate guard included. Replacement guards are hard to find for older units, and aftermarket units are fairly expensive to buy new.

As mentioned previously, don't expect a lot from a standard mitre guage, they are generally very sloppy in the mitre slots and unreliable. A decent aftermarket unit should offer a longer and adjustable slide bar and some form of repeatable mitre adjustment.

Please malb, would you explain what the arbour is? I'm wondering how I can tell if my table saw will take a 19mm dado blade. Thanks.

Originally Posted by copycath

Please malb, would you explain what the arbour is? I'm wondering how I can tell if my table saw will take a 19mm dado blade. Thanks.

The arbour is the threaded rod part that the blade sits on and you do the retaining nut up on. The dado capacity is dictated by how long your arbour is. The only real way to test that is for you to start stacking dado blades on and see how wide you can go whilst still having enough of the arbour exposed to securely fit the nut and washer.

Thank you socratous, that's a very clear explanation.

Buy this book it explains all and is worth the money

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1561584266

I would buy it and read it before buying a saw - I did and I am glad because I knew what to look for and what was important. I also became knowledgeable of all the terms and tablesaw concepts - as knowledgeable as you can from a book anyway

Carbatec has the DVD from Kelly Mehler. I have not seen it but it gets good reviews too

Originally Posted by pellcorp

Buy this book it explains all and is worth the money

Amazon.com: The Table Saw Book, Completely Revised and Updated (9781561584260): Kelly Mehler: Books

I would buy it and read it before buying a saw - I did and I am glad because I knew what to look for and what was important. I also became knowledgeable of all the terms and tablesaw concepts - as knowledgeable as you can from a book anyway

Thanks for the recommendation.

I just did an interesting thing. From Amazon, I download free software to simulate their Kindle book reader. That meant that I could download a full copy of that book online at a cost of $10 which is cheaper than buying the hard copy of the book plus postage and involves no wait for delivery.

Very convenient.



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