Thread: Table Saw Gurus, Help!!!

Gents,
Thanks for your advice and suggestions which have been invaluable as always. I have decided to stick with the BT3100. It seems to be the ideal choice at the moment. It has a keen following so there are plenty of sources for jigs and mods to improve an already good piece of kit. I will let you know how it goes. Thanks again for your input.

Cheers
Pete

Jedo_03

Ian has the basic answer - you will be suffering from voltage drop over the extension cable. This is particularly so on startup when the motor draws most current. For every ohm of resistance at 8.7Amps you will be losing 8.7 volts at the motor so it doesn't take much with higher currents to have an effect. A short fat cable will reduce this, and make sure all connections are tight in the plugs and socket and that it is a tight fit in the wall socket. Get a sparkie if you need help here.

Do a search for Extension cord tangle - you will find some good advice and info especially from Soundman.

Packrat Pete - I'm looking forward to a report on the table. I hope you will find it exceeds your expectations.

Originally Posted by ian

Jedo
whilst I'm not a sparkie in your situation I'd be running a 15A extension to the shed. There was a discussion about a week ago that fitting 10A plugs to a 15A lead gave you a 10A supply with less voltage drop than that delivered by a 10A lead and a cable that was more durable and better able to survive being walked on. If I were permanently wiring a shed I'd get a sparkie in to run a 20A supply and install a sub-board in the shed itself.
my 2cents
ian

100% agree. it's not only "survive being walked on", its the overall electrical conductivity/performance of a 15A rated cable is greater, so that as the cable ages the overall electrical conductivity/performance deterioration from things like corrosion does not matter quite as much as it does for a 10A cable.

Packrat Pete

I don't think you can ever 'buy once and buy right' with a major piecde of machinery like a table saw - it works alreight with smaller equipment.

The trouble with this theory when you are considering a tablesaw is you don't now now how your needs are going to change. In general, the more you spend the better the equipment (not always the case, but mostly). And with tablesaws, the price can vary from a few hundred dollars for a small table top arrangement through to $3-4k for a very good quality cabinte saw through to $8-9k for a big panel saw. And I'm sure there are saws out there I don't even know about.

There are 'hobby' woodworkers on this forum who have some of these very expensive top end saws, and many who are very happy with cheaper versions - BECAUSE, for the price, they deliver what is wanted.

Obviously, as you've seen here, when you buy at the lower end you just have to spend more time thinking about the features you want and making sure you don't buy something that is real bodgy.

Thats how I'm thinking today, anyway ...

Thanks very much to all for the info re amperage. . .
Can't afford the sparkie yet - but I know where I can get my hands on some 15A extension lines.
Hafta do for now
Thanks again
Jedo

Hey Jedo_03

I hope the new cable makes a difference. Let us know if you notice an improvement.

3 HP is less than 10Amp of course. I think these motors can drag quite a bit of current very, very briefly on startup. The spike is what the 15 Amp motor fuse is designed to handle. I took professional advice from various sources before buying the saw (and the compressor) and this is the consensus solution. Works fine. Don't use a long or lightweight extension cord..... it won't like that at all.