Thread: New or Secondhand - Advice sought

Originally Posted by LS 11

First post - apologies if this is covered elsewhere

As a parttime "garage" woodworker Im looking at the WC2000 and the router table. All up from Bunnings it comes to around $1000 for what i want, So the question is...

Do I cough up the 1K or buy it secondhand (e-bay, trading post)

How is the longevity of Triton WC2000

Any other thoughts, feel free to post here

Welcome to the forums, I'm sure you will learn a lot here, as I did.

I would say buy secondhand, but I would say that because I have those for sale!

Seriously though, buying secondhand saves a fair bit of money that you can spend on some other toys. There isn't really a lot that can go wrong with the Triton workcentre and router table.

I have built myself a new router tble and have upgraded to a tablesaw, hence I am selling the Triton gear, see here for details.

If you are interested send me a PM (personal message), I can deliver these to Melbourne, in fact am planning to come down on Sunday.

If you HAVE to buy Triton, by it secondhand.

Buy secondhand, you would be absolutely insane to buy new. For the same (new) price you could buy a professional table saw with far greater accuracy, sophistication and flexibility.

The WC's were developed before the huge drop in machinery costs, and make no sense whatsover in todays market.

As Bigus Shedus indicates, most of us have sold their WCs (for a couple of hundred bucks) and moved to real tablesaws.

buy the festool cms router insert , you will never buy another in your life our your kids, kids lives.... it is far superior, but you get what you pay for.

The number of people who come up to me in a demo, and say they have one - it's 3 years old and they haven't taken it out of the box yet, means that even second hand could well be new

Yep buy second hand, the only way to go if you are buying Triton.

P.S. Just checked out Big Shed's stuff. Pretty good deal there.

Originally Posted by Stuart.

The number of people who come up to me in a demo, and say they have one - it's 3 years old and they haven't taken it out of the box yet, means that even second hand could well be new

yep, I have gear about that vintage, used for one small job and now I'm trying to talk the minister for finance into letting me upgrade already ( ) so the second hand stuff would be a very good buy but if you have the $$ and the courage, why not buy a tablesaw straight up, because if you get hooked, it'll only be a matter of time.

Originally Posted by Stuart.

The number of people who come up to me in a demo, and say they have one - it's 3 years old and they haven't taken it out of the box yet, means that even second hand could well be new

That did not surprise me at all.


There are people who wants to take up woodwork, (gets hot) buy a Triton set up from Bunnings and (gone cold) don’t do anything about it.

OR

Some loving wives who buys their husband a Triton setup (unwanted present) and it ends up sitting in the garage untouched.

I know a couple of them.



Trouble is if you are a beginner and you think Bunnings is fantastic (sad isn't it?). You'll go the Bunnings becasue that is the only place you know. And what does Bunnings sell? Triton and GMC. Bang you are trapped.

When you realise you can buy a real tablesaw for roughly the same price it is already too late.

I call it the “TRITON-GETS-YOU-FIRST” theory.

Yes, and no - can't totally agree. Sure, add it all together and it comes to a pretty figure, but if you buy a bit, and slowly the passion gets a hold that is one thing, but if it doesn't, then you haven't invested the sort of dollars (and space) that a TS will cost. What tablesaw is $500? (Those that are in that ballpark have not tempted me in the slightest). What about Festool? It is, after all, 'just' a circular saw and a guide that it runs along, but people crawl over broken glass to own one (and fork out a lot more than $500). Perhaps Bunnings should stock a better range of product, rather than what they think they can sell. Won't happen though - compare Bunnings to Carbatec - one has the range, the other is making the money.

Many, many Workcentres out there are not set up all the time, (if at all!), and only the few that catch the bug get to dedicate real estate to a permanent machine. I still can't fit one (although if I had one, I'd build a shed around it). The rest, well they use it occasionally, it does the job they need, and it isn't such an investment.

I definitely came to this by the route you described. But I don't regret it. Each bit was purchased over years, each as I discovered how it is useful, (or hoping that it would prove such), and slowly my workshop grew as my skills and knowledge did (and my finance could afford it, and my passion could justify it).

Sure, I could look back now and say that for me, I could have bought a big machine at the start and have invested the same amount of money, but it has been an investment in my education as well - I now know what is, and how to use, a TS, a router table, a thicknesser, a lathe, a bandsaw, a planer etc etc. All this knowledge has been accumulated slowly, and the tools acquired as I found a need (and a desire).

If it wasn't for Bunnings, and Triton, I can definitely say that I would not be a woodworker today, and so for that, despite the easy and obvious criticisms that come around again and again, I am thankful that our paths have crossed, and that I decided to take the risk, and buy my first Triton Workcentre from Bunnings.

And, at the end of the day, if and when I decide to upgrade, a significant proportion of the money I have invested is still realizable, ready for reinvestment in a new machine - certainly more cash than the new machine minus what I have gotten out of it (if quantified into a dollar amount) comes to - in that respect, I am WELL ahead.

Triton make some decent tools, but if $1000 is your budget, please don't buy a Triton Workcentre!

Get a secondhand real table saw. For $1000 (plus shipping), I picked up an MJ2325 table saw, ML392 planer/thicknesser, a 1HP dustie and a whole bunch of other accessories (including saw blades, flexible pipe, etc etc). All machines were less than 18 months old, and in damn good nick. I got them through the forums.

Granted, they aren't "top notch" machines, but they're very adequate for my use, and it's a lot more machine for your money than a brand new Triton.

Definitely check out Carbatec and Timbecon. Also Leda Machinery and Hare & Forbes are worth a look, depending on where you are.

I think Stuart sums it up rather well. I started out with a Triton Mk3 after I was quoted an outrageous figure for a new kitchen in the early eighties. Finished paying for all the Triton gear and still came in under half the quote, and still had all the Triton gear after I finished.

I had that Mk3 for years, built lots of things with it, including another 2 kitchens and a complete houseboat and this house we live in now.

I could neither have afforded, nor had the room in my garage for, a dedicated tablesaw.

When I started setting up the shed here I sold the Mk3 and upgraded to a WC2000 and a new router table. As I started using it seriously, and joined this forum, I came to the conclusion that I wanted (note: not needed) a better tablesaw and a better router table.

So, being retired, I decided to spend part of the kids inheritance and set myself up with some nice machines.

I would never decry Triton's gear, I have always liked it and still do. I do however think that they have lost touch with their market and are have priced themselves out of the market they are aiming for.

Why do people always say "you shuld start with a Triton and as your knowledge grows you upgrade to a real tablesaw?" Does it mean Triton is easier to operate then a tablesaw? I thought it was the opposite. Or do you learn it the hard way and you experience all the frustration which makes your decision to buy a real tablesaw easier?

Stuart, don’t get me wrong. I agree with what you said. After all there are a few of you out there. How much did a cast iron table saw cost when you started? Yes, what you said worked years ago. Nowadays there are plenty of better options out there.

To me, I upgraded right from the beginning. That put me WELL ahead.

This is probably sounding a bit like a scratched record, but the original idea of the Triton was as a stand to hold the circular saw that you already own. If you don't have to buy a saw as well, then no tablesaw you can get for the same price will compare. People always factor in the price of the saw. That's missing the point. When you sell the Triton, you can still keep the saw. I already had mine when I bought the Triton.

The other thing is that the Triton has one feature that no other tablesaw has - you can fold it up and put it away. This is the only option for people working out of a garage that is used for parking cars, or who don't have a shed at all and need to work outside. Are you going to wheel your Supersaw out into the backyard whenever you want to use it? Where are you going to keep it? That feature alone makes the Triton stand out as an obvious choice for some people.

I still have mine and it is very handy when I need a tablesaw away from the shed. I can put it in the boot of my car. It only needs one person to lift it. Can you do that with a 100kg plus tablesaw? No you can't. I rest my case.