Thread: Improving a cheap table saw

Hi Batpig,

I realise, as I said in my first post, that this is not state of the art in saw tables, and it's not intended for work which requires the sort of precision and features available with a $5000 table. Its major shortcoming at the moment is its poor excuse for a mitre gauge, but once that's sorted I'll have a table which I can tackle work I haven't been able to before. You don't need a Ferrari to do the weekly shopping, and you wouldn't tackle a Grand Prix with a bicycle, but each has its use!

Dear Foris,

Well said my friend, and with a nice touch of Techno-Eloquence in the last sentence .

Best Wishes,
Batpig.

I bought a bandsaw years ago with the same problem. Instead of remanufacturing the mitre gauge, I rivetted a suitable thickness strip of aluminium along one edge of the guide (not the slot) to take up the slack. It worked OK.

Cheers

Hey Foris,

As you might recall, I had the same problem as you. Unfortunately the mitre guage docking thingo was loose in its track, so I could never guarantee a square cut. The track that the guage runs in is about 9.1mm.

The way I fixed it was to go out and get a length of 10mm square bright steel (mild steel). Cut it so the length you need. Then on your grinder slowly keep running each face of the steel across the grinder, making an effort to keep it straight and square. Its not as hard as it sounds.

When you get close, so that you can start to get it in the track but it binds, get out some 80grit wet and dry, stick it to a piece of glass with spray cement, and start rubbing.

When you are getting real close, you can continue this process on a rough sharpening stone, depending on how keen you are.

Once you have a piece of metal that runs in the track smoothly, without slop, it is a simple matter to tap the two screws and one hole required to reassemble.

I finished my mine last night and it is a real winner now.

HTH

Wongdai

Originally Posted by Foris

After reading some positive reviews, have just bought a cheap Aldi (Taurus) 10 inch table saw ($219). I am under no illusions that this is a fine woodworking tool, but it is better than nothing, fits my budget, and you have to start somewhere!

Overall, I'm happy enough with it for the money, but it does have one glaring shortcoming - the slop in the mitre gauge (in the track) is truly appalling, something I will have to address to make that feature useable.

Being a complete newbie when it comes to table saws, I don't know what my range of options is. I have looked at the Incra V27 mitre gauge, but this might be overkill for a cheap saw, and I also wonder if it would fit, as I don't know if the slot/track is a standard size. It is an inverted "T", the wide cross section is approx 20.25mm x 4mm deep, and the narrow part is around 16.5mm x 2mm deep.

Would the Incra work for this saw, or are there other options available to me?

Ok, I am in the same position as yourself, and I purchased one of these table saws as well.

I do think that even though the price was only $219 that is a little above the cost for a "toy". HAVCO have one just a little dearer.

I agree with the slop on the mitre guage slide and I paid $25.OO to have another one made up, the distance of slop on the original is 0.50mm which gives around 12 to 15 mm at the end of the mitre gurage near the saw...Too much when you consider none is just right.

That is one: Now the gap between saw and table is over 11mm and this is dangerous as it means an 8mm off cut can go down the slot and jam up the saw.

Another: The plastic cover around the saw blade has to be taken out to do saw adjustments and to change blades. The Plastic will crack if you put too much tight on the screws (there are 8)

Also: The recess where this plastic sits is uneven in depth and ranges from 4.00mm to 4.52mm, the plastic is ranging from 3.06mm to 3.58mm which means that there is a step on the out feed side of the blade. This is highly dangerous as you find you are jammed up with a bit of wood which is jammed on the 'other side of the saw'...You need to hold the wood, and find the switch to turn the machine off.

AND: The riving knife goes stright up to hold the safety cover over the blade. this means you cannot do a half cut or use the mitre guage to do tenons the knife is in the way, and if you remove the riving knife and blade hood you are breaching safety. I cut the frving knife off at 5mm below the blade, and will make up some clips to hold the blade hood later. (The metal is very very hard and you need a ground down masionary drill to make holes in it)

AND: The dust collection hose under the saw will not work as it is crushed up against the side of the saw housing...I have yet to get to that one.

Fixing, I do think it is still worth fixing: The plastic insert shall be tossed away in my case, and a new alluminium one made up after I get the recess machined to an even depth.

I think I have explained fixes on the other parts.

Final analyses: The plastic insert is a manufacturing fault which the saw is guarnateed under for 12 months. It is also a danger matter so if no action is taken by the company Fair trading could be interested.

I will be contacting the company agents in Annandale Sydney in the new year and I will put these matter to them. Their phone # is 1300 355 255

If anyone should ring the agents I would suggest yu stress the danger of the too large gap between blade and blade slot sides and the risk of jam up of timber in the recess of the plastic insert. Mention the others as well.

PS: Did you work out the two little bits of strap metal that was not mentioned in the construction manuel??? LOL

PPS the comapny is a Candian Company.

I feel like a fox terrier on this one, I have my teeth in and don't want to let go.

You might, rightfully , ask, "Why bother, just take it back and get your money"

That would be easy, the Aldi store has already offerd to refund me in full, even after my cutting off the riving knife.

But, come on fellas and fellaresses, if you know why we persist, let me know, 'cause I don't. Is it the challenge or just dumb headedness.? maybe a bit of both, hey?

I saw, in this forum, where a bloke bought a Ryobi thicknesser and pulled it to bits to reduce snipe. I have a Ryobi thicknesser and I reduce the depth of cut on the last few passes and find that I have no snipe, or I use a slightly longer bit of wood if I find that snipe is prevelant. so , why, Why why???

Thank you for listening folks.

Originally Posted by Black Bear

AND: The riving knife goes stright up to hold the safety cover over the blade. this means you cannot do a half cut or use the mitre guage to do tenons the knife is in the way, and if you remove the riving knife and blade hood you are breaching safety. I cut the frving knife off at 5mm below the blade, and will make up some clips to hold the blade hood later. (The metal is very very hard and you need a ground down masionary drill to make holes in it)

Its not the only machine that uses that setup unfortunately, Durden were guilty of it too. I still wouldn't dispense with the knife, as they are a major safety feature! Many tablesaws have a knife that disappears completely before the blade does, so you can still do rebates and rabbets. The guard needs to be mounted outboard, independant of the knife.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Andy Mac

Its not the only machine that uses that setup unfortunately, Durden were guilty of it too. I still wouldn't dispense with the knife, as they are a major safety feature! Many tablesaws have a knife that disappears completely before the blade does, so you can still do rebates and rabbets. The guard needs to be mounted outboard, independant of the knife.

My FiL told me when I bought my saw, to remove the riving knife and blade guard, which I have done.

Is this really a bad thing? I understand what the blade guard does (duh) but what function does the riving knife serve in regards to safety?

ps mine was as described above, with the blade guard attached to the riving knife.

The riving knife stops the workpiece kerf closing on the blade and jamming, which can result in kickback. Many timbers have a tendency to do this, especially if case hardened or poorly seasoned. A good test is to partially rip a length then withdraw it (oops, also frowned upon with the blade still turning, but I do it often, with a good grip) and look at the kerf. Sometimes the far end will have jammed closed, even twisted across each other, and that means trouble without your knife.
There are other issues with a riving knife, like it being thinner than the kerf of the blade, so the timber still grips the up side of the blade; as well as being thicker and harder to push; or misaligned.
With the Durden saw I mentioned I kept the system intact, and had to go through the rigmarole of unbolting that assembly when I wanted to rebate or rabbet. That led to the closest disaster I've ever had with a tablesaw...didn't secure the 2 bolts properly after refitting the knife & guard. The locating holes were slots, (not fully closed) and allowed the whole assembly to tip fwd into the spinning blade and launched itself at me and co-worker!! And the guard was a lump of cast alloy!
If concerned you can probably make a new fixed knife, but easy to remove.

Cheers

My previous table saw was one I made up from a had-powere saw with 10mm thick plastic as the base plate..it worked and I used a square of wood for a guide as a cross cut "mitre slide" Well! Necessity is the mother of invention.

This fence for this "invention" slid in slots on both ends of the fence, and I even inserted that tape you can buy for measuring. But no matter what, I have developed the habit of putting the fence on the measuring device and still checking with a steel rule afterwards.

I agree very much, with keeping the riving knife attached as I have had problems in that regard. IF the Riving knife is properly set it will hold the substrate (is that he right word...just love sounding profesional lol) against the fence.

I hope he agents do not tell me to take the ssw back to get my money, as I think it is redeemable. I might have to work on the safety aspect, which could be made to sound convincing if one talks about taking the riving knife and guard off to make tenons and rabbets.

Good Points: The saw cuts 95mm with a 254mm blade. Toss away the fitted blade and buy a good thick blade, min 3.5mm to stop blade flap (what is that word?)

For the price, a good strong 1500w motor, and my table top and associated bits are all alligned. The blade was set to perfect zero both ends, and is adjustable.

Bad Point: You have to turn the whole table upside down to work on the adjustments. I think I will remove the perforated guard from under te saw housing. If the neighbours cat jumps up in ther when the saw is going, it will at least lubricate the workings, hey? Leaving this guard on carried swdust, and an unexpected dust storm occurs when you start up again.

With a good and expensive saw, I would have nothing to talk about here, so that is a good point, sort of!!!!

[quote=Black Bear;867998]Ok, I am in the same position as yourself, and I purchased one of these table saws as well.

<snip>

PS: Did you work out the two little bits of strap metal that was not mentioned in the construction manuel??? LOL

Someone at a woodworking club told me they are to affix the power cord to the table. In that case, when you move the table while it is still plugged in you bugger up your power outlet instead of janking the cord from the motor. Seems a sensible use for it. I couldn't find anything in the manual for it either.

[quote=Hielke;868881][quote=Black Bear;867998]Ok, I am in the same position as yourself, and I purchased one of these table saws as well.

<snip>

PS: Did you work out the two little bits of strap metal that was not mentioned in the construction manuel??? LOL

Someone at a woodworking club told me they are to affix the power cord to the table. In that case, when you move the table while it is still plugged in you bugger up your power outlet instead of janking the cord from the motor. Seems a sensible use for it. I co

Hmmm! Don't know about putting a power cord behind them as the bare metal on the cord may wear through in time.

My guess was to hold the "Chicken Stick", the push stick. and the stick does fit in nicely there.

I have made contact with the Agent for the Tarurus table Saw. His name is Peter, he called me back after I left a message and sounds accommodating. I am going to do a photo set up to show him the problems....One big advantage is we both talk Australian. lol

Good to see this thread is still generating interest, and some thoughtful responses.

You make some good points, Black Bear, will be interesting to see the response from the Taurus agent.

I did have a quick and dirty attempt at making a new mitre gauge from aluminium strip, which was an improvement but suffered from my inaccuracies. In the end, I modified the existing one by cutting two slots in each end and spreading the metal to get a snug fit.

I have now used the saw for making a fairly elaborate entertainment unit from MDF, and have been surprised at the accuracy possible from the machine with a modicum of care. Apart from a second hand Triton unit bought many years ago, which had very little use, this is my first table saw, so no doubt much of the appeal is just being able to achieve these kinds of cuts easily. I could never have justified the much greater expense of a better unit, so I'm pleased that this is much more than a throw away toy, despite its shortcomings.