Thread: Opinions/Advice on first Table Saw purchase.

Originally Posted by Asharper

Dazzler, that's a nice area you live in. Surfed that area a bit in my youth, not so much now in my mid-years. Bushland hiding the coast from the road and the odd noah keeps the crowd down a bit.

Hi

Near Hastings @ pottsville beach. Sweet place. I still have mine. Still happy.

Asharper, I'm not trying to throw a spanner into the works but give you something to think about. I was in your boat about 18 months ago. It was a toss up between the Harvey and Laguna. The only reason I went Laguna was I didn't want to alter my electricals to cater for a 15A machine even though it's not difficult or expensive. Anyway I noticed on bbta's website the Harvey has a 30mm arbour if that's right. That tends to limit the blades you can get. The Laguna has a 5/8" USA (about 16mm) standard arbour which means I can get any blade from anywhere, in fact I get all my blades from Amazon. Always cheaper. If you get a 5/8" bore blade you will have to redrill a 30mm hole to fit in the saw. There are plenty of 30mm bore blades in Australia but not many overseas which are cheaper and you have a better range. I can still use a 30mm bore blade with a reducer bushing to 5/8". In the whole scheme of things it probably doesn't matter as accessibility is not a problem but just something for you to ponder

EDIT ... Just noticed on Major woodworking that you can opt for 30mm or 5/8" on the Harvey. Have you noticed that all the blades they sell are 5/8". If you go down the Harvey route then I would recommend you go 5/8" then you can get any blade.

G'day barri,

Thanks for the information. Tahlee mentioned back on post #7 that blades generally were not a problem to get for 30mm but might have to get holes on the dado stack re-bored, however DomAu mentioned on post #22 that CMT has a set for 30mm (which he also uses). As you pointed out, the real benefit is if you have more options blade options on 5/8 or can get cheaper from Amazon, so will have a look into. As mentioned at start, not worried about 15amp or additional electrical work as nephew is an electrician and willing to do any work for me for cost of materials he doesn't have in his work-truck at the time.

Cheers,

Ashley

Honestly I haven't had any issues sourcing blades with a 30mm bore for my needs. Others may differ but I bought a freud 24 tooth for ripping, a freud 60 toother as a more general purpose/combination (would have liked a few less teeth) and a freud specialized 80 tooth for melamine. Other than not having bought a dado set I think this combination would see me get through most situations. Maybe a glue-line rip one day but the 24 tooth is an exceptional blade.

Wouldn't the larger diameter arbor be a positive where a table saw like the Harvey is delivering 3HP over a conventional 5/8 or 16mm arbor? Just throwing the question out there.

Interesting that BBTA have them on order. Contradicts what I was originally told but $400 is still a good saving for the consumer. I don't regret purchasing from Roy at Get Woodworking. He listened to my needs and happily answered many of my (sometimes stupid) questions rather than pushing a sale.

Just my 2c.

Trav.

Originally Posted by TBM1

Wouldn't the larger diameter arbor be a positive where a table saw like the Harvey is delivering 3HP over a conventional 5/8 or 16mm arbor? Just throwing the question out there.

Trav, I don't think its a positive or negative. Just about all the USA table saws are 5/8" and some of those are 5HP. I haven't heard anybody wanting a bigger arbor from an efficiency point of view. Like I mentioned above I buy my blades from Amazon at sometimes $40 or more cheaper delivered than here. One thin kerf CMT blade, for example, is $60 delivered from Amazon and over $100 from Carbatec and it only takes 9 business days to get here. So it opens up a whole range of options. With a 5/8" arbor I can still get 30mm bore blades using a bushing but its difficult to work the other way.

Just curious, how much would they charge to have a 5/8" arbor on a harvey or is it you that you just choose one?

Hey barri,

Valid points.

I don't actually think I was given the option of 5/8 to be honest when I bought the LGE so I don't know what the cost difference would be. I know that MW listed both sizes on their website but from memory, Roy said he only ever received saws with the 30mm arbor? I could be wrong.