Thread: Which Table Saw

Have a look at the comments on the Carbatec TSC-10HB, Reggie.

I ended up buying this unit, and with a good quality quiet blade it runs well, no problems other than having to close up a fair few holes for efficient dust extraction eg the motor housing chamber where the saw dust gathers has a 4mm gap all around the door.

The hole in the LH table extension is an annoying eyesore, as it is not much good for supporting a router. I would have preferred a normal extension table with bolt holes on the outer edge to bolt my Triton sliding table extension. I suppose I could swap the left and right table extensions for that - a real PIA doing that when I could be actually playing with it.

The fence is good and accurate. The throat plates are useless, very sloppy fit, and cannot be used as a template for cutting zero clearance inserts.

Pity is does not have a riving knife arrangement, and the maximun recommended dado width is only 15mm.

I will be interested to see what you end up with, as I was limited to $2k

regards,
Jill

Reggie
I'm a pro ... but only in the sense that I agree with your choice

You'll find heaps of info on these forums about table saw decisions.
I have been reading them for about 2 years now and wish I had bought then for about 70-80% of the price I paid for mine a few weeks ago!

Anyway I was loking at the TSC-10HB and the TSC-110L and at the show prices the 110 was only $100 more. After observing that the 110 came with the better mitre guage and a decent riving knife that swapped with a blade guard that also rises and falls with the blade ... the 10HB doesn't) and the left tilt (which I see that you have included) I asked what the difference was (that made up the extra $400 (normally) and the extra 80kg ... with a less than satisfactroy answer I still walked out with the 280kg 110 under my arm ... well it was delivered for a very good price really.

So far it has only been played with, but talk about beautiful ... pay the extra for the riving knife setup alone! Quiet, powerful great rip fence and easy to set up. have built a cross-cut sled for it and can cut 19mm Jarrah without even feeling that it's doing it. Some serios ripping next ... see if I can test out the 3HP motor

So far I think it is a fantastic buy. The only thing that doesn't really come up to expectations is the mitre ... which is the one CT sell for $90 or the like ... which is just OK and obviously made for a right tilt machine ... so it's lovely 45 degree end on it useless for my setup as it doesn't appear reversible.

Hi Reggie,

I have the CTH-110 as well and bought it at the WA Wood Show for $1900. I got it over the 10HB for all the reasons Ramps summarised so well. But I bought the right tilt version. I'd love to tell you how fantastic it is but due to a back injury it's still in its packing in my shed having been delivered 2 weeks ago .

Anyway I was in Carbatec on Saterday and saw they have it on the floor for the same show price I paid. I got free delivery buying at the show but dare say that could be negotiated.

Thanks Jill B, Ramps and Cow,

I just spent an hour writing a reply to you and the bloody thing wouldn't save. I have the patience of Mike TYSON on Ice, so I'm pretty annoyed right now. Will gather my thoughts and respond soon.

Your comments are very much appreciated.

Reggie

Hello JillB, Ramps and Cow,

Thank you for your time and effort. Here is the shortened version of my post.

Questions; -

Jill B,

1) What sort of dust extraction are you running?
2) What is it about holes that makes them such an annoyance in our lives, particularly as you get older? Seriously though, I take it the LH table is for use as a router table? Not much good huh?
3) The Triton sliding table extension is unfamiliar to me, is it for supporting large panels?
4) The throat plate problem would drive me insane, have Carabatec not got a solution?

Ramps,

1) I am with you! I too should have made this a priority a few years ago, instead of persisting with my little old contractors saw. What made you go with the left versus right tilt (not wanting to get too personal)?
2) Is the rip fence as good as the venerable Beisemeyer?
3) Please let me know how it goes when ripping a decent bit of hardwood, my little saw sends out smoke signals to tell me when it’s not happy?
4) Is there any fix for the mitre gauge problem?

Cow,

1) Thanks for the price watch advice, I probably would have been hypnotized by the machine and paid top dollar, how long ago did you actually order/pay for it?
2) Does the right tilt have a different model number such as CTH-110-R?
3) I hope your back recovers soon so you can get back in the shed, have you tried a chiropractor? GP’s often don’t have the answers.

Thanks heaps,

Reggie

Reggie
I also bought mine at the ww show in Perth a few weeks ago but unlike cow I have mine out of the box. Bugger cow, how frustrating but wouldn't want to be manhandling it with anything but a really good back. Even the extension tables are heavy enough one-handed while trying to put the bolts in place!

Simple solution to the mitre fence issue is to whack on piece of expendable MDF. I think most people do anyway so you can run right up to the fence. It just means that the the "flash" stop won't work over the top of the additiional piece of MDF. mind you I think the fence on the mitre guage is too short to have an end stop anyway ... you'd have to be cutting up very short bits of wood!

Never having used the Beisemeyer I wouldn't be able to compare but it is good and it seems to move very smoothly and lock down squareand tight ... what else can one ask of a rip fence?

Hanging to the left ... just thought thru the cutting I'd be doing and figures it was more logical to go with left tilt ... but there is heaps of discussion on the forums about that as well ... personal preference really.

and yeah you're right the right tilt does have the "R" on the end in stead on the "L"

Ripping well I will give it a good test on the w/e if you can wait that long It's meant to be able to cut 79mm height so I think I can easily find a few bits of 3" jarrah around here that need bringing down to size is that hard enough for you or should I do some further digging to drag out some tuart?

cheers

1) What sort of dust extraction are you running? 1hp, about to upgrade to 2ph
2) What is it about holes that makes them such an annoyance in our lives, particularly as you get older? Seriously though, I take it the LH table is for use as a router table? Not much good huh? Not in my view, and not in the the view of some others on this Forum
3) The Triton sliding table extension is unfamiliar to me, is it for supporting large panels? Yes, you need to see what Sturdee has done here
4) The throat plate problem would drive me insane, have Carabatec not got a solution? Haven’t bothered with them. I have added making tape to make it a good fit, then will use that as a one off template to make a good fit template.

Hi Reggie,

The show was on the 7th- 9th August and I ordered mine on the first day, Friday 7th.

The right tilt is the 110R as Ramps said. Funny it doesn’t appear on the Carbatec website but both were on display at the show. You asked Ramps why he went left. I went right because after reading the various discussions til my head was swimming I decided I’m not particularly fussed. I don’t envisage the blade being used in a tilting mode much. One thing I liked about the right tilt was that the measuring reference is unaffected by various kerf thicknesses and that will be useful to me I think. To be honest if I do unpack it and they’ve sent me an L instead of an R then I doubt if I’d care. These words may come back to haunt me as the weight of opinion seems to be on the left tilt side.

Thanks all for the sympathy for my back. I ruptured 2 discs a couple of years ago and I aggravated the injury quite badly shortly after buying the saw. Weapon grade anti-inflammatory drugs work wonders tho and I’m on my feet again thanks. I’ve been doing pilates with a physio since the injury and it’s helping but I think I’ll try a Chiropractor too.

Anyway all the best for your decision process and let us know.

Cheers
Cow

Good to hear Cow ... you know what they do to cows that can't get back on their feet in a hurry

That was one of the things I considered when going L/R then I figured that I wasn't going to trust the fence to be that exact anyway so was likely to use it as an estimate and measure to the sub-millimetre when it matters.

I tried to find a bit of 2x3 jarrah but have used it all on the internal frames in the shed (where I'm living at the moment) had to rip and bit of 2x4 down to 2x3 so I could sink the blade at basically full depth so the 2" rip was a bit of a warm up. Well the 3" rip thru jarrah ... I couldn't say it cut like butter ... maybe as easy as cutting bread though . Still a POP just slower. nothing hesitated except where the piece was slightly out of square and got a bit tight between the riving knife and the fence.

Excellent really happy

I was comparing it against the current Jet models ... pretty sad line up at the moment as I thought I was going to walk out with my first Jet piece of machinery

All the best ... really don't see how you could go wrong for the $ you can put the extra $$ towards a good dusty or BS

Cheers

Thanks again guys,

JillB,

I've got a 2hp carbatec extractor, which I really needed to run with the jointer and thicknesser (both carbatec). Boy, don't they make some saw dust/shavings. I can fill two bags in a day. I made a little collector for the table saw to run into the extractor which works a treat. The contractors saw is open to the back and bottom, so the extraction isn't terrific, but it's better than nothing.

It's good to hear your view on the router table attachment. I am up to my second generation router table, which is fantastic. The first was pretty good too. I basically watched Norm on NYW and sort of copied his for my first effort. The new one is like going from a Morris Minor to a fomula one. I bought a load of PWS stuff including a uni lift. My advice is if you can afford it, get one.

Sturdee is a very clever person. I'd like to see a picture with the gizmo attached. What a beauty.

I wouldn't be without masking tape in my shop. I use it for holding pieces together, packing things, repairing little wood splinters, clamping small pieces, etc.

Cow,

I have had neck problems for years and before I saw the chiro I was ready for the scrap heap. That guy has turned my life around.

Good point about the kerf. I must look into that (oh god I'm sounding like Steve Bracks - The mirror man!).

Ramps,

That must be some shed you've got there. We hardly get to see Jarrah in Victoria these days, let alone 2 x 3 lengths to build a shed with. To cut that jarrah as you've described is pretty good going. The hot knife through buttler might just be a blade issue. I just bought a FLAI U series combination for my saw to get me by and it is a brute. 40 teeth, but still gives a smooth cut on melamine. I know they're expensive at $170.00, but worth the cash. Was the jarrah still a bit wet?

Interesting to hear your comments about the Jet machines.

Cheers,

Reggie

Reggie,

If you are using the 2hp DC to collect chips and shavings from a jointer and thicknesser, then I would recommend you get a pre-separator like the one I built here. That way you stop the chips doing damage to the impeller of your DC

regards,
Jill

Hey Jill, chased your Thien separator thread but you didn't let us know how efficient it is... yet. How much does it pick up ... all the coarse nd most of the fines or just all the coarse? Either way it's good as mine is mostly filled with the coarse from tht P/T

Reggie, yeah we can get a little careless with the jarrah around this end of the world ... still burn a lot but the stuff I cut ripped the other day way dried in the roof of a house for about 80 years so I think it was what could be classed as equivalent to kiln dried

Had an orange (CMT) 20 tooth on for the ripping and have a 40 tooth one for the finer cutting. I cut a piece of melamine the other day to make the x-cut sled. Very few chips ... and that was with the 20 tooth! Cut thru a piece of masking tape next time and it was literally perfect ... wht did I buy that 40 tooth ... and that 80 tooth for the RAS???

Jet well the local Jet distributors are advertising Jet bandsaws on their front page but Woodman table saws ... does that tell you something ... don't think they even sold woodman gear a year ago but I could be wrong. Being American design they seem to be behind the eight-ball on the riving knife and guards raising a lowering with the blade side of things ... they'll get there ... one day. I feel the riving knife attached to the trunnion is very important and we all know how ofter we remove the guard to see better or to cut part way thru something, or ... or ... and when do we give up on it all together. So even when the guard can't be used the riving knife is always there and doing its job without getting in the way.... sorry jet ... catch up ... it's hard to believe that "The world's safest saw" and the jet are designed in the saw country ... update I was just doing some more digging ... looks like the the new Supersaw is being advertised with "NOW WITH A NEW STYLE RIVING KNIFE WITH AN OVERHEAD GUARD AND INCORPORATING A DUST EXTRACTION OUTLET" sorry abou the yelling ... that's straight off the web site ... I think they heard me ... their other saws haven't got the same claim. Price: ASK still has the 1.75HP motor (I like my 3HP ... Jarrah, Tuart)
Cheers

Hi,

Have you considered an MBS saw? Unfortunately my MBS 250 is on its way from Taiwan so I can't comment on it directly, however there are others who rave about their 12" version the MBS 300.

I got my MBS250 from Wood Working Warehouse for $2200, granted I did spend over $6000 in one go which is probably why I got such a discount, but there would be no harm in looking.

The MBS250 / 300 has riving knife and overhead suva guard as standard, and when you get to see the saw in person, its sure is a big and very solid looking bugger, thats for sure.

http://wwwh.com.au/webshop/EWWItem.c...118519%7C%7C39

In addition there is a new woodman saw complete with riving knife that is priced at $2200 out the door (might be discount possible - who knows!), should be arriving at WWWH in the next few weeks I believe.

http://wwwh.com.au/webshop/EWWItem.c...118519%7C%7C46

I found Wanita and staff an absolute joy to work with, they were very patient as I made the what I found quite onerous decision to buy $6000 worth of equipment.

Anyway I think its worth your while to visit braeside if you can, Carbatec are not the only game in town by any means, and you can get some good discounts off the website prices, well at least I did!

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f11/woe-choice-quantity-quality-102512-post1024462

Edit - also the MBS300 that is demo in at WWWH has the sliding table - you might find yourself trying to work out where you get that extra grand for the sliding table, I myself had to walk away without it, but have not forgotten the fact I can fit it at some later time!

Cheers
Jason

Hi Ramps, have a look at the results of my pre-separator efficiency here.

Gee you guys are impatient. No sooner do I get it built in the dead of night when you guys want photos. I get the photos done, and then you want full test and commissioning results

regards,
Jill