Thread: New Table Saw - which one to get

Originally Posted by wedgtail

I have just purchased one of these Evolution 255mm 1800W Multi-Purpose Table Saw RAGE5S | Total Tools For my work it is an amazing saw i had enough money left in the budget to buy a track saw .

Hi, that looks to be a pretty decent purchase, just a few questions if i may ?

1. it says in the Specs that it is 1800w, but in the description at the top of the page says it is 1500w ?

2. Specs also say that the speed is 2500 minimum, so do you know the actual blade speed unloaded ?

3. what is the maximum cross cut measurement after the slide has been moved furthest from the front of the blade (found out that the cross cut is only 370mm)

Pitty it isn't 184mm as i could use all my 184mm blades with it, literally spent a small fortune recently buying various types of carbide tip blades for my 184mm power saws.

EDIT: after watching this video i would be a bit worried about a few things, firstly the blade guard doesn't seem to want to lift as the wood is pushed towards the blade, the guy had to file off some plastic to make it work, and there seems to be a lot of slop in the track of the cross cut jig, and it doesn't seem to slide very easily (if both are made from aluminium this is not always not always a good thing)

YouTube

Also i noticed that the motor is very noisy (the guys refers to this) and when he finally got his timber to rip, it seemed to jam and want to kick up slightly, possibly caused by the motor not being powerful enough (low rpm) or the ripping fence was not quite parallel to the blade, something that is a big issue with cheaper branded table saws.

This is another video and if you go to the 7 minute mark, you will again see the badly flawed say guard in action
YouTube

I don't think i would buy one myself, just not the quality or precision of the slightly more expensive DeWalt and Makita saws, but i do like the extendable cross cut slide.

On a side note, i went to Total Tools today to buy my new 184mm DeWalt power saw, and they didn't have any corded saws in stock, which i thought was strange, when i asked why, the guy got a bit stroppy and tells me that nobody buys them any more, and if they stocked every product in their website they would need a bigger store.

The Hobart store is HUGE as it is, and a few small power saws would not be that difficult to stock, and if i wanted one, it will not be in the store until mid January.

I called some other Dewalt outlets and they also had no corded saws, again nobody buys them because everyone is using Battery powered tools (not this former builder)

I ended up walking out of the store with a cheaper 184mm Makita saw, was only $109 and when i got it home and used it, i was shocked buy just how bad this thing was compared to the $139 DeWalt saw that i have been using for the past 3 months (the one i dropped and broke recently)

Makita 1200W 185mm Circular Saw HS7600SP | Total Tools

Going to make a new topic about this horrible saw, and i will be ordering another DeWalt saw tomorrow for use with my saw table and track saws, this new Makita POS can be used for my other non critical work away from the workshop.

This is what we get in Youtube, every now and then we come across a few idiots who should be locked up for placing hilarious videos comparing various products to each other, and make a complete FOOL of themselves.

Not only does this idiot compare 2 completely different table saws, he does not mention any of the flaws of the Evolution saw, but he then goes on to remove the poorly designed blade guard and uses the saw without it, revealing to us just what a fool this guy really is, and then he doesn't tell us that the blade guard is flawed and dangerous in the first place (something many others have mentioned)

YouTube

I would design the cabinets, do a cut list for each and get the sheets cut by the supplier, I doubt the cutting would come to $1200 and a good panel saw will give a better result that any track saw and the time saved will be immense.

Agreed, the comment above^^makes good sense, hare and forbes stock woodfast panel saw model TS250rs, it’s a good little unit, with a proper sliding table, decent fence, and tilting arbor. It would be a far better option than a run of the mill contractor saw, much more accurate. I have the larger one and I cannot fault it, it’s a great machine for the money.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

I would design the cabinets, do a cut list for each and get the sheets cut by the supplier, I doubt the cutting would come to $1200 and a good panel saw will give a better result that any track saw and the time saved will be immense.

Hi Chris, i am not doing this for just one kitchen job, i wanted to get a suitable table saw for every day use, plus have it to cut kitchen cabinet materials with when required (paid jobs) as in the Melamine cabinet panels as well as the Lamiwood for the doors and panels.

The material suppliers who i deal with (Polytec, Laminex Industries etc) do not offer cutting services as they are purely suppliers, so joinery shops are the only option unless you go to a Flat Pack supplier and many of those are not that cheap, and you need to deal with them online in most cases, as there are not many Flat Pack places open to the public.

Here in Hobart nobody can get any joinery work done (kitchens) for 6 months or more, as the building industry is absolutely booming, and most joinery shops are now contracting out to various builders and won't do private jobs, and if they did do a cutting list for me, i can tell you now that a full kitchen cut list (cabinets and doors/panels and benchtops) would cost well over $1200 in labor cost, then they charge a mark up (from their wholesale price to retail price) on the materials they use.

I retired as a joiner/builder a few years ago and earlier this year we downsized from a big home with a huge workshop to a brand new 3 bedroom townhouse, and my 7m x 5m garage is now my workshop, having to put the car outside the roller door when working inside, so i don't have the room for a big Panel Saw like i had before (the big brother to that WoodCraft TS250 model) and we don't have the power capacity on our garage power supply, and we can't add to it unfortunately.

I have been approached by several people recently to see if i could design and build their new kitchens and laundry cabinets for them (2 are new homes, one is an old house) as they can't get anyone to do it for them, and the quotes they did get were so high that they simply couldn't afford it (ripoffs) so i have designed their spaces for them, and decided to do these 3 jobs myself as the money would be good, hence wanting to get a smallish table saw to help me get this started.

Fortunately i think my problem has now been solved today, as i took a drive to Launceston (Northern Tassy) to see my dermatologist, and while i was there i drove past a joinery shop that advertised a Flat Pack service, so i went into their showroom and spoke to the owner, and it now looks like i will be using this business to supply all my cabinets, as their direct competitor is Kaboodle (sold at Bunnings) and he priced up the 3 kitchens for me (printed them from my laptop) and i was very surprised at his prices, about 40% cheaper per kitchen than Kaboodle could do them for (these 3 clients each got a quote from Bunnings prior to contacting me) and they were at least 60% cheaper or more on average than the other joinery shops were.

They don't do benchtops in house, as they anly do the cabinets and panels, but he put me in touch with his own benchtop supplier and they are doing quotes for me tomorrow.

The joinery in Launceston have guaranteed me a turn around time of 2 to 3 weekson each kitchen after placing the order, and the benchtop supplier is around 3 to 4 weeks, and i can collect the cabinets fully built, or in flat pack form.

I will just charge my design and consultancy fees (usually between $400 and $500) as well as add 25% to the cost of the kitchen and benchtops supplied to me, plus installation costs if need be.

If my first 3 clients are happy with the prices i gave them to supply from this Kitchen supplier in Launceston then i will just get them to do all of my work for me, saving me the hassle of setting up machinery, and i can still earn good money without building the kitchens myself.

I went to Carbatec today after i got home from Launceston and i spent $46 on a 10m roll of Festool rubber hold down tape for my track saw.

This stuff really does work, as i initially had my doubts, but after testing it out, i think i can safely say that i can now throw away the clamps

The self adhesive on the back of the rubber is super sticky too, it stuck so well i cant get it off if i tried.

Nice to see the attached videos. I got idea from this video to buy tools.