Thread: First table saw advice

Originally Posted by Midnight Man

If you have a nice, wide roller door, then that works too Nice plan - I have something similar in mind. In your thinking/planning, unless you will have a helper on hand at all times, don't forget to plan a way to provide support for longer pieces on the outfeed side of the saw (arguably, on the infeed side too) if your breaking up or using larger pieces/panels.

Good to hear I'm at least somewhat on the right track!

I'm second guessing pretty much every aspect of this, talk about analysis paralysis

Hi guys. Just to update the thread....a 2nd hand DWE7491-XE came up locally in excellent condition. Went and viewed and bought it last night. Online reviews are excellent and as a starter saw for what I want it will be more than enough. If I grow out of it in 12 months then I can always sell and buy something bigger. Thanks for all the advice and input

I enjoyed reading this thread as my journey was similar to yours and I ended up with the DWE7491-XE. It has quite a wide cut for such a small foot print and it can take a dado.

I've got mine on a small cabinet with wheels so I can push it around - this really helps in a small space. You will need some system for supporting in and out feeds but not a big problem for me as I use a track saw for cutting big sheets to a more workable size.

Enjoy the new saw. And make some zero clearance throat plates as the big gap in the stock plate can be dangerous when making thin cuts (don't ask how I know).

Originally Posted by Fluddman

I enjoyed reading this thread as my journey was similar to yours and I ended up with the DWE7491-XE. It has quite a wide cut for such a small foot print and it can take a dado.

I've got mine on a small cabinet with wheels so I can push it around - this really helps in a small space. You will need some system for supporting in and out feeds but not a big problem for me as I use a track saw for cutting big sheets to a more workable size.

Enjoy the new saw. And make some zero clearance throat plates as the big gap in the stock plate can be dangerous when making thin cuts (don't ask how I know).

Great to hear from another user.

Mine actually came on a rolling jobsite cart so I will use that for now. My plan is to build it into a mobile workbench which incorporates some outfeed space. And possibly a router table utilizing the fence of the table saw. The saw also came with a pretty sharp Diablo blade so I saved a little money there too.

I'm actually pretty excited

Hi Keane- late into your thread- IÂ’m an anaesthetist and over the years have anaesthetised many patients with devastating life changing hand injuries injuries from woodworking machinery. Spindle moulders seem to like fingers and bench saws seem partial to thumbs. My Elu contractors saw is worn out after 30 years of use and I will shortly be replacing it with a Saw Stop - probably the contractors model as itÂ’s more portable. I donÂ’t think thereÂ’s really a choice, cost notwithstanding. IÂ’m sure all the other manufacturers will produce their own versions once Saw Stop is off patent. Worth waiting for.

There’s dozens of choices. The main one is to keep body parts well away from spinning metal. No saw or machine is foolproof.

G’day aldav. Thanks for your thoughts. I went to the Carbatec site. They have 2 types of fences with that saw - T-Glide and Hi-Lo. Is one better than the other, or is it a matter of personal choice or advantages / disadvantages of each? I haven’t been able to find anything online about it. Both are on sale at the moment at the same price.

I’m assuming whether to go 30” or 50” will depend upon what I want to do with it, as well as available space.

@Dodgey, I'd heard that the hi-lo fence is not as good as the T-Glide. But I can't prove that nor find firm reviews stating it.

Originally Posted by Dodgey

G’day aldav. Thanksfor your thoughts. I went to the Carbatecsite. They have 2 types of fences withthat saw - T-Glide and Hi-Lo. Is onebetter than the other, or is it a matter of personal choice or advantages /disadvantages or each? I haven’t beenable to find anything online about it. Both are on sale at the moment at the same price.

I’m assuming whether to go 30” or 50” will depend upon what Iwant to do with it, as well as available space.

I've got the T-Glide fence and I like it very much. The Hi/lo fence looks a bit gimmicky and less solid, but I haven't used one.

There are times when it's handy to have a low fence, but it's not hard to create one using a bit of 9 or 10mm thick laminated MDF so I'd probably stick with the more conventional fence. It would be interesting to have a look at the two options in the flesh though. I see those saws are on special again for $1,999, that's exceptional value IMO.

I saw the $1999 deal at Carbatec too. At tax time it's very tempting. Seems to have pretty much everything needed barring the sawstop technology. anyone had bad experiences with it?

Originally Posted by thesovietfox

I saw the $1999 deal at Carbatec too. At tax time it's very tempting. Seems to have pretty much everything needed barring the sawstop technology. anyone had bad experiences with it?

Some of the people who've had this machine have said it took a fair amount of fiddling to get it set up properly, mainly to do with leveling the cast iron wings, but mine went together like a dream with some very minor tweaking. Perhaps the factory has improved quality control on newer models or maybe I just got a good one but mine was almost perfect out of the box and I've gone over it with an angle cube and a dial gauge checking everything. The one negative I'd note is that the table insert is pretty rubbishy, and I bought the after market zero clearance insert for $159. Apart from that I'm delighted with mine and would recommend it highly as probably THE entry level cabinet saw bargain atm.