Thread: Trade Tools 12m10a Cabinet Saw

Before you go out buying dedicated ripping and crosscut blades, at least consider getting just one good quality combination blade. Lots of options out there (I prefer the Infinity combo, others have said the Freud combo is good).

The cut quality for both ripping and crosscutting has to be seen to be believed - and no more blade changes/riving knife adjustments until the blade has to be changed out for sharpening.

Interesting review on this saw.....which comes, I believe, in various names.....mines the SB12 which is the same saw but with cast iron extensions ( no sliding table wing or router extension).

My review is here: https://www.woodworkforums.com/f171/s...et-saw-148542/

I found it needed a lot of tweaking to get right, i changed blade, I got rid of the plastic blade guard which was a hindrance and replaced with my own version and modified the riving knife so that it was same height as blade. I also found the table not to be flat so had it re-ground flat. It was evident that the table cast iron is thin compared to the higher priced table saws....hence cheaper and more prone to not being flat. The throat plate is OK for tilting the blade (don't do very often anyway) but for straight cuts I use a zero clearance plate made out of ply. Notice how thin the throat plate is.....because the cheaper saws have thinner cast iron. The fence although sturdy had to be shimmed to be straight faced.

The only other issue is that when you raise or lower the blade it does not stay 90deg to the table but changes slightly by a couple of degrees.

Other than that it is quite good for the price once you put in the hours to set it up. Sure if I had cash to splurge I would have bought a Powrmatic but compromises had to be made and this saw is a good poor man's compromise!

cheers

Mike

Mikes comments, and his previous review, sent me downstairs to check my Woodman saw. The table seems to be flat, or if it isnt its not something that can be found with a straightedge. Likewise, the blade doesnt heel over when raised or lowered, or if it does then its not something that can be found with a square. This made me wonder what would have happened if I'd found either to be the case. I'd like to think it would be returned for replacement, because I dont think either of these faults is acceptable even in a moderately priced saw like this one. I could be on shaky ground though - what if the dealer insists that the saw is flat enough for an economy saw and the blade heeling over is also acceptable ?

Previous posts on this topic indicate that these saws vary somewhat in the quality of what is delivered. Maybe there are Friday saws and Tuesday saws. Maybe there is more then one factory making these saws and one factory is new and taking time to bed its processes down ? Who knows. My saw has its own faults, but by happy coincidence they are among the things which I intended to replace anyway (like the two throat plates and useless blade which came with the saw). The only thing that really irks me is the screw-lock on the blade tilt. No matter what I do with it, it just slides anyway.

So heres my strategy for anyone buying this saw. Check the display model. If its has these faults then go elsewhere (lets assume they have a batch of Friday saws and cant tell the difference), but if it doesnt then its your quality reference point in case of dispute. Get a prior verbal committment from the salesman that the table will be flat and the blade wont heel over, just like the display model. Get him to verbally acknowledge that an expectation of a dead flat table is thoroughly reasonable on a saw at this price point. Make a bit of a fuss over it, so that it is imprinted in his memory. Then, if the saw delivered doesnt match up, ring the same salesperson and ask for replacement, reminding him of his verbal committment. I dont think anyone will refuse to replace.

cheers
Arron

I'm afraid the same issues apply even with "name brand" saws, like JET. QA is better than the cheapies, but you do still often get issues. I've even heard of people having faults on delivery with Powermatic....

Of course, in the case of JET or Powermatic you'd hope the dealer wouldn't haggle too much about fixing the problem, given the price paid....