Thread: Trunion Assembly

Sir

As the saying goes, you get what you pay for.

At at the top end is the cabinet saws. Cabinet saws are bigger, and heavier and normally with bigger motors. They are normally equiped with a heavy duty rip fence. They are well built. Due to the sturdy construction they are realy the rolls royce of saws and you will definitely enjoy working with them. This sturdy construction is what makes them so accurate. If you are a serious wood worker and can afford one of them, do not hesitate. They realy are the best.

Contractor saws are at the bottom end. They are relatively cheap. The good ones can do the job, and do it well, but they will never be as good as a cabinet saw. They are acurate if the work you do is not too heavy, and if you take care. Aftermarket rip fences and cross cut guides can improve the accuracy a lot, but those after market stuff is very expensive.

In the middle is the hybrid saws. These are smaller cabinet saws, with sturdy trunions, mostly mounted to the cast iron table but some of them indeed have the trunion assembly mounted to the cabinet, just like the heavy duty cabinet saws.

They are pricier than contractor saws, but not near as pricy as the big cabinet saws. They are equiped with very good rip fences and croscut mitre guides. If you dont need the heavy cabinet saws, but want a decent profesional saw. go for one of these hybrid cabinet saws.

Have fun.

I started out with a contractors saw, but it was very difficult to align the blade with the mitre slot on this type of saw with the trunnion bolted to the table itself, so sent it back ( the mitre slots were of different widths too) and ended up with the cabinet saw, a Carbatec 10HB. Much better quality.

With the cabinet saw it is quite simple to loosen the 4 bolts attaching the table to the cabinet, and move it to align the slot relative to the blade. Also, the dust collection is so much better than the contractors saw.

Thank you for your opinions. I agree you get what you pay for and quality tools and machinery make the experience of woodworking more enjoyable and less frustrating.

After initially ordering the contractor saw, I was persuaded by the salesman that the benefits of a cabinet saw justify the extra expense. So I changed the order and bought the cabinet saw. The extra cost will be a distant memory when the frustrations of the past will no longer be experienced.

Rob

Hi Rob, send us a picture of your new saw. You must have a picture of the occasion. You will never forget the first time you push a piece of timber through and the saw just purs along, ripping it with a cut that looks like it has been planed. Enjoy.
Regards
Theo

Rob, enjoy your new toy, as others have expressed you have bought a better product. I hope I'm not telling you how to suck eggs, but it's worth checking the blade alignment being parallel with the blade, preferably using a dial indicator.

Originally Posted by Anodyne

Rob, enjoy your new toy, as others have expressed you have bought a better product. I hope I'm not telling you how to suck eggs, but it's worth checking the blade alignment being parallel with the blade, preferably using a dial indicator.

I ordered one of those too. All set ready to go.....