What You Need to Know About Tabel Saws
A table saw is one of the nigh versatile and of import tools in your workshop. When you are gear up to purchase ane, information technology'south important to wait at all the different designs and features to ensure you are buying the i that will fit all of your cutting needs. Below are 13 things you should consider before buying a tabular array saw.
1) Base Blazon
The first conclusion you will demand to brand when buying a table saw is finding the balance betwixt mobility and power/accuracy. If you lot are someone that will need your saw moved around to unlike places (such as garage, yard, different business firm, etc), the saw you choose will wait much different than what a woodworker who cuts large sheets of plywood needs.
Tabular array saws come in three basic setups: portable, portable hybrid and stationary.
- Portable/Benchtop – These saws are both the smallest and usually the cheapest of the three categories. These saws are built so the users can literally choice them up and deport them to wherever they are needed.
The negative side to having a portable model is that they tend to be limited in the size of wood y'all tin use on it. Many times, the tables, will be much smaller, and it's merely not safe to cut large pieces of wood on them.
Another negative with these saws is that they aren't quite as sturdy as some of the larger units you will discover. This can affect accuracy if y'all are looking for very precise cuts.
At that place are many plans available online that show you how to build a large table that has large extension tables surrounding the saw. These additions will allow you to make larger cuts, but they won't significantly improve functioning or accuracy.
Pricing on these units are much cheaper. A very basic table top model tin start at around $250.
- Hybrid/Contractor – The appearance of these saws can vary a bit. A contractor saw tin be mounted to a pocket-sized cart that has wheels as well as a stock-still legged base of operations. These saws are typically larger than the benchtop versions, therefore they can handle bigger cuts.
Don't write these units off simply because they are used by contractors. Depending on your needs, these may attain everything you need. In addition, they are like shooting fish in a barrel to motion around your shop and place in a corner when non in use if you are short on space in your shop. If you lot are just starting out in woodworking or carpentry, this would exist my recommended category to buy from.
These saws will give you a good balance betwixt power, price or mobility. Prices for these usually start around $600.
- Stationary – These saws are for the serious woodworkers. Normally, these saws are not going to get moved frequently and when they practice go moved more i person will be needed to exercise so. These machines tin be massive one time you start adding extension tables.
Due to the size and material used to make them, these units are much more expensive with prices starting around $1,000 and going upward to several 1000 based on your needs.
The features included on these models are much nicer and will certainly ameliorate the accuracy of your cuts.
two) Table Space
The tabular array space of your saw will ultimately determine what size forest y'all tin can safely cut. The table infinite simply the table on summit of your saw that holds your wood level as it moves thru the blade.
Tabular array sizes for the smaller portable saws are usually around 19"x22". The table size for a contractor'south saw will increase slightly over the portable saws. Boilerplate tabular array size will be around 24"x22". The chiffonier saw table sizes are MUCH larger. Cabinet saw models are often designed to handle multiple extension tables which significantly increase their infinite. It's not uncommon to discover a surface 27" by 60" or more.
3) Extension Tables
Extension tables may non always come up with the purchase of a new saw, or if they do, they volition exist very basic. When comparing saws, you lot should at least await to see if information technology is built so that you can add extension tables in the future.
The nice things about extension tables are they are an like shooting fish in a barrel mode to quickly aggrandize the size of your table space, thus allowing you to be able to cut larger pieces of wood. After you are done, they hands disconnect and tin can be stored elsewhere so they aren't in the style.
You won't discover the selection on the smaller portable saws, but some of the stationary saws accept the option of buying an extension table that doubles as a router tabular array. If yous are interested in expanding your woodworking into an area that requires a router, this is definitely a feature to consider. A router table by itself tin can be bulky and accept upward a significant corporeality infinite in your shop.
4) Rip Capacity
Ripping a lath is when you lot cutting a lath in the same direction equally the grain of the forest. Rip Capacity of a saw is defined as the altitude between the saw blade and the fence. The more altitude present, indicates that larger boards tin can exist ripped.
The full general rule of thumb for determining how much rip capacity comes down to what type of wood you will be cutting. If yous look to cut plywood or wide boards, yous will want a rip capacity of 24" or more. If you don't anticipate annihilation that large, yous can get by with less than 24"
Some manufacturers volition advertise 2 rip capacities for each side of the blade. This is more often than not viewed equally a marketing technique. Almost all saws volition have a greater rip capacity to the right of the bract.
Adding extension tables (discussed in a higher place) or outfeed tables can increment the rip capacity of your saw.
5) Electric
Most of the table saws y'all find on the market today will be 15 amps. Even so, if yous are looking at picking upwardly a used saw, at that place'south a chance the amperage will exist less. Common lower amperages are in the ten-13 range.
I recommend going no lower than fifteen amps. Anything less than that is going to take trouble cutting common woods. For instance, a 13-amp table saw volition struggle to rip a two×4.
Another electrical consideration is whether or not the plug for the saw you are looking at is a 110v or 220v. All portable saws and most contractor saws are going to exist 110v. Some college end contractor models may handle both. It's not until yous go into the stationary bases that take much higher horsepower that the 220v options become mutual.
The important thing to keep in mind if you exercise get a saw that runs a 220v plug is to ensure your shop can handle it. If you practise not have a 220v outlet installed in your shop, you will need to add one. I highly recommend hiring a qualified electrician to do and so. Getting 220 plugs run tin become expensive depending on how far from your breaker box the wiring will need to be ran.
six) Saw Bract Size
The x" blades are easily the almost mutual size for table saws. Other sizes that you may come beyond are 8", 12" and 14". You lot can use smaller blades that what your saw is rated for, yet, you should NEVER use a larger blade than what information technology states. For instance, if you accept a 10" table saw, y'all tin can use a 8" blade. If you have a 10" table saw, you tin NOT utilize a 12" blade.
One tip is that the blades used on a miter saw and a table saw can be interchanged if they are the same size. Buying a table saw that has the same blade size as your miter will help prevent yous from having to purchase two different sets of blades for the machines.
vii) Cut Depth
A common question that gets asked is "What is the deepest cut a table saw tin can make?". The master determining cistron to this question is the size of the blade. The general dominion is that a 10" bract tin can cutting through about 3 inches of wood, while a 12 inch blade can cut about iv inches deep.
NOTE: One thing to remember, the wood that you purchase at a big box store is different than its true dimensions. For case, a four×4 is actually 3.5 inches by three.5 inches, and so a 12-inch table saw will easily cut through it.
The build of a table saw can impact the depth of what the saw tin cut. The design of the bract rise mechanism can accept an bear on on how high the bract will rise. Most manufacture'south have designed their saw to become the max peak out of their machines.
Interestingly, dust buildup can likewise impact the cut depth. If you don't accept time to clean your automobile, saw dust can build up on the rising mechanism and foreclose it from raising to its maximum height.
Information technology'due south important to remember that due to safety, information technology'southward recommended that one saw blade tooth clears the top of your stock as it cuts through the woods. Molar size will vary from one blade to another.
8) Dust Collection
Inside the by 30 years, in that location has been more and more studies that show a link between saw dust and lung and nasal problems. Long term exposure to saw dust has been link to lung cancer too as rare versions of nasal cancer. If yous plan to do most of your cut outdoors, and then the need for dust collection features on a table saw decrease some.
Many of the newer models on the market today come with features that allow you to easily connect the table saw. Information technology can be as easy as take the hose from your shop vac and connecting information technology to your table saw with a quick connect adapter.
If you lot are looking at purchasing a used saw that is older, chances are that information technology will non come with any dust drove features. Fortunately, at that place are aftermarket options available but compatibility will vary by model.
9) Dado Blade Option
The purpose of dado blades is to efficiently cut grooves into the wood you are cutting. Dados piece of work by stacking diverse types of blades together, well-nigh the same mode you build a sandwich. The more blades that yous add, the wider the groove that is cut into your forest.
If this type of cutting is important to you, then you starting time need to make sure the saw yous are looking at, has this capability as some saws do not.
Once yous find a saw that does handle dado cuts, you'll want to look to run into how wide information technology will cut. Most saws that allow a dado set will cut at least a one-half inch broad, simply this is something that volition vary from auto to machine.
10) Fence Options
You never know how important the debate on a table saw is until you lot use a dainty one. Information technology nigh as if it opens a whole new world to the process of cutting woods on a table saw. A fence is an incredibility important feature to consider when looking at your purchasing options.
There are a wide range of aftermarket fence upgrades bachelor. The alignment of your will determine how accurate your final cut will be. A contend is about worthless if it is not properly aligned to the blade on your saw.
You will notice that many of the lower cost saws come with a setup where the argue attaches on the forepart and backside of the saw. Typically, the user volition clench the fence down by either a handle or knob. These setups will work, but it volition usually accept more than time to ensure the argue is parallel to the bract at all points.
The nicest fences on the marketplace are referred to a T slot fences. These fences slide forth T slot rails on the forepart of the saw. The rails and fence are by and large made up of steel components which assist ensure sturdiness and stability. These fences also lock using a clamp but are align much quicker and are more authentic than the other models.
11) Bract guard
A blade guard is ane of the most underappreciated condom features you will find on a table saw. Y'all can tell they are underappreciated considering many times they are removed from the machine which is HIGHLY discouraged.
A blade guard is an enclosure that is placed over the blade to protect users from moving their hands or fingers into 
the spinning bract. On some occasions, unremarkably when the wood you are cut is big, the guard volition need to be removed. Older machines did not make the removal and reattachment of the blade baby-sit an piece of cake process. Therefore, if you lot grew up around someone like my dad, you only took it off completely and tossed it aside.
Newer models of the table saw accept made the removal and reattachment of the guards much easier and quicker. When you begin looking at saws and comparing them to one some other, be sure to look at this feature. Does the saw allow you to remove by releasing a couple clamps, or will it require that y'all take hold of an Allen wrench and endeavour to become to a bolt that is in a different and awkward spot to reach?
12) Riving Knife
This is another safety feature that is of import when using a table saw. Though information technology uses the word "pocketknife," it actually does no actual cutting. A riving knife sits behind the saw blade. As yous push button your stock thru the blade, the knife keeps the ii cut pieces pushes apart. This action prevents the forest from moving towards some other later being cut.
If the wood does movement towards 1 another, information technology could "pinch" the saw blade which will results in a kickback. A kickback occurs when the tabular array saw throws the woods back at the operator which tin can cause serious injury. Kickbacks occur within a slit 2d and give no alert. I highly recommend adding a riving pocketknife to your machine if information technology does not come with one when you purchase it.
13) Saw Finish
As mentioned before, table saws are the most unsafe machines in a woodworker'due south shop based on ER visits. Being a hobbyist woodwork himself, Steve Gass recognized the dangers that a tabular array saw presented. And so he set out to make a product that reduced these risks. Over a couple of weeks, he designed a prototype for a new product called the "Saw End."
The saw stop works past stopping the bract in under 5 milliseconds once information technology comes into contact with man peel. The motorcar works by sending a small electrical current thru the saw bract. Once human skin comes into contact with it, a short is created which stops the blade.
Mr. Gass was so confident in his new invention that during his kickoff press conference to show off his new invention, he tested the saw by purposely placing his ain finger into a spinning saw bract. As he anticipated, the saw stopped causing only a small cutting on his finger.
Saw Stop offers saws in all three of the major table saw product lines: job site, contract and stationary. The loftier-tech safety built into these machines does drive the cost up when compared to normal ones. The base of operations job site saw is the cheapest choice available and it starts at $one,299. The contractor base model starts at $1,599 while the large stationary model will set up y'all back at least $2,299.
In that location you have it! The 13 features I think yous should be checking when y'all determine y'all are set up to purchase your first table saw. Fortunately, today there are plenty of options available to consumers. Yous should be able to mind a saw that meets most of your needs!
Source: https://www.makefromwood.com/choosing-a-table-saw-13-things-to-consider-before-buying/
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