>What are the key decision factors in buying a table saw? Want to go with my
>recent philosophy of buying the last one first, so need to get the right
good philosophy...
>blend of quality and price. I'm looking at a King, 10" floor model, with
>about a 30" by 60" cast iron top, 1hp motor for $550 CDN. Store also has
>Delta, about the same size, 3/4hp but with stamped steel top for about the
A stamped top on a Delta, yuck...I too have never hear of King.
Unfortunately I cant help you much, when I got into woodworking I bought a
contractors type saw and a few months later I went broke and actually into
debt and bought a Delta Unisaw and Unifence. Greatest decision of my life,
well maybe the second, getting married to my wife was first.
On the 2 saws you mentioned above, I would look into how the motors were
rated. Motors are rated differently by different manufacturers and the HP
rating is not always reliable. I would consider the Delta because I am
biased towards Delta (no I don't own stock or work there, just have several
and love them), but if the other motor is really 1hp then I would probably
go for it. The top would weigh in favor of the King also.
I have owned my Unisaw for 12 years now, never ANY trouble and I use it
ALL the time. With the exception of vacations, I don't think I have gone a
single week without turning it on and cutting something is 12 years. I
personally would sacrifice another tool to buy a Unisaw and Unifence.
The key decisions...
Be realistic on how much woodworking you are going to do, that's number 1
if you can really believe that you will do a lot then get the best you can
afford.
Weight, a nice heavy saw vibrates less
Power, goes without saying, to a point the more the better. A 3/4hp saw
will cut just fine but when you want to cut the 3inch thick piece of oak it
will cut it slower then a 3hp. Plus when rabbeting or making angles you
will do them slower. Speed is not a issue when its a hobby though.
Quality, that's a hard one, I know Delta has gone down in 12 years but many
taiwanese built saw have not gone up in quality, merely gone up in quality
appearance. They don't build em better, just finish them better to make you
think quality. I have heard good things and bad things about Delta, Grisly
and Jet, the rest of them mostly bad things.
The Fence, now we are getting into a religious issue. I love my Unifence,
but I am sure other fence are just as good and I have never needed any whiz
bang feature of other fences, but that could just because I don't have one.
Find the fence you think is good and buy it, don't look at the price, BUY
IT. I would assume you cant go wrong with Unifence, Beysmeir (sp?) and
similar fences. don't fall for features like being able to make angle cuts
etc...I saw a fence at a wood show where it could change angles to the
blade, but a fence like that I would not trust to be parallel to the blade
every time, I only check my Unifence once or twice a year and most of the
time its perfect. You want to buy the best fence in the world that does one
thing and only one thing, stay parallel to the blade and is easy to adjust.
All the other whiz bang features you can make with jigs and you wont have to
worry about if your fence is parallel or not.
Boy I sure typed a lot for not having a lot to say...I guess what I am
trying to say, is think...think realistically how much wood working are you
going to do and then spend accordingly. Stay away from unknown brands
unless you can trust that the store and or manufacturer will still be in
business when you break something. Good table saws last a lifetime and when
it breaks in 15-20 years where will you get parts ?
mike
~~~~~ I'd rather be sailing and ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ or ~~~~~~~~~~~
Mike Rambour .oooO Oooo. __._._. O (Yahoo!)
bug-writer..er..programmer ( ) ( ) ____ ._.. /\,
In-Line Technologies, Inc. \ ( ) / -|~(*)
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michel or mikey@inline-tech.com ::::::::::\............
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