Replies

1. 
   sandlcustom | Jan 16, 2009 05:10am | #1

   Tom,

   I have a Dewalt DW745 bench top saw that I take to jobsites with me.  I paid about $300 dollars for it when I price matched it at Home Depot.  I think it is higher priced than most of the other bench top saws but it has plenty of power for it's size and it has a solid fence.  I like it because it is fairly lightweight and it is accurate enough to make quality cuts.  The only thing I would do is get rid of the blade that it comes with and get a better one.

    

   Good luck!

   sandlcustom

2. 
   roc | Jan 16, 2009 08:57am | #2

   How small? How bench top ?

   What I am getting at is I took a Porter Cable trim saw

   http://www.toolbarn.com/product/portercable/314/

   routed a nice recess for its shoe in some nice thick plywood, bolted it into the recess, plunge cut a zero clearance slot through the ply, removed the saw and cut two dados parallel to the blade slot to act as miter slots, bolted the saw back on and put it on top my workmate folding project table with the saw hanging upside down between the jaws.

   Viola ! mini table saw. Tilts and everything. I use it mostly for small cut offs but can clamp a make shift fence to it. Not that hard to set up.

   roc

   PS: I use a bicycle toe strap to hold the trigger in the on position then plug the cord into a power strip that has an on off switch on it and use that as my power switch.

   
   

   ---

   Edited 1/16/2009 1:01 am by roc

3. 
   forestgirl | Jan 16, 2009 09:08am | #3

   Although I have a cabinet saw in my shop, I recently solicited suggestions at Breaktime for a work-site saw, to be kept where I work (horse stables) so I can do projects for the owner.  The Ridgid and the Bosch were front runners, and once I laid hands on the Bosch, it landed in first place.  The gravity stand is cool, but it's the riving knife and split guard (both easily removed and replaced) that was the tie-breaker.

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) 
   
4. 
   JMartinsky | Jan 17, 2009 04:51am | #4

   Dear Tom,
   As a contractor, I have used/ abused Makita Tablesaws over the past 25 years and they are very reliable. I have never seen one die, never even heard of one dying. Depending upon your price range, I would look at the following in this order:

   1) Makita

   2) Bosch

   Everything else a distant third. I have seen several DeWalts and I don't think that they measure up. I can't speak to the Ridgid as I swore off HD a while ago. This is the set up that I use on Job sites:

   http://www.amazon.com/Makita-2703-10-Inch-Benchtop-Table/dp/B0000223IK/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=hiqid=1232156850&sr=8-2

   With: http://www.amazon.com/Rousseau-2700XL-Makita-Hitachi-DeWalt/dp/B0000224S3/ref=pd_bxgy_hi_text_b

   And two outfeed tables. Very stable and yet breaks down to a very compact and manageable space. I can easily rip plywood or trim doors by myself.

   Best,

   John