Do any of you own this saw or know anything about it? The local Home Depot has it on sale from $549 to $399.
Thanks,
Harry
Following the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
Do any of you own this saw or know anything about it? The local Home Depot has it on sale from $549 to $399.
Thanks,
Harry
Following the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
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Replies
I love that saw, it is the main saw in shop class here
Look ma, no jigs!!!
Thanks for the quick reply Andy.Harry
Following the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
It's a very nice saw.
Mike D
I had an earlier version and it was a very good saw. The only drawbacks were things common to all contractor saws -- dust collection, etc. At the original price I'd buy it over most of its competitors.
Jim
An excellent machine, has several improvements over the standard contractor's saw. I wrote a very positive review on this saw in FWW a few years ago.
John White
John, thanks. Coming from you and knowing your reputation that recommendation goes a long way. I'm probably gonna go and get this saw before the sale goes off.
And thanks everyone else for replying.Harry
Following the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
I'm going to a Home Depot today, if they have one at that price I'll probably get one for myself. As someone else just noted, they are amazingly heavy, the first time I went to move one in its box I couldn't even slide it an inch.John White
JohnEvery year at the Woodworking Show here in Houston, Ridgid has a booth and they are selling rebuilt tools for far below new retail. For instance, the spindle sander is $139 rather than $200, and the TS3650 is $360 instead of $569. I didn't ask this question to them, so I'll direct it to you to see if you know--can you buy rebuilt Ridgid tools directly from Ridgid? BTW, I love my Ridgid TS3650 (except for the cheesy blade guard) and bought it after reading your review. Thanks. Tom"Notice that at no time do my fingers leave my hand"
Most manufacturers want to put some distance between themselves and selling reconditioned products. Typically what they do is sell all the tools to a company that specializes in this work and then they advertise on the internet or use E-bay or one of the other auction services to reach the public. Sometimes you can also find reconditioned tools at the tool service centers that handle warranty work.John White
Thanks, everyone. I'll let you know, but if I have the dough after bills, I'm gonna get it.Harry
Following the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
I just bought one this week and only just finished assembling it. For my money it beats all its competition even at the regular price - which I paid.
Some here complain about the adjustability of table mounted trunions but I found that adjustment to be easy.
The "Herc-u-lift" wheel assembly is tricky to put together but if you refer to both the manual and the parts list it becomes clearer. That wheel and lift feature is a major reason I bought the saw.
If you get it have help to transport it and to lift it right side up when you assemble it. It is HEAVY!
Pete
Thanks Pete for the reply and the advice.Harry
Following the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
Harry,
One thing I neglected to mention is that no "zero clearance" or even dado inserts come with the TS3650. I saw another posting somewhere on here where a fellow said he found some but he didn't say where or how and I've lost track of the posting. They say these things cannot be had through Home Depot but I haven't tried yet so I don't know if that's a local or global problem.
I figured I could do without the insert completely (safety though?) for limited dado work and I have a friend who can machine duplicate inserts to my design out of Lexan (polycarbonate) or similar material to make some for zero clearance and for dadoes. I'm not so sure though that his services will come cheap.
If you buy this saw and find an answer to this limitation please let us know.
Pete
You can get insert blanks that will fit the Ridgid saw from various third-party vendors.
-Steve
or make your own
Look ma, no jigs!!!
Thanks Steve, and Andy too.
Your input got me to Google "Table saw inserts" which turned up 2,480 references. Just beginning to look into these produced one solid source:
http://www.mcfeelys.com/category.aspx?cat=leecraft-zero-insert&s_kwcid=TC-2538-36074187521-S-6353726521
One possible:
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?Offerings_ID=17508
And an excellent blog on making your own:
http://lumberjocks.com/topics/2414
So I thank you both again. Now if I can just find time to get back into the workshop. Spring has sprung around here and the boss has more projects for me than I can handle right away.
Pete
(What did we do before Google?)
No need for high-priced, pre-made ZC inserts. As Andy said, make your own. Do you have a band saw (or jig saw), a planer and router? You're ready to make 'em out of solid wood, maple for instance. Sans planer, you could probably use some kind of plywood or other human engineered product. Try a search here -- there have been several threads with various approaches.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Edited 4/17/2008 10:41 pm by forestgirl
Thank you, M'lady,
I have all of the above and even some hard (sugar) maple of the right outside dimensions that I rescued from the firewood pile. I shall take your advice and try to make you proud.
Pete
PeteI bought two UHMW inserts from a dealer on Amazon. I think they were around $13 each. I have a zero clearance insert for my combo blade and one for my dado. If I make a cut with the blade tilted, I use the stock insert. I also ditched the stock blade guard and installed an aftermarket splitter I bought at Rockler--works great and is much better and safer than the stock blade guard. Tom"Notice that at no time do my fingers leave my hand"
Harry, I bought the brother to that saw (they have the same father) from Sears with full steel wings almost ten years ago for $319 in a clearance as they moved in the washers and dryers in their hardware stores. I up graded to machined pulleys + 1/4" = 4480 rpm. with a fenner link belt, added a ryobi right side table extension and the Rigid Herc lift. This is as good as it gets for a 1 1/2 hp. contractors saw. With a thin kerf forrest ll blade it rocks . I recently snagged an $80 Bies 30" fence from the Lowes close out to replace the exact a cut??
If it's already assembled take it all apart as they usually have some kid build it, and bench mark it as you rebuild. I found only two bolts holding each fence rail on and sears wanted $2.96 each delivered-14 required- but the same square head bolt from a local Ridgid repair guy was $1.
Go for it, good luck, Paddy
Not even considering money, that saw is an excellent machine. I bought it along with Rigids 6" joiner and both have performed quite well.
http://joes-stuff1960.blogspot.com/
hello mr. ridgid
Look ma, no jigs!!!
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