Table Saw Question

John B.

Well-known Member
I looked at a Craftsman Table saw at sears last night, $269. The table slides out on both sides. Does anyone have a preference on Table Saws other than Craftsman? What brand saw would you recommend?
 
Just a thought,they are on CL around here for $100.00 to $50.00 every week. I want belt drives, just so I can put a different motor on if I need to. I like my old Craftsman saw.
 
I have never bought a new stationary power tool, and not many handheld ones. I have had a few old Craftsman table saws and burned out the motors in a couple, and one was flex shaft drive and the shaft quit. That was the stupidest piece of engineering I think I ever saw. I agree with 504 about getting a belt driven one. I paid about $300 for a used Delta 10" saw a few years ago and have put it through some hard use, and it has been great.
Zach
 
Look very carefully at the rated motor amperage. 25 years ago I bought a 10" Craftsman table saw that had a big bold 3HP decal on it. I was dumb at the time and believed the HP claim. The first board I ripped told me otherwise. When I looked at the motor tag it showed the amperage of a 1.5HP motor. The 110v plugin should have tipped me off but like I said I was dumb at that time. Switching to 230 volts helped make it a fairly decent saw but I have never bought a Craftsman power tool since then. The fence was terribly inaccurate but a good aftermarket fence solved that problem.
 
I don't know about the saw you are looking at, but don't buy one with a motor that is special to the saw, get one with a belt drive where you can easy replace the motor. If it comes with white metal pulleys replace them with cast iron for better grip. The white metal ones tend to slip and come loose on the shafts too. I guess they heat up and expand or something.
 
You must have one like this, 3 hsp., 13 amps, cast iron table and extensions. Bought it for 190 bucks at a garage sale close to twenty years ago, like new. Doesn't like ripping wet treated 2x but works good on anything else. Local Sears store had one like it with a fancy fence for around $600.
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If you have a few thousand bucks and want one that won't cut your fingers off, get a SawStop.
 
I have two older Craftsman table saws. Both have the cast iron tops and are belt driven. I bought them both used for under $100. They both work well.
 
Anything with a CAST IRON table and a belt drive should be fine for Joe Homeowner. Older Craftsman units are fine, I happen to have a Delta.
 
My friend has a Sawstop. We've never triggered it, but that part is supposed to work. Other than that, my old cast iron table Craftsman belt drive contractor's saw was a much better saw than the Sawstop.
 
JohnB, don't know where you are but I have one for sale. Cast table with extensions on both sides. 5 ft wide. Older Craftsman. I'm in s.e Mich. 120 or 240 volt.
 
Sears is likely to go the way of Montgomery Ward soon, so I'd be hesitant to buy a new Craftsman saw. (They'll probably spin off the Craftsman brand, but I'd still be worried about part support in the future.)

For less than 300 bucks, you must be looking at a portable saw. These are good for jobsite work; I have a small Delta that works pretty good. I bought it at Lowes, but that particular model has been discontinued. At the time I looked at the portable saws at Sears, too, but the Delta was a slightly better deal.

If you don't need to carry your saw to jobsites, I'd stay away from the portable saws. They're OK for light work, but not stable or powerful enough for serious ripping or cutting big sheets of plywood. I've ripped some big stuff on my Delta in a pinch, but it wasn't easy.

In my shop I have a cast iron Craftsman I bought new 20 years ago. I replaced the original fence with a Delta fence that allows me to rip up to 30 inches. It's been a pretty good saw; used cast iron Craftsman saws are fairly easy to find at garage sales or on Craigslist. I recommend upgrading the fence if you buy a used Craftsman.

Whatever saw you buy, the first order of business is to toss the original blade and replace it with a brand-name carbide blade. Get a 40 tooth blade for plywood and cabinetry work, and a 24 tooth for ripping lumber. I've found the Freud Diablo brand to be a good value.

The second order of business is to carefully adjust the saw per the manufacturer's instructions. No manual? Get one. It's impossible to get acceptable results with an improperly adjusted saw.

One last comment: If I was buying a saw I intended to use daily, there would be only one choice: Sawstop.
 
I have a lightweight Jet that I use as a portable saw. Had it for over 15 years. I'm a contractor it's been on a lot of jobs. Friend has a Delta, the Jet cuts much better, more power. I have used a large brand new Grizzly that will not cut anywhere near as well as my old Jet. I think at the time it was only a couple hundred dollar saw, worth every penny. I replaced the belt once.
 
I bought a Sears 10" cast iron top and 2 extensions,belt driven at an auction sale, a contractor was retiring.

Many years later Home Depot opened, that was the first that I had seen Rigid Tools other than plumbing tools. They had a router that would fit on a table saw extension, you ordered the extension to fit your table saw.
I wanted that router but I could not find a model number on my Sears saw.

Dusty
 
Up until 1996 Emerson Electric operated a plant here in Paris Tn. that made the Craftsman table saws. Seems to me they produced about 400 a day or so. I know anyone that wanted one could always find and employ to buy one for cost. They are still a lot of them around here and run great. As stated they are the old cast iron table with belt drive motor type. I have two and I know they are 30+ years old and still run fine.
 
Most manufacturers sell a wide range of saws from inexpensive bench saws to high end stationary saws like a Delta Unisaw. I would shop for a type of saw that meets your needs and budget rather than just one brand. Less expensive saws have small direct drive motors, flimsy hard to adjust fences and stamped table tops. A good used belt drive saw with cast iron table top and a sturdy fence will likely be your best value.

All new saws need to be aligned by the buyer before they preform well. It would be a good idea to plan on re-aligning any used saw as well.
 

When the saw says "belt drive", do yourself a favor and check and see if theres a motor you can get to and a actual belt you can see. I have an early 80's Delta Contractors saw. It's nominally "belt drive", but the belt is 2" wide and maybe 4" long and it's located in a spot you have to disassemble 3/4 of the saw to get to and is no longer available last I knew. I also have 2 Craftsman saws from the mid 60's. Those are definitely what we think of a "belt drive".
 
I have had a Craftsman belt drive saw for 35 years with no problem. But about 3 years ago I bought a Dewalt. 10 inch portable saw. I built a small roll around table to set it on. I hardly ever use the big saw anymore. I roll this one outside to use it a lot and I can load it if I need to without any problem.
 
Does anybody still make a true belt drive 10" table saw? That is one of the items I look for that my Amish friends that I buy for want. And they repower them with Honda engines.
 
Years ago,
Craftsman put their name on a Ryobi 3000 model and doubled the price. It was a belt drive, belt is a notched belt and it doesn't stick out the back. My Ryobi has a router attachment on left side, a sliding table on left, and the arms are adjustable to extend tables in either direction and tables are aluminum which doesn't rust like the old craftsman models.

A friend bought a delta table saw at an auction. It claimed to be direct drive. However I had to take the motor apart and inside motor was another notched belt that needed replace.

Not sure if all table saws claiming to be direct drive don't have a hidden belt inside.
geo.
 
I have an older Unisaw, and a portable Saw stop. It's an expensive saw but i like the safety of the Saw stop.
 
I have had two direct drive Craftsman saws that died, one was an 8" and the other a 9". Both were really direct drive, I pulled the covers off the motors to check if there was any way to convert to belt drive but it didn't look handy.
Zach
 
Like I said, Not sure if all table saws claiming to be direct drive don't have a hidden belt inside. I can tell you the delta I took apart had a hidden belt.
geo
 
When I see what you can buy on Craigslist, I don't know why anybody would buy anything new and pay full price. Especially stuff like table saws, drill presses, lathes, mills, all that stationary stuff. I bought all my big tools used, but even then I paid way too much compared to CL pricing. I'm gonna get hosed when I sell all this....

My dumb younger brother bought one of those flex drive Sears table saws, as soon as he got some money he sold it and got a belt drive. Sears had some really stupid idea over the years.
 
I bought a Craftsman tablesaw 137.218073 a couple weeks ago. It has a laser guide on it. Saw attaches to the stand with built clamps or with bolts. I assembled it but have not used it yet. Seems like a nice saw. I will only use it once in a blue moon. The only thing I don't care for and did not notice before I bought it is that the base(not the stand) is made of plastic. The stand also has wheels to aid in moving the saw around. Several years ago, I bought a Delta miter saw at Lowes for around $90, They also had a Delta tablesaw for the same price. Went back a couple weeks later and they were all gone. I think they were the last low end Deltas made I haven't seen any since.
 
(quoted from post at 11:42:02 11/13/16) Does anybody still make a true belt drive 10" table saw? That is one of the items I look for that my Amish friends that I buy for want. And they repower them with Honda engines.


Every Amish guy I know of buys a Grizzly 10 or 12" table saw and run it with a line shaft in their shops. The electric motor gets sold to an electrical repair shop nearby and guys like me buy them for $50-75.00.
 
Bosch is now making a Saw Stop like saw called a REAXX. Only it doesn't distroy your blade when it triggers.

You might want to take a look at it.

Cliff (VA)
 
Saw Stop
price will take your breath away, however price a visit to the emergency room
different models
sure like mine
checked over and all settings dead on
rip 2 7/8" thick oak as fast as I care to feed it
Forrest 26 tooth rip blade will crosscut white oak 7/8 to 2 3/4 thick as smooth as most 50 to 70 dollar 80 tooth blades
5hp 240vac belt drive
 
I bought a craftsman over 20 years ago. It isn't perfect but for rough work it is ok. used it to build 3 houses in that time period. Use a Dewalt miter saw for the finish work. As I get older and want to build some tables and do restoration work I will probably go to the Wood SmithStore in DesMoines and ask for their recommendation.
 

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