Good evening!!
As I begin my new layout process, I have decided to use masonite splines on my curves. This is the first time I will attempt this and I DO NOT want to cut the splines using a circular saw, Therefore, I am soliciting recommendations for a bench/portable table saw. I am prepared to spend something in the $400.00 range, give or take.
Your recommendations or non-recommendations are welcome. I thank you in advance for your assistance.
My opinion, save some money and get an inexpensive table saw. I bought a cheap Ryobi,( has a molded plastic base) that was on sale at Home Depot. I use it all the time for ripping down dimensional lumber and cutting plywood and masonite. It does a great job. Still has the original blade and is about 7-8 yrs old. Unless you are doing cabinetry or building furniture an inexpensive table saw is all you need.
This guy right here is the cat’s meow! I’ve used it to build bookshelves and a desk – not fine cabinetry, but attractive, sturdy, and functional.
My table saw is is almost fifty years old and going strong, so I haven’t done any serious shopping. I have looked at a DeWalt 10 inch that looks pretty good for about $400. It’s DeWalt orange and is made out of some kind of composite material. Should be light enough to carry. I believe it has a geared fence that would keep the fence straight to the table. Note! In the past I have had to set up, and true the different saw position on any new saw.
Mine is made out of cast iron and takes two grown men to pick it up.
Good luck and have fun.
Lee
My personal choice for most of my tools is Delta.They’d be very low graded for professional use I believe but for a part time carpenter,they’re quite nice at a very affordable price and will last a while.I’ve tried cheaper to eventually hate them and give them away (or thrashed them) and buy better ones.However,buying the top brands will work nicer indeed but aren’t necessary for occasional use.Better still to a more expensive tool,invest in good quality blades and your saw is going to be that much better.That I’ve found out…
I have a 10 inch Ryobi table saw that I paid just slightly over $100 for at Harbor Freight and have been using it very heavily for 10 years now with no problems at all. It was used to build a large HO scale club layout and a home HO scale layout, and is still used regularly.
You can’t do what he wants to do with this saw.
RIDGID makes a really nice portable ( folds up on wheels) and is sold at HOME DEPOT in the $500 to $600
dollar range.
It is model 14648
I looked on Home Depots website and didn’t see it, it may be a special order item.
I payed $479 for mine , just found my receipt.
I do believe it was on sale at the time.
It lists elsewhere for as high as $600 to $875
It comes with a heavy duty roll around cart and has total onboard storage for all the tools for the saw.
I cut all of my wood for my layout on mine, and also I did a home remodelling project where it was
used extensively with no problems.
It gives you a lot of flexibilty and once your done, it folds up and rolls out of the way, taking up very little space.
It’s heavy duty, comes with a lifetime warranty, one of the best values I ever spent on tools.
Im easily cut 4x8 sheets on it. It has a 15 amp heavy duty motor, will not move around you as you cut.
I use two RIDGID outboard stands with mine.
I have one and it has really proved itself very useful and a very good value for the money.
A friend of mine designed a drop in router plate that can be easily placed and locked into the saw table, giving this ten inch table saw much more versatility.
The table slides out to allow for larger pieces of stock on the table.
It is in the open space that we placed the router plate with the router, making this also a full blown miter table.
Two major tools in one.
It will fit into the trunk of some cars or easily into any pickup bed, and isn’t that heavy, so you
can easily transport it almost anywhere.
The wheels are big enough so you can take it up or down a stairway.
My first recommendation, if you are only going to use the saw to make tempered hardboard splines (Masonite is a trade name. If you ask for Masonite at Home Depot, they won’t know what you’re talking about), is to make friends with someone who already has a table saw. Buy him a nice carbide tipped blade so he doesn’t chew up his blade helping you out. If you pay $50 for a nice blade, you’ll come out $350 ahead. Plus you’ll need someone to help you handle the 4X8 sheets of material anyway.
I don’t know how old you are, but if you contemplate using the saw for other things and plan on keeping the tool for a lifetime, then get the best tool you can. If this means exceeding the $400 amount, go for it. Don’t buy cheap. This will turn into the airbrush discussion, where the $14 Harbor Freight item is said to be equivalent to the $120 Pasche model. I don’t believe it, and no one will convince me otherwise.
If you plan on cutting sheet goods, you need to look at a saw that has either a large table, or one that will accept extension wings to help support the sheet. And you will still need help to make the first cuts until the sheet gets down to a reasonable size. It should have a steel or cast iron table. I’ve seen recommendations that the motor should be at least 15 amps. It should have, or be adaptable to, a sturdy base. You don’t want to be chasing the saw around the basement/garage as you’re feeding the material through it.
Generally, with tools, you get what you pay for. Take a look around and see what the different features are be
If you have any thought of doing more than ripping occasional hardboard, get the best saw you can afford. While prices are higher today, I remember reading that a lifetime table saw costs $1500. You can either buy five $300 benchtop saws, three $500 saws, or just pay up front and get a saw you’ll pass down to your grandchildren. That fits my pattern. Started with the cheap Ryobi. Didn’t keep it long. I have since learned that when you buy good tools, you only cry once.
Ripping sheet goods requires a decent size table to do safely. Sheet goods are hard to move around so big tables helps to keep them from slipping and prevents kickback or worse. Tables are easy things you can make yourself. In the mid priced range Grizzly (grizzly.com) has a good following. Like many things, there are various grades out there. A lot of the products sold in the BORG, even with names like Delta on it, are not the same as those sold in speciality stores. IE motor, bearings, materials used in construction, etc. For safety, the Sawstop stops the blade before it can cut you, but the extra safety comes at a price. But the price may be worth it to you.
Get a good quality carbide tipped blade designed for the task. Freud makes some good ones at a reasonable price. No matter what anyone tells you, the blade guard is NOT optional. USE the guard. Wear safety glasses and hearing protection. Use a pushstick.
For more information, you might want to visit sites for Wood magazine (wood.com), Woodsmith.com or Plansnow.com for ideas and tool reviews. There actually seem to be a number of model railroaders who hang out over there as well.
This is all the saw you’ll ever need, I have the big brother of this one and am 100% satisfied with it and it’s well under your budget. Don’t skimp when it comes to tols especially something like a table saw. Yes your not going to use it every day like someone in the trades but your buying this so you can get accurate consistent cuts every time so don’t go cheap. Also you will want to purchase a good saw blade and the right one for the job. A fine tooth blade similar to one used for cutting trim or plywood will work nicely.
I know you mentioned you do not want to use a circular saw but have you ever seen or used one of these? They work very well and it’s what I used to cut my Masonite splines, for me working alone it was easier to clamp the 4x8 sheet of Masonite to a work table and use the rip guide on my circular saw then it was to handle a 4’x8’ sheet alone. I cut 1" strips and it worked perfectly. Cutting Masonite is liek cutting Homasote it’s very messy so if you can cut it outside you will be much better off.
Follow the link and read the reviews on this saw. My first thought when I saw the photo was it can’t be very stable…maybe if you draped 2 or 3 - 50 pound bags of sand across the leg braces…if you don’t have a friend with a good table saw to rip the splines for you, spend the money and buy a quality tool that will outlast you. You won’t regret the decision to do so.
Don Z.
As others have said, don’t make price a major consideration when buying a shop tool like a table saw.
My table saw, (originally my dads) is a Beaver/Rockwell that is easily 50 years old or more. It’s cast iron baby and has a large enough table for handling full sheets. Its motor is wired 230V so it doesn’t trip the breaker when ripping lumber. The saw is very heavy for it’s size and has a very sturdy base. I look at the table saws being sold in stores these days and I think most of them look like cheap lightweight junk. They sure don’t make em like they used to!
IMO, you will not get a very good table saw for under $400.
As an alternative, if you have any cabinet shops in your area you may be able to have the strips cut in their shop for a price.
As a general rule, I don’t buy power tools from companies that also make TV’s and/or Blenders, ie: Black and Decker, Hitachi, etc.
I rely on names like; Makita, Milwaukee, Dewalt, Ryobi (cordless tools), Delta and Rockwell.
My advice is to not buy cheap power tools because this is one of those times when you get exactly what you pay for.
Just my opinion, your experiences may be different.
Are the people at Home Depot bred that way, or? [:D]
I´m amazed if they wouldn´t know the difference, as it would be as if you ordered a Coke in a restaurant and they only had Pepsi, and asked you; What is “Coke”?
He’s 100% on the ball here. Table saws are one of the most dangerous tools in the woodshop, and an unstable or lightweight base combined with full sheets of material simply makes it more so.
I
Smath,
As you have seen from the posts, a good table saw can be expensive! And you really need a lot of space and material supports to cut up 4’ by 8’ sheets of material. Here is another solution:
Have Home Depot or the lumber yard you buy the Masonite from ‘rip’ the sheets for you. Home Depot charges something line 25 cents/cut - a lot cheaper that buying a table saw, and you avoid the work of setting it up. I have basically built my layout using a 10" miter saw(an ‘el cheapo’ from Menards), and a circular saw with a rip fence kit like in the previous posts. I had the lumber yard do exact cuts to make 1" by 4" & 1" by 2" dimensional lumber out of 3/4" plywood. Even with the cutting charge, it is cheaper than buying ‘clear’ stock(and it does not warp). I even had the lumber yard cut up Masonite fascia material for me.
Jim
Try Sears…every once in a while they will bring out a new “Sears Best” and they reduce the price of the former “Sears Best” to sometimes totally riduculous prices. I bought a Sears portable contractors saw $175.00 four years ago and it has been extremely reliable. Just a hint…you might want to invest in a better grade blade.
I don’t know if they’re bred that way, but their computer system is. Friend of mine and I picked up a sheet of the stuff and got it up to the cashier. Unfortunately, we picked the sheet that didn’t have the barcode thingy on it. Cashier had to look up the SKU number. We kept calling it Masonite, which wasn’t listed. I had to run to the back of the store to see what it was called on the shelf. Then the light went on…it was tempered hardboard. Of course then I was the idiot, because I had always called it Masonite and didn’t know what tempered hardboard was.
First - Do NOT have HD or Lowe’s rip the Masonite into strips for you. You will not be happy with cuts. The cuts will vary in width and probably will not be consistent. It will only cause you problems later.
Get the best saw possible. You need a large table to be able to properly support the sheet of material. Another option instead of a table saw is a radial arm saw. It can be used to both rip the sheet into strips and to the crosscut them to length. I’ve built all the benchwork for my layout using one to rip 3/4" plywood into dimensional lumber strips. I have the lumber yard cut the 4x8 sheet in half to make it easier to get inot the basement and to make it easier to rip. Check you local newspaper’s classified ads for a used one. You might find one there. A good quality saw will last a long time and hold its value. A cheap will will only casue you problems.
You can always buy 2 or 3 sheets of masonite at Home Depot or Lowes and have them rip the sheets to what dementions you like, at no extra charge right there at the store. The up side of that is-----It will be a lot easyer to take home.