DIY Table Saw vs Ready-Made Table Saw ??

[CaptainMarvel]

This question/thought is, I think, geared more for the Home/DIY'er much moreso than a professional/contractor ... so please keep this in mind as you read on.

I wanted to (hopefully) spark an informative/insightful discussion here as to the idea of creating/building a DIY custom table saw set-up vs. simply purchasing a (standard) pre-made table saw.

PREFACE:
I love seeking out and reading "how-to" articles/blogs/videos on how to make all sorts of do-it-yourself projects. I've just started putting together my home "Weekend Workshop/Mancave" and one of the near-future tools I am going to want to be adding soon is a table saw.


THE CHOICE:
Insofar as pre-made/manufacturer table saws go, I have my eye on the RIGID 10" 15-AMP Heavy-Duty Portable Table Saw - $499 at HomeDepot.

I have also seen/found - and have been intrigued by - several tutorials/videos from those who have built their own table-saw setups using a circular saw. I am intrigued by the thought of creating a custom set-up - with various custom elements I would want. However, I also see some potential drawbacks to the DIY approach . . .

DIY PROs
- customize to/for what I want (e.g. materials, table size/length/width, track/fence, etc.)
- possible less cost than manufactured equivalent (depending on materials used)
- personal accomplishment/satisfaction of having created something useful from scratch

DIY CONs
- most circular saws = 7.5" blades, whereas most conventional table saws = 10" blade
- under-tabletop blade angle/bevel and height adjustment for circular saw
- quality/stability of table fence (depending on approach utilized)
- having to DIY everything vs. having it all ready-made for one to use


Those are, at least, the pros/cons I can think of off of top of my head. I'm certain there are plenty other items/issues I am forgetting or not thinking of ... and I am certain you all will provide additional thought/insight on this issue.




I am looking forward to an informative, constructive and educational discussion on this issue. Obviously, I haven't yet made up my mind as to which direction I will ultimately go - which is exactly why I am putting up the topic for discussion here.

 

[Stuart in MN]

The biggest issue in my mind would be setting up the saw for different types of cuts. A commercial saw will have a rip fence and a slot for a miter gauge that are accurate and quick to adjust. Those things could also be home built, but it won't be easy to make them so they are accurate and easy to use.

 

[justanengineer]

In this as in many situations, I would say if youre a machinist and have the tools, time, and money to waste...go for it, otherwise dont.

Tablesaws may seem pretty simple, but are actually rather complicated in that everything must be flat, square, and in alignment with other parts. They also need to be fairly rigid (read heavy and strong) to absorb vibration and also prevent flexing during heavy cuts.

You could easily rig up a plywood table with a circular saw upside down in the center and call it a tablesaw, but it wont be very flat, easy to push a board across, true to any sort of miter gage or rip fence, and probably cost more than one of the classic 50s Cman table saws (<$50). Both of my old Cmans, an 8" and a 6" both were <$25 used in good working condition with miter gages and rip fences. The 6" one even had fresh paint.

 

[Falcon67]

I would not even try to use a circular saw for a DIY table saw. Having both ( the table saw is a older portable Craftsman 10" ) you'd not get anywhere near the utility out of the DIY unit as out of even a low price 10". Mine was a whopping $170 on sale and I've used the total **** out of it over the years. Decent aluminum table, decent rip fence, blade tilt and adjustment, adjustable sliding wings - lots of advantages. The only weak point in my t-saw is resawing things like 1x4s down to 1/2" - go too fast/hard at full depth of cut and the motor will trip out. Ripping custom trim with a circular saw hack would be a super pain, depending on how much it had to come apart to make blade adjustments.

 

[Todd.Brock]

I agree. Circ saws have their place. I'm not sure I could ever replace the grizzly 240v table saw with anything else. It's heavy, powerful and yes foreign, but I use it every chance I get. The best part is its my brother's so I didn't have to buy it or even store it! I just load up the truck with what I need and head on over. That is a small price to pay for not having to deal with it all be time. The smooth shop fox fence would be hard to replicate in my mind. If your up for reinventing the wheel, I'm not sure you would get it as round as what's already been invented. I think the noise of the circ saw alone would deter me!!! A nice table saw just hums along, not quietly but at a much different pitch than my dewalt circ saw. I Bet the rigid would be nice addition to the shop!

 

[kbs2244]

I would hunt the auction sites.
There are always woodworking machines coming up.
You should be able to fine a cabinet Delta commercial for a good price.
(The industry standard.)
The only DIY part would be converting it from 3 phase.

 

[Big Bob]

Forget the DIY approach, you can find used table saws everywhere and even the most basic model will be far better than an upside down circ saw. I can think of no good reasons to even consider this approach. I have an old C'man 10" saw that I bought new in the late 70's, and there are hundreds of these things in garages and basements all over the country that can be had for anywhere from $50 - $200 max. They're great when you need 'em, but in the way when you don't, so a lot of people will sell cheap just to reclaim the space. Put a good blade on the thing (ditch the c'man blade) and you'll be good to go.

 

[mmack66]

If I was going to utilize a circular saw in such a manner, I would use it in conjunction with a system such as the Eurekazone EZ Saw.

 

[Steevo]

"DIY Table Saw" sounds like an ad in the back of a 1960's Popular Mechanics magazine.
For what a cheap 10" direct drive portable "table" saw costs, new or used, it would not be worth the time to fight with an upside-down hand-held circular saw bolted to the bottom of a home-made saw table.

 

[sublimate]

I love my Powermatic 66 and wouldn't want to be without it or at least some equally good cabinet saw (Unisaw, etc).

To me a portable table saw completely misses the point. If you just want to be able to rip boards get a track saw.

 

[Steevo]

I love my Powermatic 66 and wouldn't want to be without it or at least some equally good cabinet saw (Unisaw, etc).

To me a portable table saw completely misses the point. If you just want to be able to rip boards get a track saw.

Actually, a small "contractor size" table saw is very useful for things you wouldn't want to do with a circular saw and track setup.

Ripping the edge off a moulding, ripping laminate flooring strips, beveling the edge of a 2x4, etc.

 

[racingtadpole]

http://www.triton.com.au/Product/330185

This may give you some ideas if you decide to build your own. I have one of the earlier versions (the Mark 3, circa 1991), it works quite well for the occaissional use I have for it.

 

[Randy in Maine]

I have a 30+ year old Rockwell (now known as Delta) belt driven contractors saw with a 52" unifence (probably overkill). When the 1.5 HP motor went bad about 5 years ago, I replaced it with a nice 2 HP Baldor motor. I have pushed a lot of wood through it in the past 20 years.

The Jet contractors saw is also pretty nice.

Even though the cast iron top is nice and solid, I built myself a saw station out of Shopnotes that looks sort of like this....my router fits in it also. It is too heavy & bulky to move to a jobsite and mine stays in the shop hooked up to the dust collector system.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...urtUOLUDrO_0QGrmoGwBw&ved=0CFQQ9QEwBw&dur=453

 

[sublimate]

Actually, a small "contractor size" table saw is very useful for things you wouldn't want to do with a circular saw and track setup.

Ripping the edge off a moulding, ripping laminate flooring strips, beveling the edge of a 2x4, etc.

Most of those things I would do on a bandsaw, but certainly there's more than one way to skin a cat.

 

[turbowoodworker]

The most important part not mentioned is that of kickback and safety. Sure you can build a saw. sure you can cut straight. But boy, I'd be real nervous about kickback. Commercially available table saws have come so far on the safety issue and the most important thing is a good fence that keeps the workpiece off of the back of the blade.
DIY---Don't do it. You may save money at the expense of your fingers, hand or a board thrown into your face.

 

[mmack66]

I'd buy a table saw, and if you feel the need to do some DIY stuff, make some outfeed tables, or some tables that increase the cutting capacity of the saw.

 

[Harwinton]

You could get a nice 10" table saw off of Craigslist for much cheaper. The place is loaded with 'em. You could get a nice one with a cast-iron table, miter gauge, and extensions for much less than $500.

 

[CaptainMarvel]

WOW .... AWESOME comments and discussion - and so quickly too !!!

This is fantastic - I can't tell you how much I appreciate the comments, insight and recommendations thus far !!!


KEEP 'EM COMIN' !!!

 

[rsanter]

To be blunt you are looking at the wrong two options

Option one
Buy a new one as is and put it to use

Option two
But a used one for cheap and set it up as you would want it

To me there is no good built it yourself option

Bob

 

[CaptainMarvel]

To be blunt you are looking at the wrong two options

Option one
Buy a new one as is and put it to use

Option two
But a used one for cheap and set it up as you would want it

To me there is no good built it yourself option

Bob

You know ... the more I read and consider the wisdom you've all been providing thus far (and continuing), the more I am inclined to agree with you - insofar as this issue is concerned, anyway.

 

[BDT/NWMN]

I have a cast iron top Craftsman with belt drive.... Nice old contractors saw; $100 was the asking price........

 

[srmofo]

http://woodgears.ca/tools.html

There is several table saws on this page.
http://woodgears.ca/reader/index.html

I like to check this site frequently. There is always something that intrigues me.

Do some research on gilliom manufacturing co. or "gil-bilt"

 

[d.mcfarland]

"DIY Table Saw" sounds like an ad in the back of a 1960's Popular Mechanics magazine.
For what a cheap 10" direct drive portable "table" saw costs, new or used, it would not be worth the time to fight with an upside-down hand-held circular saw bolted to the bottom of a home-made saw table.

I agree with Steevo, in fact, I think Craftsman catalogs even had parts available for people to make them. It would be a fun project, but it doesn't seem practical anymore than buying one.

OP - are you planning on using a solid metal top or wood?

 

[Stuart in MN]

"DIY Table Saw" sounds like an ad in the back of a 1960's Popular Mechanics magazine.

My dad actually built one of those table saws from the ad in the Popular Mechanics magazine in the 1960s. He was a high school shop teacher so he always had access to the tools in the school shop, but this saw was mainly for light use when he didn't feel like driving down to the school just to cut a board in half. It worked well enough, but it was tedious to get it set up just right to make a straight cut.

 

[senlow]

To be blunt you are looking at the wrong two options

Option one
Buy a new one as is and put it to use

Option two
But a used one for cheap and set it up as you would want it

To me there is no good built it yourself option

Bob

Bob is a wise man. Heed his advise. It's not worth trying to build a table saw

 

[loosewingnut]

Here is why I wouldn't build your own saw:
1. Dangerous!!!!! Very hard to get a splitter lined up so more kickbacks. Your splitter is the single most important safety feature on the saw.
2. Dangerous. Probably pretty hard to rig up a good guard. Most actual saws have crappy ones, so a homemade one is probably going to be worse.
3. Dangerous. Hard to rig up a good fence and then keep it aligned with blade. This means kickbacks.
4. Smaller diameter blade changes contact angle and pushes board back towards the operator more. Ideally force should go into table.
5. All adjustments are going to be a pain and hard to get back accurate.
Smaller diameter blade is cheaper, but if you ever wanted to buy quality blades or specialty blades it would be hard if not impossible to get.
6. If you ever cut your fingers off, you will think how so much more valuable they were than $400.
7. No matter how rigid your table is, your circular saw base won't be that rigid.
8. A full size cabinet saw can be had used for around $300-$500

Side notes: Table saws are so fun to use. Don't take all the fun our of them by making them a pain to use. If you buy that Ridgid saw you will have PLENTY of projects to make that will make it more awesome: outfeed table, high fence, featherboards, pushsticks, sleds, under cabinets, taper jigs, etc.

 

[senlow]

The most important part not mentioned is that of kickback and safety. Sure you can build a saw. sure you can cut straight. But boy, I'd be real nervous about kickback. Commercially available table saws have come so far on the safety issue and the most important thing is a good fence that keeps the workpiece off of the back of the blade.
DIY---Don't do it. You may save money at the expense of your fingers, hand or a board thrown into your face.

I must disagree here. A competent craftsman can build a saw that is at least as safe the majority of commercially built saws. Crappy, misaligned fences, and crappy splitters are the main table saw flaws that allow kickback. It's not that difficult to make good fences and splitters.

The Biessemeyer fence is accepted as one of the best. It's a simple design that's not difficult to build yourself. I did, and it works great.

A great splitter should be as close to the blade as possible, and remain aligned with the blade. It's not that difficult for a home builder to make a splitter that's superior to the typical splitter on a "store bought" table saw.

I'm not reccomending building a table saw. I believe that it is more effort that it's worth. However, safety concerns are not a good reason to buy instead of build.

 

[PA-Buckeye]

I'll admit I haven't read past the first few replies, so I may be repeating what's already been said, but: you'll spend too much time, effort and $$$ on a DIY and end up buying a real table saw anyway. Save yourself the trouble!

 

[wssix99]

I don't know about you, but I am highly allergic to most table saws. When spinning table saws come in to contact with my flesh, I bleed profusely and have a very painful reaction.

I'm partial to the new technology for this stuff: http://www.sawstop.com/

Personally, I'd purchase a saw vs. try to build one just to take advantage of this new hypoallergenic feature.

 

[Falcon67]

I would hunt the auction sites.
There are always woodworking machines coming up.
You should be able to fine a cabinet Delta commercial for a good price.
(The industry standard.)
The only DIY part would be converting it from 3 phase.

Knowing what I know now about 3 phase and VFDs, If I found a saw with a 1-3HP 3 phase motor or it I'd keep the motor and add a VFD. If nothing else, having an E-Stop that would stop the blade in 1/10 of a second would be worth the cost of the VFD.

 

[c_mccann]

I like Bob's input, I have had 2 table saws in my life and have used countless others. If you take a good cabinet saw and modify the table enough, you will have enough time and money in it where you think you built it yourself. 10" is the size you need to focus on, unless you want to cut timber and spend yourself poor in blades on a 12" or 14".

Any contractors saw will lose its luster in time, the noise and the limited use of the top are the biggest pitfalls of a contractors saw. The only reason for a Contractor's saw is portability.Cabinet shops use cabinet saws for all the right reasons, they are stable and you can expand the base to support any saw top you want. The reduced motor and blade noise and dust control ports are big benefits as well. Delta Unisaw is the standard for a good reason- it just works well. There are plenty of ones for sale in the $500-1000 range that have been babied- the key is the fence- Beesemeyer or Unifence. You can make a nice top for it and sink a router in it, make an outfeed table and also a nice miter sled or miter tray. There are dozens of ways to customize a Unisaw, and single phase unisaws are plentiful from 1.5 hp to 3hp. Melamine or Starboard is the primo material to make the top out of, it is slick as snot and a good work surface. Google it and you will find tons of ideas, I am considering going through my Unisaw and doing something different with it to make it more awesome, that is the fun if it.

 

[Skelly]

Craigslist is your friend.

I recently bought a 10 year old never used grizzly table saw. Even came with the 7' extension wings and shop fox fence.

The guy worked at grizzly must have gotten it for free.

$275.

It's probably a $1000 saw.

 

[offroadsteve]

I'm going to throw my $0.02 in for the "buy used" option, because I think that will result in your best value.

I totally understand the desire to build yourself just because you can, I do that all the time. But to DIY a saw that even marginally replicates the standard features of a commercial table saw (blade height/ bevel controls, rip fence, miter guage, flat smooth top, saftey features as mentioned before), you are going to need a machine shop full of tools and the ability to use them. If you do, by all means have at it. Anything else is going to result in a table with circular saw that pokes out from underneath, NOT a table saw.

You mentioned one of the key differences between a circular saw and a table saw, which is blade size (7 1/2" vs 10"), but what is equally important is the motor driving the blade. Most circular saws use a fractional horesepower (1/3, 1/2) universal motor, which are very loud. Good quality table saws use large (1-3 HP) induction motors, which are quiet and very powerful. That extra power is key in being able to rip large pieces of hardwood, where most circular saws will just stall.

Like others have said, I would be looking for a quality, used cabinet style table saw. Spend your time making great projects with that great piece of equipment.

 

[rburke65]

Have you thought about inventing the wheel? Table saws have already been done. I vote you buy one.

 

[ctb]

Buying used for a low price makes the most sense, but don't be put off from building your own if you really want to.

Building a strong base, so that a melanine top will lie flat, will give more than acceptable accuracy for any project you might build. Most contractors saws you will find used came with stamped steel extensions which were never perfectly flat anyway. Hell the delta saw I had came with instructions to put a melanine extension on the rh side.

There are lots of ideas for building a good fence system on the net, most based on the biesmeyer setup. People have been spoiled by these new type fences. 30 years ago most saws had the old style fences which locked at the back first and then the front, and most people measured for an accurate cut with a tape measure from the tooth of the blade to the fence. Simply clamping a straightedge to the table, while more time consuming, will give the same accuracy nonetheless.

Safety is a concern too, but lets be honest here. How many people run their saws with splitters and guards attached? Common sense and well designed pushsticks do more towards keeping your fingers than badly designed and aligned safety devices, which are the norm on cheap and old saws.

The biggest problem you will have with mounting a portable circular saw will be the tilt feature. The cutout needed to tilt the blade will be too big and trap cutoffs, leading to accidents. Most people just keep the saw blade vertical since this is how the majority of the cuts will be done.

Here's a link to a well thought out and made saw: http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Smallest-Workshop-in-the-World/

Here's some pictures of it.

 

[Hotrod barn]

Buy a table saw...if money is no problem buy a better one you WILL NOT regret it.I use a craftsman 10" with a small table and a Mikita 10" with a big table all the time and the small one works ok,the big one works better.research tool reviews and it will help you choose.The big ones at homedepo,lowes and sears would be good.

 

[3PedalMINI]

For not much more then that POS paperweight of a table saw just buy the Festool TS55 or TS75 track saw. More accurate, safer, superb dust collection when purchased with a CT series dust extractor and allround incredible saw. http://www.festool.com/EN/Products/Pages/Product-Competence.aspx?foc=ol_tauchsaegen_1835 I havent touched my Table saw since i got the TS55 But if you want a table saw buy the bosch for the same amount of money, stay away from ridged

 

[MarfaTexas]

I've got a Powermatic 66 cabinet saw. paid $600 for it and love it. Just picked up the Bosch portable table saw. The folding stand is genius.

The Powermatic and a vintage DeWalt radial arm saw both had 3 phase motors so I built a DIY three phase rotary generator. Now that was a worthwhile home project. Don't be afraid of used 3 phase equipment. It's usually commercial grade and the demand is lower so prices are reasonable. You can usually swap the motor back to single phase.

 

[Greatbear]

One of the biggest issues with using a circular saw mounted to a table is the the blade arbor. On a true table saw, even a lighter duty model has a beefy arbor and bearings to withstand the loading experienced in use. A circular saw generally doesn't have to cope with such stresses and is much less sturdy. Even the slightest deflection of the arbor or trunnions makes for poor operations in a table saw, and greatly increases the chances of kickback.

 

[Kaasdief]

Tried the home build upside down circular saw route once... the biggest problem being that your guide rails are always ****** and and and... The Triton is just so worth it!