I’ve got a front porch that’s 90% finished and I’m at the stage where I buy off-the-shelf stuff (door frames, skirting, cupboards, shelves, etc.) or think about making it all myself. Already got a second hand router w/table and various profile bits but I could do with a table saw. Complicating this is I’ve just bought a plot of land and will be building a house in it, although that will be next year.

What kind of table saw should I go for? Will one of the cheap – though highly recommended – ones from Toolstation do the job, or will I only end up regretting not buying a “big” one when it comes to the house build? The only difference I can see seems to be the size of the table (and a zero on the end of the price).

Scheppach are ok as are axminster, look for a big balde size and powerful motor, and never remove the crown guard to cut thicker mterial, get a bigger diameter blade.

If you’re going to use it a lot then something with an induction motor might be worth considering just for lower noise?

I’ve just bought a plot of land and will be building a house in it

Its a matter of what you’ll actually use the saw for in that context. For most building related work a hand-held circular saw it better. Hand held saws are better on larger materials, especially sheet materials. Table saws are more useful for milling timbers for width (which you’ll hardly ever do really for house building as most of the timber will be the right width when you buy it) and for working with small pieces of wood – stuff you can’t support and hold when cutting it with a handheld saw.

So really table saws are more for furniture scale work than building scale work, as soon as you start working with larger sheets you need two people to work safely and you also need a bigger space to work in as you need room for the sheet in front of and behind the blade.

I’ve got a girt big sliding bed table saw that can support 10ft board and operate singlehanded but it reality I only really work with small bits of board on it because its easier and more reliable to work on the bench with big sheets.

Very happy with the Dewalt DW745 – small and light-ish but with a really good fence.

If I was buying again from scratch I’d probably get a track/plunge saw first.

Elu Flip

Elu Flip

Know someone who’s selling one (east lothian)

Its a matter of what you’ll actually use the saw for in that context…
So really table saws are more for furniture scale work than building scale work

That’s kind of the plan. I’m intending to make some cupboards for the porch here, and then cupboards/wardrobes/kitchen cabinets in the new place.

For the time being, I need to rip down some timber to make a load of fascias (due to door & window frames ending up as non-standard sizes – it’s a long story and not of my doing)

Radial arm saw? I got an early Dewalt one for £150 off eBay. Bang on square, can be used for ripping and double mitres as well as normal cross cutting.

I make cupboards, wardrobes, kitchen cabinets. To a really good standard.

All I use is a Festool rail saw, a pair of trestles and 2 lengths of 2×4 to support the 2800mm lengths of board that I order and a couple of home made jigs to aid with the repetitive square cuts of strips. Add in a Kreg Junior Pocket Hole kit and some Kreg clamps and you’re good to go.

It makes for a portable set-up; you can do all the cutting and assembly in the room where it’s going.

I’ve never felt the faintest need for either a table saw or chop saw.

I have a Trend pocket hole jig thing which appears to be pretty much the same as the Kreg. Other than that it sounds like a plunge/track/rail saw would be more use for what I’m after.

Cheers STW!

Another recommendation for a rail saw and mitre saw. Mine are Festool but you don’t need anything of that quality unless you are relying on the tools for your wage. Much safer than a table saw, lighter, easier to store and transport.

I have a table saw, but it’s a 2 person job with 8’x4′ sheets – particularly when I can get them cut for free @ B&Q. Rail saw is easier if working solo. Check the cutting depth and width of some mitre saws – I had to build a replacement set of roof trusses for my garage and found I needed to do many cuts in two passes

friend has just bought one of these…. came with free shipping, too.

http://www.krueger-maschinen.de/catalog/Formatkreissaegen/gebraucht/293/9A107103/Formatkreissaege_ALTENDORF_F_45_ElmoDrive_-45+45.html?gclid=CjwKEAjwtJzLBRC7z43vr63nr3wSJABjJDgJyo-4orN-h1Ylc2cA0fpdtKTK-AGcv-DuGyjvILSjpRoCsFrw_wcB

oh, and what maccruiskeen said.

for house building you don’t much need a table saw.

table saw for 2nd fix, maybe, but it more so for furniture joinery.

Agree with the Rail saw comments, very versatile. I have the Bosch system and can make cuts to 0.5mm accuracy over a 2m length.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/ecoMpy]Ripping Ply with Bosch Tracking Circular Saw[/url] by Ben Freeman, on Flickr

I also have a Dewalt table saw and it’s only really useful for cutting small pieces, anything longer than a metre and it’s nearly impossible to feed it without pushing the fence out of place and messing up the cut. The fence clamp just isn’t strong enough to resist the torque from a large piece of wood. I generally end up running everything through it twice, the first cut to length + 1-2cm and then reset the fence and do a 2nd cut to final length.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Wpz7Kn]Workshop[/url] by Ben Freeman, on Flickr

alpin – Member
friend has just bought one of these…. came with free shipping, too.

http://www.krueger-maschinen.de/catalog/Formatkreissaegen/gebraucht/293/9A107103/Formatkreissaege_ALTENDORF_F_45_ElmoDrive_-45+45.html?gclid=CjwKEAjwtJzLBRC7z43vr63nr3wSJABjJDgJyo-4orN-h1Ylc2cA0fpdtKTK-AGcv-DuGyjvILSjpRoCsFrw_wcB

Lolz!, because your average Joe buys an Altendorf for site work.
😆

I’m trying to sell one. Nice and cheap, come and collect it from Cardiff?

it sounds like a plunge/track/rail saw would be more use for what I’m after.

Yep. Have a look at thus guy on Youtube – most of what he does is cupboards, wardrobes and the like and almost all of his cutting is with a festool tracksaw (although he recently reviewed the cheapo Titan one).

A table saw is good if it’s massive, accurate and you know all the techniques.

But I’d much rather have my track/plunge saw than a small <£300 table saw.

I own the Makita and love it. The Festool was about £100 more from Axminster and I’ve used it so much that I could probably have justified the extra to be honest.

friend has just bought one of these…. came with free shipping, too.

Break his heart by telling I bought one pretty much the same for £600 🙂

ebay seller had listed it as ‘Saw’ and wondered why I was the only one to bid on it 😆

+1 for anything by scheppach
there head office is in Brighouse too so spares & back up is top
notch
I have a hs105 cabinet saw table & a pl55 with x2 1400mm rails both been great

& a pl55

They didn’t think that through 🙂

Break his heart by telling I bought one pretty much the same for £600

haha…. 😀

he didn’t really, just winding up the OP.

saying that they are nice bits of kit. one of my clients bought a smallish one back in February. think that only cost 18k new.

i find the older ones nicer to use than some of the newer ones (which are now made in China). one workshop has one from 1970…. that’s 12 years older than me! solid bit of maschinery. runs smooth and true.