TS Upgrade?

Tom Blank

Member
Messages
71
Location
Great Pacific Northwest
My "shop" is part of the third bay in a three-bay garage and very space limited. When I'm doing anything requiring more than hand tools or the drill press, I move a car out and use the adjoining bay for the TS (DW744 with fold-up stand) and/or planer (DW735 on a roller base). The bench and drill press are the only stationary tools, everything else gets stowed when not in use.

The DW744 job site saw does save some space at the cost of capability. I used to break it down between projects and had problems keeping it squared up, I suspect part of that is just the nature of the beast. A couple of months ago, I figured out a way to at least leave it set up on its stand without infringing too much on usable floor space. I thought if the Dewalt could stay set up, maybe I could find a smaller cabinet saw on a roller kit that would take up a similar amount of stowed floorspace, that would still be mobile enough to move out to the next bay for use, and gain me something in accuracy and capability.

Went to the local woodworker store yesterday to see what they had, which was Delta, Shop Fox, Steel City, SawStop, but mostly full up cabinet and contractor saws. There was not anything quite like what I thought I had space for. The closest he had was a Delta 36-714 hybrid which has quite a bit larger footprint.

Anybody know of anything else out there that's sized between a job site saw and the standard sized cabinet saw?

Thanks,

Tom
 
Well, my hybrid takes up less room than my old contractor saw but, it is only slightly smaller in footprint than a full sized cabinet saw. I think it may be important to make a list of the things that the current saw is not doing for you. Once you have identified the areas you are trying to improve, it will be easier to see if one solution or another will actually help.

If I had to give up one or the other I would have a hard time giving up my bandsaw but, I do very, very little work with sheet goods. You can rip on a bandsaw, joint the face and edge and plane to thickness without ever getting near the tablesaw. All that being said, you can do a lot nicer job with a plane and some chisels on a piece of walnut than you can on a piece of plywood. This is what leads to my suggestion of making a list of where your current saw falls short so you can be realistic about whether another tablesaw, that will meet your space limitations, will help.
 
General International offers a unique "tweener" saw.... GI 50-090K . It's cast iron with belt drive induction motor, but folds up and rolls out of the way. It's 25-1/4" deep, vs 27" of a full size, but still has a 20" wide table and 10" wide wings.

50-090k.jpg
 
do you have any room along one wall that you could roll it against? Much as I dislike suggesting it... If you could dedicate 6 feet of wall the saw could double as a small workbench when not in use. (I have a dedicated space for my saw but my shop is so small the thing does double duty)
If you can do that and get a mobile base you will be all set!
This is the saw I have and it has been excellent. I think they are on the west coast with you still. Western Tool Supply? They pulled out of the east coast a few years ago.
http://www.westerntool.com/pioneer-3hp-cabinet-table-saw.html

'course... you could always just religate the car to the driveway permanently:D:rofl:
 
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