anyone else use the $99 ryobi table saw?

Mike Gager

Member
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118
Location
Topeka KS
just curious if anybody else has the $99 ryobi table saw from home depot. ive had mine for awhile now it works ok but i wish i had something bigger and better. only reason i bought it was i needed a TS for a home improvemnt project i was in the middle of and i didnt have any more money for something better at the time :eek:

one thing that bothers me is there doesnt seem to be any blade adjustment option and my blade doesnt appear to be parallel to the miter slot :huh:

guess you cant ask for much at that price!
 
Don't have one but, if it got you through your DIY project, it has served you well. With the money you've saved you can feel better about 'moving up' if that is what you want to do.
 
yeah it has so far done everything i need it to do, i just have to be extra careful when im crosscuting. most of the time i just use my miter saw to crosscut and use the TS to rip and it works fine. i was hoping maybe somebody else had one and knew a way to adjust the blade trunnion i believe its called
 
Mike, I used to have a $99 Delta benchtop TS, but I don't recall what adjustments it had, if any. Have you turned your saw over to see how the motor/blade arbor is mounted to the underside of the table top? I suspect there are several screws holding the whole assembly in place. If you see them, loosen them and I think you'll find you can adjust things. Usually if you loosen all of them but one, you can still get the necessary adjustment.

If you do adjust things to match the miter slot, don't forget to adjust your fence, too.
 
well after almost a month of not being able to work out in the shop i was able to get out there today and mess with the saw. i flipped it over and tried to figure out how to adjust it, the only thing i could see that would make any difference was loosening the 3 bolts that held the motor to the rest of the inner workings. i set the saw on its side and loosened the bolts and then checked the alignment, it was perfect! tightened it all back up and flipped it back over checked everything again, still perfect! was so simple i dont know why i put up with it so long.

also managed to make zero tolerance insert for it, which was a bit of a pain because of the way the opening is, its rectangular in shape and the blade is offset and about 3/8" from one side so theres very little material on that side for the insert. took about 4 tries to get one that didnt disintergrate when i started up the saw :huh: i had a nice piece of oak i was gonna use but it blew up on the first attempt so only thing i had left was some 1/8" hardboard but it works so im ok with it for now. rearranged my saw next to my "work bench" and realized the bench makes a perfect outfeed table so thats a plus as well

anywho im very happy with the saw right now although i still have my eye on a new delta when the money tree blooms again :D
 
I have one. WAAYYYY too small, so I built this cabinet for it:

2067811444_bba44dd759.jpg


It's a big help - but still, my next major shop upgrade is a "Real" Table Saw. Either that, or a tank of gas. :rofl:

-Kevin in Indy
 
I use an inherited $89.00 Delta table saw. Works fine and is powerful enough for what I have asked of it. Biggest problem it is very light and will slide across the floor in use and/or try to tip. Base isn't really conducive to adding weight. Plus, being light it is handy to move around.
 
A fella on another forum (he may visit here, too) had a small bench top table saw. He built a huge cabinet around it and designed and built his own Bessemer Rip Fence clone. It were not a pretty sight, but it got the job done for him till he found his own money tree to buy a bigger saw. While we all dream of that dream shop with the very best of every tool, reality strikes and we deal with what we have.

But I think that the slimmer ones budget is at the start of this hobby, the better the woodworker he/she will be as they advance. Lots of skills are learned out of necessity for lack of a special tool that one has had to do without that become the foundation for a higher level later on.

At least that is my hope considering my very humble beginnings in this hobby.
:type::)
 
here is the zero clearence insert i made for my saw. so far its working great

insert.jpg

jerry, i agree 100% i think some people rely on the newest high dollar gadget to get the job done and forget the basics of the craft. not having the money to go buy that new widgit lets people use their imagination to over come the no money obstacle which brings out their creativity and makes them that much better

for instance last night i was trying to figure out how to cut a large panel on my saw and since the table is quite small that is a problem and one of the main reasons i want a bigger saw. however i got to thinking and figured out if i used the edge of the table as a guide i could clamp a long straight edge to the panel and use it as a fence in conjunction with the edge of the table and it worked awesome effectively making the rip capacity of the little saw nearly unlimted. i could have went out and bought a $1000 table saw to get more table room but instead i used a free piece of scrap and some thinking :D
 
here is the zero clearence insert i made for my saw. so far its working great

View attachment 18643

jerry, i agree 100% i think some people rely on the newest high dollar gadget to get the job done and forget the basics of the craft. not having the money to go buy that new widgit lets people use their imagination to over come the no money obstacle which brings out their creativity and makes them that much better

for instance last night i was trying to figure out how to cut a large panel on my saw and since the table is quite small that is a problem and one of the main reasons i want a bigger saw. however i got to thinking and figured out if i used the edge of the table as a guide i could clamp a long straight edge to the panel and use it as a fence in conjunction with the edge of the table and it worked awesome effectively making the rip capacity of the little saw nearly unlimted. i could have went out and bought a $1000 table saw to get more table room but instead i used a free piece of scrap and some thinking :D
If I am see what you did in my head right it is extremely dangerous. Not to say I have not done things like that before but one must be extra careful when over coming the lack of gadgets.:thumb:
As for the delta saw I would stay far far away from any thing delta makes any more. Trying to keep the price point there product quality has gone in the crapper. Just my 2 cent though.
I am up to 6 TS 3 makitas 2 delts 1 dewalt. the dewalt will out cut all the rest put together and you can't beat the rack n pinion fence on it. For a bench top saw.
 
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If I am see what you did in my head right it is extremely dangerous. Not to say I have not done things like that before but one must be extra careful when over coming the lack of gadgets.:thumb:...
I think you're misunderstanding Mike's method. I believe he's clamping the scrap wood to the bottom of the panel he's cutting, then running the edge of the scrap along the edge of the saw table. Something like this very crude drawing:

Panel Fence for Small Saw.jpg
 
For some reason I was thinking that he had the rip fence on also. The two together could be well you know duck:thumb:
 
Mike, I agree with you on using what you have and figuring out a way to do things. Heck, when I was in High school my Dad and I made our own table saw out of wood and used an arbor and an air conditioner motor to power it. I "made do" with a lot of cheap tools for a lot of years before I was able to buy some of the "Finer Things for Shops", and I certainly don't regret all the experience I got in those years. At some point in time though, you finally just absolutely get ENOUGH of making do, and would just like to go to the shop and build something without having to reinvent the wheel every time before you can even get started on the "Project", and it becomes more work than FUN at that point.:rolleyes: (I finally got THERE).:D

Note: I don't really intend to have every tool that would make things easier, but I have come a long way, and I'm sure enjoying it a lot more again.:D

The main thing is to have FUN doing the projects, no matter what tools you have to work with, so keep on having FUN.:thumb:
 
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