Now that I have the Table Saw powered up and I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks, I
thought I’d post a review on it to help anybody else who is trying to find more
information on them. I’ve also got a general overview of it in a youtube video you can
watch below.
I’ll jump straight to the main point though; yes, I would recommend this saw if you are
looking for one around the 1k mark in Australia. I am certainly no expert on table saws,
but I feel that the $900 I paid is more than fair for this model.
I bought from Hare&Forbes Machinery House, click here to see the saw’s product page and current price.
So lets begin:
Blade: Comes with a 36 tooth, 12in blade. Nothing too special about it. However it crosscuts thick & dense wood very well and leaves a nice crisp edge. The only time it has struggled has been while ripping lengths of construction pine. However the pine was damp and gummy so I suspect most blades would have slowed down through it. Blade cuts around 75mm when at 45o and just shy of 110mm @ 90o.
Tabletop: Cast Iron, 510x686mm, the extensions take it to 1030x686mm. The wings are fixed in place by adjusting 3 screws. Surprisingly they were relatively quick to install and I had it dead flat almost straight away. Only issue here was the grease that was all over it when I bought it. No idea what it was for or why it was spread over the tabletop, but it was very hard to clean off. Water, Metho, CLR and an orbital sander to finally clear it. The table is smooth without being slippery, I will look for a buffing product to improve it.
Fence:
I was worried that a cheap saw would equal a terrible fence, but I must admit I really like this one. It slides well on both sides of the blade and is easy to remove or install. It locks down very tightly and has the micro adjuster to move it by millimetres in either direction, far better than slapping the fence to line it up I would think.
Mitre Gauge:
Pretty crap to be honest. Expect to buy an after-market one, or be prepared to make quite a few adjustments to it before use.
Motor:
3hp Induction; requires a 15A connection. If you have to spend $600 on an electrician to run new cable to your workshop, then this saw is probably not for you. However if you have the 15A in there already (like I thought I did…) no problem. It’s not exactly quiet, but can happily be used without earplugs if you put them down and forget where they are. Anybody else do that?
Body & Stand:
Strong and sturdy. Quite hard to move around if you need to rearrange the shop, definitely a 2 man job or you will risk bending the legs. The only issue with mine was one of the legs came with a deep scratch through the powder coating, around 80mm long. I thought about returning it for a new one, but the store is literally 1.5hrs drive away, I’m not going to waste 3 hours driving over a scratch.
Assembly: Oh wow, this is where it really sucked. The instructions are poor; made up of pages that have been photocopied multiple times, crude drawings that you can’t make out part numbers on, poor translations, etc. It really was disappointing to open the manual, I was worried that I had wasted my money in a big way. Fortunately, it’s just the manual that is of such low quality, the machine is fine. It took me maybe 3-4 hours to assemble it, however as I state in the video, don’t do it alone. Organise for a mate to help you out, your back will thank you and you won’t risk dropping a 120+kg machine on your foot.
Final Word: I love it. It did take me 3 months to turn it on due to the power issue, but now that I have it I’m rapt. The only project I’ve used it for so far is building some shop cupboards. For them I’ve been ripping construction pine and slicing up sheet goods mainly. All the cuts are straight and clean, they are repeatable, and they are safe. If you are looking for a saw around the 1k mark in Australia, this seems to be the one.
If you have some specific questions about this saw, hit me up, happy to help as I know there were almost no resources for TS reviews when I was looking.
Disclaimer: Once again, I am not a table saw expert nor a professional woodworker, this is just my opinion. As a hobbyist who has never used a comparable machine before, all I can say that I am very happy with it. I have no affiliation with Hare&Forbes either.
I’ll mimic and expand on the comments I made on twitter here.
* Build a cross cut sled before you buy an aftermarket mitre gauge. If you’re always doing 90°, cross cut sleds are easier, faster, and much much cheaper. And you’ll tend to get less torn out grain. There are some really good tutorials out there for making cross cut sleds, some with ways to make angled cuts too. http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-better-cross-cut-sled/ I think is one of the best, but Instructables is down at the moment
* Most cast iron tools (my TS, lathe, and drill press all have) will be covered in a layer of greasy gunk, to keep rust from ruining it during storage and transport. WD40 make a grease remover, but yes, it takes forever to remove it.
* That fence isn’t bad at all! It isn’t a biesemeyer style, but it is better than most stock fences on contractor saws – its big and chunky, and a built in microadjuster is pretty neat. And being an aluminium extrusion, the tslots in it mean you could attach auxiliary fences really easily if you end up getting a dado stack. Better than the stock sawstop fence!
Yep good point, I guess you’d use a sled a lot more often than the gauge hey? The grease was a pain, I assumed it was there for protection but, ugh. And the fence is that good you think? Cool. Shame then that there was no mention whatsoever as how to put the damn thing together in the manual! Got there in the end though I guess.
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