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Thread: Table saw advice

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
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    Question Table saw advice

    I am buying a table saw very soon. I have been looking at a few I like the features on the Laguna but feel the value may be with the grizzly. I have heard good things about the Rigid as well. I don't know if these saws are what the pros use. I will not be running hundreds of bf through a year but I want it to be dependable year after year. It is not a saw i want to drag around. This will be only for use in the shop.

    So any thoughts on this?
    "Once a person moves away from the computer and CNC some of the most important work begins." ~Joe Crumley

  2. #2
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    Default

    scott P.
    2013 Desktop/spindle/VCP 11.5**
    Maine

  3. #3
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    Thanks Scott

    Great thread! Anyone who finds this should go right over to http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/sho...light=tablesaw
    "Once a person moves away from the computer and CNC some of the most important work begins." ~Joe Crumley

  4. #4
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    yes the saws stop would be nice. the riving knife is worth it alone. but I don't cut al to and I could not justify one since I have a unisaw.

  5. #5
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    I have a one man shop so moving sheet goods around especially on the table saw was going to be an issue. So I surrounded it with table top. Also my erection table is the same height and on casters to help in the product movement. BTW they both are the same height as the SB so easy in, easy off. Good luck with your search. Russ

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  6. #6
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    Excellent design.
    "Once a person moves away from the computer and CNC some of the most important work begins." ~Joe Crumley

  7. #7
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    Mar 2004
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    Joe:

    You are better off with a Unisaw used than a Grizzly or Laguna new.
    Laguna customer service is on the west coast and is famous for non-responsiveness.
    Grizzly is OK and does have good customer service but a well cared for Unisaw is out and out twice the saw.
    I would look for a used single phase 3HP with a biesemeyer fence if possible, but the unifence isn't terrible. If you have the room you want the extended fence so you can crosscut 4 x 8's however you want.
    No portable saw is anywhere near as good as a stationary one.

    I had a Jet with a biesemeyer for some years and it was decent. Only had to replace the switch once. This is typical on most saws. But the reason I bought it was I was living in Seattle and their main warehouse was there and sold "open box" cheap and I was able to go through what they had to select the exact one I wanted. The thing is you want to make sure that it will rip heavy lumber well. In the old days Unisaw made a low HP unit that had incredible torque, but nowadays that is history.

    Here is a link to check out:

    http://www.ebay.com/bhp/unisaw


    My current small saw is a Unisaw 3hp 1PH that has been in heavy commercial use for over ten years. No problems in all that time.

  8. #8
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    Timmins, Ontario, Canada
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    Quote Originally Posted by bleeth View Post
    Joe:

    My current small saw is a Unisaw 3hp 1PH that has been in heavy commercial use for over ten years. No problems in all that time.
    We have had three unisaws in our shop since I was a kid in the 70's. All three, three phase / three hp.

    Very good saws, the current one I sold with my old shop was bought new in 88' snd run hard every day since, and still is.

    In the new shop, for my 10" TS I chose a 5 hp Sawstop. In my opinion after 5 years of daily use, it is a bit more "refined " than the uni, with a better guard system. But id still use a unisaw no problem.

    I cut 10,000+ board feet of hardwood yearly and either saw performs fine. For a few hundred a year you really don't need much saw, but a used unisaw is probably still cheaper than a new hybrid. And better built.

  9. #9
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    What's cheaper...a new SawStop or a new FINGER?

    If and when i ever am able to get back to the shop with any regularity i'm going to try to get a SawStop.

    BTW RUSS...will you adopt me? Everytime i see your shop i get this same feeling i used to get when i would walk into the candystore as a kid!
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  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by myxpykalix View Post
    What's cheaper...a new SawStop or a new FINGER?

    If and when i ever am able to get back to the shop with any regularity i'm going to try to get a SawStop.

    BTW RUSS...will you adopt me? Everytime i see your shop i get this same feeling i used to get when i would walk into the candystore as a kid!
    Just faced with this a couple of weeks ago.

    The fact is that I have been operating table saws for a bit over 50 years. I have never so much as scratched a finger while doing so.

    That means the odds are not with me. It also means that I have been very careful.

    It ALSO means that I am getting older and maybe not as fast as I once was.

    So the Saw Stop is a no brainer. My last trip to the emergency room was a bit over $16,000 and that was for a fall out of a chair. That would buy five Saw Stop saws unless you went for the fancy model, in which case it would only buy three.

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