# Excuses for owning a $99 Ryobi table saw...



## bigbearomaha (Sep 3, 2009)

I know the feeling. my shop is in my basement and also space limited.

I just bought a similar $99 Tradesman 10" tablesaw with the same mitre problem.

The fence isn't self aligning but a square fixes that.I have decided to make my own mitre gauge that is much more stable as well.

All in all though, I find the saw performs well, honestly, I'd say it outperforms the cost, which is a pleasant surprise nowadays.

Big Bear


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## Bens-Bees (Sep 18, 2008)

BeeCurious said:


> I'm not the only one here that owns a $99 10" Ryobi Table Saw (BTS12S)


No, you're definately not... 



BeeCurious said:


> but I may be the only one with a good excuse.
> 
> I live in a condo... and my garage space is very limited. Storage space is so limited, my being cheap didn't effect the buying decision.


I thought being cheap was the only good excuse. Though, to be fair, it's not all that cheap. I expect mine will wear out within the next 2 to 3 years, and I've only had it for a year. So I'm thinking that one that would last for a lifetime is cheaper, even if it is 7 times the initial price.


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

I bought the bosch contractor saw, pricey but nice saw. It easily folds & has wheels to roll it away.


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## Rob Renneker (Aug 7, 2006)

I bought an old delta table saw yesterday for a hundred bucks. I needed something I could keep a dado blade on for my box joints and rabbets. It may be 50 years old but it sure is built better than my new craftsman saw!


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## Bighorn06 (May 23, 2009)

I scored one of the $59 10" Skil brand table saws at Lowes on Black Friday, and a $59 air compressor with nailer. Both were donated to the local Habitat for Humanity for trim work. I guess I will find out if it is worth it when we hang trim or try to rip a board.


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## Velbert (Mar 19, 2006)

my first one was a benchtop saw from sears newlywed in april we bought a 2 bed room trailer and used the spare room 9x10 set up my bench saw cut out 40 deep broods tops and bottoms and cut out the frames for the 40 hives was getting cut offs from the local sawmill where i worked i was incharge of emptying the scrape box at the planer shed SWEET Those were the good ol days it lasted about 4 years


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## TwT (Aug 5, 2004)

I bought a new table saw 2 years ago, I looked for the one that had the best fence, the Ridgid Contractor TS3650 had the best rip fence of all the saws I seen, better than the $1200 craftmans saws, I think I paid after taxes about $650-$700 but in the long run it was well worth it. to me the Rip Fence is the most important part of a table saw.

http://benchmark.20m.com/reviews/RidgidTS3650/RidgidTS3650Review.html


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## magnet-man (Jul 10, 2004)

BeeCurious said:


> The biggest problem for me is that the miter gauge has a lot of play in it. And since it's a cheap non-standard T-Slot, it isn't possible to buy a better miter gauge to fit.


There are a few ways to take the play out of the gauge. 99% of the time it is because the metal guide is not wide enough for the track that it runs in. 

Option one is to take a nail punch and put a dimple near the right side that will deform the edge. Only do this on one side and on the top and bottom. That will take the slack out if it isn't too much. 

Option two is if there is a bigger gap. Sand off some of the black oxide on the right edge and solder some pipe solder to that edge. Next scrape away enough solder so the guide runs tight and true in the slot. You can be a bit tight because the solder will wear with use.

Getting a good square cut on a shallow bed table saw can be a hard thing to do.


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## jbford (Apr 17, 2009)

bought the $600 Bosch here also. it is super accurate and no play anywhere. folds up in a second and goes against the wall.

it was hard to drop that amount of $, but haven't regretted it at all.


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## BeeCurious (Aug 7, 2007)

TwT said:


> I bought a new table saw 2 years ago, I looked for the one that had the best fence, the Ridgid Contractor TS3650 had the best rip fence of all the saws SNIP












TwT, your saw would take up too much shelf space...


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## xC0000005 (Nov 17, 2004)

I've owned a bottom of the barrel $79 dollar saw for five years and do most of my ripping on it. No problem with it holding up (and I store it...outside - no room inside). I will say that it hasa rough cut compared to the craftsman with the eight+ foot deck on it I sometimes use (which sound huge but it's very nice to be able rip a sheet of plywood down the middle). It is horribly ugly but it was cheap, it's done everything I needed and then some, and I intend to run it until it dies. When it does I'll probably pick up a craftsman - they seem to get dumped as "heavy and taking up too much space" and I'm sure afterward I won't have such a high opinion of a a low grade saw.


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## TwT (Aug 5, 2004)

BeeCurious, your right about the room, you do need a shop or extra area to keep it in but this saw will probably out last me, another thing I looked for when shopping for it was I wanted a all metal saw, not this plastic stuff, Craftsman aren't what they use to be, even the $1200 saw had a lot of plastic on it, the Ridgid is all metal and the drop wheels under the saw make for it to easily be moved around plus it has a life time warranty.


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## noealdo (Dec 5, 2009)

Is someone using any table saw from Harbor Freigth? I have to depart from my Ryobi's $199... but now that I'm getting into beekeeping, I need one to build my bee hives...


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## BeeCurious (Aug 7, 2007)

magnet-man said:


> There are a few ways to take the play out of the gauge. Snip


Magnet-man,

I'm going to take a picture of the miter gauge and post it here; I think it's even cheaper than you think...


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## berkshire bee (Jan 28, 2007)

If the miter guage is 2 pc, you may be able to get a pc of stock from a local shop that will fir the slot better. Of course you'd have to drill and tap a mounting hole or 2


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## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

Make a miter gauge out of wood. You can make the rail the right size.


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## BeeCurious (Aug 7, 2007)

Here are photos of the miter gauge on a Ryobi BTS12S:

















The bar is 13/16" wide, and 1/4" high.










I think I will make one from wood as Barry suggested. I'll use whatever hardwood I use for the "runners" on my crosscut sled.

I'm also overdue for a visit to the local scrap-metal dealer and it's possible to find just about anything...


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## magnet-man (Jul 10, 2004)

Your runner is not the solid type so the punch idea won;t work with this. You still might try the solder on one side.


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## hemichuck (Oct 27, 2009)

A couple of weeks ago I was scanning craigslist and picked up an old cast iron Delta combination table saw/shaper/drill press for $25 and while I was there the guy ask if I wanted a Craftsman table saw for $50 so I bought it too.They both work great.


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## HVH (Feb 20, 2008)

This is not meant to sound snobbish, but I told my wife that I would rather not work wood if it meant buying flimsy tools. Since I worked in commercial shops for several years I just couldn't imagine ripping a nice piece of hardwood on a feather weight saw. When space is an issue there is not much you can do. But when money is the issue, I would rather have an old rusted Delta or Powermatic that needed some work over the tin cans sold today. One of the best purchases of my life was a model 66 Powermatic. The table saw is the heart of most wood shops and a good solid cast top with a dependable fence brings a lifetime of joy. I just wish I purchased the 12/14" saw instead. Some people on this forum are tool junkies, though, and have to be taken with a grain of salt.
A good jointer would come in second on my list of a tool worth paying good money for.


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## magnet-man (Jul 10, 2004)

The right tool also boils down to what you are going to make and how often. If I was going to make a hundred or so foundation less frames I might purchase a cheap tiny table saw from the flea market. 

For 400 a month I might pickup a used contractor saw and make permanent jigs and drill a few holes in the table to anchor the jigs. This is so a frames made this year will be identical to the one I make next year.


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