Benchtop Table Saw Reviews

We’re reviewing the Craftsman 10 inch table saw and we have a lot of good things to report though you do have some of the drawbacks usually associated with cheaper table saws. As almost all Craftsman table saws, from the portable table saws to the cabinet table saws, this model 21802 has an amazing number of nice features that you’d expect from a more expensive saw, though this benchtop table saw is aimed at the amateur handyman and not the contractor or woodworking professional.

The Craftsman 10 inch benchtop table saw features a powerful 13 amp ball bearing motor, an adjustable T-slotted miter gauge (we mention this because it was a major oversight that was mentioned in the DeWalt DW745 portable table saw review), a cast aluminum table, a quick cam lock self-aligning table saw rip fence and a carbide tipped blade. It can cut to a 3 inch depth at 90 degrees and about 2.5 inch depth at 45 degrees. With the stand the entire unit weighs just under 45 pounds and the table measures 26 7/64 inches x 17 1/8 inches.

Again, this is a great little benchtop saw for doing those home improvement projects around the house that a circular saw or miter saw may not be perfect for. This is a great table saw for installing trim, cutting baseboards or doing any sort of simple hardwood flooring installation. The Craftsman table saw is still one of the least expensive brand-named bench top table saws available, and you do get what you pay for.

Once assembled this saw is fairly accurate right out of the box, though some other reviews of this benchtop table saw have mentioned that it does need some adjustment before you can really rely on the most accurate of measurements. Assembly of the stand for this table saw is tedious but not that difficult. This Craftsman 10 inch table saw is lightweight and does tend to wobble and shake a bit if you’re not careful when you’re cutting. This is an aluminum table saw, not a cast iron table saw and you’ll have to be careful to make sure everything is even and level when cutting.

The rip capacity is rather limited even for a benchtop table saw. The left rip capacity is 11 inches while the right rip capacity is only 9.5 inches. You’re not going to be cutting plywood with this benchtop table saw, but you might be able to rip some nice trim for around a bookcase you’re building out of pine.

Some table saw reviews for this Craftman have mentioned reliability issues and more than one table saw reviewer brought up stories of the motor completely dying on it. We have never had that experience with this table saw and the vast majority of people buying it do seem to be using it for small home projects and not for week long cutting projects. Because it’s a Craftsman table saw it is sold at Sears and you can often get it for under $100, which is an excellent price for any benchtop table saw, especially a Craftsman power tool like this one. If you’ve been looking for a good beginner table saw then this might be one of the best table saws available for you.

When it comes down to buying a benchtop table saw for your own home projects you need to consider the table saw’s abilities and then balance that with the budget you’ve set aside for your table saw. The Craftsman 10 inch table saw is clearly one of the best tables benchtop saws for the money.

Technorati Tags: table saw, power tools, home improvement, home-improvement, home repair, renovation

In most portable table saw reviews the three words you almost never see together are Portable, Powerful and Professional. Yet those three words are exactly how we’d describe the DeWalt DW745 Heavy Duty 10-inch Compact Job Site Table Saw. This is not to say DeWalt DW745 is not without its flaws, but overall this is one of the bestselling and best reviewed table saws we’ve ever seen.

Let’s first run through some of the stats before we get to the real review of this bench top saw: It has a 15 Amp motor that rips through most hardwood like butter, it can handle a 10″ blade, its arbor size is 5/8″, it has a 3 1/8″ cut depth at 90 degrees with a 2 1/4″ cut at 45 degrees, it can rip up to 16″ (on the right of the blade) and it weighs in at just around 45 pounds. It has adjustable feet for those uneven surfaces, features a rack and pinion telescoping fence design for keeping the blade parallel and it even has a 2 1/2″ wide saw dust port that’s just begging to be plugged into a shop vac. For those of you who appreciate the finer luxuries on your table saw, it even features stems for wrapping up the cord and a built-in push stick.

First and foremost it’s important to remember that this is not some cabinet saw that you’re going to use to build that library in Wayne Manor. That being said, this benchtop table saw packs some power. Our table saw reviewers all said the DeWalt DW745 was great for ripping and cutting just about any sort of wood, even those hardwoods, as long as the job stays within reason. It’s a great saw for cutting trim, molding, wood flooring and other other small to medium carpentry work you may have on your plate. It’s one powerful little table saw.

In fact, the little size of this portable saw is deceiving at first. It’s only 45 pounds so it can easily be moved from the back of truck to a job site and back to the truck again, even for lunch breaks. The roller bars along the frame actually give you something to grab on to and the size makes it easy to shove away on a shelf or under a work bench when it isn’t in use. It’s quick and easy to set up which you may not think is very important until you’ve worked with the DeWalt DW745. Most reviewers say once they go with a table saw that is more portable and easier to set up they simply don’t want to go back.

And finally how professional is this table saw? Our reviewers almost universally praised the DeWalt DW745’s accuracy and ability to repeat cuts with precision. Many other table saw reviews of the DW745 mentioned that they had to make some fine adjustments to square the blade and settle up the fence meter but after that there weren’t many problems. In fact that rack and pinion fence gets high praise from most reviewers, noting that the DeWalt’s fence system doesn’t bind when moving, is one of the easiest to adjust saw fences around and stays nice and parallel and perfectly in place once adjusted. DeWalt made a definite decision to make sure the fence on this portable DW745 was one of professional grade.

So far this table saw review has been all praise, but the DeWalt DW745 is not completely perfect. With portability and a light load weight some things had to be sacrificed. There is a lot of plastic on this saw and some table saw reviews have mentioned that it “felt” as though the knobs and adjustment mechanisms were going to snap right off. With this light weight there seems to be some added noise, though I don’t know of any table saws I’d try to run while sitting in a movie theater or renting books at the library. There are a few bigger problems, though. The miter gauge that comes with the DeWalt DW745 is downright lousy. The miter slots are not T-slots, just regular slots that allow things to just fall out. There’s also no place to store things like the guard and miter gauge when it’s all put away, which is kind of odd because there is a place to store the push stick.

The DeWalt DW745 table saw can’t quite do it all. It can only rip to 16″ which isn’t awful, but 24″ would have been really nice. It’s a bench top saw so you can’t slap in a dado blade, but that’s probably a safety consideration anyway. The DW745 doesn’t come with a stand in the box but you can always purchase the DeWalt DW7450 table saw stand or screw it into some sturdy sawhorses if you really need one.

When it comes down to reviewing table saws for your own needs it really comes down to finding the saw that can do most of what you need while sacrificing as little as you can. The DeWalt’s bestselling status confirms that many other table saw users and reviewers agree: the DeWalt DW745 is one of the best portable table saws available today.

Technorati Tags: table saw, tools, home improvement, home-improvement, home repair, renovation

When you’re first considering buying a table saw you’re faced with several different types of saws, one of which is the benchtop, or portable, table saw. These are often the best table saws for a beginner woodworker who does not have a large work area or workshop and will only use the table saw at certain times. The terms benchtop table saw and portable table saw are generally used interchangeably.

As the name implies a portable table saw is designed to be light enough to carry from one spot to another and it generally is made to be used on a bench or counter. You could place it on the floor but using a table saw on the floor is usually not the safest way to cut or rip wood and you increase your chance of knockback due to the low angle you’re working with. Some benchtop table saws come with table saw stands or legs and some offer support bases separately. Some of the more professional (and slightly more heavy) benchtop table saws actually have wheeled bases. In reality these table saws are meant to be used, you guessed it, on the top of a bench.

Portable table saws usually weigh anywhere from thirty to seventy five pounds, so you they aren’t really meant to be carried all over the place, but you can fairly easily move them in and out of storage as needed. Most benchtop table saws can use standard 10-in.-dia. blades like other table saws, but there are still some drawbacks to using them. The different cuts and abilities of these benchtop table saws is also limited partially by their size and partially by the way their durability is sometimes sacrificed for decreasing the weight. Don’t expect to use a benchtop table saw to do all the work you’re woodworking friend did with his large cabinet table saw.

Most benchtop table saws are made with the amateur handyman in mind, though in recent years several of the more established tool companies have come out with some very strong and durable portable table saws which are being used by more and more contractors and professional wood workers in a pinch.

When trying to choose the best benchtop table saw for your needs, consider what kinds of blades you think you’ll want to use, whether you’ll need to change the blade angle or blade height and whether you’ll need to disassemble the unit or want to upgrade the table saw fence and rail system. When looking at specifications you’ll want to compare weight, rip capacity, portability and base configuration and the size of the motor. Also consider the ease at which various adjustments and blade changes can be made. For some people this is important, but for some the basic features of a low-end benchtop table saw are just fine.

There is a wide range of prices and options in the benchtop table saw arena, but there are clearly some stand-out favorites among reviews. While we can’t endorse any particular portable table saw we can tell you that the DeWalt DW745 Portable Table Saw is a professional grade benchtop table saw that gets rave reviews from almost everyone who has used it. It combines a good balance of power features and usability features and it is one of the bestselling benchtop table saws available.