Which Table Saw

IHI

I have the 744 and after 12 yrs of heavy usage from fine finish work to rough ripping the motor finally...finally took a chit. $132 later and it's brand new and sturdy/accurate/strong as ever...best part takes up minimal space. BUT when she went down it was in the middle of usage, so i went and picked up the smaller, but same motored/designed 745, and since it shares the same motor, just smaller table/rip capablity i expect at least another 12 yrs of service from both before any servicing is required....hard to even argue with the lightweight, compactness, long term durablity, and accuracey of these units...but beings how i've never had to replace them i'm biased since i've only ever used big shop table saws and these job site tables are every bit as powerful and accurate as any i've ever used....best $4-500 you'll ever spend for a long term investment.

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jtpro

That's AWESOME! good to know I'll get a lot of usage.

I've just heard more anti black and yellow talk than before. As I said I have NOTHING to complain about.

I live 5 mins from a DeWalt service center and they are always fair to me on repairs.

Anderson

Thanks for all the advise, I think I am going to go with the Bosh, I am just not to sure of a few things,
1)If the digital fence is just silly.
2)There seems to be some different versions of the saw with letters either before or after the 4100??

Teetorbilt

You're thinking new and small. Around here cabinet shops are closing up left and right.

I've seen saws in the paper for 10% of their original purchase price. Those are manual saws. Digitals are going for about 60% off.

I'm talking high quality, floor equipment.

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Anderson

I have been checking around for deals, but I would not buy something used for only 10% off.

Inner10

I've used the bosch quite a bit and considered buying one, its a nice piece but I wouldnt even consider it with out the gravity stand.

My old beater does the trick for now, I think if it was in the budget I would get a track saw, I have a serious hatred for taking the table saw out of the truck for a few cuts.

Anderson

its funny you should say that I was also looking at a track saw, seems the Makita is the one to have, even better than the festool. Only thing is that the longest rail is only 115" then it comes with a 55" so I guess thats around 14 feet give or take. What I was looking to do was rip alot of 5/4 16 footers. So dont think the track saw would be much good at that

charimon

Before I went Festool
I used a ryobi with a 7 1/4 thin kerf in a Rousseau setup. the smaller blade allowed the little saw to not bog down, while still cutting 2xS and the fence setup gave it as much capicity as most shop saws.

Craig

jtpro

[quote=Anderson;775580]I have been checking around for deals, but I would not buy something used for only 10% off.[/quote]

You mis read.

Teetor said

cabinet runner

I've had the dewalt 744 for about 4 years now and I really like it . I bought it because of the fence and have not been disappointed .

I read a comment about it getting out of alignment and I have had to readjust mine about 3 times but it is a very simple proccess . Takes about 5 minutes . Just read your manual and it's simple .

It is the most accurate jobsite table saw I have used .

jtpro

So I will ask you then. How does it jump off the track and get out of whack?

I would like to avoid this if possible. Does the fence get hit hard by an object falling or the saw falls and rolls over etc.?

IHI

Biggest thing is how it's handled and stored. The wheel has the "shaft" that sticks out a bit on the rack and pinion, and if it's tored and bumped good it can make it jump a tooth and "rack" the fence. We store ours in the attic of the cubie along with alot of other stuff, so it get's beat around pretty good since employee's are never delicate with anything they dont own. In the 12 yrs i've had the big one i've had to readjust the rack maybe 3 times when it jumped a tooth during storage and transit, so it's just one of those things you need to be concious of like anything else, but i've always checked the fence on every table saw prior to making a cut at the start of the day so i know it's true/square....with the dewalt i just use the miter guage slot as my "alignment point" and adjust the fence over to it so i can check it for true.

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woodworkbykirk

when we transport them on a regular basis they tend to get knocked around in the van or trailer. the reason the dewalt took so long was do to trying to a) figure out where to open it up to adjust it and then we realized it was put together with odd sized bolts so we had to drive around to about 7 different stores trying to find a nut driver that size.......

the bosch just needs a allen key which they provide and is kept inside the blade storage case which mounts to the side of the saw and its a simpler design.

the dewalt tipped when we were milling up 5/4 exterior grade mdf, roughly 120 lb's a sheet i think

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jtpro

Thanks to both of you.

I have all the nutdrivers and t bits for Dewalt so that's not a prob plus I'm fairly mindful of the fence rails jutting out a smidge.

Still I'm sure it's just a matter of time for me til I whack it GOOD.

On me cart if the fence is set back some, the cart protects it when it smacks into door jams etc.(THIS I ACCIDENTLY tested NUMEROUS times)

It has also taken some direct hits when i didn't set the fence back but so far so good.

IHI

The biggest and HARDEST thing it took my guys a bit to learn was- roll the fence back before packing it away so it's not sticking out either side which also is a huge reason it'd come out of whack....not to mention made it a PITA to unload later if something in the "attic" rolled down onto the table saw and got hung up on the arm/s that were sticking out. Kinda like our cordless nailers, it took a few times and alot of cussing/azz chewing to get it drilled into their heads they HAVE to remove the batteries or else we're SOL the next time we go to use it

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cueball707

Depends on what you want to spend. All the big name saws are great (dewalt, bosch, makita, etc) I have used them all and they all work well. The ridgid jobsite saw seems to work really well too. I have the ryobi because it was the lightest saw of the bunch and I usaully only use it for a day or 2 at a time on jobs. If I had a need for one that I was going to use daily, then I would invest in the dewalt or the bosch.

Rustbucket

Another vote for the DW745. Unless, of course, if you rip a lot of plywood. You can't rip in the center of a 4x8 sheet with it and use the fence. I have a Festool TS 55 for breaking down sheet goods, so that wasn't a big deal for me.

I have built a whole kitchen with basically a Festool TS55 and a DW 745. I used the DW 745 for ripping down face frames stock and the rails and stiles for the doors. Plenty accurate.

I was looking at the Bosch, but while at Lowes one day, I walked by a DW 745 new in the box for $202. Said clearance on the box. A few weeks later they were stocking them again. Go figure.

woodworkbykirk

i should mention that i had a craftsmen before the bosch, basically the exact same as the ryobi with the spider legged stand that folds only sears took it and colored it to be craftsmen (made by ryobi technologys),

nice and light with 24" rip capacity but the fence was hard to align and the table extension sagged under its own weight so material wouldnt stay flat when running through it

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putting down subfloor with glue and screws, well i saw dr. smith and the robot too , i had a martian burger and a sonic shake

tccoggs

I had the Bosch and it was stolen, excellent saw, but I got the Ridgid on a $299 special black friday deal and have been equally as happy.

As for the poster talking about digital saws from cabinet shops, he's probably refering to panel saws, which isn't a true table saw. They are excellent for cutting sheet goods, but solid wood processing is limited. No dado blades, the sliding table is usually configured to be slightly higher than the main table which makes it less than ideal for ripping. If you have never used one of these saws, the layout of where the operator stands in comparison to the blade is also not very comfortable for cutting smaller pieces. This is why you will still see unisaws in the shops that have $70k alterdorfs and Martin saws, they are 2 different machines.

Cabinet shops aren't going out of business based on equipment costs, it probably has alot more to do with overhead. To support the large equipment, you need alot of space, 3ph power, and operators. Once you get a panel saw, you need an edgebander, you have an edgebander, you need a line boring machine, etc. Belive me I know. I started out in a small shop with a couple unisaws, chop boxes, planer, and shaper. We first added a Mereen-Johnson DC312 Gang/Line Rip and Wienig Unimat as we did alot of renovation work and solid stock was primarily what we processed. As an added cost, we now needed a 20HP dust collector as well. As we built more cabinets, we added 3000 sq ft of space, an SCMI Slider, SCMI edgebander, 23 spindle line boring machine, Whirlwind upcut with tiger stop, ritter pocket hole system, and large 10HP shaper.

Business was still good, and we got larger jobs, so we added another 3000 sq ft to make room for a 43" double head widebelt sander, 25HP compressor, Belt edgesander, assembly tables, and spraybooths.

Finally bit the bullet and went 300K into CNC with a Komo MACH 3 VR512, 40HP vac pump, and another 20HP dust collector. I should point out that during all this we went through 2 electrical service upgrades.

Well back in the startup days, if things were slow, it wasn't that big of a deal, now it was panic at the first sign of a slowdown. The animal we had built was consuming at an alarming rate, and it was doing so no matter if we were using it or not. Property taxes, insurance, interest, comp, computers, etc all added up.

I haven't been a part of that business in almost 10 years now, but it tought me a valuable lesson. It not always good to want what you don't have. I would rather run my life and have work be a part of that life than have work run my life for me. Somewhere in all this I realized that the stress of paying all the bills started to make me hate woodworking, so it was time to change things up.

Anderson

Just picked up the Bosch 4100 at Sears its about the only place around here that carries it. Great price to they had it marked down to $609. Also you get another 10% any woodworking tools over $299 at the moment not sure how long it lasts.