choice of table saw

[jerry]

Hi I've started making a few bits for my 14 x12 hives but find my sliding mitre saw and router less than perfect. I would like an accurate table saw that could ideally cope with an 8' x 4' sheet of ply that can pretty much do all I need to make up a hive from scratch. I've got about £200 but would rather wait and save to get one that is more accurate and quicker to setup if thats what it takes. Can anyone recommend a tool for the job?
Thanks
Jer.

 

[Finman]

.
I have this kind of table saw and it is very good. Price was 90 pounds in Lidl.

electric wood planer is good too in that job.

 

[Black Comb]

To cope safely with an 8 x 4 sheet you will need a sliding carriage as well. More cost.
A better way is to get the sheets cut down to a more manageable size at the wood yard or store - b & q do this I believe. My woodyard does this for 0.30 per cut.

I have a scheppach and it's fine.
I see that they have brought out a budget range and dm- tools have one for 200. I have never seen/used this particular model but scheppach stuff is usually ok.

 

[drstitson]

you'll like this; not a lot!

just make sure your careful when using the saw to construct safety equipment for use with said saw!!!!

 

[REDWOOD]

What about a hand held circular saw, you can get them with a rail, seen one used last weekend very impressed

 

[Teemore]

Have a look at what Axminster tools have on offer or keep your eyes open for an older, single phase table saw from Wadkin and Bursgreen: they are built to last and can often be had for relatively little money.

 

[mbc]

I found this to be a very good thread on cutting equipment. My favourite bit was a link to a u tube clip of making a simplee guide for an ordinary circular saw to make it into an accurate tool for cutting up sheets of ply, excellent money saving, practical and effective tip.


http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7989
edit:
Just looked for a linky and couldnt find it, maybe this wasnt that thread !

 

[Dilligaf]

I have a Triton Workcentre as my table saw. I have a router table top for it too. Just in the process of building my first nationals with it & everything is accurate & repeatable.
If I am to buy anything else for it, it will be the sliding extansion table. A full sheet of 19mm ply is a bit heavy to machine on your own at first.

 

[rae]

The problem with 8x4 is that it is too big to handle. Unless you have a massive table saw (preferably with a sliding table), or a panel saw, the initial cuts are likely to be flaky and inaccurate.

Options are:

1) Make the inital cut with lots of room for error (this is what I used to do)
2) Get the shop to make the initial cuts
3) Get a track saw. They're pretty new on the market (Festool and Mafell patents recently expiring), DeWalt make one.

Here is a Festool promotional vid which shows what it can do:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdjDN8GWGbk&feature=related[/ame]

The DeWalt will be similar.

When you've got the bits down to a manageable size, any half decent table saw will cut them well enough for bee hives. The trick with decent table saws is the fence - most are crap and flexible.

 

[jerry]

Thanks for all the advice. I have been getting 8'x4' cut down at B&Q so ability to cut down full sheets not so important if it's going to cost a fortune. Is it simple enough to make or buy guides that will allow me to form the top and bottom rails on a table saw safely? Some saw manuals say no rebate cuts allowed and others say providing the wood is in a Shaw or tunnel guide it's fine. It's only really worth the cost if I can also form the rails.

 

[VEG]

Another way of doing the rebates is to use 2 pieces of wood and screw/glue/staple them together.

 

[rae]

The problem with rebate cuts on a table saw is that you normally have to remove the riving knife or splitter that sits behind the blade. The splitter is a handy thing to have as it stops the work binding, and it also stops the work climbing onto the blade and coming back at you at 100+ mph (which hurts).

I'd use your router for the rebates, or use the 2 bits of wood method.

 

[oliver90owner]

and router less than perfect.

A decent router will do all these jobs perfectly adequately for a beehive. The cheaper tools will, perhaps, not function as well as the better ones (eg Festool) but if you know the limits of your tools you can take appropriate precautions (one problem might be concentricity of the cutter with the base (if circular), another might be vibration when making any but the finest of cuts).

Certainly a saw is better for some things, and a sawcut can be close enough for a beehive, if that is all you have. After all, they used to do it all with hand-powered tools!

The biggest problem with small table saws is the small table. Make it big enough and (if you can still reach far enough) accurate cuts in large sheets is much, much easier. The worst thing about the cheap ones is likely the blade.

rae,

A super commercial video. Not many on here need the accuracy and that 'ease of operation' for a few bee hives!

I usually use a saw and a planer/thicknesser for most operations; the router is truly a much more versatile machine than what I use it for - and could replace both the above tools if I had need. The router table would be used more if I made lots of boxes from scratch, but the sales seconds items are more than adequate homes for the bees.

 

[rae]

Yes, the video was US hard sell cheesiness, but it provides a good view of how capable a track saw can be. Others have asked for recommendations about portable/storable kit...again the track saw does this. DeWalt will presumably make a cheaper one soon.

For all sheet work (ply,mdf etc) I use the track saw exclusively these days. The table saw remains the best option for solid/long work and anything over (say) 60 mm depth of cut.

 

[Hivemaker.]

.
I have this kind of table saw and it is very good. Price was 90 pounds in Lidl.

electric wood planer is good too in that job.

A bargain,normal price is around $2,799.99

 

[protheroe]

.
I have this kind of table saw and it is very good. Price was 90 pounds in Lidl.

electric wood planer is good too in that job.

i wish i could get one of these for 90 pounds.
i just use a circular saw mounted on a wolfcraft table,does the job ok.

 

[SixFooter]

I use a Dewalt plunge track saw for cutting ply. It's much easier to move the saw over the wood than an 8 x 4 sheet of ply through a fixed saw. It produces a marvellously clean cut which is as accurate and straight as can be. I've made a 10 ft x 4 ft bench with a sacrificial chip board top to hold the plywood whilst I cut it.

 

[Tom Bick]

The problem with rebate cuts on a table saw is that you normally have to remove the riving knife or splitter that sits behind the blade. The splitter is a handy thing to have as it stops the work binding, and it also stops the work climbing onto the blade and coming back at you at 100+ mph (which hurts).

I'd use your router for the rebates, or use the 2 bits of wood method.

Not if you are able to set the riving knife a few mm below the top of the saw blade. You should then be able to cut rebates on the table saw with the knife fitted.

But and I quite agree 100% with the above you may at times get a piece of wood wanting to fly past your ears going rather fast.