Mini Table Saw recommendations

[captainscott]

Anybody know of a decent cheap saw? I have the harbor freight one but I don't like it.  Ripping planks is all I would probably use it for. Anybody have one of those ones off ebay? A Byrnes would be nice but out of my reach.

 

Thanks  

[mtaylor]

Define "cheap"?   Have you checked MicroMark?  

[captainscott]

I was looking at those on ebay around 150 I don't know if there even worth buying. Maybe I'll save up some more. 

[mtaylor]

I've got one and have had for probably 10 years.  It's not a Brynes by any stretch.   Never mind, I just went and a look.. and saw the current price... yikes.  Unless new, I'd be careful on the Bay.

[Bob Cleek]

Bottom line, there isn't anything that even comes close to the Byrnes saw and you do get what you pay for. With the "also-rans," you pay a little bit less and get a lot less for your money in quality and accuracy, not to mention resale value, if you ever want to sell it. They do cost money, but if you are cutting your own strip wood, it won't take too long to pay for itself, particularly the way pre-cut stock is starting to cost these days, when you can find it. Just throw your pocket change in a Mason jar and watch it add up. Save a buck here or there as you go along. You'll have enough saved up in short order. Particularly now, when we're all "locked down" and aren't spending any pocket money, anyhow.

[grsjax]

A decent saw that is usually reasonably priced is the old Dremel table saw.  Decent out of the box and easy to upgrade to make it better.  Another option is one of the 8" table saws sold by sears from the 30's to the 60's.  All cast iron and steel construction.  I bought one for $50 a couple of years back.  They show up on eBay regularly. 

[captainscott]

Thanks everybody for the suggestions. I love the Byrnes but I'm not so sure I'll use it enough to justify the expense. I would like to get more into scratch building so there's that. I'm really feeling the pull to try Chucks Winchelsea !  I like everything about it.

[Bob Cleek]

48 minutes ago, captainscott said:

Thanks everybody for the suggestions. I love the Byrnes but I'm not so sure I'll use it enough to justify the expense. I would like to get more into scratch building so there's that. I'm really feeling the pull to try Chucks Winchelsea !  I like everything about it.

You can't keep building kits forever. The more you do it, the more you scratch-build. Before you know it, you'll wake up one morning and say, "Why am I building models that have been built a hundred or more times before when I can build anything I want?" 

 

Save your money and buy the saw. You know you want it. You know you deserve it. When was the last time you treated yourself to something really nice?  

Edited April 12, 2020 by Bob Cleek

[Captain Poison]

Proxxon 37006 KS 115 Bench Circular Saw on Amazon for $125 or 

MicroLux® Miniature Table Saw on Micro-Mark for $129.

[Gregory]

On 4/11/2020 at 5:26 PM, captainscott said:

Ripping planks is all I would probably use it for.

Unless you are going to be ripping balsa planks, none of those cheap saws are going to be much good.

 

I have had one of these:  MicroLux Mini Tilt Arbor Table Saw for about 20 years, and it can cut planks with a decent blade and finely adjustable rip fence.

 

At that price one would do to well spend an extra hundred or so for the Byrnes.  I keep thinking about getting one myself, but I haven't got into scratch building yet

and my little saw does everything I need to do right now.

[Bob Cleek]

2 hours ago, Captain Poison said:

Proxxon 37006 KS 115 Bench Circular Saw on Amazon for $125 or 

MicroLux® Miniature Table Saw on Micro-Mark for $129.

Or any one of the several Chinese rip-off clones of the Proxxon, MicroLux, and Byrnes saws, for that matter. They are all over Amazon, some for as little as fifty or sixty bucks. But, you get what you pay for and you only have to buy a good tool once, which makes good tools the cheapest in the end, even when they are the most expensive in the beginning.

 

If semi-tractor trucks were marketed like mini-table saws, would you buy a Peterbilt with a Chevy 350 engine?

[Voyageur]

2 hours ago, Captain Poison said:

Proxxon 37006 KS 115 Bench Circular Saw on Amazon for $125 or 

MicroLux® Miniature Table Saw on Micro-Mark for $129.

I’m very pleased with my Proxxon KS 115. At this stage, it is all I need. Well built for the money.

[Sea Hoss]

Ya, these guys are right, pros always have the best for a reason, as apprentices we try to dodge the big ticket tools, and pay the price eventually. I have been "easing my way into" modelling and pick up "decent" tools as I need them. My last was a decent benchtop band saw. I guess you should decide sooner or later if you intend on staying in the hobby for the long run. At that point, reason will guide your tool (and model) purchases. I have found recently that I need to invest in some fine micro chisels, I bought some $10 crap ones on Amazon ant laughed at my foolish mistake upon seeing them! I don't think they could carve wax! You'll learn what you need. Do some "decent" kit models first, then you will know...good luck, hope to watch your build logs.

[Captain Poison]

https://proxxon-us-shop.com/products/bench-circular-saw-ks-115

 

https://www.micromark.com/MicroLux-Miniature-Table-Saw_2

 

I don't think both table saw comes from China,they do the job very well..unless you want to cut 2 inches board.

[mtaylor]

I'll be honest, if the Byrnes saw had been out when I bought my MicroLux, I would have bought the Byrnes.  

 

Look at another way, if you decide the Byrne's saw isn't worth it and you don't need it, it does have a good resale value.

 

10 minutes ago, Captain Poison said:

https://proxxon-us-shop.com/products/bench-circular-saw-ks-115

 

https://www.micromark.com/MicroLux-Miniature-Table-Saw_2

 

I don't think both table saw comes from China,they do the job very well..unless you want to cut 2 inches board.

 

 I just got done cutting a 1" thicki piece of boxwood and it did it well.   Can't get a bigger blade for the Microlux.  <sigh>  I think the Byrnes can as it can use a bigger blade.

 

The catch is China does make some good tools usually contracted out and seldom on FleaBay. For example, you can buy the same lathe from Harbor Freight for a lot less money than the one from MicroMark.  But there is a big difference as those are "contract builds".   MM spec'd tighter tolerances and more metal and less plastic than the Harbor Freight one.  

[Moxis]

I have a Proxxon FET, which is a great little saw which I use every day for scratch building. I am using also a 36 teeth tungsten carbide tipped blade with the saw, which is better for ripping planks & other work than the stock one. But because the saw is already an old model, it has one drawback: It does not have the micrometer adjustable fence which is standard with new saws nowadays.

So if you folks are thinking to buy the FET, (or a Micro Lux alternative) be sure that it has this micrometer adjustable fence. And buy the 36 teeth tungsten carbide tipped blade as well. You won't regret it.

 https://www.proxxon.com/en/micromot/27070.php?list

[mtaylor]

I buy blades from here:  https://www.malcosaw.com/   Cheaper and better than the MM ones.  Also, have a look here (PDF).  This was written by a commercial wood supplier who's since retiered.  He used the Byrne's saw.   However the info on blades works for just about any small hobby saw....

 

Byrnes Saw Operation.pdf

[Moxis]

Good information about the blades, thanks Mark!

I have tried the slitting saw blades made of HSS for ripping planks but had not very good results. The blades were bending and didn't give straight strips, and width of planks were not at all equal. So this is why I changed into tungsten carbide tipped blades and have had much better results.

But it may be that my blades were too thin, they had thickness of 0,5 mm and 1 mm.

[Moxis]

I was reading through the instructions .pdf but didn't quite understand the chapter "back taper". Is it really so that the fence of Byrnes saw is divided in two, the part before blade and the one after blade? And this gentleman is adjusting the part after blade a bit (0.005") differently than the forward part? Or is there something that I just don't understand?

 

[mtaylor]

Yes, he's pulling the rear of the rear of the fence slightly out and away from the blade which prevents kickback.   What I've done is put a length of metal on my fence on the blade side such that then of the metal add-on stops just back of the cutting edge.  I can run the wood through and the cut plank is free of the blade.  

[stuglo]

I've had a proxxon K230 for 6 years including 2 scratch built models. I've had to buy several types of blade and certainly agree that for "heavy"work, tungsten are worthwhile. If and when this breaks, I would like the Byrnes but with shipping it is VERY expensive. The lack of accuracy of the proxxon can be compensated by finishing by sanding as can the lack of tilt facility  

[tkay11]

I have a Proxxon FET table saw and, after working out how to work with it, have not come across anything that would want me to buy a different saw. I can cut quite accurately down to a tolerance of 0.1mm, and I use the appropriate blades for the job in hand. However, it did take quite some time before I understood its construction well enough and I have to spend time setting it up in conjunction with a digital vernier caliper to achieve this. I also had to read all the tips about the use of saws, as pointed out by Mark.

 

European modellers who have far greater skills than I have seem to be able to produce wonderful models with this saw (in addition, of course, to their considerable talent and a few other tools).

 

Jascha Heifetz, the renowned violinist, was once approached at the end of a concert by an enthusiastic woman who said "That violin has a wonderful sound". Heifetz looked puzzled, shook the violin about, and said "That's funny, I can't hear a thing".

 

Of course, better machines make it all easier, but it's also fun learning to make do.

 

Tony

[bruce d]

28 minutes ago, tkay11 said:

I have a Proxxon FET table saw .... and I use the appropriate blades for the job in hand.

Tony, can I ask have you found a good UK/EU source for blades?

[Moxis]

18 minutes ago, bruce d said:

Tony, can I ask have you found a good UK/EU source for blades?

I have same question, I wouldn't like to order blades from US, they must be available in Europe too. 

[tkay11]

Well, I did order two HSS blades from Micromark in the US (a 168 tooth 80 x 0.8mm and a 230 tooth 80 x 0.5mm), together with an adapter for the Proxxon, so that I could have variable widths for things such as gratings, but in reality I found that I've rarely used them. I have almost entirely used the standard Proxxon blades which I have bought in the UK - including a very useful one for cutting acrylic. The ones I use most are the tungsten carbide 80mm x 1.5 and the excellent 50 x 0.56mm. I can't find any reference to this latter 50mm blade in current catalogues, so I presume it's been replaced by the 50 x 0.5mm 100 tooth HSS blade (cat no 28 020).

 

The problem with the Proxxon blades is that they have a 10mm bore. So any other blades have to have an adapter to fit. You could machine such an adapter on a lathe. The one from Micromark (cat no 83515) converts 1/2" hole blades to the 10mm required for the Proxxon and costs $7.95 before shipping. So if you can find 85mm blades or less in Europe, this may be worth buying.

 

Tony

[BETAQDAVE]

On 4/12/2020 at 2:26 AM, grsjax said:

Another option is one of the 8" table saws sold by sears from the 30's to the 60's.  All cast iron and steel construction. 

   The one that I have was handed down to me from my Grandfather.  None of the modern safety features but it's built like a tank!

[Gregory]

I've used these blades from Amazon with very good results. The kerf is a bit more than I would like, but they are a fraction of the cost of Proxxon or Micromark blades.

They have 10mm arbor.

Avenger AV-34024-5 Combination cut saw Blade

 

I found this on Amazon UK.  Looks like it could be the same thing unlabled.

ZhuJinSheng Cutting Disk 1pcs Out Diameter 85mm 24T/36T Mini Circular Saw Blade Wood Cutting Blade

 

 

[Maury S]

I sent you a PM regarding a saw for sale

[Redshirt]

12 hours ago, Moxis said:

I have a Proxxon FET, which is a great little saw which I use every day for scratch building. I am using also a 36 teeth tungsten carbide tipped blade with the saw, which is better for ripping planks & other work than the stock one. But because the saw is already an old model, it has one drawback: It does not have the micrometer adjustable fence which is standard with new saws nowadays.

So if you folks are thinking to buy the FET, (or a Micro Lux alternative) be sure that it has this micrometer adjustable fence. And buy the 36 teeth tungsten carbide tipped blade as well. You won't regret it.

 https://www.proxxon.com/en/micromot/27070.php?list

Did you exchange the longitudinal stop with something more accurate?

[kurtvd19]

One thing about a Byrnes saw is that it can be used outside the shop.  I have a full size table saw and a good chop saw - both are heavy and when I had to do the window, door and baseboard trim in a home and shop addition I cut all the Red Oak trim - some of it 3/4" thick using my Byrnes saw in the room I was working on at the time.  Saved a lot of walking and with a carbide blade it cut the Oak like butter.