Mastercraft table saw alignment

[audiotek]

I bought this saw on sale for $279 last week
http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows....jsp?locale=en

So far it's OK a bit on the flimsy side, sure not worth the $479.99 they ask for. The problem I'm having is to align the blade with the miter slot. I used the "pick a tooth and combo square technique". My problem is the eccentric bolts don't move the blade at all and if they don it's by a hair and not enough to make the blade square. What I had to do is actually hold the blade/motor assembly by hand and tighten the 2 main bolts. I wonder if it's a defect? Any of you on here has to adjust their table saw in the same way? I know most Mastercrafts and Ryobi models use that system!!!

[stevem]

i wont tread lightly, those saws and their brethern(craftsman, ryobi and a few others) are garbage

take it back, get a refund

then go spend a little more and get a bosch, dewalt or ridgid if you want a portable fold up saw

ive used all of the above on various jobsites including the mastercraft, my choice would be dewalt

issues with those saws have been posted here before, and replacement was the general consensus with something servicable

if portability/fold up isnt important but want a nice inexpensive saw, there are lots of good used rockwell/beaver saws on kijiji

[J. Vibert]

Welcome to the forum...

Without wanting to sound too negative, I'm going to suggest you return the saw. I happened to own an earlier version of that saw, and when I did manage to square the blade it was only a cut or two away from being out of wack again. If you're the type of user that's aware enough to want to square the blade to the miter slots, I can guarentee you will not be happy with this purchase. I bought mine on sale as well and felt ripped off. I sold it after abusing it for a while for a $100. I still lose sleep thinking about the money I accepted in trade for it....lol.

[audiotek]

Thanks guys!! Nice little forum here At least you guys know Mastercraft!! I spent more time on U.S base forums lately than actually using the saw. On the other forums they pretty much told me the same thing but at least you guys know mastercraft. I guess it's back in the box and an exchange plus cash for that DeWalt http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows....jsp?locale=en I just will need the wheels not that I will be carrying it around but my garage is getting full of tools so I need to wheel the saw outside to make cuts

[stevem]

if you can swing it, this one would be my choice, ive this one a lot

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows....jsp?locale=en

bigger table, more powerful and smoother

check around for pricing obviously. either would be far better than the MC

[audiotek]

I basically need something to rip the odd 4X8s I'm no contractor but I do alot of home renovation my next project is to build a shed against the side of my garage so I could use a table saw to rip some 4x8 Would the DeWalt I posted do the job?

[stevem]

ripping sheets of plywood sheathing is a chore on any tablesaw, it usually easiest with a skill saw.

it takes two people to do it on a tablesaw, especially a small lightweight saw

the little dewalt only has a rip capacity of 16 inches, the bigger saw is 24(1/2 a sheet), somewhat more useful

either saw will rip plywood easily as well as any other home reno project stuff, the smaller saw may struggle with ripping hardwood flooring

[audiotek]

Yeah I guess I should of mentioned thickness of the wood and not the size!!! The reviews on the Home Depot site about that saw are pretty good.

[darius]

you can't rip 4 inch thick stock on any of the saws mentioned here. You'd need a 12" blade, unless you're fine with cutting to a certain depth on both sides of the board. 10" saw can typically 3" depth with 3 1/4" being the deepest cut I have seen on such saws.

[stevem]

im very leery of tool reviews on retailers websites, although some of the mastercraft reviews on the can. tire site are downright nasty!!

my favourite jobsite tablesaw is actually a 60 year old beaver, heavy as hell, but it'll never break down or wear out

[callee]

Just as a side note, I saw a neat jig the other day for aiding in ripping sheet goods by yourself on a tablesaw. First grab a straight and true 2x4 stud, and screw it to the fence as an auxiliary fence, centred so that about the same amount hangs off the front and back of the saw. Then get two more pieces of wood - anything really will do, maybe two lengths of 2x6 about 16" long or so - and screw them to the bottom of the 2x4 on the flat at either end to create ledges. voila, instant infeed and outfeed support!

As for the saw, I agree with the comments posted above, and though I'm biased, having bought this saw myself, I would recommend the ridgid portable TS. It has wheels, moves around nice, can be had on sale for only a little more than what you paid for the mastercraft, but the lifetime service agreement really adds to the value.

[Rusty]

Any of the saws you're looking at are too small to rip sheet goods UNLESS you have good infeed, outfeed and side support to carry the sheet. The saw will cut it but you can't hold the sheet level and straight without proper support. It's just that simple.

[michaely]

Thanks guys!! Nice little forum here At least you guys know Mastercraft!! I spent more time on U.S base forums lately than actually using the saw. On the other forums they pretty much told me the same thing but at least you guys know mastercraft. I guess it's back in the box and an exchange plus cash for that DeWalt http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows....jsp?locale=en I just will need the wheels not that I will be carrying it around but my garage is getting full of tools so I need to wheel the saw outside to make cuts

Welcome.

A bit more on 'jobsite' table saws. They are built with 'throw-in-the-back-of-the-pickup-and-take-to-the-next-remote-jobsite-portability'. You don't need that degree of portability for rolling a tablesaw within a garage or from the garage to a driveway on the same level. Amateur woodworkers routinely put both contractor and cabinet tablesaws on store bought or shopmade mobile stands - with perhaps 4" caster wheels - to roll them around (on same level, not necessarily perfectly smooth surfaces).


What you get with a contractor and cabinet ts is weight/mass, which is a good thing in terms of damping down vibration. All cabinet and most contractor saws have belt driven blades, not drive drive motor/blade connections: a bit quieter. And just like computer desktops vs. 'laptops', for general quality, features such tabletop surface, rip fence, etc., at the same price point you will get more if you don't opt for the ultra portability of a jobsite type of tablesaw.

If you can, hold out for a tablesaw with cast iron table and wings, belt drive and a rip fence with some heft and precision.
You best value is to research used table saws (on both the swapt meet and power tool pages here) to decide what would be acceptable to you, then be patient to wait for one to come up for sale and when it does move fast to buy.

Retail, look at something like BusyBee's CT146; apparently it is a clone of a highly regarded Rigid model that Home Depot unfortunately no longer stocks.
http://www.busybeetools.com/products...P-CRAFTEX.html

good luck

michael

[Jacques Leclerc]

Audiotech, find the closest dumpster and get rid of the saw and try to stay away from CT
Jacques

[audiotek]

But it's so hard!!!! :( Some of the deals they have sometimes are just crazy.... now I know why! I have the 10" miter saw which worked OK since day one I changed the blade and WOW that thing was really worth the $250 I paid for LOL

[audiotek]

Not sure about buying used power tools. I don't really need the wheels but the only space I have left to but the saw is against a wall so everytime I make some long cuts I will have to move the saw which is %95 of the time otherwise I use the miter saw. If I get the DeWalt I will build a cabinet and maybe an extension at the back so I can run long boards

[Rusty]

If you think that miter saw works well wait till you try a $500.00 one.

[Jacques Leclerc]

I just bought the 12'' Hitachi and just love it.
Jacques

[darius]

But it's so hard!!!! :( Some of the deals they have sometimes are just crazy.... now I know why! I have the 10" miter saw which worked OK since day one I changed the blade and WOW that thing was really worth the $250 I paid for LOL

Don't worry about that. Bashing CT is very popular here. Like any vendor, CT carries some good stuff and some junk. I have some CT tools and I would challenge any body to tell a difference between two pieces of lumber routed with a $100 (on sale) CT router and a $350 Freud.

Although, when it comes to tables saw offered by CT I don't think they carry anything worth even half of the sale prices.

[audiotek]

That's a good trick and probably would work great and would take no space to store instead of building an extension. So you would actually screw the 2x4 in the fence???? I think the biggest issue would be to find a dead straight 2x4.

Just as a side note, I saw a neat jig the other day for aiding in ripping sheet goods by yourself on a tablesaw. First grab a straight and true 2x4 stud, and screw it to the fence as an auxiliary fence, centred so that about the same amount hangs off the front and back of the saw. Then get two more pieces of wood - anything really will do, maybe two lengths of 2x6 about 16" long or so - and screw them to the bottom of the 2x4 on the flat at either end to create ledges. voila, instant infeed and outfeed support!

As for the saw, I agree with the comments posted above, and though I'm biased, having bought this saw myself, I would recommend the ridgid portable TS. It has wheels, moves around nice, can be had on sale for only a little more than what you paid for the mastercraft, but the lifetime service agreement really adds to the value.