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Ridged table saw rant

G

Greenman

Lifer
My table saw died today, and of course I needed one right now. The best one home depot had in the store was a ridged for $400. Bought it, assembled it, and noticed that as I pushed on the blade, the entire motor assembly would rack, throwing it out of alignment and out of square by about two degrees. I returned the saw without even plugging it in.
It really annoys me that junk like this is even on the market. The saw can't do what it was designed to do because it's fundamentally flawed, and I wasted three hours of my time screwing with a piece of trash that shouldn't even be sold, and I still need a table saw.
Now I have to pull my Bosch apart on Sunday and replace the bad bearing or go buy a new Bosch Monday morning.
 
I'm more of a mechanic and rarely do carpentry work. I was redoing my deck a few years back and bought a 12" double-bevel sliding compound miter saw from Harbor Freight thinking it just had to be good enough for what for me was going to be a once in a lifetime use.

I was amazed that they even sold one of them it was such a POS. Who would buy one and could actually use it for anything I can't even imagine. They took it back no questions asked though. In fact they didn't even look in the box to see what was actually in it.
 
boomerang said:
I'm more of a mechanic and rarely do carpentry work. I was redoing my deck a few years back and bought a 12" double-bevel sliding compound miter saw from Harbor Freight thinking it just had to be good enough for what for me was going to be a once in a lifetime use.

I was amazed that they even sold one of them it was such a POS. Who would buy one and could actually use it for anything I can't even imagine. They took it back no questions asked though. In fact they didn't even look in the box to see what was actually in it.
Click to expand...
HF has some serious garbage.
I can't afford cheap tools, to much time lost when they die, and to much time wasted trying to get an inferior tool to do a proper job. I have a ridged tile saw that I picked up because my 35 year old MK (that still works perfectly) won't cut 24" tile. The ridged was the best one I could get on very short notice, and after an hour or two of adjusting it actually works well. All of the water mitigation parts fell off by the third use, so the damn thing blows a water fog everywhere, but it does cut straight.
 
Greenman said:
HF has some serious garbage.
I can't afford cheap tools, to much time lost when they die, and to much time wasted trying to get an inferior tool to do a proper job. I have a ridged tile saw that I picked up because my 35 year old MK (that still works perfectly) won't cut 24" tile. The ridged was the best one I could get on very short notice, and after an hour or two of adjusting it actually works well. All of the water mitigation parts fell off by the third use, so the damn thing blows a water fog everywhere, but it does cut straight.
Click to expand...

Is that from my tile? 😛

Situations like these if you have a couple days are when Amazon Prime comes in handy. Does Ashby Lumber carry table saws? They seem to have a lot of that sort of stuff.
 
Sukhoi said:
Is that from my tile? 😛

Situations like these if you have a couple days are when Amazon Prime comes in handy. Does Ashby Lumber carry table saws? They seem to have a lot of that sort of stuff.
Click to expand...
Sukhoi said:
Is that from my tile? 😛

Situations like these if you have a couple days are when Amazon Prime comes in handy. Does Ashby Lumber carry table saws? They seem to have a lot of that sort of stuff.
Click to expand...
I honestly don't remember. I remember buying the saw, and wishing they had a Dewalt, but I can't place the project I was on. I clearly remember placing your kitchen tile, and having to be so careful of the edges, but for the life of me I don't remember what I cut it with.

Ashby has a lot of stuff, but they were a long way away. I ended up pulling my Bosch apart yesterday afternoon and ordering new parts once I knew what was dead. They used an open bearing on the tail end of the armature. Why would anyone do that? It seems like someone would have realized that there is a little dust inside a table saw. The wonder is that it lasted as long as it did. New sealed bearing and housing on the way.
 
I have one of those and it's worked out pretty well. It's lasted through two houses worth of flooring and trim and still cutting good. It's starting to get pretty rusty and doesn't slide very well anymore, but I more than got my money's worth from it
boomerang said:
I'm more of a mechanic and rarely do carpentry work. I was redoing my deck a few years back and bought a 12" double-bevel sliding compound miter saw from Harbor Freight thinking it just had to be good enough for what for me was going to be a once in a lifetime use.

I was amazed that they even sold one of them it was such a POS. Who would buy one and could actually use it for anything I can't even imagine. They took it back no questions asked though. In fact they didn't even look in the box to see what was actually in it.
Click to expand...
 
You got "ridged"

I got Rigid 4512 from HD. Excellent saw. This is not plug and play though. Need to assemble, set up and ADJUST which took me a few.

My cuts are square and parallel to 1/32 for sure.

The best thing is that it is very upgradable if desired.
 
drnickriviera said:
Seems like a good way to get some nasty kickback
Click to expand...

I bought a HF tile saw that failed after a few days so I went back and exchanged it for a new one. All seemed well until I got to my third tile. I'm not sure what happened but the tile got launched about 15 feet into the air and smashed into the garage door. It scared the poo out of me.
 
bigi said:
You got "ridged"

I got Rigid 4512 from HD. Excellent saw. This is not plug and play though. Need to assemble, set up and ADJUST which took me a few.

My cuts are square and parallel to 1/32 for sure.

The best thing is that it is very upgradable if desired.
Click to expand...
Glad it worked out for you, it sure didn't for me.
 
mxnerd said:
This one? Seems having very good reviews.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-...Portable-Table-Saw-with-Stand-R4513/100090444
Click to expand...
Yup, that one. The entire motor carriage assembly would flex. It would probably be ok for trim work, but you'd never push a piece of 2x through it without the blade binding badly.
I have zero patience for tools that don't perform well. A table saw that you have to nurse through every cut is useless to me. The Bosch I have that needs a new bearing cost 50% more than Ridgid, and it's easily worth the extra money. I've pushed thousands of feet of lumber through that saw without a hiccup until the bearing ceased. If the thirty bucks worth of parts I ordered get going again I'll be thrilled.
 
Greenman said:
HF has some serious garbage.
I can't afford cheap tools, to much time lost when they die, and to much time wasted trying to get an inferior tool to do a proper job. I have a ridged tile saw that I picked up because my 35 year old MK (that still works perfectly) won't cut 24" tile. The ridged was the best one I could get on very short notice, and after an hour or two of adjusting it actually works well. All of the water mitigation parts fell off by the third use, so the damn thing blows a water fog everywhere, but it does cut straight.
Click to expand...

They also have some really good and inexpensive tools. Like everywhere, some good, some bad.
 
I'm sure they have some good stuff. I have an HF floor jack that works well. I also have an HF electric trailer jack that's been in service for a few months, it seems to be holding together.
A lot of it depends on use. I use my tools every day, along with 5 other guys. Employees tend to not worry a whole lot about killing gear (to be honest, I don't either), so it all gets hard use. That's where the the difference between homeowner and pro grade shows up. It's unfair of me to compare casual use equipment to professional quality, but it's what I know and use.
 
mindless1 said:
Seriously? It only needed a new bearing and you were going to pay $400 to replace it with junk instead?
Click to expand...
Had to get the job done, and the ridged was the best saw in the store. So yes, I was going to buy a $400 saw to finish the job. I still would have repaired the Bosch, the ridgid would have a temporary fill in. Unfortunately the saw was fundamentally flawed and unusable.
 
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