Need advice trying to find a Mini Table (Hobby) saw

Hankins

Hankins

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Dec 7, 2008
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Need advice trying to find a Mini Table (Hobby) saw Any suggestions?
Needs to be able to cut at least 1.5" thick material like stabilized wood or G10 blocks and possibly take a thin blade.
 
The MicroLuxe tablesaws come to mind, but only cut up to 1" thick. There are two versions, a tilt arbor and a standard. Great tools, but not sure if its everythin you want. I know Dremel makes a table saw as well, but don't know the specs.

Why a tablesaw and not a benchtop bandsaw?


-X
 
Band saw blades tend to wonder and give crooked cuts. Unless you go pretty big
 
I had that same problem on my little bandsaw, so I bought the harbor freight bench top mini saw. its miserable with hardwood and stabilized wood, meant for soft woods like pine, balsa. It will cut, very slowly, and burns wood. So I bought a .5" bi-metal blade for my craftsman 10". 3TPI and it cuts very straight, it actually obeys the fence when I use it. Its thick enough that it doesn't flex or bend very easily.
 
Look at Lowes in their flooring dept. A couple of years back I know they we selling a flooring saw which I believe took a 7 inch blade for cutting wood flooring.

I use my full size table saw with a sled to cut my handle material including bone and have had good luck with this. Below is a pic of the sled I built.



 
Lowes offers a small mini tabel saw from Rockwell, its called a Shop Series and they are under $200.
 
fast14riot said:
The MicroLuxe tablesaws come to mind, but only cut up to 1" thick. There are two versions, a tilt arbor and a standard. Great tools, but not sure if its everythin you want. I know Dremel makes a table saw as well, but don't know the specs.

Why a tablesaw and not a benchtop bandsaw?


-X
Click to expand...

The Dremel will most likely not work, I was looking into them and most of the reviews say softwoods like balsa it's OK, but for hardwoods it didn't work well, burnt up, or the blade was sub standard, I'd imagine that G10, micarta and stabilized woods would end it... I'd like to see someone try though...

Edit: That's the Moto-Saw I'm, talking about, which isn't a true table saw... [link]
 
Any reasonable quality band saw should work. Even a metal cutting one. The blade must be sharp and the guides for the blade should in proper position very near the blade on each side. As well the wheels behind the blade must be close enough to make contact all the time or at least when very little pressure is used when bringing the material into contact with the blade. Frank
 
Robert - I'll bet you a bacon sandwich that by the time you fired up a POS "hobby" table saw and got your fence or sled adjusted and then made some test cuts in the appropriate size scrap you looked for in the can for five minutes, then re-adjusted your fence/sled and tested again - I would have at least one set marked out, cut and ready to flatten with a simple handsaw and bench hook.

Japanese-style combo razor saws cut under tension - on the pull stroke. That equals a potentially thin blade; my go-to saw is 0.017" which leaves a relatively narrow kerf (~0.020"). Great for resawing expensive book-matched material. Even a sharp Western 10pt cross-cut panel saw works great but the kerf is >0.06" depending on set/wear and it takes about 2 or 3 times the elbow grease to get through a given size of whatever relative to a decent pull saw.

Also many if not most of these pull saws have affordable replaceable blades with impulse-hardened teeth that laugh at 2" hardwoods. For years.

Not what the OP was looking for I expect, but just one alternative for others following this thread. Better cuts with way more (safe) options, little noise or dust, and new set of hand skills to develop. And money in your pocket to boot. This is more aligned with how I personally want to work. YMMV.

I think it's too bad we often seem to forget where we came from and easily, almost automatically, defer to "hobby" power tools for simple jobs like this without at least considering the original "cordless" versions and their descendants. Just saying...
 
I have an original Dremel 4" table saw. It has a 1" capacity and so far, the motor has handled everything I've thrown at it without a problem. You have to use the right blade for what you are cutting (non-ferrous metals, plastics, and an assortment of other stuff that shouldn't have been cut on the saw in the first place). It is a great LITTLE saw---with it's limitations. A similar saw is made by Micro-Mark. ...Teddy
 
My table saw was my first big machine purchase. It is still a cornerstone in my shop. It pays to get a good one. I've used some of the smaller ones and can't believe they actually sell them. Having a machine with an accurate, low maintainance fence is critical. They don't come like that on small saws. I use mine to cut g10, micarta, bone and wood. The cuts are square and repeatable.

As a sidenote, this is a dangerous machine regardless of the size. Learn to respect it before it teaches you to respect it.
 
+1 on the Japanese pull saw. They cut fast and straight and they're safer
than a table saw cutting small pieces.

If your band saw blades are wandering and weaving could be two problems.
Not enough tension on the blade and guides set too loose.

Bill
 
I don't know how mini you are looking to go. But if you are looking for something that doesn't take up a lot of room but can handle anything you can throw at it, the Dewalt portable saws are excellent. It still uses a 10" blade.
Not cheap but a great saw.
 
Agreed on the danger just ask my brother who lost a finger at the first joint luckily. Took a nano second of inattention kinda like a buffer!
Thanks for the help will be cutting a number of scales at a time so handsaw is a maybe. Is there a 7" table saw
Yes I will go for easy and accurate over tradition
 
The tablesaw is a great tool, but it is not the safest tool to be processing small blocks and scales on. The general rule is that the piece you are cutting must be long enough to reach the riving knife/splitter behind the blade before the cut is completed. If the piece is shorter than that, you need to use a jig like the sled shown by plas62, or use a different tool. If all you are going to be doing is making small blocks of wood into scales, a bandsaw can be a safer tool to use. A Japanese handsaw would be less expensive, but making more than a few cuts at one time in material like ironwood or cocobolo will be a fair imitation of work
 
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