1-3/4HP 1PH 110-120V Contractor Saw with 36" Pro T-Glide Fence System Reviews

4.6 Rating 5 Reviews

About Woodcraft:

Woodcraft Supply, LLC is one of the nation's oldest and largest suppliers of quality woodworking tools and supplies. You'll find Woodcraft stores in more than 70 major metropolitan areas across the U.S.; and Woodcraft annually distributes 1.5 million catalogs featuring more than 10,000 items to all 50 states and 117 foreign countries. The Woodcraft catalog is a standard among woodworkers as the most complete offering of first rate products for woodworking available anywhere. Woodcraft also publishes six issues of Woodcraft Magazine annually.

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Phone:

800-535-4486

Location:

1177 Rosemar Rd,
Parkersburg
West Virginia
26105

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“My old trusty rusty Makita table saw made me a ton of money as a carpenter and contractor. After about 20 years it was binding, a few kickbacks, and it attempted, well it did pull my finger into the blade on one kickback. Luckily enough for me, my cat like quick reactions from years of avoiding danger in the field prevented a finger loss, however the blade did nick the very tip of my middle finger about 3/16". I measured it with a micrometer, naw just eyeballed it. The force that pulled it in, the left hand, was explosive and violent. For those who think it will not happen to them, well you really never know. Don't be fooled by over confidence for sure. For some reason I reacted and thought I could grab the board, as I was using a push stick with the right hand. It happened so fast, and I'm a hands on guy! I can see how these are so sudden, and I have to admit, I have good reactions, I always have, but I do not want to rely on them. So, I taped put the finger with duck tape, and thought I'd hit the hospital in the A.M. the next day. We live in the boonies, and this emergency could wait. The next morning I removed the tape and it wasn't as bad as I thought. A few days prior to this I was in WoodCraft store in Sacrament or Rancho Cordova, and I saw the SawStop. I had seen one years before and it was so expensive, it was a commercial shop one when they first came out. The guy said it was about 5 grand. I saw the portable model for 1200 bucks back then, so I though dang, I'm in. But then I thought I could get it elsewhere for cheaper, so I left the store. When I got home I checked the internet, and know, Woodcraft had the best price. I figured I'd get there a week or so, as I live in the boonies. So, that kickback that pulled my finger happened the very next day! I caught this incident on video on my ring cam in the driveway. https://youtu.be/OmAcwrmudnU -- I walked in the store with my middle finger taped up, and told them, no, I'm not flipping you off, I come in to buy the SawStop. I told them I got cheap and thought I'd save a buck, and doing so, I almost lost my finger. Instead of the 1200 dollar one, I bought the Contractor Model. A few years later, I was in the driveway using it, and the ring cam caught the whole thing. So, if you notice in the video, I had actually turned the saw off and walked away. But I forgot the wood, and went to get it. The saw actually stopped making the winding down of the motor noise and the blade was silently spinning which took away any extra caution I had. I touched that blade accidently. It did what it was supposed to do, and then I put this video on you tube and got almost 6 million views that year, and made about $5000 dollars from that video. https://youtu.be/3HKKA3qP3qs Do not hesitate to buy this SawStop like I did. If you read this and don't go out and buy it, I hope you are not jinxed like I was for trying to be a tight wad. Good luck people, and keep your digits!”

5 Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

CS From Edmonds

Verified Reviewer

“Pros: Great, high quality saw. Light years better than my old Dewalt 744 it replaces (though takes up a lot more space!) Got the nicer fence w/ 36" rip capacity. Strong, straight and true. AFFD appreciated (Anti Finger Frappe Device) Great Out-of-box-experience. Nuts & bolts etc. packaged in little patterns in plastic. Great assembly directions. Stamped steel wings are fine for my purposes. Seem sturdy enough. This saw will more than perform my home DIY needs: make new Shaker style kitchen cabinet doors Custom pull out kitchen drawers teaching woodworking to kid Murphy Bed Shop furniture Custom weightlifting equipment Cons: All pretty minor, but wanted to at least share for reference. "Zero clearance" insert is really not, since there's about 1/16" gap on right side of the blade. But on the other hand they made it this way to accommodate 45 degree blade tilt. So the 45 degree position is definitely zero clearance. You therefore don't need to buy another throat plate for that, or enlarge the opening of your "almost" ZCI. Engineering for the blade to tilt to 45 degrees within this tight tolerance is impressive. Dust collection: Sawdust still flies out above blade, through bladeguard, with my current 2.5" hose/Fein shopvac/Dust Deputy setup. I may have to look at (expensive) dust collecting blade guard. Inability to (reasonably) make custom throat plates. Not a big deal, but needed to shell out extra $50 for a dado throat plate. Just be prepared to spend more premium money for premium accessories. Throat plate as shipped had a small 1/8"x 1/8" chip out of it. Nbd but kind of ruins the aesthetic. Obviously making that 45 degree bevel makes a razor sharp edge on the right side, so not having some chip out would be difficult. But still. Minor point, but On/off paddle feels a little cheap for a saw of this pedigree. You can feel the thin lip of plastic behind it when you pull it out to turn the saw on. As a product designer myself, I feel it would be better if the 1" or so in the back of the paddle were solid. Or if they wanted to have that lip then make it shallower, and make the rest of the paddle back thicker. Just my opinion/ suggestion to design team. Miter gauge is too sloppy. Attached an auxilary fence, and there's noticeable slop (1/8" total wobble from side to side).However I'll be making a crosscut sled anyway and not use the miter gauge. I may also use the hammer and chisel trick to slightly widen the miter bar to fix it. Owners manual has a big series of typos: the figures/illustrations are mostly mis-labeled and/or out of sync with their description by a page or two. Be prepared to do some page flipping, head scratching until you figure out the secret code. Bonus tips for assembly of base: 1. When building base legs, drop in temporary 3/8" or 1/2" bolts into the top 4 bolt holes to keep the overlapping metal holes open, before assembling/firming up the base. This will ensure the final bolts go in smoothly. 2. Turn assembled base legs upside down and attach to upside down table saw, while the tablesaw is still resting in the styrofoam, upside down in the crate. (Then tighten all bolts.) This method will take you only a minute or two, since everything is open and easily accessible. And the legs weigh less than the saw haha. You also don't have to crawl on the floor. And no trying to juggle and flip the table saw with a friend ;) 3. Cut away front of packaging that the upside down table saw is resting in (cardboard and styrofoam). Then, with a friend's help, tip the entire saw upright. Super easy. I used the pallet it came on for leverage on the floor, since the pallet was also against a wall, but probably not necessary. The legs when used as a fulcrum are plenty strong to support the load.”

3 Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“I finally pulled the trigger on this saw! I added the 36inch T glide and its amazing. The assembly instructions are great. I have a small shop in my garage so I don't have dedicated dust collection. Without the adapter its a little annoying to have to reach under the saw (sometimes laying on the ground to put the hose on). Other than that I have no complaints. I added the woodworker 2 blade and it is giving me a glue ready edge. It has been a great addition to my shop.”

3 Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“I purchased this saw from the Milwaukee store which is a great store. The saw wasn't hard to assemble Except for the step that involved bolting the main housing with the motor to the stand. This is an extremely awkward movement and if it wasn't for a squeeze wrench I bough a few years ago at a garage sale I might be still trying to assemble that step. The 36" extended rail comes with a very flimsy table top with two flimsy legs. They move and deflect when the saw is moved. I'm trying to think of a way to better attach them then just bolting through straight pine. When assembled the saw cuts REALLY well The motor could use a little bit more horsepower (~2 maybe?) but if you replace the blade with a thin kerf forrest blade it rarely bogs down. at 120 volts even with a 20 amp circuit it flickers the lights when turned on. I wanted to convert it to 220 but then... You have to buy a 70 dollar kit to do this. This is completely unnecessary. The electronics could easily have been powered by a standard switching power supply that could handle anything from 100 VAC to 240VAC (50/60Hz) and most motors just require re-wiring. Most solid state relays are suited for 220 volts. I personally think this is just another way they gouge you for the saw. The zero clearance inserts are way over priced as well as some of the dust collection parts. It's borderline robbery. I create a dust collection port for about 15 dollars with a few parts from amazon and a foot of 4" dust collection tube. The overhead dust collection system is also Way overpriced and can be hacked together with some ingenuity. So in summary, the saw is solid and well built. assembling it is easy except for a single step and the accessories are WAY overpriced.”

3 Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

JR From Hillsborough

Verified Reviewer

“I've only owned this for about a week, and prior to this I've only owned job site saws such as dewalt, so I don't really have the experience to compare it to it's peers. But using youtube videos to ensure it was square (wood whisperer etc), I was pleased to not need to make any adjustments of the blade to the table. Instructions for setup were amazing, except one discrepancy (which stood out for being the only one) in the installation of the extension table that says it screws into the wing, this is probably only true if you have the cast iron wings instead of the standard stamped steel. I'm extremely happy with it's accuracy and stability, which is why I wanted a serious saw, and although I never plan to have a body part near the blade, I do feel safer just knowing that the safety feature is there.”

3 Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago