i have had my rigid tablesaw for 8 years it has been very good to me but just the other day it started acting really strange. it takes like 8-10 seconds to get up to speed and if you put the blade under any kind of load the it just stops, i checked the belt and everything seems good it doesn't slip that i can tell. not really sure what to do, if i have to buy a new saw it couldn't come at a worse time so my budget would only be about $1000. so i guess I'm asking 2 questions, 1. does anyone know what is wrong with my saw/can it be fixed cheap.  2. what is a good saw around 1000 dollars?

Sounds like the capacitors in the start/run circuit of the motor are bad.  Bring the whole motor to a motor repair shop and you'll be spending very little compared to the price of a replacement saw.

v belts are a vast improvement over old style belts. 
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=6040&filter=v%20belts
 
Sounds like the motor's fixable. 

I dont think you state the exact model of the Rigid, that makes a difference in whether fixing it is worth it.

For a 1000.00 there are several saws that are very nice! For the money and a 1000.00 no question I would get one of the Grizzly saws that have fantastic reviews or the Craftsman. Finding the right model from them is important.  

My wife purchased me a Craftsman hybrid for Christmas years back and even dragged it in the shop herself so it really is hard for me to think of replacing it. It has been a fantastic saw, made in China I don't care, this thing is perfect. When they are on sale you can get them for a steal of 799.00. I put the WWII thin kerf blade on it, a link belt, a large  Incra fence and a 10 foot wide table with built in router tops on each side. I have never stalled the motor ripping 2" thick Cumaru, Ipe and other exotic hardwoods and after 6 years there is still not one thing wrong with it. It passes the balance a penny trick on edge easily too. The dust collection is average, not spectacular.

Some people claim it needs more power, one guy said it has trouble cutting 3/4" Oak, obviously he does not know what the heck he is doing and the saw is out of alignment or he is using the stock blade, etc, etc. IMHO for a hybrid you MUST use thin kerf bade if you want to cut thick hardwoods, if you want the thick blade  go 3 hp. Yeah, compared to a 3hp it is underpowered, but the kickback is not where near as severe as the larger saws either. It also comes with the Biesmeyer fence stock, which is sweet. The miter gauge is a throw in and not the best, but not even close to the worst at all. I use an Incra 5000 or a custom set up I made. Nice thing about this hybrid is that it is cabinet mounted for easy to get perfect alignment, some of the hybrids are not, watch out for that. The wood table is crap toss it out. I replaced mine with a cast iron extension with the router mount. I am not sure what they give with the granite version as a side ext table. The out feed table is crap too, I never attached it, but it seems to work for some.

The saw has an option of the granite top now as well and there are 2 model numbers, one model is better than the other, I will track that down.

http://lumberjocks.com/reviews/539

http://community.craftsman.com/Craftsman-Professional-10-in-Table-Saw-reviews

Grizzly saws worth consideration:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/10-Hybrid-Table-Saw-with-Riving-Knife-Polar-Bear-Series-/G0715P

A bit over the 1000.00

http://www.grizzly.com/products/10-3-HP-220V-Cabinet-Left-Tilting-Table-Saw/G1023RL

http://www.grizzly.com/products/10-3HP-220V-Cabinet-Table-Saw-with-Riving-Knife/G0690

These are not Festool quality or Powermatic 66 or Saw Stop type saws. But for a 1000.00 and for me personally any of them are well worth it.

As others have said, it sounds like the start/run capacitors are shot.  This is a fairly inexpensive and easy thing to replace and the parts could be covered under warranty.  I have the same issue on my lathe -- now it is not a saw blade so I can get it started manually by spinning the hand wheel, but it will not even start with hitting the switch.

Scot

Thanks everyone for all the input. Funny I went down to the shop and it started working perfectly. Not sure what's going on but I'm just gonna go with it for now. I've been saving up for a saw stop just not ready yet.

Considered a SawStop model at all? Their Contractor saw falls into your budget.

My wife loves the fact that I have a Sawstop -- contractor version.  It has been great.

I have had the G1023 for two years and have not had any problems with it. I have a WW2 blade in it and have never been dissapointed with the power.

OH NO!  Another debate/argument about to begin!

Here's the gist of the "whatever you want to term it from above".  Right tilt saws can trap your piece between the blade and rip fence increasing the likelihood of kickback.  Some will argue that cutting beveled pieces is easier and so are thin pieces like veneers.  Make everyone happy and get a dual tilting saw. 

Find a machinery dealer and get yourself a nice PM66.

I bet they can find one that is single phase too.

Under 1k, easy.

I prefer left tilt, but others grew up using right tilts.

I don't have a tilting arbor saw anymore.  Now the whole table tilts.

Sorry for the late response; I hope you didn't junk the old table saw.

I had something very similar happen to my Bosch and after a bit of google searching narrowed it down to a little circuit board right by where the motor draws in air for cooling.  Not sure if the Ridgid's the same, but it was the chip that auto-corrected to keep the blade at the same speed; I'm sure there's a fancy name for it.  Part cost me $10-15 and after about 30 minutes of head scratching and dis/reassembling I was back in business.

Ooooh, looks like they're REALLY proud of theirs:

http://www.ereplacementparts.com/circuit-assembly-p-157484.html

Dave

I've got a couple more questions for the masses 1. the new saw i ordered has a riving knife which i am happy about, but i was going to put a thin kerf blade on it will i still be able to use the riving knife? 2.after checking out my old saw a little better i noticed that when i have the blade raised above the table about 2" or more it works perfectly, when i lower it down to 2" or lower above the table i cant even cut a 1" thick piece of pine. i am confident that it has nothing to do with the belt, any other ideas?