Jobsite saw

[Adobo]

First post so, first things first.  Hello.  I am a newbie wood working hobbyist.  At most, I have about 6 hours per week I can spend on this new hobby.   I have a tiny one car garage which is slowly getting converted into my woodshop.

I have a TS55 and an MFT.  I've been building a storage bed for my kid.  Its essentially 3 cabinet carcasses that come together to form a platform style bed.  Building the carcasses has been, more or less, straightforward.

As far as I can tell, the TS55 and MFT combo cannot do the following very well:

• Dado
• Rabbet
• Ripping a narrow plank into multiple narrower planks.  For example, ripping a 4.5" wide board down to 2 2" boards.

I think the dado and the rabbet can be solved by using a router.  However, the ripping of narrow planks seems to be solvable only by quite a bit of acrobatics using scrap pieces of wood and the TS55 with a guide rail.

As such, I was considering getting a small table saw.  It seems that a table saw can be used to efficiently do dados, rabbets and ripping narrow ish boards.

I was considering a jobsite size table saw as they are the most friendly to the amount of space I have to work with in my garage.  I went to a sawstop dealer yesterday to have a look/see on the upcoming sawstop jss.  I notice that not only is the width of jobsite saws considerably smaller than say a comparable contractor say, they are considerably less deep (from front to back). 

Now, to my question.  Do those who use jobsite saws find the depth of those saws to be a challenge as compared to something like a contractor size table saw?  For example, do you find them to be more difficult to get consistent and repeatable accurate cuts?  Do you find that they are limiting in terms of what you can use in terms of things like cross cut sleds?

Thanks in advance.

 

[ladilday]

I have the Bosch 4100 TS and have found it to be very accurate. I have used it for dados and rabbets with satisfactory results but have achieved better results with an OF1400 and a guide rail. I agree with your observation that the job site saws have limitations such as the depth of the table which limits the size of cross cuts sleds that can be used and for that reason I have not built a crosscut sled. The TS does work well for ripping narrow stock but the lack of "depth" does make it more challenging when ripping long pieces and keeping them tracking straight. Not only is the table lacking in depth but the fence is also short which contributes to this problem when ripping. I have found using feather boards helpful. I am like you and share my workshop with two cars and do not have room for large woodworking tools like cabinet saws necessitating job site table saws and their limitations. Sorry for the wordy response and good luck with your hobby.

 

[grbmds]

I actually feel that rabbets and dados are better done with a router, either handheld or in a table, depending on the size of the work. The OF1400 on a guide rail, for me, was a big improvement in accuracy and dust collection with dadoes. You are completely right about ripping thin strips. I have done a limited amount of this on my bandsaw, but it is easier on a table saw. However, with longer pieces, unless you have a support table on the back end of the saw it's going to be difficult to support on a job site saw.

 

[cperren]

I have the newer Saw Stop (Job Site Saw) which I suspect is similar to Bosch 4100 but without some of the safety features.  I'm a hobbyist too and use my garage as my shop along with parking my cars in it. So I need to move tools around to make it all work. I mainly use the job site saw to rip strips and narrow planks that are not easily cut using my track saw as you described above.  For Dado and Rabbets, I use my router which works well.. I don't have a sled for table saw yet...  Overall I have been happy with my decision although if space had permitted I may have purchased the larger (Industrial / Cabinet) Saw Stop saw.  Although it has been very nice to fold up the job site saw and stick in the corner at the end of the day.

Previously I had a Dewalt DW7480 which had a tiny top compare to my new Saw Stop. I use a out feed table that folds up after use. Plus I use this same out feed table with my MFT.  In my opinion, having out feed support is a must for the smaller tab tops.

           

 

[Tyler Ernsberger]

I have the bosch ts4000.  Its a great saw and with gravity rise it would be a great saw that you can fold out of the way.  I think the current model is the ts4100  that was mentioned above.  I use this saw as my moble saw and works great for me.  I use a set of saw horses and a sheet of 3/4 plywood for my out feed.  I do have a unisaw in my shop, and I feel it produces almost the same quality cuts.