Mini Table Saw?

[DirkTheDaring]

Edit:

I ended up getting an almost new original (not X2) Rockwell Bladerunner from FB Marketplace for $35. At that price it can be a learning experience.

https://www.toolboxbuzz.com/power-tools/saws/rockwell-bladerunner-review-model-rk7320/


Anyone buy or use a mini table saw? There are like a zillion of them, from a few tens of dollars to a coupla hundred bucks. Seems a lot cheaper than a laser cutter and handy for cutting the occasional fin.

But so many choices! Here’s just one, and I’m not endorsing this one, it’s just one at random.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

This is strictly for model rocketry,so 1/4” plywood is probably the thickest material I’ll ever cut, I’m not looking for a general purpose or serious machine.

https://a.co/d/gTDf057

Thank you!

 

[Hobie1dog]

That looks like a great one for 1/4" plywood

 

[fyrwrxz]

Anyone buy or use a mini table saw? There are like a zillion of them, from a few tens of dollars to a coupla hundred bucks. Seems a lot cheaper than a laser cutter and handy for cutting the occasional fin.

But so many choices! Here’s just one, and I’m not endorsing this one, it’s just one at random.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

This is strictly for model rocketry,so 1/4” plywood is probably the thickest material I’ll ever cut, I’m not looking for a general purpose or serious machine.

https://a.co/d/gTDf057

Thank you!

How very odd! I just got one my wife ordered off Amazon. I'm having to clear out a full size one from my "Rocket Room" so my son has a place to stay when he comes home from China. Looks like all the same bells and whistles. I will still use a wet tile saw outside for glass and carbon fins though. I"m bolting it together this weekend. Straight smoke and good chutes!

 

[Gunstar]

I just picked up this table saw (not mini)
https://www.lowes.com/pd/SKIL-10-IN-TABLE-SAW-WITH-FOLDING-STAND/5001767587
Haven't used it much yet, but seems to be a good pick.

A band saw might be a good option too depending on what you want to do.

 

[Hobie1dog]

also having that lower chuck that you can put on the sanding disc. You could easily make a small table for it to use as a sander for 90 degree edges

 

[SolarYellow]

I would look for one that uses a standard size blade that will be available indefinitely through standard channels.

 

[Alan R]

Dremel makes one also. Can't vouch for the saw in particular, but I can certainly vouch for Dremel
https://www.amazon.com/Dremel-MS20-01-Moto-Saw-Variable-Compact/dp/B00AFELU6O/

or if you already have a dremel:
https://www.amazon.com/Dremel-670-Mini-Saw-Attachment/dp/B00008Z9ZP/

 

[Wrightme43]

My experience with machines that do a lot of things, is that they do none of those things very well.

Dewalt makes a 8" compact table saw, with a good (not great, but good)

The ability to set the blade square to the table, AND keep it square, is half the battle. The other half is a QUALITY fence that maintains square to the table top, and the blade.

Not to down any machines, it is just that so many people become incredibly frustrated, and give up, because of a actual design flaw in the tool.

When it comes to cutting machines I have to highly recommend spending a bit more to get quality.

It really is worth it.
Don't be like me and spend money on junk, then have to later after destroying good materials spend the money on quality.

Quality 1st is always cheaper.

Steve

 

[VAXman]

How very odd! I just got one my wife ordered off Amazon. I'm having to clear out a full size one from my "Rocket Room" so my son has a place to stay when he comes home from China. Looks like all the same bells and whistles. I will still use a wet tile saw outside for glass and carbon fins though. I"m bolting it together this weekend. Straight smoke and good chutes!

I use a 10" diamond saw on my table saw to cut composites. I use it on my portable saw which I can take OUTSIDE to cut. I put my shop-vac on the dust collector port to collect the crux of the dust but there's still much that gets in the air. When done, I hose it all down and then dry it off with towels and heat gun. At table saw speeds, it cuts fiberglass like the old hot knife through butter cliché. Goggles and a half-face respirator for PPE.

 

[VAXman]

My experience with machines that do a lot of things, is that they do none of those things very well.

Dewalt makes a 8" compact table saw, with a good (not great, but good)

The ability to set the blade square to the table, AND keep it square, is half the battle. The other half is a QUALITY fence that maintains square to the table top, and the blade.

Not to down any machines, it is just that so many people become incredibly frustrated, and give up, because of a actual design flaw in the tool.

When it comes to cutting machines I have to highly recommend spending a bit more to get quality.

It really is worth it.
Don't be like me and spend money on junk, then have to later after destroying good materials spend the money on quality.

Quality 1st is always cheaper.

Steve

Price, performance, quality. Choose any two!

 

[tomsteve]

I cant say I've used one of the minis but, IMO, this would be one to research before purchase. the one in the link appears to have no reviews. myself, if I was looking for a mini table saw I would look at proxxon first, which with the price I would get a portable 8 1/4" saw, high tooth count blades, and zero clearance insert.

 

[cwbullet]

Anyone buy or use a mini table saw? There are like a zillion of them, from a few tens of dollars to a coupla hundred bucks. Seems a lot cheaper than a laser cutter and handy for cutting the occasional fin.

But so many choices! Here’s just one, and I’m not endorsing this one, it’s just one at random.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

This is strictly for model rocketry,so 1/4” plywood is probably the thickest material I’ll ever cut, I’m not looking for a general purpose or serious machine.

https://a.co/d/gTDf057

Thank you!

It works very well on wood. I have replaced the blade with a tile blade and cut carbon fiber also.

 

[SolarYellow]

I would look for one that uses a standard size blade that will be available indefinitely through standard channels.

Taking time for a little more thorough response.

I think that even for bigger LPR stuff, I'd soon want a bigger table than the unit linked in the OP.

Stepping up to a 4-inch blade at least gets support from a range of other companies for high-quality blade supply (Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.).

I would absolutely get something with a blade tilt feature, as there are soooo many things that are good to do with that.

I think a near-ideal size for many modeling tasks would be a setup that uses 7-1/4 inch circular saw blades, but I couldn't find any current production like that. Did find this old Craftsman on fleabay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/326152485537

I have access to a 10-in pro-ish table saw and have used it on Goblin fins. It was massive overkill, but it can be used for small, precision stuff just as well as a little saw, as long as appropriate safety practices are followed. I recently accepted a hand-me-down 10-inch Craftsman from a neighbor who had upgraded. He says it's fine, he just wanted a more portable unit. I haven't cut anything yet.

If I was going to spend the money and start from scratch buying one, and had the room for it, I'd look at a portable/benchtop/jobsite type 8-1/4 inch saw. They are made with decent quality, have all the tilt features, and blade support is as good as anything out there. Pick the best one you can afford and keep it forever. Because they are a staple of the trades, I would expect there to be some outstanding deals on them later this month. Or check your local Craigslist/OfferUp/Facebook listings for lightly used ones. Don't forget to buy a very fine-tooth blade. Diablo has a 60-tooth that I'd expect to be good on the little stuff we work with.

 

[cwbullet]

Taking time for a little more thorough response.

I think that even for bigger LPR stuff, I'd soon want a bigger table than the unit linked in the OP.

Stepping up to a 4-inch blade at least gets support from a range of other companies for high-quality blade supply (Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.).

I would absolutely get something with a blade tilt feature, as there are soooo many things that are good to do with that.

I think a near-ideal size for many modeling tasks would be a setup that uses 7-1/4 inch circular saw blades, but I couldn't find any current production like that. Did find this old Craftsman on fleabay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/326152485537

I have access to a 10-in pro-ish table saw and have used it on Goblin fins. It was massive overkill, but it can be used for small, precision stuff just as well as a little saw, as long as appropriate safety practices are followed. I recently accepted a hand-me-down 10-inch Craftsman from a neighbor who had upgraded. He says it's fine, he just wanted a more portable unit. I haven't cut anything yet.

If I was going to spend the money and start from scratch buying one, and had the room for it, I'd look at a portable/benchtop/jobsite type 8-1/4 inch saw. They are made with decent quality, have all the tilt features, and blade support is as good as anything out there. Pick the best one you can afford and keep it forever. Because they are a staple of the trades, I would expect there to be some outstanding deals on them later this month. Or check your local Craigslist/OfferUp/Facebook listings for lightly used ones. Don't forget to buy a very fine-tooth blade. Diablo has a 60-tooth that I'd expect to be good on the little stuff we work with.

Hot a bad find. You could 3d print a miter gauge.

 

[ep29030]

The saw that is right for you also depends on what you intend to cut. I’ve been doing alot of 13mm and MMX kit work lately, and my 10” saw which was great for HPR, is a near nightmare at that size—throws small pieces. Blade choice helps, but does not solve the issue. The tiny table saws work well, but they lack the sleds and add-ons of a full size saw. I have a small one, and I want to make a tiny cross-cut sled for it. Once I get it dialed in, I will be able to do most of my non-HPR work on it. There really is no one size fits all here. Get the tool to match what kind of rocketry you do.

 

[Buckeye]

Anyone buy or use a mini table saw? There are like a zillion of them, from a few tens of dollars to a coupla hundred bucks. Seems a lot cheaper than a laser cutter and handy for cutting the occasional fin.

But so many choices! Here’s just one, and I’m not endorsing this one, it’s just one at random.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

This is strictly for model rocketry,so 1/4” plywood is probably the thickest material I’ll ever cut, I’m not looking for a general purpose or serious machine.

https://a.co/d/gTDf057

Thank you!

I bought this model a couple years ago:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B093ST1TJL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I use it to cut sleds for ebays and occasional LPR fins. It also came in handy to cut an intricate piece of stair nose molding.

It works OK but doesn't have a lot of torque, so you need to feed the workpiece slowly, else the blade may bind.

 

[cwbullet]

I bought this model a couple years ago:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B093ST1TJL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I use it to cut sleds for ebays and occasional LPR fins. It also came in handy to cut an intricate piece of stair nose molding.

It works OK but doesn't have a lot of torque, so you need to feed the workpiece slowly, else the blade may bind.

That also looks promising.

 

[bjphoenix]

A band saw might be a good option too depending on what you want to do.

I was thinking the same thing, maybe even a scroll saw. If you have a portable jigsaw you can even rig that up under a table with the blade pointing up for occasional use, I've done that before.

 

[SolarYellow]

Started looking at the ancient freebie. Realized it has none of the key modern safety features and no real way to add them. Chatting about that with the SO while out perambulating the canine, she said, "Why don't you just buy a new saw instead of dealing with all that stuff?" So I've been down the rabbit hole of portable table saws pretty much all day. Not the most productive, and could yet be expensive. How expensive TBD.

 

[cerving]

I got a 4" saw from Harbor Freight, it's a piece of junk that can't even cut a straight line, and the guard doesn't work worth a lick. At some point I want to get a laser cutter anyway, so it's been relegated to the dust heap.

 

[Hobie1dog]

You can also use a wet tile saw. I found four of them on the local Marketplace for under $60 and you can usually change out the 7-in tile saw blade with a standard tooth blade to cut all the wood on. The tile saw blade cuts fiberglass too.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1088982759901062?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp:fa499874-e056-4c64-ad01-abee877d796b

 

[augendoc]

I have a small 4” modelmaker’s saw that’s maybe 40 years old. I forget the brand, possibly MicroMark. I have found multiple problems with these little saws. The super fine tooth blades are hard to keep flat. They have no expansion slots so the blade warps as it gets hot. The medium fine tooth blades are not carbide. They have enough mass to generally avoid warping on light cuts, though. The carbide blades dont have enough teeth IMO. The motors in general are small and do not have enough torque. The saw in the original post has no bearings as far as I can tell. The blade clamps are not threaded so attaching the blade to the drive shaft requires you to pinch the two clamping discs together and tighten a set screw? Good luck with that. And the fence is a joke. You want the fence to be essentially dead parallel to the saw kerf. This one is adjustable all over the place, but never consistently parallel EVERY TIME. Plus the miter head on some of these is just garbage. Stamped sheet metal and no pin registration? I dont think so.

The big problem is everybody wants the quality features of a commercial/industrial 5-10HP 10” table saw, just shrunk down to 25% of the blade size, with all the other features intact, but at 2% of the price.

I think for LPR a laser cutter and a sanding disk with a machined tilting table and milled miter slot would be a lot more accurate and versatile, though neither of those is particularly cheap compared to one of these $100 electric boat anchors desktop saws.

 

[Art Upton]

I used a Delta full sized band Saw to cut fins back awhile. I still have it stored but no room to use it again yet.
A smaller sized one would be better for me. Band Saws seemed safer to me then table saws an with a fine blade cut fine work.

I wonder if there are small band saws as well?

 

[VAXman]

I got a 4" saw from Harbor Freight, it's a piece of junk that can't even cut a straight line, and the guard doesn't work worth a lick. At some point I want to get a laser cutter anyway, so it's been relegated to the dust heap.

Price, performance, quality ... pick any two, save for Harbor Freight where you can pick all three but they'll all be low.

I purchased my 40W laser a little over a year ago. I love it and I find new uses for it almost daily. I'd always wanted one and now I wonder why I'd waited so long to get one.

 

[jqavins]

It looks to me like a thing like that would come in very handy now and then. BUT, table saws can't do curves and are poor for inside corners. We rarely see those in rocketry, unless we're into odd rocs, or rocs that are nearly odd (like the Buck Rovers challenge that's going on). I personally would rather spend the money (if I had it) and shop space (if I had it) on a scroll saw.

 

[terryg]

I do most of my cutting with a Craftman jig saw that I have had for years. Very portable since I do not have a garage/shop. I use a Craftsmans portable chop saw with an abrasive blade to cut fiberglass, carbon fiber and bluetube body tubes.

 

[SolarYellow]

You can also use a wet tile saw. I found four of them on the local Marketplace for under $60 and you can usually change out the 7-in tile saw blade with a standard tooth blade to cut all the wood on. The tile saw blade cuts fiberglass too.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1088982759901062?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp:fa499874-e056-4c64-ad01-abee877d796b

I think it was @rharshberger who was telling you what a bad idea it would be to put a wood blade on one of those.

I have the Skil 7-in saw sitting in a box next to me. I got it for ~$75 from Amazon. It comes with a blade, unlike the Harbor Freight saw, which makes it the best deal normally and a great deal at that price.

I've continued down the rabbit hole of table saws. Actually put a straightedge across the table of my free Craftsman, and it's going to be free again.

Leaning toward the DWE7485. It's $299 at Lowe's right now and I get 5% off with my Lowe's CC. I figure if the table is wavy, it's easy to return or exchange buying brick and mortar and there isn't a better price out there that I can find.

 

[Wrightme43]

I think it was @rharshberger who was telling you what a bad idea it would be to put a wood blade on one of those.

I have the Skil 7-in saw sitting in a box next to me. I got it for ~$75 from Amazon. It comes with a blade, unlike the Harbor Freight saw, which makes it the best deal normally and a great deal at that price.

I've continued down the rabbit hole of table saws. Actually put a straightedge across the table of my free Craftsman, and it's going to be free again.

Leaning toward the DWE7485. It's $299 at Lowe's right now and I get 5% off with my Lowe's CC. I figure if the table is wavy, it's easy to return or exchange buying brick and mortar and there isn't a better price out there that I can find.

They really are a decent saw. I have a powermatic 64 with a giant folding work table and a jessum router lift.

If I didn't make big things out of wood, I would be very happy with the dewalt.

 

[rharshberger]

They really are a decent saw. I have a powermatic 64 with a giant folding work table and a jessum router lift.

If I didn't make big things out of wood, I would be very happy with the dewalt.

The DeWalt portable contractors/jobsite saw is a great little saw. I personally own a Grizzly 1023RL and have used the DeWalt many times. As for putting a wood blade on a ceramic saw....dont, they cant handle the mass of the blade or the stresses of cutting wood....at least not for very long.

 

[DirkTheDaring]

Great discussion, thanks for all the info! I ended up getting an almost new original (not X2) Rockwell Bladerunner from FB Marketplace for $35. At that price it can be a learning experience.

https://www.toolboxbuzz.com/power-tools/saws/rockwell-bladerunner-review-model-rk7320/