Harbor Freight Table Saw

This is a review of the Harbor Freight Table Saw  – Harbor Freight 10 inch 15 Amp Table Saw (Item#63118)

More accurately, I am going to review the saw, tool table on which you see it sitting, dust collection bag (Item#45794) below,

and the roller stands (Item#68898) (you should get 2) which are all sold separately but function together to complete the tool.

I bought these items to help with the replacement of a bunch of rotten deck boards.  I don’t know why, but the deck boards at Home Depot are about 1/4 inch wider than the boards I am replacing and need to be made narrower to fit.  Also, the board that abuts the house is narrower still.  The Harbor Freight Table Saw was needed to make the longitudinal rip cut of the deck boards.  2 years ago when I last replaced bad deck boards I used an electric planer to narrow the boards.  It “worked”, but it took a long time to shave off enough wood the squeeze the boards in, and I tended to under do it (leaving the boards too wide) just to minimize the work.

Never having used a table saw before I approached this with caution and trepidation.  I took a full day to assemble the tools and familiarize myself with them before using them.

Assembling the table took a long time.  I didn’t measure it exactly but I am guessing 2 or 3 hours to put it together, correct errors, and adjust it so it was level and square.   Once assembled, it felt solid and strong.  You have the option to add a lower shelf and a wood top.  I didn’t bother.

The roller stands were much easier to assemble once you figured out how that slot bolt thing was supposed to work.  Once assembled they simply unfold to open.  You turn the handle 90 degrees to raise or lower the stand, then turn it back to lock it.  Simple and highly functional.

The Harbor Freight Table Saw presented some challenges. (Manual for Saw)

• The blade, push sticks, plug holder and table insert came preinstalled.
• I got confused about removing the Table Insert. It just pulls out, but requires a lot of force to do it.  This gives you an opening in the table for adjustment and maintenance of parts.
• It took a bit of pondering to understand the correct position of the Riving Knife (This keeps the cut wood edges separated so the blade doesn’t “bind” and “kick back”)
• The installation of the “Anti-Kickback Pawls” really confused me.  I almost gave up and returned the tool to Harbor Freight.  The instructions say “Pull out the Pawl Lock Pin”.  Good luck with that! The picture in the manual clearly shows the Pawl Lock Pin “Pulled Out”.  What it should have said was, “pull back” the Pawl Lock Pin.  When it is pulled back it is possible to wiggle the Anti-Kickback Pawls into the designated position.  I went back to that step several times over several hours until I figured it out.  The Anti-Kickback Pawls are another safety feature so that if all the other kickback prevention devices fail, they will catch the wood, preventing it from kicking back.
• The Fence is a simple clamp and takes a second to install / adjust
• The handle for raising / lowering the blade just screws on.
• The blade guard went on easily

The mounting holes in the table saw did not match up with the holes in the table saw stand. Give me a break.  Really?  This table is sold by the same company to go with this tool.  You’d think they could match up the hole positions.  This made it necessary to drill 4 additional holes in the saw table.  There is a limited amount of metal real estate along the top edge of the stands, so I ended up drilling the 5/16 inch holes instead of 3/8 inch holes as are present on the saw.

Installing the dust bag required and additional 12 holes drilled in the saw table to screw in the female snaps.  When I said all this stuff took me a day, I wasn’t kidding.  Having done that, the bag fit well on the stand and was easy to put on and take off.

For my deck project I was working with 8 foot X 6″ X 5/4 pressure treated deck boards.  The Harbor Freight table saw mounted on the table with the dust bag in place was in the center position.  There were roller stands both in front of and behind the saw placed about 6 feet away from the saw.  This allowed me the push the wood along the saw’s fence supported by the rollers during the entire 8 foot cut.  As one end left the roller, the other roller caught the other end.  I had to make the 8 foot rip cuts in 12 boards.  The saw worked well and was easy to use.  No kickback occurred.  The saw was placed just outside my garage and some sawdust collected on the driveway.  I would estimate that the dust bag caught about 90% of the sawdust.  There is an opening in the table saw to attach a vacuum for further dust control.

Costs:

• Saw $140 minus $28 (20% coupon) = $112
• 2  roller stands at $17 each = $34
• Dust bag $6
• Saw table $40

I am pleased with the purchase.  The tool did a good job for what I needed it to do.  Now that everything is assembled, using it the next time will be much easier.