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.

The post Harbor Freight Table Saw appeared first on Arnold Solof.

Using this coupon the tool was very inexpensive.  I first used a battery operated sliding compound miter saw (different brand) a few days previously while we were building the solar charging station. My friend showed me how to use it and asked me to cut a board for him.   I as amazed at how much easier it was using this tool, compared with a hand held circular saw.  The weight of this tool plus the built in clamp stabilized everything far more securely and it only took a couple of seconds to make the cut.  I was instantly sold on the usefulness of the tool and decided to get one.  Given my use of it was projected to be only occasional, I looked over the Harbor Freight selection since their tools are often far less expensive than other brands and are generally of reasonable quality to hold up for occasional use.

Initially, when trying out the built in clamp, the round plate that presses against the wood fell off.  This happened because I clamped down hard on a narrow strip of wood which caught only the edge of the plate, tilting it, snapping off the E-clip.  Fortunately, I found and reattached the E-clip and avoided any further clamping on the edge of the plate and the problem did not reoccur.

The instructions were detailed and I read everything carefully.

So, a couple of days after I bought the saw, my wife’s foot dropped through a rotten board on my deck.  She wasn’t hurt, but I set out to urgently replace the bad boards on the deck.  For making long rip cuts I also bought a Harbor Freight table saw, but I’ll review that separately.

It took a little while to get used to the tool, never really having had one before.  It took me a while to figure out how to raise the blade.  You need to push down on the handle while pulling the blade pin to release the blade pin to allow the blade to come up.  After you push the blade handle down to make a cut, it locks the blade in the down position, until you again release the pin, as above.  I had to explore the knobs & dials to check to see how everything worked.   The clamp has locks on rotation at several axis and it is important to have it positioned well to hold the board tightly.  The sliding portion of the tool is necessary if the width of the board exceeds 6 inches.  Otherwise, the sliding portion can be locked to increase the stability / safety of the tool.

For the deck project, I only needed to make non-beveled cross cuts.  It was such a pleasure using this tool compared with the last time I replaced bad deck boards using a handheld circular saw.

The saw did not come with a blade.  I had no idea which blade to buy so I did google searches to understand my options.  The choice was mainly one of tooth count.  40 was considered “All Purpose”.  The fewer the teeth the faster and rougher the cut.  As you increase the tooth count, the cut slows but it is finer.  Since I projected occasional and varied use of the saw, I didn’t need it to be super fast and I wanted some degree of fineness in case it was needed on a future project, without having to buy a second blade.  The blades aren’t cheap and the price increases with the tooth count. I settled on the 60 tooth count blade #62723.

The saw includes a dust bag, but I estimate it only collected 10% of the dust at best.  I didn’t test connecting a Shop-Vac to it or any other arrangement, since I was cutting outdoors.  I wouldn’t rely on the built in dust bag if you plan to use it indoors.

The tool really isn’t that heavy and is readily portable.  Although it is “supposed” to be mounted to a table or surface, I found it stable resting on my deck or concrete surfaces when used for simple cross cuts and not needing to fully extend the slider.

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