thanks for all the input guys. alot of good info here!
as far as the saw being un-stable on the stock stand, thats not a problem. i dont mind building something more sturdy. an under powered motor may be of some concern though...
i do plan on cutting acrylic for tank building (of course!
) but i have a router for joint trimming.
i would like a full sized shop table saw, but simply cant afford it. plus i have no intentions of building full on cabintry sets with it. just minor stuff really. ive owned that craftsman saw in the first link and found it to be rather clunky. ive also owned the ridgid table saw that comes on the floding table with wheeles and absolutely LOVED it! the only problem is that its like $450.oo
i had a whole gang of decent quality tools stolen from me when i lived in california.
im actually not a big fan of ryobi tools, they seem to be very weak. i use them at work becasue its what the boss buys, and i can say with confidence that thier not that great. i have had the opportunity to take that ryobi saw in the link off the shelf at HD and play around with it a little bit. obviously i didnt get to use it for cutting anything, but i was able to check the action of everything. the fence seemed to slide easily and when tightend into place it squared itself up to the blade quite nicely. that alone was a HUGE plus for becaue to me there is nothing worse than a fence that tightens up crooked! (like the 9000 year old craftsman we have at work
) also the table opens up and allows the fence to open up to 30". for asimple and small saw thats another huge plus for me as most small table saws only open up to somewhere around 20" or something? i dont remember checking the depth or miter adjustment knobs on it though so ill have to go back and have another look at that....
thanks everybody.