# Reccomendations on hobby saws for ripping wood?



## takevin (Apr 25, 2010)

Figured i would save money and pick up one of these hobby saws. Saw some on ebay, any good brands or major stores that would carry something like that? thank you 

for example
http://cgi.ebay.com/4-Mini-Table-Sa...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3efef3ee54 


Where are good placed to buy the wood? and is there a good type of wood to use that's better than another?


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## Biblegrove RR (Jan 4, 2008)

I like it and suppose I need to have one when I start mfg of buildings? Right now while building the railroad I use my LOVELY 10" table saw by Dewalt. Can rip down to 1/2 inch for truss timbers etc. Let us know what you decide to purchase... I think there is an online store that carries these... but can't think of the name... is it harbor freight?


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## rreiffer (Jan 14, 2009)

To let you know I use a very low cost saw from Lowes (it was their Thanksgiving Day Special) and it is the Skill 10", 15A with stand. They normally go for about $110 but at Thanksgiving they were about $60 (I also heard that you should check out the in store items this week Friday as they are having an unannounced "Black Friday" sale). I rip the $2.49 cedar boards down to 1/4" x 1/4" with it and it has done great. 
Rich


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## lincoln pin (Feb 24, 2009)

I bought that same saw. It is underpowered and vibrates like crazy. It will cut soft woods, Pine, Bass, etc. It will bog down on hard woods even with a brand new blade. It has a very small table and the fence is not very accurate. I used it a couple times and now it sits in the workshop. I have a large 10 inch table saw that I am much more comfortable with. Just FYI
Mike Anderson


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## Ron Hill (Sep 25, 2008)

I have a Delta Shopmaster table saw and a Delta tabletop bandsaw. I use them to cut 1/16" thick siding for my buildings. They work really good. I cut the bulk piece in desired widths and use my bandsaw to cut the bulk pieces in 1/16" strips. 
Ron


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## Dansgscale (Jan 9, 2010)

Posted By takevin on 11 May 2010 05:33 PM 
Figured i would save money and pick up one of these hobby saws. Saw some on ebay, any good brands or major stores that would carry something like that? thank you 

for example
http://cgi.ebay.com/4-Mini-Table-Sa...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3efef3ee54 


Where are good placed to buy the wood? and is there a good type of wood to use that's better than another? 



I have used a saw simular to this before and they are Ok for wood like Balsa, Bass and ceder, but not much else. It is also good for cutting sintra but only small pieces. It would be I deal for cutting Trestle bents from larger strips and could also be used to cut them to length when using a guide.
The motor that is used on this saw is basically a sewing machine motor, so it does not have a lot of torque to cut hardwoods like popular, oak or red wood.

Dremel used to have a table saw that had a 12 x 12 table years ago and I had one and loved it, it would easily rip 2 x2's and 1x 4's all day long, but it eneded up getting stolen a couple of years after Dremel stoped selling it

Your best bet would be to get a small tabletop 8" or 10" blade table saw and make a zero clearence blade guide so you can cut rip strips of wood down to 1/4 x 1/4 inch. you can use a piece of masonite clamped to the table top butted up to the rip fence. turn on and slowly raise the blade so it cuts through the masonite and give you a zero clearence guide. this will keep the strips from falling into the saw next to the blade.

I use a 8" Delta table saw I picked up at a pawn shop for $45.00 and has given me a lot of use. The nice thing about a small table saw is that you can also use it to cut sintra, plexiglas as well as plywood for building structures.

I do recommend screwing a 1 x 4 to the rip fence so if you get too close with the blade that it does not cut in to the rip fence. they call this a sacrificial fence. If you can find old copies of a magazine called Shop Notes, there are a lot of good tips in them for cutting small pieces of wood.

Dan S.


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## Michael Glavin (Jan 2, 2009)

There are a few small saws available; Dremel and Jarmac offerings are pretty good, though a little anemic. The Cadillac is offered by Proxxon Tools and is also imported by and as a MicroMark Table saw. Very good stuff, variable speed, good quality blades and quality fence too. I have owned them all to date and find the Proxxon power tools superior in every offering. 

A search using Microlux Table saw, Jarmac table saw, Dremel table saw will garner results. Deals can be had on used and new equipment, just dig around a bit.... 

http://www.proxxon.com/us/html/38070.html 

Michael


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Here's another source for good modeling sized power tools, however inexpensive they are not.

Byrnes Modeling Machines[/b] 

No connection, I just like their tools.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

A couple three years ago I bought a 10" Ryobi saw on sale for $150, no problem ripping 2 1/2" thick cedar planks, though the safety gaurd and splitter is crap and removed... 

I bought a used 14" band saw for cuts under 5/16", a lot safer getting my fingers close to the blade. A quality resaw blade for smooth cuts. 

Looking through the plastic on your sample pic the blade looked too coarse for your wants, make sure you can get a fine toothed blade for it. 

John


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## hawkeye2 (Jan 6, 2008)

The saw on eBay doesn't have a fence and while you can always clamp a strip of wood or metal to the table for a guide it is a nusance readjusting it parallel to the blade every time you change the width of cut. Also they don't tell you what size the arbor is so you won't know what, if any, blades you can find for it. The blade on it is way too coarse for smooth cuts.

Dremel discontinued their (fine) saw 15 years ago, reason given was that people used it for larger stock than it was designed for causing too many problems.


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## Michael Glavin (Jan 2, 2009)

Steve, 

That Byrnes stuff looks very good and tempting too! 

Michael


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Dad used to regularly call me down to help cut a 4 by 8 sheet of plywood on his tablesaw. Now I know it's much easier to do that with a "circular" saw (skillsaw).


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## rreiffer (Jan 14, 2009)

Even though I own the Skill (low end, cheap, etc) it works for what I need to cut, however I would agree with the rest here that if you are going to be doing a LOT of cutting and need VERY fine work I would suggest a saw like DeWalt, Hitachi or the like. These are craftsmen quality saws but you will pay between $400 and $800 for the saw. You could look on craigslist for a saw (great way to save money!). 
Rich


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

If you wind up deciding on getting a larger type table saw, then maybe the sled that Steve Seitel (MLS - dawgnabbit) designed might be of interest to you.

The following is a copy of a topic that Steve posted way back in 2005 on how to make one for yourself in PDF format, measured drawings are included at the end. You can either {Right-click} and use the 'Save Target As..' option or {Left-click} to open and use the Adobe Reader's save function to download a copy for yourself.

Table Saw: Strip Wood Jig[/b]

The following is a copy of a topic posted by Bob Sorenson (MLS - xo18thfa) on how he mills scale lumber on a full sized table saw. Once again in PDF format.

How To: Milling Scale Lumber[/b]


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

I have the one from Micro Mark, quite a bit more expensive than the original one you were looking at. I got the 80 tooth saw blade and the Accuriser II - allows extremely accurate cuts.


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## wchasr (Jan 2, 2008)

This looks like a prettied up version of the Harbor Frieght saw.... 

http://www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-mighty-mite-table-saw-93211.html 


We dicussed this saw in depth in the past. Good for some things at the price it sold for then (about half what it is now) and as such can be a useful tool. I ahve one but have been to afraid to use it over my 10" table saw which is quieter and more stable when running and I can keep my fingers MUCH farther away from the sharp parts... 

Chas


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## pimanjc (Jan 2, 2008)

I also think it looks a lot like the Harbor Freight saw. I used one to modify the roofs on my Heavyweight hospital cars and the M-190 doodlebug parts. 





























I used the saw to cut off the Celestory roof off the Hospital car. There is no fence. The saw barely had enough power to cut the plastic roof. The saw was used to make the cuts on the sides of the heavyweights while building the M-190 Doodlebug. It was used to cut the 0.060 plexiglas that was used to fill most of the windows on the heavyweight bodies. It was used to cut apart the Radioshack 6v battery holders to make the four units on the roof of the M-190.

Although a little hard to use and underpowered, I still consider it a worthwhile purchase. it did the job better than any of several other saws I have. 

JimC.


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

Here's my unique sled design for ripping planks, ties and other model work. An improvement would be a narrower kerf blade to reduce waste. But I use used lumber anyway, so the waste isn't a big deal.

Tools Forum/Topic: just finished a sled[/b]


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

click on the blue text


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