Replies

1. 
   TommyB12 | Sep 09, 2003 04:13am | #1

   friends don't let friends buy ryobi.

   But, I have had one for ten years and if you don't push to hard, It cuts pretty accurate for light work.

   The newer ones are a bit cheesier.

   Tom

   I'm here to help the humans.

1. 
   talkingdog | Sep 09, 2003 10:34am | #4

   I bought one of the weaker BT3000 models over ten years ago. Running on the local 100v current it can barely rip a 2 by 4. Anything smaller and lighter than that it works fine with, though, and I think it's an OK saw for cutting plywood and stuff like that. I think the BT3100 has a more powerful motor, though.

2. 
   larsdjensen | Sep 09, 2003 04:33am | #2

   I've had a BT3000 for several years now. Overall, I like it quite a bit for the price. Here are my observations, as an amateur user, of the one my wife got me for my birthday shortly after they first came out:

   At the time, it had by far the best fence you could get in a saw under $500. It's been parallel without adjustment as long as I've had it. No micro-adjustment, but I've gotten good at nudging it.

   Mine has a very slight wobble in the motor arbor, so I can't get the blade perfectly parallel with the face. It's not something you can detect with the naked eye, but if you're relying on perfectly square cuts to align big pieces you might have to do a little fiddling. That said, the cuts are square and clean enough that I have things like small tabletops without needing a jointer. The blade that came with mine is quite good.

   There's no standard miter gauge slot. You can get one as a $60 or so accessory, but I don't know if that interferes with the sliding table. (You could easily double your investment buying accessories for this saw.) Since I got a nice power miter saw, I think I'd rather have a standard slot than the sliding table, cause I don't do much crosscutting on this saw.

   I bought a hold-down for the sliding table, which I don't think is worth the money, and a zero-clearance throat plate, which is a must. I made a long fence out of scrap plywood rather than paying for Ryobi's, and I like it fine. I also made an attachment adapter out of 1/4" plywood to mount my Porter-Cable router under the table on the right of the blade, which I leave there all the time. Not as good as a router table, but since I don't have room for that...

   The sliding table slides on plastic cams, which is good because they can be adjusted for parallel, but bad because they need adjustment more than metal ones would. All in all, I'd rather just have a standard miter gauge slot.

   The rails have excellent markings, which is irrelevant because I'm sliding them back and forth to fit my material often enough that I rarely bother to align the zero mark to the saw. It's easy enough to do if you ever need to.

   Raising and lowering the blade is silky smooth until the worm gear gets full of sawdust, at which point you have to get underneath and clean things up. Beveling the saw is easy as long as you don't torque the locking lever down too hard -- it's not that easy to undo. Be sure to try this at the store; it doesn't change with use like the raise/lower action.

   The on/off switch on mine is defective; sometimes I really have to bang the off switch before it turns off, and I can actually pull the safety lock out and it will keep going. I think they're using a different switch nowadays.

   You can unplug the motor and plug in something else (like my under-table router), and use the on/off switch for that. This can be sorta handy, but is ultimately hazardous in my view since you now must keep mental track of two on/off switches instead of one. Several times I've been surprised to have a tool or the saw come to life as I plugged it in. Fortunately I never lost any skin this way; nowadays I keep the motor plugged in all the time, and use an extension cord for other tools, and I feel much safer.

   The throat plate is held in by screws, which means it's a pain to change, and its surface was slightly below that of the table, so I shimmed it up with masking tape to keep short stock from rocking as I push it through.

   The blade guard seemed OK, but I stopped using it because it doesn't work when rabbeting or dadoing and it was too much of a hassle to keep installing and removing.

   Most (but definitely not all) dust seems to go into the bag. I don't have enough experience with other saws to give it a good/bad rating.

   The cast aluminum table is precise enough but it does leave marks on the material, which then have to be lightly sanded out. It's not hard, but it's another step. I've tried waxing the table, which helps but doesn't eliminate this problem. The lightness is an advantage when it's time to move the saw out of the way, though. The base is light too, but plenty solid and has nice holders for accessories (I use one of them for a dust brush).

   I've listed a lot of quirks, but as I said, I like this saw. Other saws probably have their quirks too. I wish I had replaced the switch when it was under warranty; otherwise it has lived up to my initial impression of a well-made tool at a good price. If/when I finally upgrade, it will probably be to something in the $1000-1500 range. The extruded fence (rather than bent sheet metal) was the main draw for me; if I were to look today, I'd also look at Bosch, DeWalt, and Ridgid, looking primarily for a standard miter slot and easy to change throat plate, in addition to the extruded or machined fence.

   Hope that is helpful - lj

3. 
   m2akita | Sep 09, 2003 05:48am | #3

   No experience with the Ryobi but, I think for about the same price you can find a reconditioned Dewalt table saw.  Believe the Dewalt would be far superior to the Ryobi, but dont know.  Check out Toolcrib (amazon.com), Toolking ( toolking.com), or Harborfreight (harborfreight.com) for reconditioned ones.

   M2akita

4. 
   ikor | Sep 09, 2003 03:58pm | #5

   No experience firsthand, but here is a link to a review:

   http://www.bt3central.com/articles/BT3100.asp

   I believe Lowes has the Hitachi with folding table on sale for less than $300 also.

5. 
   DavidxDoud | Sep 09, 2003 08:30pm | #6

   bought a 3000 a few years ago for my dad - - I've borrowed it for a few jobs (most of my work is in the shop with a powerful saw) - this spring I took it on a job site were we made hardwood trim 28293.60  - - I like it - who wouldn't like more power? - I ripped a lot of oak - as long as the blade is sharp,  it does fine -

   if I have a complaint,  it would be that it's a little clunky and fragile - the rails extend out both sides and the plastic caps come off (lost one completely on this job) - - ya got the sliding cut-off table, which is great,  but lots of potential for breakage/mis-adjustment as you are removing replacing the miter fence - - I like more as a shop saw compared to a site saw that will get thrown into a truck every few days and moved -

   a great value for the price...

6. 
   Turtleneck | Sep 12, 2003 08:30pm | #7

   I bought the BT3000 about five years ago for portabilituy. I liked it so much I've been using it as my trim, shelving, bookcase saw ever since. I've had to replace the motor, which was expensive, but the newer motor doesn't appear to have the same overheating issues the old one had. (rear bearing melted the plastic housing and jammed).

   I don't know of another portable saw that will rip 30"+ without an extension. The whole fence set up packs up very nicely into a hinged box I built which doubles as a run out table. I mounted the saw itself onto a Rousseau folding stand on wheels. I can roll in and set up in about 12 minutes. The fence is still bang on after hundreds of set ups and take downs. Like some of the others I extend the fence, which is a little short for sheet stock, by attaching a 4' level with a squeeze clamp.

   I don't use the sliding table very much anymore, but if you ever need to run accurate repetetive angle cuts in stock up to 16" it is handy. 

   I've been using blade stiffeners to tke the wander out of the thin kerf blades with good results as this saw is a little underpowered for heavier blades (unless they are very sharp!)

   Its always a plus vs minus with any tool you own but, I wouldn't hesitate to buy this saw again.

    Turtleneck

   the only miracles I've ever produced are waiting for me at home

1. 
   Dan019 | Sep 23, 2003 04:35pm | #10

   I also like the portability of this saw. When I was shopping for a contractor saw to haul around, the others didn't compare to this BT3100. Rigid, Makita, DeWalt et al didn't give you nearly as much bang for the buck. Was considering the Ryobi wheeled contractor saw (don't remember the model #) But this came with much more; sliding table, router table  leaf good fence. In addition to that it came with a free accessory pack that included the miter slot table leaf, zero clearance inserts and a bunch of other stuff (most of which I'll never use).

   I made my own wheeled table assembly for it. I cost $14 for 2 wheels. The BC plywood and folding leg stand(salvage) I already had. This saw is now portable and like you mentioned, can be set up or broken down in less than 10 min. Used it a couple of times already and it really cuts nicely for a portable jobsite saw. It aint a Unisaw but for what I wanted it for it really does well. And @ $300 it's definately better than the others I checked out.

   BTW I have  quite a few Rybobi products and most of them seem to be a pretty good deal for the price. The AC 3/8 drill is the only POS I got from them. Everything else has held up well. You buy what you can afford. I haven't had problems with  their products. I've got an old 12v drill/driver that I've had for over 10yrs. Used and abused almost everyday, gone thru 8 batteries already in this time. They don't even make this model anymore, but you can buy their HO version (not variable, no clutch) for about $45 at xmas time just for the batteries. Where else can you get 2 new batteries for that price?

    Do you have a picture of your hinged box/runout table? Always interested about others ideas and improvements.

1. 
   Dan019 | Sep 23, 2003 04:47pm | #11

   Forgot the jpg

   
1. 
   Sancho | Sep 24, 2003 05:17am | #12

   I can only say this, People either really like the saw (BT3K) or hate it. Dave in Cairns swears by his and makes some beautiful furniture with it. I took mine back to the store and tap danced as soon as they gve me my money back. I personally would look at the mak with a rousseau table  

   Darkworksite4: Subterráneo en la república de gente de Calif

7. 
   nigelUsa | Sep 13, 2003 12:53am | #8

   At the risk of being condemned, HD is clearing out this years model of the Ridgid table saws and I would suggest you take a look at the 12" left 36" right model. I ended up with the Dewalt 746 when I had been looking due to a number of features included with this saw.

1. 
   PurpleThumb | Sep 13, 2003 03:29am | #9

   I worked with the Ryobi for five years building my house--good service for this amateur.  Then the house burned down and the saw went with it.  Shopping for a new saw, I found the identical item with a Craftsman name on it at Sears for $450, and a cheezy knock-off at HD for $300 that I wouldn't touch (but this one with the Ryobi name on it).   Apparently Ryobi is making two versions for two retailers.  I ended up buying a Ridgid at Sears with a Craftsman name on it.