# Good enough, but not perfect



## lab7654 (Mar 31, 2012)

Glad you are happy with the saw! I'll be buying it soon, so I love seeing good reviews for it. How did you get Home Depot to take the HF coupon? I thought they no longer did that, on terms of HF "not being a real competitor". I'll have to try it with my local HD when I go to make the purchase.


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## don1960 (Jan 16, 2011)

I agree with everything except the "compromise" of the .001 out of flat table. Personally, I think .001 deviation on ANY saw is truly remarkable.

I have the same saw, bought last year, and your review, barring the mention above is spot on. Thanks for doing such a great job on that.

I also came from a crappy entry level saw that I used for over 20 years before buying the Ridgid. It is like going from a corvair to a caddilac. The first thing I made on it was a small box with all 45° mitered corners, including the bottom. I was amazed when it went together perfectly. Wasn't used to that.

I would add one thing to your review, and that is the miter gage. Really lousy accuracy. I got tired of it and bought a Micra as a replacement.

Overall, I'm sure you will enjoy that saw for years to come, just as I plan to enjoy mine.


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## Jeff28078 (Aug 27, 2009)

I wouldn't give it three stars just becasue it's not the same as a very much more expensive saw. How does it compare against similarly priced contractor saws? I have the older 3650 version and sure there's always a better saw for more money out there. But for my uses my old 3650 rates at least a four if not a five.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Seems like your realize this is a good value for what it cost and most of your review is positive.


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## kdc68 (Mar 2, 2012)

I am in a similar situation. The choices for me are the Ridgid and either the Grizzly 713 or 691 contractor saws, although they are more like hybrids. I have the $$ now for the Ridgid, but would be willing to spend the extra to get one of the Grizzly's. I too ruled out the Porter Cable for the plastic gear. I ruled out cabinet saws for the most part because my shop is in the basement of my house. I don't see how about getting a cabinet saw down the stairs. I would like to know what Grizzly you were looking at?


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## cutworm (Oct 2, 2010)

Thanks. Good review. In my limited experience I have found that Ridgid products are very good when it comes to value. There are better saws but for me returns diminish too quickly for the expensive saws. I've got the TS3660. An older version of your saw and I can't imagine needing anything better. Lot's of orange in my little shop.








And welcome to LJ's. That's a lot of saw for $400.


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## colvinatch (Dec 21, 2012)

Thanks for all the replys, as for the 20% off coupon, I asked the sales clerk, he said ok and went off the get my saw. The manager came around and said that the best he could do was $50.00 off, then I waited, and waited, and waited and 45 minutes later… no saw. They had to hunt the kid down and discovered that he had left because it was time for him to clock out. The manager then said… OK, take 20% off! The Grizzly I was looking at was the G0715P for around $725.00 plus shipping.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

Nice review and good work getting the "Big Orange" to take the HF coupon! I did that on a Ridgid shop vacc and they didn't act like they wanted me coming back! One question: are you using a full kerf WW II blade to cut that 8/4 cherry (rip or crosscut)? I guess that's 2 questions!


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## kdc68 (Mar 2, 2012)

Thanks for the reply. Good for you that the small fiasco paid off for you as an extra $100 in your pocket


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## EEngineer (Jul 4, 2008)

The cast iron table is solid and good enough, about .001 off being perfectly flat (again another compromise)

Ahahahaha! You are doing woodworking, not machining! No woodworking saw does better than .001" flat!


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## Tennessee (Jul 8, 2011)

I have owned one of these for a few months now, also upgrading from a Ryobi BT3000 that served me for over 12 years. I did the same thing, all the investigations, and ended up where you are, the Rigid 4512. So far, absolutely no complaints. I put on a CMT 50 tooth, one of those with the PTFE coating, and it performs easily with all the crazy exotics I have to cut for my guitars and jewelry boxes.

I've spent time on Powermatics, 5HP units, and yes, they are more powerful, probably more accurate, more cast iron. But when I can get within a half a hash on my Starret ruler, (maybe two thousandths of an inch), I'll take it. I don't use my table saw as a jointer, so it needs to get the wood within a few thousandsths, and that it does.

One complaint with mine was I found the left miter slot to trail away from the blade .003 of an inch the depth of the table, front to back. No biggee since I mainly use the right hand slot, but it still annoys me thinking about it. Wasn't enough for me to take it back. Too heavy and too much trouble. As far as the table, I also built the additional table they suggested, and a further 36" long table to the right, which became an assembly table since I also am in a small shop.

Overall, with my military discount, (10%), I walked out with it at $450, and although assembly for me was also about four hours, and who thought building a saw upside down was a good idea?, I love it. I hope to have it for the rest of my life.


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## tierraverde (Dec 1, 2009)

I have had the 3650 and never regretted the purchase. Tables are all cast iron and I added a router table on the right end that gives me plenty of support for large pieces.
The fence operates like a swiss watch. I glides like butter, zero wobble, and super accurate when using the scale.
5 stars.

I can't say enough about Ridgid products, price to functionality.

(On my home page I did a story on the router table add-on, under projects)


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## Duality240 (Nov 24, 2012)

I won't even bother to review my R4512 as I would have said pretty much everything you said. Great review. My two biggest complaints are how hard the saw drops when you lower the wheels and how cheap the miter gauge is. I will be replacing the miter gauge but I haven't figured out a workaround for the retractable casters. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.


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## colvinatch (Dec 21, 2012)

I didn't mention the miter gauge because I plan to replace it right away. As for the casters, I balance myself on one foot, (more like the heel of my right foot), place the left foot on top of the pedal and use my toe of my right foot to push up the release, then I catch the release with the left foot and let it down very gently. Awkward but it works.


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## tierraverde (Dec 1, 2009)

Wonder why they changed the mechanism from the 3650? 
It works smooth and gentle.


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## DouginVa (Mar 5, 2012)

I've got a Rigid as well. Not as new as yours, but all the same basic features. The dust collection on my saw is a schroud that surrounds the saw and arbor and the collection hose is connected at the bottom through the legs. It does an adequate job, but I'll always be sweeping and vacumin the floor beneath the saw after every couple of uses.

My rip fence needs adjusting every other month or so, but for the money, it's acceptable. I didn't need to adjust the saw arbor tracking to make it parallel to the miter slot …... thankfully, it doesn't look easy on contractor saws.

The mobile base is a big plus but I do feel some "shimmying" with it. It'd be nice if it were more "rigid"....no pun intended.

My biggest complaint is that the bevel positive stop at 45 degrees is never accurate. I always have to check it with a square or my Wixey gauge. I think saw dust build up beneath the table prevents the trunion (?) from seating on the positive stop and always leaves it a fraction of a degree or two shy of 45 or 90.


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

Wonder why they changed the mechanism from the 3650?
It works smooth and gentle.

The reason any company will make a change is because they have found a way to make it better without any additional cost, or have found a way to make it at less cost. That latter usually is accompanied by poorer quality.


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## tierraverde (Dec 1, 2009)

MrRon
I agree 100%


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## Nicabus (Jan 7, 2013)

I also bought the R4512 and was able to use the HF 25% off Easter Special coupon. This is my first saw and was my first purchase into the woodworking world and have been happy with it so far. The motor is powerful and quiet. Aligning the blade wasn't too bad, but my fence could be better. It's all plastic and i stripped a screw hole trying to get it aligned with the blade. Probably spent 3 days off and on till i got it as close as I could and gave up. Hopefully I will have better luck with it if I ever make more than dust.


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## jonwright (Feb 4, 2013)

I'm taking mine back. Taking into account the blade alignment, the fence really doesn't seem to stay on center, and having to check every measurement after every move of any component I'm going to hold out and get a better saw. I'm just not willing to accept all the trade offs for now.

I've only used the saw for a while and when I initially put it together the blade seemed to be parallel with the miter slots. Then the custs just seemed to get worse, or I was noticing a bit more. When I ran 1/4" bevel cuts on long pieces for a table I noticed the were in no way the same going in as going out - my blade was really off center - pretty close to 1/16".

When I aligned the blade I had to really horse the trunion over to get it aligned. Without constant pressure the blade wants to be roughly 1/16" off. So I'm going to bet that over time the trunions will settle where they want to be.

I've really liked Ridgid tools and will continue to buy from them as I expect them to stand behind their product. Maybe my expectations are a bit high for the trade-offs one is going to get in this price range. Being the case I'll hold out for a bit higher quality saw.

And upgrading pieces and parts on the saw - price all that stuff and you'll have a nice saw you really wanted to begin with methinks. I know everyone's situation is different and I've really struggled with what was "good enough".

Too bad Ridgid isn't making a hybrid saw anymore - that would be an easy decision for me.


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## SFDCapt (Sep 28, 2013)

Just wondering how the saw is doing after having about a year. I am considering it as an upgrade from a Ryobi contractors saw.

Thanks,

Lee


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