# I had it's fair share of problems out of the box.



## CanadianWoodWorks (Dec 29, 2009)

Too bad for the hard start, she makes up for it in the finish.

I have the same saw for about 10 years, but it's all gray

Didn't do the mdf like you but I should, and have always wanted to

Did do link belt, what a great invention!

All I use it a lot, 3/8'' blade all the time


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## REK (Aug 30, 2009)

With all the work you did right out of the box sounds like a great endorsment to not buy!!!!


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

One of these days I'll get mine set up. Hope it is better than that one.


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## thenickedfinger (Feb 17, 2010)

Can you do a tally of the money you spent to make this $299 work to your liking?


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## ABrown (Jun 6, 2010)

Sure my invoice from Rockler was $69.01,$28.65 from grizzly, and $32.96 from Homedepot. Grand total of $121.62. grand total for upgrades and saw was $420.62.


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## mathom7 (Jun 6, 2010)

It would cost a little over $600 to get the Grizzly G0555 with the mobile base, so it still sounds like a decent deal. My guess is this is the closest competition.

I'm hoping these go on clearance in my area soon for something under $200. There are 2 or 3 sitting in dusty boxes in just about every one of the HD's in my area. I figure it's only a matter of time before they go the route of the Ridgid jointer and R4511 table saw.


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## ABrown (Jun 6, 2010)

It's been a good saw after everything was fixed, I considered taking it back after I had put it together, but I done some research and it seems that a lot of these saws have the same problem. So I decided to fix it instead of returning it.


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## sawblade1 (Feb 11, 2010)

To me fixing it was letting the manufacturer get away with producing a inferior saw I always say Buy quality not buy price!!! Cheap will either be one of three things one more work (as in your case), poor cut Quality or inaccuracy that usually can't be fixed, Or the worst case scenario something breaks or loosens an you wind up losing digits!!
Still have the red marks on my knuckles from a harbor freight disk /belt sander the mounts for the disk table broke sending two of my knuckles index and middle into a spinning sanding disk that $50.00 sander went into the trash that same day after that I decided not to buy another cheap sander or tool again!!!!


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

I bought the Ridgid BS on high recomendations. When I get it together, I hope it wasn't a mistake


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## flyfisherbob2000 (Mar 22, 2010)

I have this saw, have been using it for over a year now. I had none of these problems out of the box. Its a good saw, a bit underpowered, but for general use it is great. If you are going to resaw a lot, get something with more power. But, for general shop use, it seems to be fine.


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## BillyJ (Aug 18, 2009)

It's too bad you had to go through all of that, but hopefully it will service you well for years to come. Cut safely.


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## Swede (Feb 19, 2010)

Thanks for the review. 
I have been planing on buying a larger saw to resaw with. 
It looks like a person needs to buy one that has been assembled and have it turned on to see if it will try to walk out of the room.
I am more lost on what brand to get now if I have to mail order it.
If there is a lemon I will get it always happens to me. :-(


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## Manitario (Jul 4, 2010)

Thanks for the review; I don't think I'd be as patient as you were at fixing it up.


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## dsb1829 (Jun 20, 2008)

Yep, been there and done that. With a bit of thought and a couple of modifications this saw is good. I did basically the same upgrades out of the box and have not had any issues with it since, going on 2 years now.


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## ABrown (Jun 6, 2010)

I haven't had any issues out of it sence I fixed every thing. So I'm starting to like it a lot more now.


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## flyfisherbob2000 (Mar 22, 2010)

Swede, if you want a resaw, you probably want a saw with more power. The Ridgid makes a good general purpose saw, but I find it lacks power to do much resawing. Just depends on what you want to do.
I am fortunate enough to have scored an older model Grizzly saw, and I use it for resawing, and use my Ridgid with a 1/8" blade for finer work.


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## JimiThing (Apr 28, 2011)

Does anyone know if the grey ones have similar problems?

I have one for sale in my area for 250… what do you guys think?


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

Great review. Did it come with a fence or miter gauge?


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## dpoisson (Jun 3, 2010)

Very good review. I'll wait for this one to be on sale and I'll probably jump in as well.

Since you mentioned you still had the receipts, do you have the item numbers from your orders?
Eg: Link Belt item # 123456-7, 4ft length.
Timber Wolf blade # 765432-1, 3/8"

That would be great for future buyers of this saw. I'm also interested in hearing about the fence/miter guage.

Also, I'm wondering what people mean by "underpowered". Could you cut a 2" thick piece of maple with it?

Cheers


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## BLarge (Aug 29, 2011)

dpoisson,

I bought this saw on a closeout from HD for $175. I had thought twice about it because there have been reviews that complain about vibrations, etc. But at that price, I thought there was little lose. A did a few modifications on the saw and it is a nice little piece.

- I did harden the base with a piece of 3/4 MDF who I coated top and bottom with Dynamat (used for vibration control in car audio) The base is not flimspy as some have sayed in other reviews on other sites, but it couls be thicker and more robust- I would consider Dynamatting the base if I had the time and money, and thought it might make a difference- it would likely be negligable.

- The wheels are out of balance and need work. The wheels are flat, but they are heaver in certain places which is obvious with a pencil mark and a hand spin with no blade on. I had my wheels machined and balanced by a guy here in town- $25 bucks for both wheels- it made a big difference, the machine is smooth when no blade, and properly adjusted smooth with the blade on.

- I upgraded to a link-belt- negligable results- this issue with this saw is the Wheels, they are Chinese Specials and like a car, will not run well unbalanced.

- I still need to ditch the stock tires, and put some better one on there- there is little Vibe in that saw now, but I am interested to see if new tires make a difference. at $30 a tire, it is a "when I feel like it" upgrade!

- I will eventually upgrae the Guides to bearing, but again, at $150 for that upgrade, it will be down the road.

- No Fence- but that is OK, and I am kinf o glad I did not buy a saw that came with one, since I would habe not used it anyway. I have a shopmade fence on the saw, one that expands the table from 12×12 to 20×20. I like it because of the increased workspace a better control over the workpiece. It is a breese to cut dovetails with a taper jig because of the big table- otherwise you would be trying grab piece as they fell of the table. I have plans for a new Fence that has allows for different rip fence heights (they clamp on the main fence, sweet), adjust for Drift, and have slot for hold downs, etc. Come winter I will take a shot at building it-

- No Miter Gauge- but then again, I would rarely do a mitre cut on the BS, so big deal fro me.

Overall, I think this saw is pretty nice, I like Rigid and have their Drill Press and 6"Jointer and they have treated me quite nicely for a long time. You cannot beat the price, and with a few upgrades and tweeks, it can be a lean, mean slicing machine for your home shop.


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