Woodworkers Here? Thoughts on Table Saws? 110/220/3PH ?

[Joshua223]

Anyone on here do woodwork? Looking at some used table saws, but not sure what options I should go with.

Found a 2hp hybrid at a good price, but I also found a nice old 5hp saw for sale cheap, but it is 3 phase. Would it be worth it to get a box for a 220 line added and a using a 3-1 inverter? This is new territory for me, so I'm not sure what I should do. How much difference in noise would there be between a 2hp and 5hp? Other issues I should consider?

 

[Torn]

carver

 

[Woodcarver]

I have a small woodshop behind the house where I make various projects for friends and family. I have been using an old Sears/Craftsman table saw for years. If you're cutting a lot of hardwood a 5hp saw would be nice but for pine and other soft woods 1 1/2hp is fine. I have many of the basic woodworking tools used in a home shop and everything is 110volt.
Good luck

 

[rbstern]

I've had a Shop Fox 3hp cabinet saw for about 20 years. Don't use it as much as I used to, but it's a fabulous tool. Stability makes for really good accuracy. I had a 1.5hp craftsman contractor saw with cast iron table before that. Also a good saw.

Spend on: Fence, blades, dust collection. Any decently built saw can deliver good cuts if well set up and used correctly.

 

[D_Max]

Power matic makes some of the best saws i ever used
Model 88 is a great saw

 

[cskiles]

I use a Grizzly Polar 3 hp cabinet saw. Unless you are going to be ripping thick pieces of hardwood (like oak) on a regular basis, anything over a 3hp is not really necessary. IMHO, I would focus on a saw that had an iron fence guide (more likely to stay 'true'), a quality fence (like a biesemeyer), and a saw with cast iron trunnions. The biggest issue with contractor portable saws is the lack of/difficulty of, aligning the blade front to back, cabinet saws are typically simple to access adjustment and alignment bolts.

 

[Spikey]

I’ve had a cabinet shop for over 30 years. Delta 5hp Unisaw 220single phase. Great saws . Powermatic 88 5hp 220 single phase , great saws . A cabinet saw is much better for heavier use / wood. Grizzly makes some nice 3hp cabinet saws , might find a good used one . Avoid 3 phase unless you can get 3 phase in to your shop , but it’s expensive to have the lines run ! You can get good 3 phase rotary converters , but they’re not cheap . I have a 30hp rotary phase converter for some of my equipment . You need to make sure it’s EXACTLY 120 on each of the 3 legs .

 

[BHPSteel]

Back in the old days, I used to rip and crosscut almost 3in thick sugar maple on a 1.5hp Jet tablesaw, which you can do with 110V. If you go the table saw route rather than a cabinet saw, it's worth seeing if you can get it on a rigid base or anchored to the floor - it'll make the whole machine more rigid.

Another half horsepower would have been nice, but good technique, a nice sharp blade and a bit of patience would always do the job, and when I had to move the table saw, I didn't have to get a hernia.

As Spikey commented above, try and avoid 3-phase because it's a PITA to provision power. A single-phase 220V should be quite adequate if you wanted to make the step up from a 1.5HP which is all you can really expect out of 110V, but you can probably do almost anything you need on a 1.5HP.

 

[4ssss]

All the machinery I have in my shop that is 3 phase I have a frequency converter (VFD) on them. Never had a problem with running them. I"m pretty sure you can get the 3 phase for cheap as the seller would have to find a certain buyer if he didn't know. You can do all kinds of stuff with a (VFD) frequency converter, change phase, change voltage. All you need to do is program it, and the people at the co. that I bought mine did that for me all over the phone after I wired it. You can also drop motor rpm with them, as they were designed to run conveyors.

 

[4ssss]

The cheap 3-1 static converters, unless they're rotary converters will fry a 3 phase motor pretty quick.