kity 419 tablesaw vs Electra Beckum PK 200
Justin & Lisa Allen
PK200
Which one has the best rip & crosscut fence? I will be using the saw mainly
for cabinet making so won't be cutting anything thicker than 2inches.Is it
possible to fit a dado cutting blade or simillar to either saw?
Paul Dingley
Well, dunno if I can be of much help, but I'm going through exactly the same
thoughts as yourself.
I've got a garage / workshop in which the tools have to share the space with
the car. When the car's in the garage I reckon I've got just enough space at
the side to store a small table saw, and have been torn between three.
Originally I was looking at the Makita 2702, which despite a list proce of
600+ seems to retail for just over 300. It's a real nice saw, and has had
very good reviews. Also my local tool store raves about it, which is usually
a pretty good recommendation (they tend to be a pretty honest bunch of guys).
The thing turning me off the Makita is the lack of good add-on table
extensions, or a sliding carriage.
For that reason I looked seriously at the PK200, which again got a really good
review in PW a couple of months ago. It is a reasonable price, and has a good
range of accessories.
In fact I rang Elektra to ask for more details, and that's where my doubts
started to creep in. Firstly NO the PK200 will NOT take a dado blade
according to their technical department. Also I wasn't over impressed with
the way my queries were handled - they seemed a little vague on a few things.
A week or so later, I got involved in a three-way conversation with DeWalt rep
at the local tool-store and a member of the store staff that I know. During
the ocurse of the conversation the DeWalt chap let slip that he'd recently
been to Tabwells Tools in Bakewell (another toolstore I visit occasionally),
and that Tabwells had just stopped dealing with Elekrta Beckham because of a
number of problems with their after-sales service which Tabwells didn't think
met with their standards.
This coincided with someone else telling me they'd had problems with EB's
backup after a fault developed on some of their kit.
That said, I still really like the features of the PK200, but would want to
dig a little deeper on the service side before parting with money.
This brings me round to the Kity 419. Initially I rejected it when I first
saw it in a machine-mart catalogue, but on looking at it in more depth I'm
starting to think it may be the one I'll end up buying. I don't think it will
take a dado blade, however Kity do make a 'grooving blade' for it - basically
a fat blade, which comes in three (I think) sizes from 6 to 10 MM which isn't
too bad - only requiring one rip-fence move to plough out a reasonable dado.
Also the addons look almost as comprehensive as for the PK200 with a couple of
exceptions. The 419's stand doesn't appear to fold as the PK200 one does, but
that's not a major issue because I'll probably make my own anyway. The same
applies to leadout tables, which again I'll probably make myself.
My big reservation at the moment is that I'm having difficulty getting details
on how the blade tilt mechanism works. The PK200's mech was highly praised in
the PW review, but the 419's mech looks more fiddly (but then I've only got a
real small picture to look at).
For that reason I'm off work tomorrow and without my wife in tow I can spend a
couple of hours at the local Machine Mart investigating the 419 in more
detail. Although I'll be going to Axminster to actually buy whichever I
decide on.
One final point, that I've also recently come across the scheppach TS2000.
It's more expensive than the PK200 or Kity 419, at around 595 inc VAT and
delivery (from Woodcut), but then it looks like a nice piece of kit, and the
Scheppach kit seems to havea real good reputation, so before I finally decide
I'm planning to get a look at that as well.
And out local store is a Scheppach agent, so they may be able to get one in
for me to have a look at which would be nice.
To sum up, at the moment there looks to be little to choose between the PK200
and the Kity419, but my money's leaning towards the 419, although I want to
have a good look at it before I decide, and also want to make sure I wouldn't
prefer to wait a couple of weeks/months longer and buy the Scheppach
instead...
I'd be interested to hear your views on saws in the same sort of range that
you've been thinking about, sinc like yourself I want it mainly for
small-scale cabinet building.
Regards - Paul
Darwinism: Make something idiot-proof and nature will evolve a better idiot.
Paul Dingley
On Tue, 26 Jan 1999 15:54:34 -0000, in rec.woodworking you wrote:
>Deos anybody know which one of these is best Kity 419 or Electra Beckum
>PK200
>Which one has the best rip & crosscut fence? I will be using the saw mainly
>for cabinet making so won't be cutting anything thicker than 2inches.Is it
>possible to fit a dado cutting blade or simillar to either saw?
>
Well, more to report since my last message to you.
I took the day of work today, and went to the local Machine Mart to check out
the 419 in detail. Initially I stood directly in front of it thinking 'where
is it' without realising it - it's so small!!!!
Okay first impressions.
Small footprint, Nice cast table, and reasonably good fence. Build quality
wasn't bad but was definitely not outstanding. It's one saw that's
definitely going to need the extra side table buying for it because the bed
itself just isn't big enough to do much with.
The Mitre gauge was solid with very little (virtually no) lateral movement.
Definitely did NOT like the blade adjustment though. The height was a rotary
knob, which seemed very loose, and gave the impression the blade may drop with
vibration/use - also couldn't find an obvious way to lock it's height in place
(the store staff didn't know much abou it at all).
The angle of the blade is set by loosening a lock-knob at which point the
whole motor unit is suddenly free to swing in the breeze and jumps so the
blades at a 20 degree or so angle. You then puch the main height adjuster
knob in to engage a ratchet/cog mechanism and then turn the knob while keeping
it pressed in. I found the angular measurement scale to be very vague and
just didn't like the way it was designed.
Having said that I still though I'd probably buy one, but just not yet (Having
seen the 419 I wanted to see the PK200 in the flesh as well, along with the
Scheppach TS2000).
On the spur of the moment I decided to visit my favourite toolstore for a
chat. Walking in I was first greeted with a comment about my having rung
Scheppach for info (The local store are a Scheppach dealer and will need to
forward the leaflets on to me - also they know me well in there by now).
I was invited into the little seen bowells of the store to the demo area where
they're setting up for a Dewalt open day on the 18th Feb, mainly to look at a
Scheppach contractors saw. Unfortunately it wasn't what I was looking for,
but after a quick chat about table saws in general I was ushered into another
part of the room to look at two saws, one of which was a new Delta table saw,
and the other the PK200.
The Delta looked really small (footprint) had a good table on, and a very good
depth of cut. Also the fence was probably the most solid I've ever seen on a
small saw, and was very easy to adjust and lock. Also the saw was only 249
inc VAT. Only glitches being that it's virtually impossible to get hold of
until March, the table extends out and seemed a little too flexible when fully
extended, and it's a wound motor not an inductive one. Otherwise it was
fantastic value for the price.
BUT and it's a real big BUT!!!!!
After having convinved myself that the PK200 was second place to the 419
because of the company's questionable aftersales service, I then cast a good
eye over the PK200 and thought WOW!
It's every bit as good as it looks in the adverts. The blade height and
particularly angular adjustment are excellent. And coupled with the sliding
carriage brilliant mitre fence and additional add-ons proved to me that the
PK200 is a saw that someone's really sat down and thought long and hard about.
The one gripe, and it's a smallish one is that the fence only extends over
half the tables width (front to back). To estend it to the full width you
undo two wingnuts on the back and a telescopic section pulls out which takes
it to the back of the table okay, but after locking everything off I thought
there was quite a bit of lateral play in it.
That's not a major problem though because after all you only need the fence to
guide the width of cut, and since the cutting portion of the blade's at the
front you probably don't really need to extend it to the maximum very often
anyway.
So after weigning everything up in detail, and looking at the saws in the
flesh, my decision is definitely to go for the PK200, which I'll be ordering
first thing tomorrow when I visit the store again, even though I'm still not
sure it's going to fit in the space I have available in the garage. Ahh well,
if not it can always go in the dining room alongside my home-built router
table.....
Best of all, they're doing the full kit (Saw, sliding fence, subcarrier,
extension table, wheel kit, stand, and hoses) for £599 inc VAT instead of the
699 that most places see to be selling it for (though if you want one D&M
Tools in Twickenham also do it mail order to £599 (check F&C for their Ad).
Let me know what you decide.....
Cheers - P.
Paul Dingley
On Tue, 26 Jan 1999 15:54:34 -0000, in rec.woodworking "Justin & Lisa Allen"
<Justin&Li...@creamlodge.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>Deos anybody know which one of these is best Kity 419 or Electra Beckum
>PK200
>Which one has the best rip & crosscut fence? I will be using the saw mainly
>for cabinet making so won't be cutting anything thicker than 2inches.Is it
>possible to fit a dado cutting blade or simillar to either saw?
>
Forgot to mention in the last Post, that the DeWalt rep at the store mentioned
that they are about to release the 744 Table Saw in the UK - it's a smallish
table saw, but has some real good features.
It's going to cost around 600 pounds (ballpark figure) at the local toolstore,
who heavily discount DeWalt kit so I expect the list price to be above that.
It maybe worth looking at if you're in the market to spend that sort of
figure....
I've decided on the PK200, but will still be looking at the 744 out of
interest during a demo the week after next.