Ryobi BT3000 Tablesaw question
-Ken Zaldo
I am looking for a little friendly advice from owners of the Ryobi BT3000
table saw. I am considering buying one and would like to know what you
think of the saw.
In particular I was wondering how good is the fence. Does it stay straight
or does it need frequent adjustments? How about the blade? Does it
stay straight?
I'll be making mostly smaller projects: cutting boards, small boxes, etc
out of various harwoods.
Email responses would be fine.
Thanks is advance,
Ken Zaldo
k...@esun.att.com
Eric Ide
I had one for a year and a half. I used it mainly for small projects
similar to the ones you mention. I found it to be excellent. The fence,
in particular, was one feature that I liked quite a lot. It's quite rigid
and easy to use and is also quite useful when using the auxiliary table as
a router table. When used with a shop-vac, there was very little airborne
dust. As I moved up to larger projects, I found that it was too light and
I moved to a Delta Contractor's saw. I like the weight but miss some of
the flexibility of the moveable side tables. The only penalty of the
flexibility is that you have to periodically retune things. I also found
that thin kerf blades, when kept sharp, worked noticebly better than
standard kerf blades. The motor has adequate horsepower but not excess.
With sharp blades and a slow feed rate, it will easily handle 3" thick
hardwood. One key advantage is that the depth of cut will handle 4X
lumber. I sometimes wish that I had kept mine to do construction
projects.
Good luck in your decision.
Eric Ide
Daniel Morris DeRight
quite a bit. I'm sorry your friend had such problems, but he could
easily have corrected them. There should have been a manual, and
Ryobi will send you one if you ask. Ryobi also makes an auxiliary
table with a standard channel in it for using standard accessories.
The motor placement I can't comment on. I used mine fairly regularly
for the last year or so and it never gave me any problems, even
cutting pressure treated 4x4's in one pass. True, I am currently
looking to sell it, but only because the Delta CS with Unifence
arrived last week. ;^) Now that I'm doing this full time, I wanted a
more industrial machine.
-soda
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
soda...@cmu.edu S Designs
under Connor's care Cabinetry & Woodcraft
NRA Life Member 4902 Forbes Avenue, Box 235
T/C Contender Fanatic Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3799
I'd rather be Crittering! 412-441-5036
We have met the enemy, and he is us. -Pogo
BITSJR
When trying to mount the router to the saw I found that I needed 4- 8mm
machine screws, looking in the router mounting kit I could not find them.
I called Ryobi and I had a new set of ALL the screws that come with the
kit in two days. Still no 8 mm screws. So I called Ryobi back told them
that they shouldent sell a product that you can't find parts for. Try
finding 1.5 inch long 8mm screws. The girl put me on hold for about 30
secs. Than she told me that the screws came with the router. Good thing I
was on the phone so she couden't see how red I was. Sure enough there in
the bottom of the box 4-8mm screws. Two days later though in the mail I
recived A complet of screws that came with the router. I did'nt even ask
for them not bad.
Brian
Ken Greenberg
k...@gorge.fantasy.ho.att.com (-Ken Zaldo) wrote:
>
> I am looking for a little friendly advice from owners of the Ryobi BT3000
> table saw. I am considering buying one and would like to know what you
> think of the saw.
I've had mine for a year now, and I'm very happy with it. It meets my
needs very well - and that should be the primary criterion for buying
any tool. You need to decide what your needs are, and buy the tool that
best fits those needs. For example, one of its primary advantages is
ease of mobility. I need that in my shop, but you might not.
>
> In particular I was wondering how good is the fence. Does it stay straight
> or does it need frequent adjustments? How about the blade? Does it
> stay straight?
The fence works very well; I have never adjusted it, since it was correct
out of the box (as was everything). I have never adjusted the blade either.
This does not suggest that I ignore these things - I check them often, but
they don't ever seem to need alignment.
>
> I'll be making mostly smaller projects: cutting boards, small boxes, etc
> out of various harwoods.
>
It should be fine for what you are doing. Mine may get somewhat heavier
use, since I build bigger things (like my current coffee table project).
As someone will no doubt point out to you, the miter gauge is non-standard
so you can't use most aftermarket accessories. For me, this has never
been a problem, since I haven't had a need for any accessories. I like
the larger surface provided by the Ryobi miter gauge anyway. I suppose
if you needed to use many accessories, you might consider a different
saw. This is another example of what I said above - it all depends on
your needs.
Good luck.
-Ken
--
Ken Greenberg | The trouble with running your own
k...@rahul.net | company is that all your opinions
Los Gatos, CA | ARE those of your company....
la...@ipact.com
> In article <CyC6r...@nntpa.cb.att.com> k...@gorge.fantasy.ho.att.com
> (-Ken Zaldo) writes:
>>
>> I am looking for a little friendly advice from owners of the Ryobi
> BT3000
>> table saw. I am considering buying one and would like to know what you
>> think of the saw.
With regard to Ryobi, I've been waiting four weeks for a spring and a
new switch on my Ryobi router. I called directly to Ryobi to get the
parts, but haven't received them (have followed up with them as well).
Just a thought about buying Ryobi tools.
-earl
131H10000-FarwellC(DR7383)299
|>
|> The sliding table does need adjustments every 2-4 hours of use,
|> but you should always check it and make a cut or two on scrap
|>
How do you know when it needs adjustment? I've had one for about
3 years, done maybe 20-30 hrs of cutting on it, and have never
adjusted it. There doesn't seem to be any side to side play, and`
it is still square, as far as I can tell. Am I missing something?
Charlie
c...@dr.att.com
Fred Saavedra
Ken Zaldo,
RE: BT3000 Friendly Advice Request
I have been using my BT3000 for a bit over two years now. At first
I loved it, then for awhile I hated it, Now I like it.
Here is why:
It took me awhile to learn how to setup the sliding mitre table.
But thanks to a fellow poster, I now have a sure fire procedure
that is easy to follow and takes no more than 15 minutes to
perform (After you've done it a few times).
Mine has the 13 Amp Motor which is a little small for green wood
or some hard wood ripping. Be sure and only select the BT3000
with the new 15 amp motor.
Mine came with a very good manual, video, stand, thin kerf blade,
and the tools to remove the blade.
The Aux fence is easy to mount as are all of the other accessories.
The fence is really the strongest point of the saw, I really think
that you'll like it. And it really does stay straight. The blade
is very good also.
The sliding table does need adjustments every 2-4 hours of use,
but you should always check it and make a cut or two on scrap
This is a great saw for small projects, and not so bad for larger
projects. I have the extension table which allows me to cut full
sheet plywood easily. I also have added a homemade outfeed table
that keeps the saw in place when pushing large pieces through the
blade.
As to the motor position, it seems fine to me. The position allows
for a depth of cut usually only found on larger saws.
Hope this helps,
Fred Saavedra
rboone{TCNET/...@klaven.tci.com
----------
>From: FREDS @ SMTP (Fred Saavedra) {fr...@HPCC01.CORP.HP.COM}
>To: WOODWORK @ SMTP (Multiple recipients of list WOODWORK)
{WOODWORK%IPFWVM.BITNET@;
>RBOONE
>Subject: Re: Ryobi BT3000 Tablesaw question
>Date: Thursday, November 03, 1994 6:06PM
John Corwin OSBU North
I had much better luck with Ryobi service than that. Twice last year, I ordered parts from them (once for my BT3000, once for my jointer), and each time I received the parts in 2 days by UPS. I was dealing with the Ryobi service center in Garden Grove, Calif. Maybe I was just lucky to get such quick response time, but I was impressed. And I like both of the tools very much.
-- John
Chip Coffin
is the "radial arm saw" of table saws.
For about the same money you can get a real table saw, that has a
cast iron top, an induction motor and a belt. You can quickly
build a slidng table that is as good or better than the ryobi
table, and you can mount your router in the outfeed table.
I thik I would like the ryobi better if it had a quieter
motor. They seem to have traded air pollution (i.e. dust collection)
for noise pollution.
Some other basic drawbacks are that the table is too small and
there is too much plastic.
I don't know what there intended market would be, but would venture
to guess impusle buyers with a somewhat anaylytical mind. There are
indeed features to get excited about on the saw, but it looks like
(more like) flash than substance that will be there for the long-haul -
i.e. a belt that's a non-standard, over-sized rubber band.
just my 2 bits.
... and I don't own one - but I was fascinated by it once, and now
that I own a real table saw, I see the folley of my ways.
chip
Chip Coffin
Well, now that I'm on a rampage...
The ryobi saw won't hold it's value well. My guess will be that
it will wear out in many different ways to the point where it isn't
worth fixing. The delta CS will always remain user servicable,
unless you let the top rust to death.
If you are going to go cheap, then buy a bench top saw and one of
those fold up jigs that give you a small tee square fence with
a long out feed table, and buy a forrest blade, with a big dampener.
It sound's crazy, but it works.
I have a forrest blade on my bench top saw, and I get the same
awesum markless smooth cuts that I get on my powermatic. They're
incredible blades.
chip
Tom Meyer
> I have been using my BT3000 for a bit over two years now. At first
> I loved it, then for awhile I hated it, Now I like it.
>
> Here is why:
>
> It took me awhile to learn how to setup the sliding mitre table.
> But thanks to a fellow poster, I now have a sure fire procedure
> that is easy to follow and takes no more than 15 minutes to
> perform (After you've done it a few times).
I am still at point 2. Can you post this sure-fire set-up procedure???
[Just noticed that you have already posted this. Do you know if this
procedure was given verbally or have they printed it up?]
Actually I don't hate the saw. It is fine for ripping and the rip fence
seems to stay straight. Plus this is not even that critical. The saw
will cut your wood straight even if the fence is a little crooked since
the blade to fence distance at the point of the cut is not changing.
(The blade will be cutting at a slight angle to your wood so the cut
might not be as clean as it could be.)
With the miter fence/sliding table, however it is critical that it slide
parallel to the blade to get a 90 degree cut. Standard table saws have
a 3/4 inch slot cut into the table which as far as I know will always
stay parallel to the blade.
With the BT3000, several things can get out of alignment. First, the
whole table, which is adjusted by some somewhat hard-to-access screws
which can't be made too tight or the table won't slide, so you always
need to leave a little play (I suppose this is also true with the metal
bars that slide in the slots of standard table saws but I think this
play can be made quite small). Second, the stop at 90 degrees can
loosen and move (this is easily fixed as long as you notice it). Third,
the sliding table is clamped into position (to prevent it from sliding
perpendicular to the blade after you have it positioned as desired) with
four push down clamps. However, in this process the table can rotate to
various positions. I don't see how this last item can ever be
corrected. Nor am I sure how much it contributes to alignment problems.
As far as noise, I've been very happy with how quiet it is. I have a
Skil circular saw that I can't stand to use without ear plugs; the Ryobi
is much quieter. Generally, actually cutting wood adds very little
additional noise. Though I suppose there are some unpleasant types of
wood that might get loud, but I imagine this is pretty much
saw-independent. Note: I have 13 amp model, I didn't know they had
gone to 15 amp.
-- Tom Meyer
JimZ 8859
writes:
I have a forrest blade on my bench top saw, and I get the same
awesum markless smooth cuts that I get on my powermatic. They're
incredible blades.
I'll second that: I've got a forrest too, and they're damn
smooth blades! The price seems ridiculous at first, but once you've got it
squared up & running it will amaze you.
movi...@gmail.com
Firstly, the fence has a plastic end. It WILL shatter. Mine shattered the other month. This made the rip fence unusable until I bought a replacement (I bought two because I knew that plastic, with heat cycles and UV exposure, will inevitably become brittle).
I'm not sure how well other rip fences are designed, but the small pivot point on the opposite side of the rip fence lock DOES NOT ensure a cut perfectly perpendicular to the blade. Pretty lame, quite frankly.
Secondly, my belt just melted. I've been milking it for a while, but it's dead now. At 40 bucks for a replacement set, I'm going to get a REAL table saw, with REAL belt drive and a metal rip fence.