Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[Molpet]

It's still a great table saw, but it weighs a lot and takes up lots of floor space in my garage when I use it

Put it on locking wheels and a top like avjudge's Dad

 

[gtaus]

That’s what my dad has except his is older. It sits in the middle of the workshop and when not in use has a slab of Homasote on top so it serves as an additional worktop.

That a good use for the table saw when not in use. But, as I mentioned, I don't have a dedicated workshop. I use my garage. Which means I have to be able to move my equipment out of the way when I want to garage my cars.

All my workbenches have wheels on them as well. It's just what I have to do to with what I have available. If I do end up buying a smaller, lighter table saw without a stand, I can just put it on top of one of my workbenches with wheels and easily move it out of the way.

I guess Craftsman must have made some pretty good saws if your dad has one even older than my 30-year-old table saw. Growing up in the 1970's, Craftsman, sold at Sears, was considered great tools. Now, we don't even have a Sear's department store anywhere to be found.

 

[gtaus]

Put it on locking wheels and a top like avjudge's Dad

That would have been a good idea, but I have already built a couple of modular pallet wood workbenches...

Those modular workbenches are 2X4 feet, with wheels, and notice the holes drilled into the benchtop 2X4 frame. I have holes like that drilled on all 4 sides of the top. That allows me to bolt the workbenches together in a number of configurations. For example, bolting 2 of them together to make a 4X4 workbench, or a 2X8 foot workbench for longer projects.

As you can see, I can store a bunch of bulk items underneath the top inside the workbench. This past summer, I upgraded one of the workbenches and put in adjustable shelving to hold my small parts cases...

I put those shelves on both ends and I also added shelving in the middle as well...

Now those workbenches are packed full of tools and supplies. I just rolled them out of the way inside the garage so I could park my cars. I really like those pallet wood modular workbenches. I don't think I could ever get that much storage under my Craftsman table saw.

But I never really considered putting a workbench top on the table saw either. At the time I built my pallet wood modular workbenches, my Craftsman table saw was in another garage, in storage.

I got the idea of modular workbenches from YouTube. I just added wheels to my workbenches and used pallet wood instead of buying lumber from the big box store. I used some screws and brad nails, but the only real expense for me was buying the wheels. I took the wheels off some Harbor Freight dollies that I got on sale for less than $10.00. For me, in my garage, I needed to add wheels, so it was worth the extra money.

If anyone is interested, here is one of the YouTube videos on how to build these modular workbenches...

 

[gtaus]

Budget Table Saw Comparisons

I was looking more at that Performax 8-1/4 inch table saw that is on sale at Menards this week. Reading the specs, reviews, and trying to get an idea if it will be good for my pallet projects. The online reviews are positive, but I don't trust online "honest reviews" much anymore. Too many of those reviews are paid positive reviews.

In my research into that Performax saw, the Skil 8-1/4 inch table saw always popped up as well. The Skil table saw is about $150.00 more expensive, but it looks almost exactly the same...

Performax table saw...

Picture of Skil 8-1/4 inch table saw model TS6308-00...

I compared the general specs of both saws, and they matched up perfectly. Looks like they both were made at the same Chinese factory to me. I wonder if Menards just has them rebranded under the Performax name to sell them in their stores at a discount?

As expected, Skil is a more well-known brand name and costs more. But is it worth $150 more to get their logo on the saw? Probably not for me.

Back in the 1980's, I was overseas in Hong Kong. We visited a factory where they made VCR's for the American market. The $500 name brand VCR (like Sony) was made on the same line as a cheaper no-name brand VCR for $150. They just had different logos and/or external cases. That was a big eye opener for my younger me!

At any rate, I suspect lots of tools and such are all made by a few Chinese factories and they just swap out decals, colors, or exterior shells and sell the same product under other brand names. That's why I like to read the specs on similar models, and I put less weight on the name brand decal on the tool.