Buying a miniature table saw

[woundedbear]

Hi All, I am considering buying a MicroLux miniature bench top table saw. Micro-Mark has both if their proxxon made bench top table saws on sale till September. The model # 50304 and the tilting arbor model # 80463 can do rip cuts as well as cross cuts in thin balsa wood up to 1/2-inch and plywood up to 1/4-inch. I have the, "Master Air-Screws balsa stripper", but cutting anything bigger than 3/32 x 3/32-inch strip stock, the blade tends to wonder,"I tried to cut a 1/4 x 1/4-inch leading edge strip and the balsa wood stripper tool spoiled the piece I have also seen the Rockwell 7323 Blade Runner which is less expensive than the two MicroLux miniature table saws. Has anyone used either of these bench top power tools to cut balsa wood strip stock and to do cross cuts Hope someone can give me some feed back on these power tools. I have purchased the Allwin bench top disk/belt power sander from Micro-Mark and am pleased with this tool, it is also on sale and for $79.95 + Shipping, it's a good buy. But the tilting tables for this tool are ruff and I will have to have an auto-motive machine shop smooth them up and make sure they are perfactly flat for me. If I had payed full price for this power sander "$129.95 I would have sent it back But the local auto machine shop can do the job of smoothing the ruff surfaces for a good price I hope. This tool is very heavy and cost an extra 10 bucks to ship, but it's heavy weight make's it a good tool for sanding, it is mounted on rubber feet and the eletric motor runs very smooth. It uses a standard 1''X 30'' belt and can use a leather power strop for sharpening blades,"I'll never buy number 11 blades again" The disk sander side of this tool has a tilting table with a protractor type miter gauge slide which will make doing compound miters a breeze I'm some what of a tool freak and modifying and sharpening knife blades with this tool is the other reason I purchased this bench top tool And a preemptive thank you for any advice you folks can give me. I've been picking the brains of the members of this forum for several years now and I value your opinions greatly, so thank you all for your time

[pedwards2932]

I bought this one http://www.harborfreight.com/power-tool ... 61608.html
It doesn't have a lot of power but for balsa and thinner hardwood it works great for me and is was only $37. I am looking into getting a slotting saw blade for it to reduce the kerf.......they are only about .020 thick.

[David Lewis]

I have the Proxxon table saw and it works well, although the fence is pretty short, and the table is small so not convenient for cutting long pieces.

[woundedbear]

Hello David Lewis ! Thanks for your input. I've been studying the MicroLux saws and the less expensive one doesn't look like you could make accurate rip cuts with the rip fence that comes with it (the Micrilux saws are made by Proxxon) . The more expensive MicroLux table saw with the titling arbor also has blade height adjustment and would be the better of the two saws, but YAKS! with all if the accessories it is expensive But very versatile for the model builder. I've also read about the Byrnes model machines a table saws and except for the tilting table it is a fine tool for the model builder but, "YAKS AND GADZOOKS!" The basic saw is over 450 dollars! It would take me two years to save up enough money to buy one. So I'll have to go with the MicroLux model #50304 (it will only take me two months to save the money to buy one of those) I plan to contact Micro-Mark and see it they could make an optional full width rip fence I have a friend who owns a machine shop who might could fabricate an accurate rip fence for this ($119.95 miniature table saw) for me With it's 2 inch fixed position blade it can only rip 1/4-inch thick stock but, I think if you had one of these MicroLux model #50304 saws. With an accurate fence you could cut thicker stock by making one cut, then flipping the work piece over and recutting it from the other side You could possibly cutting 1/2-inch thick balsa and bass wood this way, I hope I don't think you could cut hardwood with this saw, and I wouldn't try cutting Birchwood ply over 1/8th inch thick either. As for the Harbor Freight table saw or the Rockwell Blade Runner. After reading about them, I have come to the conclusion that they are just not for model builders. But I still value your opinions my fellow model building friends so keep giving me your advice, and thank you for your time

[Mitch]

I see them in Micro Mark catalogs (I get for trains) but do not see the need for model airplanes.

I use:
1. No. 11 x-acto blade and ruler
2. a razor saw and guide
3. A chopper with a razor blade

The chopper can make about a 1 inch cut and I use for making gussets, costs about 25 dollars made by NorthWest

Mitch