Phil,
I've enjoyed reading your segment on alignment of your Ryobi BT-3000 saw. I remembered when these came out and while they looked interesting, I was hesitant to jump and ended up picking up a Jet contractor saw instead. As second hand prices have come down on the Ryobis, I thought I might like to pick one up for experimenting with. I have a chance to purchase a like new BT-3100 unit w/ all Acc. for $125 and wondered if you felt this was a good price. My concerns are replacement parts, durability & dust control.
Thanks, Great site.
Retrowood
Well, if it is like-new, $125 seems very reasonable.
I'll tell you this: If you decide you don't like it, you can part it out on eBay and get your $125 (or more) back.
I will use my BT3K. Although, I don't use the sliding table any longer. I have make my own left-of-blade miter slot extension. This tends to keeps its alignment a bit better for me, and also works for larger pieces a bit better for me, as well.
One of the things I liked more about the BT3K than the 3100 was the stand. My BT3K has a rectangular stand that I was able to use in order to install a sort of truss that provides extra support to the rails (because I also have a rather heavy router table cantilevered on mine).
The 3100 wouldn't work with my truss design, and the stand is a bit more wobbly.
But I'd still take a like-new one at $125.
Let me know if you get one!
Thanks for the quick reply and information. Do you feel the BT3100's D/C system is decent or nothing to shout about? I actually thought of installing the BT saw on a some sort/brand of folding wheeled stand and eliminating the legs altogether. I think this is possible considering the saw's overall weight & physical size.
Will let you know if I pick it up.
Thanks,
Retrowood
I use a shop-vac based system for all my collection. And it works very well. There saw has a blade shroud w/ a 2.5-inch port. I have seen these says with a large DC connected to 2.5" ports on the shroud and also a blade guard, and then a 4" port under the saw, and there really is no dust that escapes.
I've seen this type of duo dust pick-up w/ great results on the Bosch 4100 saw. I guess in theory I'm trying to create a poor man's model of the Bosch using the BT series saw. Should know if i end up w/ the BT3100 tomorrow.
Thanks, Retrowood
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Quote from: phil (admin) on November 04, 2011, 06:50:57 AM
I use a shop-vac based system for all my collection. And it works very well. There saw has a blade shroud w/ a 2.5-inch port. I have seen these says with a large DC connected to 2.5" ports on the shroud and also a blade guard, and then a 4" port under the saw, and there really is no dust that escapes.
I had an opportunity to get a Bosch at a great price, and considered replacing my BT3K with the Bosch.
With my Ryobi, my miter slot and sled allow me to easily cross-cut 24" wide panels with ease. I couldn't figure out a way to duplicate that with the Bosch.
Unfortunately I missed out on the BT....... :o Will keep looking.
Retrowood
I have 2 BT3k's ( 1 was free and the other was $40, yes I suck). I repair furniture for a living and use 1 at work. The other is a working unit, but missing some parts. I don't use the sliding miter and built a left-of-blade miter table/slot that I feel is more accurate. I stumbled across another sliding miter sled at a huge hoarder warehouse sale. (The kind you have to crawl around through) I paid $2 for it as it was missing some parts. I think I'll make a rolling cabinet with 2 sets of rip fence rails for 50+" cuts on the left and the balance of that to the right of the blade. I'll increase the depth of the table for better cut-offs.