[jyl]

Shuie, I’m sorry I never replied. The thread fell off page 1 and I have the attention span of a goldfish.

I have all the accessories I need, thank you, just moved them over from my bigger table saw in the garage. Actually I should have just hauled that one to the project but I wanted a little saw that I could easily bring to places.

So here is my user review on the Skilsaw 8 1/4” Worm Drive portable table saw SPT99T-01. I bought just the saw, no rolling stand, for $429. I’m using it set on a table, to build bookcases and coffee bar and benches etc for the cafe.

The pros:
- Saw is smooth, as quiet as these things can be, seems good quality.
- It comes with push stick, guards, riving knife, anti-kickback pawls, miter sliding thingy. Everything stores in the frame of the machine.
- Everything is easy to operate and set up. I read the manual but didn’t need to refer back to it.
- It is powerful enough for a small jobsite saw. I’m only cutting construction lumber and plywood. Stock blade seems fine. Arbor long enough for a 1/2” dado stack; you could probably squeeze a 3/4” stack in there, not totally sure. [ EDIT: reading that the SPT99 takes up to a 13/16” dado and they make a dado insert. ] I was just dado’ing plywood but it had no problems. The 8.25” blade will do a 45 degree in a 2x4 (so, 1.5”) but nothing thicker.
- The roller fence is nice. As rigid as I need. Doesn’t creep when being clamped down. It has a lower fence that folds down and sits in front of the main fence.
- There are nice convenience touches. The riving knife (splitter) can be moved up or down with a lever, no need to remove it when dado’ing. There is a lever to lock the arbor when changing the blade. The guard and anti-kickback pawls go on and off with no tools.
- There is a place to attach dust collection, should fit a shopvac. I’m just carpeting the floor.
- Portable enough, though it’s a two arm carry for me. I’m a weakling.

The cons:
- The miter thingy is plastic, small, doesn’t slide as smoothly as I’d like.
- The zero-clearance insert isn’t really.
- It’s not obvious how you’d attach a sacrificial surface to the fence.
- Other than it being a small saw, nothing else really.

Other observations:
- The “small saw” limitations are real. I won’t break down a 4’ x 8’ sheet on it, maybe with help I might but being alone, I’m using the track saw for that. I guess one of those fancy tables mentioned upthread or some outfeed rollers would help, but I’m quite the chicken.
- I’m going to see if my current cross cut sled will fit this little saw, if not then I’m going to make one. Cutting then dado’ing the short end of a long piece with the stock miter thingy is scary. I did it, but didn’t enjoy it.

Context - I’m a hack woodworker, and after meeting a guy who had his big toe cut off and moved to his hand to replace the thumb he cut off on his table saw, I’m a paranoid hack. I’ve never built anything anyone would admire; strong and square is as far as my ambitions go. I’m only building the bookcases here because I’ve never bought or not bought a book based on how nice or not the bookstore’s bookshelves were. I mean, does anyone notice the bookshelves at Shakespeare & Co in Paris? I’m also only building the coffee bar because this is version 1 whose layout will surely be found lacking when the place is up and running, the plan is to learn from experience and then have a professional build version 2.