I’ve been using a rolling suitcase for a few years now: it makes maneuvering through airports, driveways and hotel hallways a whole lot easier. Craftsman has decided that it should also be easy to maneuver your table saw around in your shop — or between your shop and another site. To accomplish that ease, they’ve introduced the Professional” 10″ Job Site table saw.
The Job Site, which is item number 21830 in Craftsman’s catalog, works on the same principle as my suitcase: it travels on 5″ hard rubber wheels, and you “steer” it by means of a retractable handle. The steel stand the saw sits on is collapsible. You don’t have to worry about trailing a cord behind you, either: the 8 foot power cord has an automatic recoil function (just give a tug, and watch it retract itself), plus a locking lever that keeps the coils in place.
Of course, some of the Job Site’s features are completely unlike any suitcase I’ve ever used. For instance, it has a 15 amp, 4.4 HP universal motor and a no-load rpm of 4,000. You can rip 24″ to the right of the table when you have the extension wing of the 24″ x 21″ die-cast aluminum table fully extended and quick-locked in place, and rear support from a steel outfeed table lets you work with 4 x 8 foot sheets of material. The rip fence locks at both front and rear. You can cut miters against a T-slotted miter gauge with auto-indexing stops at 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90 degrees.
The saw itself has overall dimensions of 30″ x 39 1/2″ x 35″ and a weight of 90 pounds — not an unreasonable heft, even if it wasn’t on wheels. It comes with a dado insert throat plate that provides a 13/16″ cut width. Otherwise, the depth of cut is 3 1/8″ at 90° and 2 1/4″ at 45°.
A 40-tooth, carbide-tipped blade comes with the saw, and when you’re ready to change it, the arbor lock lets you do so with a single wrench. You can then pack up the original blade and store it on the saw — there’s room for three — along with the miter gauge, fence, push stick and wrench. It’s kind of like packing the matching ditty bag from your luggage set in your rolling suitcase.
For the saw’s price of $400, you could get a pretty nice luggage set … but most woodworkers will probably be satisfied with a table saw that takes its own journeys.
