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For most power-tool woodworkers, it's a heavy cast-iron table saw. Versatile, accurate, stable, repairable, adjustable, and powerful. Hand tool folks may not have one at all, or maybe just a little jobsite thing to rip big boards, and there's a few people who think differently and either use a tracksaw or build up a custom work table with something smaller as its core, but the vast majority of people who are "into" woodworking will have a cast iron table saw in good repair.
I only have a semi-portable table saw, and I don’t use it often, but it is easily one of my favorite tools
I wish I had the space to dedicate to big solid table saw, but even just getting a job site table saw was an absolute game changer for me.
If you've already got some permanent floorspace dedicated, a cast-iron top Ridgid or Delta won't take up much more at all and the current versions are basically clones of each other, down to their integrated casters. If you're having to put the thing away as an actual benchtop tool, then yeah, something is a million times better than nothing, no doubt.
I have the job site saw... Setting up the roller stands to handle big rips is a pain. But if I find the space to build it into a proper outfeed table, I think it could be about 85% of the cast iron saw.
Yeah, going from no saw to yes saw is obviously the biggest move. Beyond that, going from an aluminum table jobsite saw to a beat-up but cast-iron "motor-hanger" import contractor saw (I spruced it up and added a fence roughly equivalent to the ones that came on the Ridgid R4512) was a bigger jump than when I was using the makerspace's big 3hp and 5hp cabinet saws with Biesemeyers. For me, that first jump from jobsite to contractor is the move where the value-add is worth it and you're not too deep into diminishing returns.
I'm currently on the spiritual successor (and possibly literal, depending on which factory in Taiwan they came from) of my "project" saw, a Sawstop Contractor saw. I think it's the only one on the market that still has an outrigger motor, but I see no need to spend the money to upgrade any farther. The weight, the ability to adjust back into square, the induction motor (versus universal), the standard 27" depth and 3/4" miter slots, and the ease of adding supprt and fence capacity. Even staying out of the Sawstop argument, you get all of that with the jump to a Delta 36-725, or even an old Craftsman 113 (with SOME sort of upgraded fence).
I’ve currently got two vintage contractor saws sitting in my garage: a Craftsman 113 and a Powermatic 63. Both have beautiful cast iron tops and both have misaligned blades that I’ve spent hours trying to fix. I have PALS installed on both and for the life of me I can’t get the trunnion aligned properly. (Yes, this is a cry for help. plz help)