Customer Reviews

JET 708315LSB JBTS-10LS-2 15 Amp Benchtop 10-Inch Table Saw with Fixed Stand and Storage Shelf

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The LSB version includes the stand w/ shelf, dust shroud, rear extension, and both left and right side extensions. With the left and right extensions, you get a whopping 39" wide by 18" deep table that can extend to 55" wide.

Pros:
The main feature that makes this saw truly standout is the belt drive system. Other portable table saws - even some double the price - use noisy direct-drive or geared motors that are little more than upside-down circular saws.

Saw startup is very smooth, and the table has virtually no vibration while running. The blade arbor uses large sealed ball bearings and has no measurable lateral movement (run out).
(Update: after several months of regular use, I used a dial indicator to measure the run out. Total run out was .002" one inch in from the cutting tips. Impressive! Now I know why my ripped edges are so smooth.)

The construction quality overall is very good to excellent. It feels solid, yet at around 75 lbs, I can pick it up and move it by myself. The blade tilt rack and pinion gears are metal. Blade height adjustment is smooth at 6 turns per inch. It has built-in cord and accessory storage.

(Update: like many other saws, there isn't a blade height lock, so like another reviewer mentioned, I had to bungee my height crank handle when using a stack dado. Good tip!)

The included stand legs were easy to assemble, but do reduce the overall "portability" of the saw since they are not a "quick attach" design. The dust shroud can connect to both 2 ½" shop vac and 4" dust collector hoses.

It has a 5-year warranty and JET has fantastic customer service.

Cons:
The arbor pulley limits the cutting height to 3". If you need to rip 4x dimensional lumber, this is the wrong saw, but then again, any saw under $500 is probably ill-suited for that.

The single rail fence is OK, but not amazing. Out-of-the-box, my fence would "pull" off-square 1/16" front-to-back when clamped. But once I adjusted it, it clamps down square. (Update: I saw other reviewers struggle with the fence. I was able to figure out how to adjust it based on experience w/ other saws, but the instruction manual lacks the info. If you can't get it adjusted square and tight, call JET tech support.)

The miter slots are not standard 3/4" but are 5/8" T-slots. In order to use a Rockler feather board, I have to use T-bolts ("toilet bolts") for the hold-down screws instead of the standard attachment bars.

The miter gauge is terrible w/o some tweaking. The slider bar is so undersized it can move around in the slot a few degrees of play. I built it up with some UHMW Poly glide tape to eliminate the slop. The narrow T-slots limit your replacement choices.

The blade guard is hard to adjust. It took me several attempts. Of course, once it's adjusted, you shouldn't need to mess with it until you change blades.

In Summary (updated):
This is a pretty darn good saw for the price. Sure, it could be improved, but it blows away all other saws in its price range mainly due to the incredible belt drive design. I'm giving it 4 stars because the miter gauge is such poor quality and the slots aren't standard to allow for an easy upgrade. I noticed other people taking off 2-3 stars for flaws that are common in every saw under 300 bucks. Get real people; a high quality dual-rail fence system alone costs more than this saw does. To be portable, the table top needs to be aluminum, and no aluminum top will every be perfectly flat over a range of temperatures. This one is cast then machined, and is about as good as an aluminum table gets. The bottom line is, this saw provides the best quality cut for under 300 bucks, and is fairly quiet and portable. If you need help (with the fence or whatever), JET's tech support is very helpful. And if something is damaged upon arrival, they send you the replacement parts w/o any hassle. A lot of other companies will make you send the whole saw back in that situation. Having dealt with several of the big name brands, I can tell you that JET customer support is far and away the best. And their warranty is the best: 5 years, and no hassles. If you buy JET from Amazon, your saw is automatically registered in JET's support database so you never need to send proof of purchase or any of the ususal nonsense. If you have a problem, just call. For example, I had trouble adjusting the 45 degree stop per the manual - the allen bolt wouldn't turn and I didn't want to strip the head. A quick call to JET solved the problem (the manual neglects to tell you that you might need to loosen the lock nuts on the underside of the table on the stop bolts).

Like I said, this saw isn't perfect, but it's the best in it's price class (even better if you wait for Amazon's free shipping on tools specials). If you want "better", you'll need to spend more - a lot more. If you only need "semi-portability", you should look at the JET 708100. Another fairly new JET saw that's also best for it's price.

A silk purse...?

Having to sell my large table saw when moving to a smaller home, could I really make one of these portable saws into a reasonable replacement for a full size table saw? I looked at them all and the Jet was the best bang for the buck. With belt drive, two side extensions plus outfeed and legs this saw is beginning to really grow on me after much tweaking and accessory building. I took the advice from another saw review and purchased my 708315LSB from my local home center. It was on sale for less than USD200 and they receive them in pallet loads that help preclude shipping damage that happens to singly shipped saws. The box was undamaged, the saw was well packed and came out in perfect condition.

The 90° and 45° stops were right on but I adjusted them back and forth to check that they operated OK. The blade was parallel to the miter slots as well as a straight and parallel fence rail. There was no measurable runout on the arbor shaft both radially and axially. Jet states the arbor shaft rotates at 5000 RPM. The motor pulley is larger than the shaft pulley so the motor is at a lower RPM than the shaft which is one reason this saw is so quiet. The motor has no data plate but one could measure the pulley diameters and come up with the RPM.

Jet must have received complaints as the miter gauge is now cast aluminum with raised numbers, but still slops in the slots. Building up the slide bar with UHMW tape took care of that. The nonstandard slots creates a few problems with standard accessories. However, making your own slide bars is not a problem. At least they are T-slots so I ground down the heads on some ¼-20 bolts until I could slide them in with a washer and install other accessories such as a feather board.

Made from thin aluminum the fence leaves something to be desired as it is very flimsy compared to some other portable saw fences. When installing a sacrificial fence you will cave in the back side of the fence unless you add some support on that side also.

The table is where Jet let this saw down. The sides outside the miter slots drop several thousandths of an inch and the side extensions drop even further. This means the work is supported only by the center 10" of the table. I am still trying to find a way to level the table while keeping in mind that this is a portable saw and not a cast iron top table saw.

While I was doing this I ordered a backup belt from Jet and was pleased with their customer service. The rep knew exactly what I wanted and the belt was received in less than a week.

Zero clearance inserts are another pain with these saws but it can be done. The support flanges are close to the table surface so making an insert is very labor intensive. I cut some ¼" melamine stock to the size of the opening and with a small router gouged out the proper places to make them fit. I replaced the factory blade with a carbide 60 tooth and it cuts smooth as glass with little or no vibration.

Another tip: Buy a cinder block, wrap it in duct tape (to keep grit away from the saw) and place it on the lower shelf. This gives the saw the needed "heavy" feel and cuts down on what little noise and vibration there is. I substituted all the nuts that hold the legs and shelf with wing nuts which makes the saw store nicely under my workbench but can be put together in minutes when needed.

I would recommend this saw if you are willing to do a little extra work to make it right (as with all these saws). But it does make smooth, accurate, quiet, vibration free cuts and the belt drive lets the blade slide through a 2x4 with a barely noticeable drop in speed. The flimsy fence, table flatness and miter slots prevent me from giving this saw a higher rating.

I've used a lot of table saws and this one certainly isn't the best. However, it's pretty darned good. Assembly and setup was a piece of cake, the manual was clear and concise and sensible in recommending smart safety practices.

The fence was a little out of square coming out of the box. Having managed a shipping department for 10 years, I can assure you that should be no surprise. The knocks that the average box takes in shipping will, no matter how well packed, cause some things to shift in transit.

I'm not thrilled with how sloppy the miter gauge slots are, but some of the other reviews mention an easy way of correcting the problem. I just used a miter gauge I happened to have on hand from my band saw, so it wasn't an issue for me.

Cuts are smooth, the arbor has very little wobble and the motor is considerably quieter than I expected. The height adjustment DOES creep down when performing any cutting operation where the blade doesn't cut completely through the workpiece, as when dado-ing, notching, etc. Expect to use some method of stabilizing the knob if you perform such operations at all.

This is a good saw for the beginning woodworker, but expect to spend a little bit of money on a narrow kerf blade. That's an issue with almost any benchtop saw. Horsepower is horsepower and every bit of horsepower you can save will help the saw be more efficient. Not only will the narrow kerf blade save horsepower, but it will save wood, leave a cleaner cut edge and reduce sawdust. Expect to build or make a zero clearance throat plate, featherboards, an auxillary fence, an outfeed table and jigs to make it more useful. Yes, you can use it as is, but having those shop-made extras will make the saw safer, more accurate and just generally more useful. The throat plate is a little non standard, but it is trivial to make a replacement.

This saw is a very good buy for the price and is probably the best buy in it's price class, especially if you catch Amazon's free shipping offer when it's available.

This saw is about as good as it gets in a small, compact table saw. Set up was easy and considering my expectaions for this catagory of saw, motor is reasonably strong, vibration is minimal, gauges can be made to be failry accurate, and it has many good features.
But do not fool yourself, I have owned two cabinet shops and this is not a shop quality saw. This saw is for the garage enthusiast, hobbiest, or for the convienance of a small saw on the job site. As far as I am concerned, the next REAL step-up in quality will cost you over a thousand.

If you want an inexpensive, small, versatle saw that does a good job then buy a Frued blade and put on this one.

I was interested in the Rigid 2400 by buddy bought, but at $450, it was too much to spend for a portable. Bought this instead. Fence could be better, but as has been said many times over, belt drive is unique and hopefully will prevent blade wobble I have experienced on other portables. Power seems more than adequate.

Needed a backup saw during repair of my 12" dewalt and happily read the positive reviews for the 10" Jet benchtop saw. As usual, I then dedided to buy one from Amazon (I own the their stock!). It was a pleasant surprise to find such a great little saw at such a reasonable price. It is built well and runs quietly without vibration. Just what I needed.

Very pleased with the quality and delivery of this product as well as the price. Cuts smooth and with extreme accuracy. Table large enough to accomadate large pieces of wood.

I bought a Jet 708315LSB 8 months ago, and in general have been pretty happy with it.

There is, however, one fairly significant problem I have had.

When running stacked dado blades (3/8" and 1/2") in hardwoods, I have had trouble maintaining the depth of cut. The dado starts out at the correct depth, but will lose about 1/16" of depth for every 12 inches of length.

I have found the only way to maintain cutting depth is to use bungy cords to secure the height adjustment wheel.

I decided to try this saw in my shop. I have a small wood craft buisness and a quite well equipt shop with several other JET products I cut mostly exotic wood so I needed a good saw but had a limited budget. I found this saw fits my needs perfectly the speed is very nice and can produce a nice clean cut with a good blade I opted to replace the factory blade with a top end FORREST blade.
Overall it is a great saw for any "home shop" or small buisness
The frame is quite sturdy, it was very easy to put together took me 15min.
The table is very solid but still light enough to move the saw as needed.
I found the extensions to be level on my saw but you can easily adjust them if needed.
It was also quite easy to fine tune the saw.
The fence & miter-- the fence is actualy quite good for a inexpensive saw ( dont expect it to be like a XACTA fence) but it works and you can fine tune it easily.
the miter is not as tight as the high end saws but again it can be adjusted or you can use a small strip of slick tape to tighten the slot. You can also upgrade the miter if needed there are some that fit.
One nice thing I found is you can easily make your own outfeed extension from 3/4 plywood with UHMW plastic bonded to the top and 2 steel rods to go in the guides on the saw.
Many people reviewed this saw and complained about things that are common on saws under 800.00 I guess the idea is if you want a powermatic type saw (you know perfect cuts perfect accessories etc. ) this is not it but then again its not that price either !
If you need a nice saw (better than the others in the price range) that can do the job and you have under 600.00 to spend then buy this saw and a good blade hope it helps

After using this for a while I still like the saw for the price.

Its annoyances are the fence doesn't slide easily on the left rail of blade; hopefully i remedy it.

The top scratches easily; this is more annoying than anything. I know its aluminum but I wonder if it will hold up?

Also I use this as a jobsite saw so i'm wondering if it will hold up the transports. The construction is solid, but the rails seem weak.

Overall I would recommend it as 5 stars for the price and perfomance.
But would probably drop a star due to the weak fence rails if I had to vote again ;)