Customer Reviews

Bosch 4100 10-Inch Worksite Table Saw

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As someone who makes exacting cuts, has very little space, and demands high quality tools, I have been happy with the Bosch 4100 table saw so far. I did a lot of research before making a decision.

First I wanted a compact saw, but still wanted to stay within the contractor grade saw & motor rather than the typical compact=cheap saw. Next, my saw absolutely had to have a fence that didn't move 1/16" to 1/4" as it was tightening. This saw accomplishes all of this.

In my experience, saws didn't get beyond the fence problem until they passed the $300-$400 mark.

I am happy that Bosch paid attention to a lot of little things about this product. The fence, blade guard, anti-kickback pawls, and miter guage all stow pretty neatly under the saw's table. The cord wraps up nicely around the provided pegs. The fence tightening handle is out of the way and doesn't catch the operator in the stomach as one walks around it.

I wanted a saw that included modern safety mechanisms and whose safety features were such that I wouldn't be bothered by them and tempted to remove them all the time. I have gotten along well with all of these attachments and feel a lot better having the riving knife behind the blade to prevent it from grabbing a hold of a board and throwing it at me. Only for narrow cuts, 1/2" or less do I find myself needing to remove the pawl and frequently the guard can remain in place with one side lifted to its high position thereby clearing the fence altogether and leaving the other side of the blade covered.

Having previously *always* measured from the blade, I wasn't expecting much from the onboard ruler. To my surprise, this is very accurate and reliable. I still measure from the blade for very exacting cuts (less than 1/10th of an inch precision) but normally a cut like that goes to the jointer to bring it to spec.

I am impressed with the "backwards" ruler that you use when you are extending the table. For those who haven't see this, it is a different scale that gives you a reading as the fence is in the proper place and you are sliding out the right side extension.

I like the soft start motor. It doesn't dim the lights and pull maximum amps when it is powered on. Instead, it spins up a little more gently. The motor has good power. An 8 foot rip cut on a 2" walnut piece went without much effort. It makes very smooth cuts for me most of the time. I am able to cut much closer to the final size than with my previous setup; thereby wasting less.

There are a few things that I would like to improve about this saw:

I think it would be a bit safer if the power switch were slightly easier to turn off. It looked to me like one that you could bump and accidentally shut off (a feature I expect of machinery with large switches.) It isn't quite the case. Although the switch is large and pivots on a fairly large radius, it takes a reasonably deliberate motion to turn it off. I find myself turning it off with a push stick most of the time. I have to hit it a little bit to do that.

I have a little bit of trouble with the black part of fence assembly at the ruler hanging up my piece or push stick a little bit. I think it might be about 1/32" higher than the table.

It is a tiny bit inconvenient to get the fence into its storage position beneath the table. It can usually be guided into place only one way from front to back that is a little awkward.

If the fence had a thumb roller wheel on it for really fine adjustments, that would be more direct than tapping it left and tapping it right until it's just right.

At times it would be nice if there were a little bit of additional space to the left side of the blade, but what can I say, I wanted a compact saw!

Beyond those things, I give thumbs up for this saw. I opted for the sawdust bag and use it a lot of the time. Without the bag, it shoots a stream of sawdust out the chute about 5 feet. It has great power, and the stock blade has been nice enough that I haven't even tried the Freud blade yet.

The provision for extra side support and outfeed support addons is appreciated and something I may consider for the future, although I haven't the room to leave those on there permanently. This saw cut pine like it was butter and cut hard woods as easily as my old setup cut pine.

I owned and liked the earlier model, but traded up to a Powermatic cast iron table top saw. For safety reasons, I later bought the 4100, and use it often for stiles, rails, and small sheetgoods. If you can buy the 4100 'Bosch-refurbished,' do so, as I did.

You can read about kickback repeatedly, but once you've experienced it, you then truly understand and respect its potential danger. Despite using care and mechanical devices when ripping, I have been hit hard and fast via kickback. So what? you say.

The pitch you have likely heard about riving knives ("RK") is not hype. If you understand the physics, the merits of an RK are obvious. Or, try ripping with an RK-equipped TS, and you can virtually feel the increased safety. The 4100 is at least $2000 cheaper than any other RK-equipped table saw worth having. The blade guard and pawls are as ingenious as the gravity stand under the saw--brilliantly engineered. The safety devices are so easy/flexible to use that you may actually do so.

The 4100 does have T slots (vs. the 4000). And if you've read about a problem with the lateral table extension, it would only arise if you bought it as old stock from a retailer--and Bosch will correct the problem quickly and gratis.

Although the Bosch has a certain toy-like quality (nothing about it is heavy or really solid feeling), it is a precision machine. With the use of a quality blade, inset cabinetry can be cut flawlessly.

P.S.

Revisiting kickback . . . I believe the documentation instructs the user to be sure the fence is parallel to the blade. That information is technically incorrect and flat out wrong if you are not using a riving knife--where you will bind the blade, burn wood, and jamb the splitter. Verify that the blade is parallel with the table slot; then, using the slot as a guide, be sure the far end of the fence moves away from the blade, if only just discernably so.

I bought this saw about a month ago. We use it for framing and siding. I bought it after talking to Gary Katz about the guard system. The problem with table saws in general is that the guards are a joke and on the jobsite we aren't going to bother with it if it is a hassle. Because of this, I wasn't comfortable having a table saw on site often.

After using this to cut rips of sheathing, lots of exterior trim, etc I have to say that the guard works perfectly for what we do. We don't set up the saw for dados (which the guard doesn't work well with according to a review in Professional Deck Builder) so that isn't a problem. It doesn't work as well when making super thin rips.

The saw has a soft start feature which is nice, it is quiet and really light weight. Overall we are very pleased with this saw. We put it in a Rosseau table and it works great for us.

I am new at woodworking, but this is my third table saw. I read all the reviews I could find on the internet about the different table saws available. Not too many on the 4100, but a lot on the 4000. Figured if that was a great saw, this upgrade could only be better.

Assembly of the smart guard system was a dream. No tools needed. Every part lines up exactly where it is supposed to be. No adjustment needed.

The smooth table is so much better than the grooved table I had on my other saws.

The accuracy of the cut is phenominal. I make furniture for Barbie dolls. The first pieces I cut from this saw came out exact, making assembly a breeze with only finished sanding required. No sanding to make the pieces fit correctly.

I thought that the on saw storage would not be really useful. However, I was wrong. What a great idea by Bosch!!! No more looking for mislaid pieces.

The instruction manual was great. I learned more about using the table saw from a couple of pages in this manual than I did from all of the other reading I had done.

The instruction manual was not included with the saw, but I had printed it from the internet before I even ordered the saw. Not a big deal.

Thank you Bosch and Amazon, you have made my life a lot easier and more fun. (Wish the table saws were as quiet as my scroll saw, though.)

Patricia

Our construction company owns several of these, it is a great saw because of its adjustablity, features and power. Once the motor bearings wear out however you can't get a new or rebuilt motor to swap in so you have to take (or ship in our case) the whole saw to a service center. If you can't get to a service center (we are on an island) and send in just the motor for a rebuild they won't - for some reason- test it (how hard is clamping it to a bench?). So you stand to get the motor back still broken even if you tell service to "replace all the bearings".

This is my first table saw. Or rather it's my third as I had to return the first two. I wanted something to redo my interior trim and then to have around for future projects. My first two attempts were a $130 Harbor Freight cheapo (fence not accurate and just generally a poor design) and a SKIL 3400 which is supposedly a $200 saw but the design/quality of the blade guard/antikickbacks was poor and impossible to adjust to blade. I understand now why most are forced to run the saw with these features removed.

After this experience I went to the local big box store which had the Bosch and Hitachi so I could view in person. The fence on the $225 Hitachi would go out of square when tightened. I was blown away by the quality of the Bosch and I wanted a saw with safety features that I wasn't going to be forced to remove.

I got this saw from Amazon in 2 days via Prime. I've no idea how much it cost them as it's HEAVY. I opted for the saw without the gravity stand as I'm short on space. The other saws I tried I could carry around myself easily. The Bosch requires 2 people. I can barely pick it up, it's that beefy. Heavy is good in terms of accuracy when the saw is running. If you need to move it around solo you will need the gravity stand. I may end up buying it.

The quality of the unit and fit and finish is simply top-notch. If you appreciate things that are well made and well designed, this is the saw for you. It comes with a quick install guide. Reading this I had the riving knife, guard assembly and anti-kickbacks installed first time in under 5 minutes, no adjustment required, everything is just correct. How amazing is that? Now I know how it works, it's 30 second job to remove/reinstall them. Also the blade guard is a totally different design that just works.

The fence is fabulous also. Smooth sliding and doesn't loose accuracy when you lock it down.

[...]

It's a $400 saw, you can get cheaper ones for sure but this product redefines the saying "you get what you pay for".

Actually I own the previous model of this saw (4000-09 with Gravity Rise Stand). The 4000-09 has been an outstanding saw, but the improvements made in the 4100 have me thinking seriously about upgrading.

1) Rip fence holder was relocated to the right side. A small change, but it fixes the awkward left side location.

2) New guard system that includes a riving knife. The guard has independent left right sections that allowing the fence to get closer to the blade. The guard can be reconfigured into a blade height riving knive allowing safer non-through cuts. The Riving knife can be adjusted with just a quarter turn knob.

The guard on the older 4000-09 is very good, but it needs to be removed for non-through cuts. This is true of almost all other saws. Removal of the guard requires using an allen wrench near the sharp blade teeth. The new guard system is a great improvement.

3) Finger hole in throat guard allows easy removal. Blade changes will be much easier.

4) Digital rip fence on the 4100 DG-09. The rip fence on the old 4000 is very accurate, but the addtion of a digital read out might be handy.

Did I say accuracy? Yes, the 4000-09 saw has been super accurate. I'd expect the 4100 to be even better.

This is the first table saw I have owned, although I have used a really old Shopsmith. This saw is a pleasure to use. Assembly took about 10 minutes which basically involved finding and removing all of the packing materials, and adding the safety devices. The blade was square on arrival. All of the parts were there, and survived shipping with no trauma. I've cut 3/4 and 1/4 birch plywood, and poplar hardwood so far, with no issues. The tearout was minimal, much less than I expected. The saw has all of the safety features, blade guard, splitter, and anti-kickback fingers. I saw that the anti-kickback feature absolutely works, a piece of plywood I was cutting lifted slightly while cutting. There is a dust port in the back that I hooked my shopvac to, it takes care of most of the dust, but there will be some under the unit after cutting. The noise level wasn't horrible, louder than a drill press, less than a circular saw.

I just purchased the Bosch 4100 saw and noticed some slight changes over the model 4000. I hope they have improved the reliability of the motor. My older model 4000 Bosch quit working when the motor died. I had it for about 6 years, and it saw limited use. The cost to replace the motor was almost as much as the entire saw cost new, so I bought the 4100. One change that the newer model saw had was the table surface. The older model had a polished aluminum finish while the newer model has a rougher sand blast finish. I personally like the polished finish much better. All in all, it is a good saw with a motor that needs some refinement.

Great work site saw that handles fairly big jobs (within the limitations of a 10 inch blade) and makes near plane-like cuts with the right blade -- ironically my old sharp DeWalt blades work better than the blade that came with the Bosch saw. Its comparable to my old DeWalt work site saw but simpler. WHICH IS GOOD, as the DeWalt had a rail system to move the guide bar, which kept skipping a link on the back side, requiring loosening difficult to get at screws, which wore out and stripped. which would cost me $327 to fix at the DeWalt authorized repair shop. Have to rplace almost all associated parts, including the table top. Can't anyone tap a few screw holes anymore? So, I bought the $1000 Bosch work site saw at $427, added side and rear extenders (nice touch), and a dado plate. The guide bar is the old fashion clamp style, which I keep perpendicular to the table edge with a simple 12 inch stud guide. The saw seems to throw a lot of dust even though I hook up a large Shop Vac to it and the blade well tends to get clogged fairly often BUT I love the saw. Don't buy the saw dust sack as it works very poorly -- use a Shop Vac of larger.