Upgrade and Calibrate: Turning a Budget Job Site Saw into a Fine Woodworking Machine

Brian is a woodworker and content creator at Gilham Woodshop. In this video, he walks through a series of practical upgrades and calibration steps that can transform an affordable job site table saw into a precision woodworking machine — without needing a full-size cabinet saw or a large shop.

TRANSCRIPT:

Why job site table saws are worth upgrading

Job site table saws like this one are lightweight and affordable. But out of the box, they're more suited for ripping 2x4s at a construction site than they are for fine woodworking projects. Today, I'm going to show you a few simple adjustments and upgrades you can make that can turn your job site table saw into a machine that can hold its own against any cabinet saw. Like a lot of people, I'm woodworking in a small space, and a full-size cabinet saw just doesn't make sense for me.

Job site saws shine because they're portable, cheaper than cabinet saws, and they take up a heck of a lot less space. But they also sound like jet engines taking off, vibrate a lot more, have smaller tables, accept narrower blades, can't do dado stacks most of the time, and have minimal dust collection. The good news is we can fix a bunch of those problems.

Blade and miter gauge upgrades

First things first, let's talk about blades. Ditch the stock blade that came with your saw. Most are low tooth-count blades designed for rough framing, not fine woodworking. Upgrade to a 40 or 60 tooth combination blade. This is going to give you nicer rip cuts and crosscuts. If your riving knife allows it, aim for a thin-kerf blade. It'll be much easier for the underpowered motor on your job site table saw to rip through wood with a thin-kerf rather than a full-kerf blade.

You're also going to want to look at upgrading your miter gauge. You can improve the miter gauge that came with your table saw by attaching a fence using the screw holes here. But ultimately, these miter gauges are flimsy and inaccurate. Almost any aftermarket miter gauge is going to be a massive improvement over the one that comes with your saw. One thing I would suggest you look out for in particular is a miter gauge that allows you to expand and compress small washers on the miter bar. Miter bar slots on job site table saws are notorious for being inconsistent or oddly sized. Having a little bit of adjustability on your miter gauge is going to go a long way toward giving you a good experience.

Calibrating the blade and fence

Out of the box, most job site table saws are not going to be well calibrated, meaning the blade and the fence are not parallel to the miter slots. In a best-case scenario, this produces inaccurate cuts or burning on your wood. In a worst-case scenario, this can produce a lot of pinching or even kickback. So next, let's talk about how you can adjust your job site table saw to make sure your cuts are both accurate and safe.

This is one of the rare times where I actually recommend grabbing a new tool. This is a dial indicator — a digital dial indicator, as opposed to the more analog versions you may have seen online. The nice thing about this is it rides in the miter slots on my table saw and allows me to precisely measure the distance from the blade to the miter slot at both the front and the back of the saw.

Start with the tip of the dial resting against the body of the blade, not the teeth, since those can be uneven. Mark the spot you're measuring with a permanent marker, then set the gauge to zero at the front of the blade, slide it to the back, and check the reading at the same spot on the blade.

Looking at the digital dial indicator, I can see that my blade is out at the back compared to the front by about 0.004 in. or 0.1 mm. For me, that's absolutely fine — but what if it wasn't?

I had to take the table saw off my cart because this is really hard to show. Check your manual for specifics, but every job site table saw is going to have four or more bolts that, when loosened, allow you to change the position of the saw blade or the table in relation to one another. On mine, there are two bolts right here. If I needed to adjust my saw, I would loosen those two bolts and then, using a rubber mallet or just my fist, bang the motor housing in the direction I need to go. You want to be gentle, but these things can take more abuse than you might think. I would keep checking my measurements on the dial indicator, and when everything was in alignment and parallel, I would tighten up the bolts. One tip: go a little bit beyond the measurement you're looking for. When you tighten up the bolts, things are going to shift a little.

I can also use the dial gauge to make sure my fence is parallel to the miter slot, in a very similar way to checking the blade. I just put the dial gauge in the miter slot, push the fence up against it, and slide it down to the other end. Looking at this, I can see that at the back, my fence is 0.17 mm further out than it is at the front. On my DeWalt table saw, there are bolts that when loosened allow me to reposition the fence. Check the manual for your specific saw. I've loosened them off and I'm going to adjust until my dial gauge reads zero — and again, go a little bit beyond your target measurement, because when you tighten it down, it's going to shift slightly.

Squaring the blade and miter gauge

Next, let's talk about squaring your table saw blade to the table surface. You can grab a square or, if you prefer, a digital angle gauge. I've used both and haven't noticed a massive difference with either, so use whatever you're comfortable with. Make sure to reference off of the table saw surface and not the throat plate. You're looking for any gaps or light shining through between the square and the blade. With the digital gauge, the same principle applies: zero it on the table, and always reference against the body of the blade, not a tooth.

Make sure to reset the angle stops for both 90° and 45° on your saw. I wouldn't rely on these primarily, but they get you in the ballpark.

Finally, take your miter gauge and make sure it's square to the table saw blade. Hold the base of your square firmly against the fence on your miter gauge and put the other edge against your table saw blade. You want to make sure you don't see any gaps or light coming through. The method for adjusting your miter gauge is going to be specific to whatever gauge you own, but generally there are set screws you can loosen, adjust until it's square to the blade, and then tighten down. That gives you your reference zero degrees.

Ultimately, making adjustments like this is a tedious process, but it's an important one. Don't expect the world from a job site table saw, but you might be surprised by how accurate you can make these machines if you're willing to put in the work — and that work is only going to pay dividends when it comes to your woodworking projects.

Upgrading the fence

Next, let's talk about the other important component of a table saw: the fence.

The fences on most job site table saws are very short and made out of cheap materials, which means it's easy for them to deflect or shift around during cuts. One of the best upgrades I made to my job site table saw was adding the Bora extender fence. This is a thick piece of 46-inch-long extrusion that clamps onto my existing fence. There are a few main benefits to adding something like this. The extra length provides extra stability when I'm cutting longer pieces, and the thick metal on the extrusion means it doesn't deflect during cuts. Another benefit is the T-track slots along the top and the side that allow me to add featherboards and other jigs.

Admittedly, the Bora extender fence is one of the pricier upgrades I've made to my job site table saw, but it's certainly not a requirement. You can make your own supplementary fence using a thick piece of plywood or plastic that you can find at your local home center. There are plenty of solutions that don't require spending a lot of money.

Building a custom cart

Despite being portable, job site table saws are still a pain to move around. And the carts offered by manufacturers don't help solve some of the other problems we face using them — namely the small table size. Let me show you how I built a cart that has honestly been the biggest level-up to my usage of a job site table saw in my shop.

I built this cart to accomplish two goals. The first is to make the table saw mobile within my shop. It uses four casters on the bottom, and unlike the carts provided by manufacturers, it's easy to turn, pivot, and push anywhere I need to. The second goal was adding more surface area to the tabletop of the saw. I accomplished that first with two wings on either side of the table saw. They sit just slightly below the surface of the table saw itself to make sure that nothing gets stuck on them as I'm pushing material through the saw.

I could have stopped with the two wings, but I found I still wanted more. So I turned the cart into a bit of a transformer. I have extensions on either side that fold up using folding shelf brackets that you can easily find at Home Depot, Lowe's, or on Amazon. These are really great when I'm cutting wide sheet goods.

The other thing I wanted to improve was my outfeed support. So I have another table in the back that folds up, locks into place, and provides a ton of extra support for material as it's leaving the saw. I've also routed extensions to my miter slots into this surface, which allows my large crosscut sled to push all the way through the blade. In addition to notoriously small outfeed, job site table saws also have very small infeed — so I added a small infeed support table as well.

All of these folding wings provide a ton of extra functionality. Not to mention, they take a table saw surface that's about 19 in. × 19 in. and turn it into a surface that's 55 in. wide by 49 in. deep — and they fold away when you don't need them.

Tips for building your own cart

If you're looking to build a cart like this for your saw, I have a few tips. My first and most important tip is to think about safety. If you're adding infeed support to a job site table saw, it can make it awkward to reach your on/off controls. If something starts going wrong, you want to be able to access those controls quickly and easily — ideally by hitting them with your knee. My solution was to add a secondary safety switch right here. If anything goes wrong, I can kick that stop paddle.

Next, the track for the fence on most job site table saws extends outward. Don't forget to think about clearance for it when you're building wings on the side. Also, don't forget to account for the dust port on the back of your saw. Remember, it's going to move back and forth as you tilt your blade, so leave some space for that.

My biggest piece of overall advice is to just not stress out about it. It's a little fiddly and it's going to take some time to align the wings to the table saw surface — but stick with it. If you make a mistake, it's okay. There are mistakes all over this cart, but at the end of the day, it's just ¾-inch plywood. It's shop furniture.

So there you have it. With a few simple tweaks and some upgrades, any job site table saw can play in the big leagues, even if you're in a small shop.