Rockwell RK7240.1 Review

Model	Table Size	No-Load RPM	Max Cut Depth (45º / 90º)	Bevel Cuts	Rip Capacity (Right / Left)	Weight (saw / stand)
Rockwell RK7240.1 Check Price on Amazon.com	26" x 16"	4 500	2.5" / 3" Guides: saw alignment, maintenance, safety	-2º to 47º	12" / 12"	35 lbs. / 15 lbs.

Pros:

• Power switch is safe and easy to use
• Inexpensive, small, and lightweight

Cons:

• Flimsy miter gauge can’t even hold 90-degree angle
• Height adjustment wheel is too loose
• Poor quality construction of rip fence and guides
• No blade adjustment

When your workshop space is tight, you want to find ways to make the most of what little space you have. This means finding shop tools that are small and lightweight, but still durable and useful. The Rockwell RK7240.1 Shop Series 10” table saw with stand is small and lightweight, but is it the table saw for you? The price may be right, but the quality of this saw might leave a bit to be desired. Let’s take a look at the saw and you can decide for yourself.

What’s in the Box

The Rockwell RK7240.1 comes with just about everything you would expect a table saw to come with. Here’s a look at what’s in the box when you buy the saw:

• The Rockwell RK7240.1 10” table saw (Amazon link)
• A tungsten-carbide blade
• Rip fence
• Miter gauge
• Push stick
• Table saw stand

Once you unpack the parts, it’s time for assembly and fine-tuning.

Assembly

Assembly of the RK7240.1 is more complicated than it has to be, and Rockwell does not include the best instructions in the world for performing the task. It took me around 45 minutes to have everything assembled and ready for fine-tuning, which is a rather long time for me.

The shortest part of getting this saw ready for use was fine-tuning, simply because it is not possible to fine-tune the saw other than adjusting the rip fence for accuracy. The blade cannot be adjusted, so it remains at a permanent angle to the wood that you have to adjust the miter gauge to try accommodating for.

Features

This is a value-priced table saw, so it is not as feature-rich as more expensive table saws. The rip fence is poorly designed, with a rivet protruding from it that prevents wood from feeding through the saw evenly. The 13-amp motor can cut through most woods without much problem, but very tough hardwood might be problematic. The blade is advertised as being able to cut up to 3 inches, but I found it to be more in the neighborhood of 2-1/2 inches or so.

The stand that comes with the saw is rather wobbly, which means the saw cannot remain steady while you are cutting your wood. This really affects the quality of your cut. Considering the already present problem with the rip fence not allowing you to feed the wood smoothly, the constant wobbling and jerking of the stand means no consistency or accuracy at all to your cuts.

Finally, the miter gauge is of poor quality, and will not hold a steady 90-degree angle. I attempted to replace the miter gauge, but because the slot is not the standard 5/8” miter gauge slot, third-party miter gauges will not fit on this saw.

Durability

The lightweight nature of this saw comes from the fact that so much of it is made of plastic. The use of plastic is not a bad thing in and of itself, but the quality of workmanship that has gone into this table saw is poor, and the plastic pieces reflect that. The plastic handles on the bevel and height adjustment spinners break and fall off easily, and the miter gauge is flimsy and will not hold a 90-degree angle.

When I saw how much of this saw was made of plastic, I immediately took more care to avoid drops and falls than I normally do with my saws, and with good reason. The blade guard itself broke very early into my trial of this saw, which leads me to believe this saw was made almost as a one-time use table saw. This saw simply would not be able to take a beating the way a good table saw should be able to.

Ease of Use

The Rockwell RK7240.1 is easy to use, but not easy to use well. The power switch is adequately safe, and easy to use, but the construction of the saw makes it difficult to use this saw with any accuracy. The guides are poorly constructed, and mine even had a rivet protruding from the inside of the rip fence that prevents wood from going past the rip fence straight and even. A bolt protruding from the back of the saw prevents you from moving the fence within an inch of the blade.

What is even worse is that the height adjustment wheel is too loose, meaning the blade drops back down anywhere from an eighth to a half an inch as soon as you begin cutting. Furthermore, the adjustment wheel moves jerkily when you are adjusting the blade height, making it impossible to fine-tune the height of the blade if you want to cut a notch in a piece of wood.

Warranty

Rockwell warrants the RK7240.1 to be free of manufacturer’s defects for two years from the date of purchase, and does stand by the saw insofar as replacing it when things are obviously wrong. Their customer service is prompt and helpful, offering friendly advice on how to work around some of the quirks of this saw, but their efforts do not mask the fact that this is a poorly-designed table saw.

Summary

Some owners of this table saw have referred to it as “a joke,” and I am prone to agree with them. The quality of workmanship on this table saw is nothing like I am used to from Rockwell, and I was highly disappointed with the performance of the saw. Granted, this is a very inexpensive table saw, but other inexpensive table saws perform much better than this one. Steer clear of this table saw, folks, I do not recommend buying it.