SKIL 3410 Review

Model	Table Size	No-Load RPM	Max Cut Depth (45º / 90º)	Rip Capacity (Right / Left)	Weight
SKIL 3410 Table Saw Check Price on Amazon.com	26" x 20"	5 000	2-1/2" / 3-1/2" Guides: saw alignment, maintenance, safety	24.25" / 12"	67.5 lbs.

Pros:

• Easy, quick assembly
• Self-aligning rip fence ensures wood stock is guided accurately
• Excellent customer service

Cons:

• Highly inaccurate, especially the miter gauge
• Plastic housing cracks easily
• Non-standard runner slots make it impossible to add a sled unless you build it yourself

Introduction

When you’re working on a big construction or carpentry project, a good table saw is a necessity. This is the tool that every man’s man dreams of having the best of, because of its versatility—you can cut wood to size, but you can also rip larger sheets in half or to whatever dimensions you want. The key is to have a good table saw. The Skil 3410-02 120-volt 10” table saw looks like an excellent bargain, but is it worth the cost? Let’s take a look and find out.

What’s in the Box

When you purchase the Skil 3410-01, you should find the following items in the box:

• The Skil 3410-01 10” table saw (Amazon link)
• A heavy-duty folding stand
• One self-aligning rip fence
• One miter gauge
• A carbide-tooth saw blade
• Two blade wrenches

Once you’ve unpacked your saw and its parts, you’re ready to put it together and get cutting!

Assembling The Skil 3410

Assembly of this table saw is pretty easy, and can be finished in under half an hour. The saw mounts easily to the folding stand, and the rip fence and miter gauge install in a matter of minutes. The blade guard also installs easily, so you’re ready to go and stay safe while you saw. Mine didn’t even require much tuning, although I did toss my table saw aligner on it to make sure everything was true.

Features Of This Table Saw

The Skil 10” table saw features a heavy-duty steel stand with a quick-mount, which means you can set up your saw in a hurry, and transport it easily to the job site. It features a 3-1/2” cut height capacity, meaning you can cut through 4X materials with ease (assuming you have the right blade). The large 20” x 26” cast aluminum table is sturdy and large enough for a wide variety of wood stock sizes.

The 15-amp motor is strong enough to cut through some seriously hard wood, as long as your saw blade is high quality. The first thing I do with just about any table saw is ditch the included saw blade. Carbide-tooth blades have their place, but not in my workshop. I replaced the stock blade with a diamond-tooth saw blade, and was cutting through hardwood with ease.

The saw tuned pretty easily and quickly, and the self-aligning rip fence works well for ensuring your wood stock is guided accurately along the cutting edge. However, the miter gauge alternates between slipping and sticking, so it is not at all suitable for accurately setting your miter cuts. 90 degree miter cuts are fine, but even they get skewed a bit during regular usage.

The worst aspect of this table saw is the power switch. While the manual states the switch has a safety device, mine did not come with such a safety device. I got a replacement from Amazon, and the replacement had the same lack of a safety device. The power switch is easy to accidentally turn on just by bumping it, which makes this saw quite dangerous if you are not extremely careful.

The Skil 3410-02 also has non-standard runner slots. For many hobbyists, this won’t be a problem, but if you want to use a crosscut sled, feather-board jigs, or other accessories, you might find the runner slots problematic. What some owners have done is grind off the teeth of the runner slots and then mill oak runners to fit into the slots, which helps tremendously when you want to use these accessories with your table saw.

This table saw is fairly lightweight at only a tad over 45 pounds, but that is because of heavy usage of cheap plastic parts which hurt the saw’s durability, as noted below.

Durability?

Given the price, you won’t find the solid construction here that you might find on Dewalt or Bosch table saws. The saw uses quite a bit of flimsy plastic, and I’ve already succeeded in chipping off part of the blade guard by dropping the saw. The housing of the saw also cracks pretty easily. While the saw does come with a three-year warranty, Skil doesn’t consider drops and falls as valid excuses for free warranty service.

Ease of Use

The Skil 3410-02 10” table saw is pretty easy to use, as long as you don’t require a lot of precision in your cuts. This table saw would be good for an extremely cautious home hobbyist, but it is not a serious contractor’s table saw. The lack of safety features on the power switch make it difficult to recommend this table saw, but it does do the job of cutting through thick hardwood with relative ease. I can at least say that I never had the wood bind up on me when I was cutting.

Warranty

The Skil 3410-02 table saw is backed by a three-year warranty, and Skil provides excellent customer service. Unfortunately, the poor quality of materials causes the saw to suffer from problems related to what I would consider normal usage, but which Skil considers beyond the scope of the warranty.

SKIL 3410 Review Summary

The Skil 3410-02 10” table saw has some nice qualities. The self-aligning rip fence works almost flawlessly, and the large table size makes it easy to work with a variety of sizes of wood stock. If you are looking for a simple table saw for hobby use, and don’t mind the safety flaws, this table saw is a decent value. Take a look at Amazon.com’s price on the SKIL 3410 Table Saw if you’d like to purchase it.