By Sam Conder
It has been almost six years since I bought my BT3000. I was a twenty six year old computer geek looking for a hobby to occupy my free time. I had always been fascinated with the thought of building furniture, so I decided to try out woodworking. I didn't know a miter slot from a sliding miter table but for some reason the BT3000 intrigued me. I did what any self-respecting computer geek would do and turned to the Internet for research. I quickly found the original Ryobi Power Tool Forum and met people like Jim Frye, BlueBoy, Ted Michon, Jerry Glauser, Woodmangler, and Ed Ellickson. Back in those days, it wasn't unheard of to see posts on the forum by Ryobi employees like Tom Clinkscales and Wayne Hill. After reading every thread on the forum I decided to buy the BT3000. I was convinced that I could find no better saw in for the $459 price tag on the BT3000 at Lowes. That was January 1997.
Fast forward five and a half years to October 2002. I am one of the "old guys" of the forum. I run a website that showcases the ingenuity of the BT3000 and it's owners. Jim Frye is still around on the forum and Tom Clinkscales and Wayne Hill are still with Ryobi. But most significantly, we have the first major redesign of the Ryobi BT series table saw. When given the chance to evaluate one of the first BT3100s off the production line, I jumped at the chance. This article is my freshman attempt at review writing and I hope it proves meaningful to those interested.
The BT3100 (fig. 1) arrived in a box that is a little smaller than the box my BT3000 came in. (fig. 2) Also of note, the BT3000 was dubbed a 10" Precision Woodcutting System but the BT3100 is called a 10" Precision Woodcutting Table Saw. At first glance, the most noticeable change is the stand. The stand on the BT3100 has splayed legs with no shelf area to the left or right of the saw body. The original intention of these "shelves" on the BT3000 was to store the rip fence and the miter fence when not in use. To accommodate this on the BT3100, Ryobi included hooks on the left and right side of the saw base. (fig. 1) Other cosmetic changes include a new bolder color scheme featuring a champagne colored powder coating, black anodized fence rails, and a black anodized Sliding Miter Table base. Additionally, the rip fence seems to be the most redesigned item. The front block assembly is a totally new casting and the roller holder in the rear is also completely redesigned (fig. 3). Both seem "beefier" which should take care of a problem that plagued some BT3000 owners: the roller holder would break causing the rip fence to not lock down in the rear.
Internally, there are some fairly significant changes. Undoubtedly, the most significant problem plaguing the BT3000 was the shims. Norm Havens, another longtime "regular" on the Ryobi Power Tool Forum has written a very detailed article on the shim problem. The full article can be read here: A Cure for the Shim Problem on the Ryobi BT3000. To quote Norm, "two of the central parts of the BT3000 are the Locker Bracket and the Guide Holder. As the motor arbor is moved up and down to elevate the blade, the Guide Holder slides against the Locker Bracket. Since both these parts are made of relatively soft cast aluminum, direct contact and sliding would result in mutual wear and potential seizing. To prevent this kind of friction and damage, thin, oddly shaped stainless steel shims have been designed to fold around the edges and slide between the two aluminum parts. (fig. 4) Occasionally, however, a problem arises. It apparently happens, if it happens, when interference or excessive friction occurs in the path of the sliding shim, due to the collection of sawdust, other foreign matter, improperly adjusted shim set screws, or perhaps some other metaphysical cause (I personally think it has to do with the phase of the moon). Based on the saw's construction, proximity to the main source of sawdust, and gravity, the most obvious place for foreign matter to collect is along the top edge of the shim. If such interference causes the shim to become slightly stuck, the user will first notice it as a sensation of heavier-than-normal resistance when attempting to raise the blade. If the user continues to force the blade up despite the resistance, the Guide Holder will ride up over the tab of the stuck shim, flattening the tab and leaving the shim behind. If the Guide Holder rises complete above the shim, the shim will fall out into the bottom of the saw. 'Clink!' . . . At any rate, once the tabs of the shim have been flattened in this way, loss of the shim is inevitable, even if it doesn't drop out immediately."
To address this problem, Ryobi made two significant changes. First the shims were redesigned. The new shims are "wavy" and are no longer stainless steel. (fig. 5) The wavy design is necessary to facilitate the second modification they made. There are no longer set screws to hold the shims in place, the "wavy" profile of the shims hold them in. Only time will tell if this is truly a fix, but in my opinion, it looks promising. Also, the new BT3100 shims will fit the BT3000, providing you also change the guide holder.
Another common complaint from BT3000 owners is that the optional zero clearance throat plates (ZCTP) sit a bit below flush with the saw table when mounted. One solution is to shim them up with aluminum tape. One Ryobi Power Tool Forum"regular", Lee Styron, came up with his own version of the ZCTP with levelers. Apparently Ryobi liked Lee's idea so much, the incorporated it into the BT3100. The new throat plates are the same dimensions as the old ones. The standard metal plate now attaches with only one screw in the front, where the old one attached with two additional screws in the back. To accomplish this, Ryobi tapped the bosses used to attach the ZCTP and pre-installed two leveling screws in the rear bosses. The stock plate has two "tabs" that fit under the screw heads and a front "spring tab" to hold the plate in place. (fig. 6) A single screw then holds it firmly down. I suspect that a redesign of the plastic ZCTPs by Ryobi is in the works to take advantage of the leveling screws. That is pure conjecture on my part.
Another minor change, but a welcome one is in the way that the blade guard and splitter attaches to the saw. On the BT3000 there was a series of shims that you would arrange that would allow you to perfectly align the splitter with the rear of the blade. Removing and replacing the blade guard would require a bit of fumbling with those shims in order to get the appropriate number of shims to the left of the splitter and an appropriate number to the right. To fix this, Ryobi extended the height of the shims a bit, and then bent them about 45°. Once your initial experimentation is complete and the appropriate left-right arrangement is attained, you simply orient the shims on the right of the splitter with the bent tabs pointing right, and the shims on the left side of the splitter towards the left. After that, inserting the splitter is a cinch. (fig. 7)
The final change that is significant is that the front rail has changed. It appears that this is to accommodate the redesigned rip fence and I can not recall any complaints about the old design. (fig. 8)
There are a couple of things that I like better on my BT3000. First, I really liked the color scheme of the BT3000 better. (Shhh, don't tell the marketing people at Ryobi, but I think the BT3100 looks like Mimi from the Drew Carey show!) Also, there are no threaded bosses to accept the leveling feet on the new splayed leg stand. You have to use a nut and a washer on the underside of the stand's legs to achieve level, then use two wrenches and tighten two opposing nuts to lock it into place. Finally, they changed the blade bevel/elevation crank handle and made it plastic instead of metal. (fig. 9) It seems REAL flimsy and I feel as though it's going to shatter at any moment.
In conclusion, my overall impression of the BT3100 is very positive. After owning my BT3000 for almost seven years and being able to compare it to the BT3100, I feel that the BT3100 is truly an improved saw. Some may ask how Ryobi can afford to make improvements and still lower the retail price by $100. All I can do is speculate, but I'm sure that by now most if not all R&D costs as well as production machinery costs have been recovered so the saw's cost is much lower these days.
(Questions, comments or snide remarks about this article can be directed to sam@samconder.com)