BT-3100 New Unused Purchase

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  • JerryC2021
    Forum Newbie
    • Apr 2021
    • 6
    • Harrison, AR
    • Ryobi BT-3100

    BT-3100 New Unused Purchase

    Hi, I am new here.

    While I was browsing through the Facebook last week, a picture of a Ryobi BT-3100 scrolled by in the Facebook Marketplace. I went back to it and discovered that the seller was asking $60.00 for it. I jumped right on that one, figuring it was long gone. But it wasn't, so I drove the 30 miles to pick it up. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was missing the miter table hold down block and bolt assy, as well as the set of wrenches.

    I found and ordered the aluminum replacement from an eBay merchant, and the wrench set from Sears Parts.com. All told I will have less than $120 in the saw. Did I mention it has never been used? The guy bought it several years ago, but never assembled it. He just recently assembled it and decided he needed a more industrial saw.

    What is the difference in the rail profile between the BT-3000 (silver) and the BT-3100 (black) rails? If I find a set of the long silver colored rails for the BT-3000, will my BT-3100 fence work with them? Or do I need to find the BT-3100 black rails?

    Second question: Is the miter slot table add on worth buying? Most of the ones I have seen on eBay are going for $80 and up.

    Thanks,
    Jerry
  • cwsmith
    Veteran Member
    • Dec 2005
    • 2737
    • NY Southern Tier, USA.
    • BT3100-1

    #2
    Great find! I hope you'll find the BT3100 as nice a saw as you can imagine. I got mind in 2005 when they were being clearanced at my local Home Depot. While it's not a 'big cabinet saw', it's advange is that 'it's not a big cabinet saw'. It doesn't take up a lot of room, and it has a great deal of precision about it, with smooth cuts and a great amount of versatility. I think you'll find a number of the members here, very much long-term fans of the BT3- series; most all of them, with more experience than I have.

    The BT3100 is the first table saw that I've owned, but I purchased it for it's features, like the Sliding Miter Table (SMT), the adjustable, side-to-side capabilities of the rails, and it's higher (5,000 rpm) cutting speed, and probably the most, the enthusiastic bunch of great owners here on this forum (Once "BT3Central.com"); almost anything you'll want to know, or want to do with this saw, you'll find this forum of experienced members a real plus.

    I think that the rail profile's are the same, but I do not know first hand. Other members will surely chime in with the facts.

    "is the miter slot table add on worth buying?" I guess that depends, each of us will have an opinion and make their point. For me, I'd say, "No". I love the SMT, and that takes care of most anything that I've done where I needed to cross-cut or miter cut stock for a my projects. The miter-slot table does appear to be in demand though. Personally at the current charges on E-Bay and elsewhere, I think you could make your own. The subject has come up before and with a search you'll find some alternatives.

    So Jerry, welcome to the forum. I'm sure other members will jump right in and offer you their experienced opinions.

    CWS
    Think it Through Before You Do!

    Comment

    • ballard770
      Established Member
      • Jan 2016
      • 140
      • Washington State
      • Ryobi BT3000

      #3
      $30 from EB, threaded rod, two nuts, beefy washers, and scrap bed frame steel. Bedframe was perfect thickness to ride in the slots. Cut with angle grinder then ground down for snug fit. Oxy bent the rod. Will need legs.


      Click the above link for answer to your question about bt3000 rails used on bt3100. It shows black bt3100 rails added to a bt3000. The profiles are different but the parts that match for connecting them line up as they should. The difference is in that the measured scale on the bt3100 is wider than the bt3000. If you don’t want to mix the two rails you should be able to find the black 3100 rails on eBay. The only problem is having cosmetically mismatched, but functional parts connected to each other. As you don’t have to buy 4 rail connectors, 8-16 t-nuts with bolts and washers the cost of the conversion is less.

      Additionally, the method of attaching extension rails appears to be very ingenious with the use of 1/2” threaded rod, connecting plates fabricated from old bed rails and large washers and nuts.

      if your saw has a stand with Ryobi 4” wheels you’ll find that moving the saw like a wheel barrow is cumbersome. if you have the stand without the Ryobi 4”,wheels just go to harbor freight and by a a pair of 5” caster wheels which I found makes it easier to move the saw. Due to the tilted legs on the 3100 you may need to put a wedge between the wheel mount and the leg. The method I use on my saw is to have a 4 wheeled mobile base, with lockdown, which makes moving the saw much easier and you won’t have unsecured items, that may be on the saw top, fall off.

      FYI, I have in the past sold bt3000/3001 parts on eBay Andy I currently have a pair of black rails but I have for various reasons not been actively selling for over two years. I don’t know when I’ll be able to resume but if you want to get in touch with me, just send a personal message thru the Sawdustzone and I’ll get back to you.

      As far as the miter slot table, I think a DIY slot would be relatively easy to do but you may find that the sliding miter table with miter fence is all you need as long as it is correctly aligned and securely fastened.

      sounds like you gat a real good deal!

      Comment

      • JerryC2021
        Forum Newbie
        • Apr 2021
        • 6
        • Harrison, AR
        • Ryobi BT-3100

        #4
        Originally posted by ballard770
        https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...-inch-capacity

        Click the above link for answer to your question about bt3000 rails used on bt3100. It shows black bt3100 rails added to a bt3000. The profiles are different but the parts that match for connecting them line up as they should. The difference is in that the measured scale on the bt3100 is wider than the bt3000. If you don’t want to mix the two rails you should be able to find the black 3100 rails on eBay. The only problem is having cosmetically mismatched, but functional parts connected to each other. As you don’t have to buy 4 rail connectors, 8-16 t-nuts with bolts and washers the cost of the conversion is less.

        Additionally, the method of attaching extension rails appears to be very ingenious with the use of 1/2” threaded rod, connecting plates fabricated from old bed rails and large washers and nuts.

        if your saw has a stand with Ryobi 4” wheels you’ll find that moving the saw like a wheel barrow is cumbersome. if you have the stand without the Ryobi 4”,wheels just go to harbor freight and by a a pair of 5” caster wheels which I found makes it easier to move the saw. Due to the tilted legs on the 3100 you may need to put a wedge between the wheel mount and the leg. The method I use on my saw is to have a 4 wheeled mobile base, with lockdown, which makes moving the saw much easier and you won’t have unsecured items, that may be on the saw top, fall off.

        FYI, I have in the past sold bt3000/3001 parts on eBay Andy I currently have a pair of black rails but I have for various reasons not been actively selling for over two years. I don’t know when I’ll be able to resume but if you want to get in touch with me, just send a personal message thru the Sawdustzone and I’ll get back to you.

        As far as the miter slot table, I think a DIY slot would be relatively easy to do but you may find that the sliding miter table with miter fence is all you need as long as it is correctly aligned and securely fastened.

        sounds like you gat a real good deal!
        On this point I am unclear. Did Ryobi offer a long rail set to replace the short rails that come with the saw, or did they sell a set of extension rails? I don't think I have seen any measurements quoted on eBay listings. Mostly I have seen the short rails retro fitted with either a hinge, or strap metal to attach to the short rails.

        By the way, I received a call from the seller of my saw. He found the missing parts. Now I am going to have an extra pivot bracket for the miter table, and an extra set of wrenches. I received the milled aluminum pivot bracket yesterday. It looks very durable. So I will probably list my spares on eBay.

        ballard770, I will contact you about the rails.

        I did not bring it up in my first post, but I have owned several Shopsmiths over the past 30 years. I always bought them used and worth the money. Then resold them for at least some profit. The last one was a 520 setup with bandsaw, jointer, belt sander, strip sander, speed increaser, and speed reducer. All for $1000 at a pawn shop. I just recently sold it along with an extra 500 unit. I bring this up because some Shopsmith owners have retro fitted the Rail and fence from the BT-3000/3100 onto the 510 Shopsmiths with the larger tables. Here is a link. https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=21916. Interesting reading.

        Thanks to both ballard770 and cwsmith for your help.

        Comment

        • d_meister
          Established Member
          • Feb 2009
          • 184
          • La Conner, WA.
          • BT3000

          #5
          Originally posted by JerryC2021

          On this point I am unclear. Did Ryobi offer a long rail set to replace the short rails that come with the saw, or did they sell a set of extension rails? I don't think I have seen any measurements quoted on eBay listings. Mostly I have seen the short rails retro fitted with either a hinge, or strap metal to attach to the short rails.

          .
          I bought the genuine extension rail kit back in the day. They were designed to add on to the existing rail and came with fasteners and metal brackets, as well as a set of legs for the outboard end. The length (on mine) is exactly the same as the original rails (41.125").
          I didn't use the legs, but added angle iron to the joint to stiffen the whole thing and then added diagonal braces from the bottom of the BT-3000 cabinet to the outboard end of the extension rails to keep the whole assembly more portable.
          Maybe you could mount the black ones on the front together and the silver ones on the back together?

          Comment

          • leehljp
            Just me
            • Dec 2002
            • 8429
            • Tunica, MS
            • BT3000/3100

            #6
            I could have overlooked it - concerning differences between the 3000 and 3100, but the 3000 would occasionally let the shims drop out the bottom, preventing it from raising or lowering. Many 3000 owners added a home made "stop" that prevented it from dropping out. Then in the 3100, the shim holder was re-designed to prevent the shims from dropping out.

            Ryobi offered an extension rail set as an option that could be ordered - way back when.

            I had a 3000 and a 3100; gave the 3000 to my son in law. I don't know why - as I liked the 3000 base better. (I lived overseas for a long time and had a 3000 over there and a 3100 back here as I traveled back and forth. My 3000 seemed to hold its alignments longer even when moving than the 3100, but that is just individual machines.)
            Hank Lee

            Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

            Comment

            • GrumpyDad
              Established Member
              • Jul 2020
              • 163
              • Midwest
              • Ryobi BT3100, BT3000, Sawstop PCS

              #7
              Shopsmith...Been looking for a while for the right price. I want to do some surgery and use it as a drill press based on some articles I have read about the ease of speed control.

              Sacrilege to the Shopsmith community but logical to me.
              Harumpf!
              GrumpyDad

              Comment


              • twistsol
                twistsol commented
                Editing a comment
                It is amazing how many Shopsmith zealots have multiple machines and have them set up for different purposes. (I own two) It is a really nice drill press, a pretty good lathe and unless you can get your head past the variable height, tilting table paradigm, a pretty crappy tablesaw.
            • LCHIEN
              Internet Fact Checker
              • Dec 2002
              • 20914
              • Katy, TX, USA.
              • BT3000 vintage 1999

              #8
              PLease get the BT3 FAQ linked in my signature line. The link takes you to a post where the FAQ PDF is available. All of the questions you asked are addressed in it.

              The wide rail kit rails were sold as extensions; actualy they were just another set of the same rails (42") that came with the saw and it had a set of links and nuts to connect them toegther. You need a support for the end that now sticks way out.

              The BT3100 (black) and BT3000 rails (silver) have a slightly different profile but they are identical where all the main stuff attaches - rip fence and SMT and auxiliary table. You can join them and be perfectly happy but cosmetically its nicer.
              Many people buy a set of rails (42") and saw them in half and just extend their saws rails by 21" - takes up less room and maybe no support needed and big enough for most uses. Then sell the other half to someone else.
              As for the miter slot accessory, yeah they seem to go dearly.
              You can easily make some from some wood and a miter slot extrusion... If you really need one. I have never got one finding the SMT performs all the stuff you use the slot for on a more conventional saw.
              Lots of examples here in the archives (past posts and articles).

              But Get the FAQ, it answers all your questions and more you didn't know. Based on taking notes from the BT3 forums for about 14 years.
              Last edited by LCHIEN; 04-13-2021, 03:41 PM.
              Loring in Katy, TX USA
              If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
              BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

              Comment

              • GrumpyDad
                Established Member
                • Jul 2020
                • 163
                • Midwest
                • Ryobi BT3100, BT3000, Sawstop PCS

                #9
                People must be spring cleaning. BT3x00 have been popping up around my area on CL and FB fairly often.
                Harumpf!
                GrumpyDad

                Comment

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