Review: Skil SPT99-11 Portable Table Saw

The Skil SPT99-11 table saw is very powerful and offers features that give it more capabilities than some other portable table saws on the market. It can be a great workhorse for home or job site use. Let’s take a closer look.

Cutting Power & Motor

The power of this saw and the resulting cutting capabilities are most likely it’s greatest strength. The 15 Amp motor offers 3 HP max and a 5000 RPM max.

The motor uses a worm drive design which can generate more raw power and torque than traditional saw motors. Overall, this saw will offer you a greater amount of cutting power vs its similarly priced competitors due to the worm drive design.

The power of the motor, in combination with the larger cutting depth of 3-5/8″ makes this saw capable of cutting thicker and harder materials. People have no problem ripping 2×4’s and other materials that some other portable table saws come up short of being able to do.

Worm Drive?

What’s a worm drive? It’s a specific type of gearing design – probably best explained by video or imagery.

Cutting Table

This saw is designed to be able to handle larger workloads and the cutting table is another example of that. The cutting table has 27 x 25 inches of surface area and this saw has a rip capacity of 30.5 inches. Most people who buy this saw find the cutting table to be nice and flat and smooth, but there are a few instances where people mentioned the table is a little off or warped. Might be worth checking right away if you pick one of these up just to make sure yours is flat.

Rip Fence

This saw uses a rack and pinion design for it’s rip fence which makes adjustments quick, easy and accurate. The rip fence is usually fairly square right out of the box on these units but some will find that it needs a little work to get squared up. Once you have everything calibrated properly it all works well.

The total rip capacity is 30.5 inches and is about 24 inches in length, which is quite good for a portable table saw. People who need to rip larger sheets of material will find the rip capacity on this saw to be excellent.

Sawdust Collection

This saw does have a 2.5 inch dust collection port and it works pretty good. As with most collection ports, it can be connected to a vacuum or a dust collection system. This port is somewhat unique in that it has a downward angle, so you can direct the sawdust into a bucket or container even without using a hose. It seems so simple yet it’s such a good idea that you don’t see often.

Safety Features

You’ll find pretty typical safety features on this saw, and it’s a very safe saw to use if you take typical personal safety precautions and have experience with power tools in general.

The blade guard system is designed to do a few things. There’s a blade guard to keep things from unnecessarily coming in contact with the blade. There is a riving knife behind the blade to keep materials from pinching on the blade. There are also anti-kickback pawls to keep things from kicking back at you if something does manage to get jammed or misaligned.

There is a safe restart feature where if power is cut to the saw it won’t turn on automatically again when power is restored. It needs to be switched on again.

There is also a push stick included to help keep your fingers away from the blade.

Build Quality

The overall build quality of this saw is good with some drawbacks. There is a mix of metal and plastic parts and some people who own this saw don’t like the amount of plastic used. For example, the locking handles are made from plastic and they feel like they might break easily. Same with the handle to adjust the blade height.

People have run into issues with some of these plastic parts breaking. We recommend being more careful with the levers and switches on this saw until you are more familiar with the stresses they can handle.

The miter gauge included is pretty low quality. It’s made with cheap feeling plastic, is inaccurate and sloppy. You will want to get an aftermarket miter gauge if you will need to use it consistently.

Some people have had issues with the cutting table, which is made from aluminum, showing wear more quickly and losing some of it’s finish more quickly than expected.

It’s possible to get parts from Skil for replacement but the warranty might not cover parts that you break while using the saw, so expect to have to pay for replacement parts if they break on you during use.

Portability

This is a pretty large, heavy table saw for being categorized as portable. The stand that comes with it is what really makes this saw easy to move around. The stand is collapsible and is designed to help a single person load the saw into the back of a truck.

The stand itself is made from sturdy materials. The wheels on the stand are larger in diameter than you see on some other rolling stands. The larger wheels help make this easier to move over rough ground, up over small ledges, or even up and down stairs. Stands that have smaller wheels might struggle more with those things, so the larger wheels do come in useful.

Some people that use this saw say that the larger size of the wheels actually makes the stand a little more wobbly when the saw is in use, so that is something to consider. It’s pretty easy to brace further so it’s not a deal breaker of an issue.

Dado Blades?

This saw can fit dado blade stacks. Skil recommends using their dado inserts to properly and safely fit the blades.

The SPT00A Dado Insert is recommended for 13/16 inch dado stacks.

Accessories

Skil includes several accessories with this saw, mostly what you’d expect to get. They also have designed the saw to be able to store these accessories onboard, which is great.

The accessories include:

• Anti-Kickback Pawls
• Blade Guard System
• Riving Knife
• Push Stick

Setup & Assembly

For the most part this saw is easy to get up and running. It comes mostly assembled out of the box and you will find that you will spend most of your time going through calibration checks and seeing what needs to be adjusted. Some people who buy this saw find that it requires minimal setup, and other find their saw needs a little more calibration than they expected, so it can vary depending on your unit.

The stand requires a good amount of assembly and some people struggle with getting it done efficiently. Be prepared to be a little more patient when setting up the stand so that it’s done correctly, as it’s important for portability and stability to get it right.

The instructions can be a little confusing. We recommend grabbing the latest version of the manual for this saw which should have the best version of the assembly instructions.

Warranty

Skil offers a 3 year warranty that covers defects in workmanship or materials for their bench top tools. This should be enough to work out any defects from new units. If you run into plastic parts breaking after a certain period of use, you will be expected to pay for replacement parts from their support.