• Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!

Using a Track Saw for Rip Cuts Instead of a Table Saw?

T

ToolboxTactician

Seedling
Joined
Nov 8, 2024
Messages
2
Reaction score
1
Name
ToolboxTactician
LOCATION
USA
If I’ve got the choice between a track saw and a table saw for ripping full sheets of plywood, and the track saw is just as fast while being more convenient (setting up on-site, handling large sheets solo, reducing tear-out with a splinter guard), is there any reason not to use the track saw?

Both make clean, accurate cuts (good), both handle sheet goods easily (good), both require clamping or guiding the material in some way (neutral). The table saw is obviously better for repeatability and narrow rips, but if I’m just breaking down sheets efficiently, does the table saw really have an edge?
 
Unless you have a large sliding table on the table saw, and plenty of space ad accurate fence, the tracksaw wins hands down. It is much easier to move a tracksaw over the board, than a full size sheet over a TS.
 
As above. A track saw unless you have a lot of space to manoeuvre a full sheet around a large machine with a big table.
For smaller scale sheet cutting don't underestimate a battery powered 4inch blade (mine is Dewalt) I use mine frequently against a clamped straight edge (or not).
 
Last edited:
For sheet goods it's tracksaw, tracksaw, tracksaw all the way.
If you are going to use it a lot, invest in an MFT as well. And make a few jigs to make setup easier and faster.
My setup is a Knock-Down table, with setting jigs (one for normal use and one for when the required piece is narrower than the track) and an adjustable stop for repeat lengths. Start here:
S
 
The one area where I think a track saw doesn't work, and it is why I have a table saw as well is ripping repeated pieces of a width less than the width of a track. Of course you can do it but a table saw is just so easy.
 
My workshop is 16'x8'. There's a lovely wee Wadkin AGS in there, but it would make me a candidate for lobotomisation to try cutting an 8'x4' on it. If I did try it, the pillar drill, planer/thicknesser, bandsaw, assorted light power tools, cramp racks, Lord Lucan, would invoke the union and go on strike.
Like Steve rightly says, dedicated cutting bench outside, styrofoam, sawhorses, plus track saw.
Small stuff, under maybe two foot square, or under 15" by up to six feet, Wadkin.
 
Matt, you are right, up to a point. I have a pair of width-setting jigs, one of which is for ripping pieces less than the width of the track. Of course, there comes a point where you run out of support, but I rarely reach that point. I have both a TS and a TS ( :) ) and I wouldn't be without either.
S
 
I've used a Hilti, then a Festool (actually two of them in different sizes) and more recently a Makita (36 volt) and a Bosch plunging rail saw. Any of these is a far safer, easier to use option than trying to use a small workshop table saw for the same task. Like Steve I use a breaking down table, however being a site-based body I use a pair of folding trestles and a home-made table top, approximately 7 x 3ft (or 2100 x 900mm) made up by screwing a 900mm long piece across each end of four 2000mm long 3 x 2s with noggins to suit. CLS is often available to make these up, they get used for a project (3 to 12 months) and then disposed of. The top face is sacrificial. 150mm overhang all round is n't anissue and a 7 x 3ft frame is manageable on your own

As to cross cutting, get a rail square and use that on a 1400/1500mm rail to do your cross cuts. Much cheaper than buying an MFT. Similarly for repeat cuts a home made guide can be used, or just a couple of combi squares. Main thing is that you need to support the rail adequately at all times
 
Last edited:
RogerS said:
I've always drooled over one of these
View attachment 32343
Click to expand...
How hard would it be to make a plywood storage rack out of OSB with a bottom rail of 4x2. Then leave you plywood on it but when your wanted to cross cut you put a triangle of ply onto of your and run your circular saw up the sheet perhaps with a counter weight to a pulley above?!

Length cuts let me think about that one...
 
JamesHow said:
How hard would it be to make a plywood storage rack out of OSB with a bottom rail of 4x2. Then leave you plywood on it but when your wanted to cross cut you put a triangle of ply onto of your and run your circular saw up the sheet perhaps with a counter weight to a pulley above?!

Length cuts let me think about that one...
Click to expand...
My ertwhile best friend Brian and I build a sort of home-made version of one of those. I think it was a project in FWW. We are going back some, maybe 3 decades.

It worked, but it was a pain really. In a small workshop it takes up a lot of wall space. And clamping guides to it was not easy.

There are better options, now.
S
 
Space availability vs. sheet size seems unfortunately to be the deciding factor, after that it's down to what works in your particular situation.

Most will be well aware of this but storage, handling and the loading of a panel saw are with large sheets significant tasks that need a lot of room - not just for the machine/rack/etc but to conveniently move stuff between them. You need to be able to get a potentially heavy 8x4 sheet of plywood into the workshop, orient it as necessary to load the rack and heave it in. Then get it out when needed and lifted up on to the saw slider.

All pretty physically demanding and liable to cause damage if you work alone/can't call in a helper and the sheet material is 12mm or thicker. Much more so if space is tight. Given plenty of space around the rack and the saw it's not so bad....

A correctly located rack which stands 8x4 sheets on end can given enough ceiling height work very well and save a lot of space.

My workshop is tight. Despite this I run a large slider equipped panel saw which can handle 8x4s. Despite the above and having a track saw i tend to use it (the panel saw) to break down sheets.

While they work very well on sheet materials the problem with a track saw (apart from its limitations on thicker materials and the need for means of ensuring square cuts and the like) is that you still need a well built cutting table large enough to properly support a sheet - which if horizontal is going to take up a similar amount of space to a panel saw or a cabinet saw equipped with extension tables. The determining factor is essentially the size of the sheet. Sketchy support arrangements tend to result in splintering, jamming etc as a result of unsupported pieces dropping and causing tearing.

The downside with a wall mounted/vertical panel saw is that it's going to eat up an enormous amount of already in short supply wall space in a small shop.

Another option as already outlined by Steve is to break it down outside on a temporary table. Weather, mess and set up requirement are downsides in that case...

I find myself at times (when the required dimensions are known) having the supplier break sheets down into more easily handled pieces before collection - an 8x4 will just fit in my trailer but on the diagonal which isn't great...
 
I did that in the early 90s Roger, but not now given the state of my well worn back and knees. :) Anything much below chest height means pain before very long.

Doing it on the floor still needs space...
 
Too complicated.
vaj said:
I did that in the early 90s Roger, but not now given the state of my well worn back and knees. :) Anything much below chest height means pain before very long.

Doing it on the floor still needs space...
Click to expand...
No more than that needed for a supporting table
 
It works very well if your body can handle getting down to it...
 
RogerS said:
No more than that needed for a supporting table
Click to expand...
The difference is that a sheet of kingspan needs to be stored somewhere, whereas a knock-down table takes up much less storage space.
In its earliest years my KD table lived outside on the patio pretty much permanenetly. I made it from a sheet of exterior grade shuttering ply. It's very weathered, but it's all still in one piece. The original design was by a gentleman on the other forum. If I can remember his name I'll edit this post.
S
Edit - It was Aidan. Good bloke.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top