Track saw alternative.

[davestanton]

I love a challenge, especially when it's cheap.

As I can't afford a table saw at the moment, I have been looking at alternatives. Track saws were appealing but my problem was that I could get a fair to good table saw for the same dollars and I don't want to doubleup. To this end I made track, well more like a guide, that is eight feet long and another that is four feet. Then the search was on for a circular saw that would give me a descent cut and little dust, something I could attach my vac to. I tried my 9 3/4" circular saw as it has a dust port but this was wY to cumbersom for sheet goods. I scoured the Internet and liked the look of the hitachi five inch circular saw but realized it was designed for fibrous cement goods. ......don't know if I could get blades for timber. I spent ages in a tool shop looking for something that would fit the task and thought that the $50 Ozito saw looked promising. But like most other circular saws it is designed for left handed operators.

Then it hit me. My dewalt battery saw at 5 3/8" blade diameter which is designed for right handed people would do at a pinch. It is actually called a panel saw.

Now my task is to build a dust shroud and anti tearout which is coming together beautifully. I might post some pics tomorrow or you can check out my channel and look on as it is created. North Americans can tune in around seven pm.

I am having more fun than I have had for a long time. Gotta say thanks to Marc for giving us a venue to share ideas and also for his generosity in showing his tips and knowhow.

[Southwood]

Watch using the battery saw for good cuts. I have the DeWalt 18V cordless and for me it just doesn't work. The RPM"s are not there.

I rigged this up. I use a 40, I think, tooth blade. I can take the boards straight to the clamps from this. You can make it any and all sizes. One problem is that dust collection, well it just ain't there. Could be fixed I guess wit ha little thinking.

[TimV]

I've found the same thing to be true as Southwood. My 18v black&decker doesn't have the rpms for a splinter free cut. I put on a new higher tooth count, decent carbide blade and it helped but not enough. I only use this saw to rough out the panels then take them over to the table saw to make the final dimensional cuts. I even have tried using a strip of masking tape over the cut line and it still doesn't cut it, pun intended.

[Texfire]

Sounds like you'll be happy with your setup. I considered using a circular saw and a track/base combo I purchased for my router to break down sheet goods, then finish cut them on my TS. But after much hemming and hawing, I ponied up for the Festool TS55/dust collector combo. It fit my situation better.

I've been very happy with it, incredibly clean cuts that are straight as a rule with almost no mess. I've even made some bevel cuts that were right on. I'd say it's superior to a price equivalent table saw for sheet cutting operations, I feel like I have much more control than trying to wrestle a full sheet of plywood up on my Bosch 4100, plus my infeed and outfeed distance is only the sheet plus about 2'. If I had known about it first I might have passed on buying the Bosch TS and saved my money for a Sawstop instead, meanwhile using the Festool as an entry level TS equivalent. That said each tool has it's strengths. While making cuts for a mobile wood rack I used both the Bosch for cutting the 7 degree dadoes and the Festool for cutting down plywood and not having to swap blades back and forth on the TS was very nice.

Not trying to sound like a Festool fanboy, even if I found the lime-green cool-aid delicious, just thought I'd over a contrasting choice and my reasons why.