Originally Posted by
Jon McElwain
I went the Festool Track Saw route. The saw produces great cuts with little or no tear out on plywood. It is a little more versatile that the typical panel saw in that it can cut perpendicular to an edge, or, it can cut angles. The Festool and Dewalt track saw systems are also plunge saws. This means that you can easily start or stop a cut in the middle of a board without having to back the saw out of the cut, or lifting the saw out of the cut. I used to use a skillsaw with a home made rail to break down plywood (this was before I had a 50" rail tablesaw or a tracksaw). I was able to get reasonable cuts, but the setup was time consuming (too much measuring) and the quality was marginal. The tracksaws have a splinter guard that corresponds to the edge of the cut you wish to make. So, you mark the endpoints of your cut, then clamp the track with the splinter guard directly on the marks. The cut is made along this line. I actually get better results with the track saw than I do with the table saw on plywood breakdown because I am only handling the tracksaw during the cut, not the entire piece of plywood. The Festool is plenty strong to cut the 3/4" plywood and I would suspect that the Dewalt is as well. I recently cut some 8/4 white oak with the tracksaw with great results and power to spare. In my opinion, unless you are cutting A LOT of plywood perpendicular to the sides, a panel saw is too big and too expensive. This is of course relative to every ones budget and space, but I can not see myself needing one with my current work.
+1 to everything Jon said (except the 8/4 oak thing).
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