Track Saws

[fRED mCnEILL]

I'm trying to hekp my son equip his shop and like many young people funds are limited. He just bought a sliding mter saw and was talking about getting a small table saw. He has limited space in his workshop so wanted a saw he could hang on the wall when not in use.

I thought perhaps that a track saw setup might be the way to go. However the Festool, Eureka , Makita and Dewalt are a little pricey. I also know that Lee Valley has the track and guide but have never used one or even seen one. I am , however, very impressed with Lee Valley stuff and have bought a ton from them. I also want to get one that will cut a full sheet of plywood.
I also realize that the Lee Valley guide does not come with the saw but the others do. Anyone have any experience with the Lee Valley one or any suggestions for another brand.

I know he, or I could make a shop made guide(I already have one) but I am looking at this as a Christmas gift and would like to get one that doesn't need "EXPERIENCE" (if you know what I mean) to get decent results as he is just getting started.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

[Andy Margeson]

I have it, use it regularly and like it. When cutting a full 8', it can deflect slightly, but I solve this by clamping something behind it in the middle if I need a precise cut. The clamps hold well and the 4 foot sections are rock solid. There is an accessory traveler available which fits in a groove and attaches to a base for a circular saw or router.

That said, the tracksaws have many advantages. I sold my tablesaw and am going to buy one. The track is more rigid, they are quicker and more convenient to use, they have great dust collection and they produce cleaner cuts. Space is an issue for me too. If he isn't going to have a tablesaw and he/you can afford it, I think he will probably want the tracksaw instead of the Lee Valley guide. You can sometimes find the Dewalt with a long track thrown in for the same price as the Festool with just the short track. The Woodwhisperer has a good video on his site reporting on his side by side comparison of the two tracksaws.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I know he, or I could make a shop made guide(I already have one) but I am looking at this as a Christmas gift and would like to get one that doesn't need "EXPERIENCE" (if you know what I mean) to get decent results as he is just getting started.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Yes - I know exactly what you mean.
I dare say that to most of the posters here, making and using a shop made guide would be mindlessly easy.
OTOH - to raw newbies such as I was when I tried to make and use one, I found out quickly there is a learning curve to it.
It came to the make or break point for me.
I had to decide if I was going to invest in a track saw or just give up the idea of woodworking altogether.
I went with a Festool & haven't looked back.

Here's the best part though as far as price is concerned.

The track saw can supplement the table saw.
I run a Ridgid TS3660 table saw. While it's not the best, it's far from the worst. I got lucky/planned for a year to buy the saw and ended up only having to pay about $250 for it brand new. I used a HD credit card for some major purchases I was going to make anyhow, piled up a bunch of points on the card, then cashed the points in for gift cards. I also waited for the (at the time) annual Ridigd $100.00 off sale HD used to run.

My whole long winded point here is that, combined, I have a little over $1000.00 invested in the table saw and track saw. Together, these allow me to do just about everything a more expensive table saw can do.

Push came to shove - I would have to say that a decent quailty job site saw, like the DeWalt or Bosch - or even the Ridgid - combined with a track saw (Festool, DeWalt, Makita), would/could do the same.
Aslo - FWIW - again on the price. If you have to buy a top quality circ saw, then the price difference between the F/D/M isn't all that much - in the long term.
These are top shelf, highest quality pieces of equipment. Treat them right and they are the type of tool you son's son (or daughter) will enjoy using.

Edit to add - IMHO - it would be a wise idea to hit the FOG forum and ask these questions there.
Yes - you'll have to deal with the obvious bias - but it can/will give you a better idea of how versitile a track saw is.

[Gene Howe]

Peachtree sells an 8' length of track and mating pieces. I just simply routed a groove in an 8' piece of 3/4 birch ply, epoxied the track in the groove and attached the mating slider on my Skil Worm drive. Works like a charm and there's no learning curve.
I understand the gift thing, However, a Dad made object might be even better than a purchased one. Spend the $$ on a good circ saw and good blade.

[Buck Williams]

The EZ Smart track system makes a pretty economical track saw. About $210 for 2 - 50" pieces of track, and a plate on which to mount your own circular saw. 140 bucks for a Makita 5007MG, 20 bucks for Freud 60 tooth 7-1/4" carbide blade, and you're good to go. The accuracy and quality of cut is there, glad I picked one up. Not going to replace a table saw, but great for knocking down sheet goods.

[Jerome Hanby]

PSI makes a gizmo called the portable panel saw. When I bought mine it was about $100, think it's a bit higher now. It is two rails than can be used individually or coupled together and a carriage that houses your existing circular saw and rides those rails on bearings. Coupled together, it's long enough to cut a piece of 4x8 plywood diagonally. While i think my Festool works better, this thing works great...and I still use it. If you add some tempered hardboard to the rails and use the saw to trim it back to the correct length, then you have a visual indicator to line up the cut line (and a little backup for the blade to help with tear out). I think so much of this gadget that my Hitachi circular saw permanently lives in the carriage, I bought a cheapy Craftsman off of CL for those times I need a "freehand" circular saw. There is also a carriage to handle a router. I've been thinking of getting one of those since my foul up making and using a shop made router dado jig. I'm kind of thinking I could do the same trick with the hardboard, lay out both lines for my dado, line the hardboard up with one line, route it, spin the jig and line up with the second line, then route it. Wouldn't be as automatic as the shop made jig, but then again, my shop made jig wasn't exactly square and dadoes that aren't 90 degrees to the sides don't make good shelves <g>.

Peachtree sells an 8' length of track and mating pieces. I just simply routed a groove in an 8' piece of 3/4 birch ply, epoxied the track in the groove and attached the mating slider on my Skil Worm drive. Works like a charm and there's no learning curve.
I understand the gift thing, However, a Dad made object might be even better than a purchased one. Spend the $$ on a good circ saw and good blade.

[Matt Meiser]

Last year on Black Friday I bought a Dewalt DW745 job site saw pretty inexpensively. Home Depot had it in their Black Friday ad so Lowes lowered their price to match, plus my local Lowes took a 20% off coupon on top of that (your mileage may vary.) I want to say I spent about $270. Its a pretty decent saw--no Unisaw for sure, but decent and I can see setting it up as a second saw when I build my own kitchen. Both the fence and guard are well thought out.

[David Hawxhurst]

why not make a couple of your own tracks/guides? mill out some straight lenghts of wood and mount to platform (substrate of your choice) then cut with the circular saw along the straght piece of wood you mounted to the substrate.

[Jim Becker]

The advantage to the "real track saw" setups is the precision they lend. Yes you can use a simple guide, shop-built or purchased, but there is a lot more to getting your cutting line exactly where it needs to be. When you work with something like the Festool, for example, the edge of the rail is exactly your cut line. That can often be more precise than using more "traditional" cutting tools in some circumstances. So you pay a little more initially for the brands/models you cite, but you get a system that's designed specifically for precision cutting. You have to weight that advantage relative the investment required.