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Thread: Grizzly track saw review

  1. #16
    http://www.hingmy.com/content.php?20...ack-Saw-Review

    Above link is to the first full professional review that I have seen on the Grizzly T/S. Good marks overall for the hobbyist. Review is detailed and seems well thought out.

  2. #17
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    I have the Festool T55 and have absolutely no problems with it. Yes, the motor sounds different but the cut is great. I cut full sheets of plywood in the garage on a 2" thick piece of insulating foam. I have to join two of the guides together but have not had a problem with straightness. I will admit that I use a piece of 3/4 x 3 strip of wood to support the guide in the middle. I have done this with all of the guides that I have ever used as supporting a 8 foot guide at just both ends invites some movement.

    I would rate the purchase of this tool as one of the best investments that I ever made.

  3. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paul Wunder View Post
    http://www.hingmy.com/content.php?20...ack-Saw-Review

    Above link is to the first full professional review that I have seen on the Grizzly T/S. Good marks overall for the hobbyist. Review is detailed and seems well thought out.
    It does seem to be well thought out but unfortunately, it is full of obvious errors. It does look more like he is just careless rather than devious.

    I bought a Festool track saw 20 years ago and have since bought the Makita and Festool TS55. I borrow a TS75 on the rare occasions when needed. I've used the Dewalt and Mafell and have friends that have those. I think the Makita bought on-sale is a good choice for someone that can't justify the more expensive units.

    When comparing equivalent configurations, the Makita and Dewalt at their low on-sale prices were just slightly more than the vastly inferior Grizzly, Sheppach, Woodstar, Bela, Holzmann, Bernador, Sauter, and Batavia.
    Last edited by Greg R Bradley; 03-29-2013 at 8:42 PM. Reason: can't spell

  4. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Greg R Bradley View Post
    It does seem to be well thought out but unfortunately, it is full of obvious errors. It does look more like he is just careless rather than devious.
    Perhaps more obvious to you than they were to me What did you think was erroneous?

  5. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Geoff Barry View Post
    Perhaps more obvious to you than they were to me What did you think was erroneous?
    Sorry, I didn't mean obvious to anyone reading the article. I meant obvious to someone that knows many of the facts about the units. There were so many that I didn't really keep track but the most obvious is that he seems to have not used any saw but the Grizzly. I wonder if he used the Grizzly.

    An example is that stands out is that nobody that has used these could have written or proof read the power ratings. The Makita being the most powerful and the Mafell being the weakest are both just silly. I have not looked at spec sheets but just from using them I can tell you that the Festool TS75 or the Mafell MT55 is the most powerful. It isn't quite obvious since the TS75 has a much larger and wider kerf blade. The Makita and the Dewalt are both slightly more powerful than the Festool TS55.

    The explanation that blade speed makes up for Horsepower indicates a basic lack of understanding of Horsepower, which equals Torque times RPM. Horsepower equals Torque at 5252 RPM. The silliness of "rating" the speed of the saws by RPM when they have radically different blade diameters is another example.
    Last edited by Greg R Bradley; 03-29-2013 at 11:21 PM.

  6. #21
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    Ahh. got it - thanks. Yeah, I thought the point about speed was strange, as I would imagine the saws are optimized for their respective blade diameters. And I think the horsepower chart is way off becasue they seem to have confused watts with horsepower - according to Mafell's specs, it is 1400 watts, which (I believe) is a shade under 2hp - they clearly looked at 1400 and said, "oh, 1.4 hp."

    I've used a TS55, and seen the Dewalt and Makita, but never used them. The one good thing about this review is that it does appear to based on the reviewer's actual use of the Grizzly. And I didn't pick up too much of the "this is better than a Festool at 1/2 the cost" vibe that a lot of comments on these saws seem to have. I liked the TS55, and if cash was no object, I'd have one, but it is, and I'm not a high volume hobbyist, so I'm always curious to see if any of the bargain options are "good enough". It can be hard to tell when the reviewer has an axe to gind (whether pro-festool or anti-festool).

  7. #22
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    I received my Grizz tracksaw and cut up my first sheet of ply today. Up front I added the Freud crosscut blade to it based on earlier reviews. Here is my quick take:

    • Good news: with the Freud blade it does a good job of cutting 3/4" hickory ply straight without any unacceptable tear-out or splintering. Hickory is notorious for tear-out and splintering. I will save the Grizz blade for rough stuff.
    • The baseplate is not flat which caused it to rock on the rail. I fixed it by adding two layers of Slicktape to the low corner. I anticipated that problem. I may have to play with that further.
    • The tracks were not flat, further compounding the wobble issue. They should have been flattened at the factory. Nothing I want to try at home.
    • The groove on the baseplate needed a bit of sanding w/400 grit paper to smooth it up.
    • The second 55" rail should come with two connectors, not one, two would really help keep it straight at the joint while moving it around.
    • I had to trim the green poly at the end of the tracks so they could butt together.
    • The saw would not slide easily past the joint of two joined tracks. I had to align them before tightening the connector screws, and then I still had to sand the slide portion of the rail to avoid the saw catching. And I had to loosen the slide adjusters more than I liked to get it to slide past the joint.
    • As previously stated, the plunge lock button is awkward to use, but you get used to it, as you do the somewhat stiff plunge spring.
    • The sawdust chute is an odd size, I had to wrap tape around my vac end to get it to stay. I have a wall mount vac with a long 1.5" hose in my garage. It only catches half of the sawdust, in this I am most disappointed. I have to sweep the sheet off between cuts.
    • The clamps provided worked well.
    • The concept of using a tracksaw to break a sheet into 10 pieces per the Maxcut drawing does not lend itself to any speed compared to using a table saw with ample room and table support. In my case, I don't have much choice as I don't have room in my basement shop either for proper sheet support tables or room to swing a sheet around. First thing I had to do was fab up an accurate right angle gauge, neither my framing square nor drywall square met the flip test. Then instead of running it along the TS fence to rip, you have to mark the sheet at each end and the middle, then line up and clamp the track before you can even cut. Try ripping the sheet at 24" then at 12", then use one track section to cut the 12" x 96" piece into manageable sections to get into my shop. Not easy, you have to support the track with an offcut.


    Bottom line, even with the shortcomings noted, I now have a reasonably priced saw that will cut sheet goods accurately and cleanly, well except for the not so clean sawdust issue.
    Last edited by Ole Anderson; 06-03-2013 at 11:55 PM.

  8. #23
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    If you go to this thread and scroll down to #17, there is a photo of an outboard spinter guard that I made for my Grizzly track saw. It helps capture almost all of the sawdust.

  9. #24
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    David, thank you, I remember seeing that, but frankly I was in too much of a hurry to try out the saw. Now that I saw how bad the sawdust collection is (not sure how much of that is due to my vac) I copied your idea. Instead of going to the store to source longer metric screws and messing with locating the holes from the blind side, I just used some truss head 8-32 screws I had and then drilled and tapped the aluminum saw guard. The holes in the MDF are oversize for adjustability, much like a drawer pull. I glued some 1/4" Masonite to the shoe as zero clearance "sole". As a bonus, it helps with the tipping issue. I just need to be careful to only snug the screw up into the fairly thin aluminum. If it strips, I have room on the backside for a nut. The small pile of sawdust next to the saw is what the vac did not pick up on ripping 8 feet of 3/4" ply. Much improved.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Ole Anderson; 06-04-2013 at 6:12 PM.

  10. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ole Anderson View Post
    David, thank you, I remember seeing that, but frankly I was in too much of a hurry to try out the saw. Now that I saw how bad the sawdust collection is (not sure how much of that is due to my vac) I copied your idea. Instead of going to the store to source longer metric screws and messing with locating the holes from the blind side, I just used some truss head 8-32 screws I had and then drilled and tapped the aluminum saw guard. The holes in the MDF are oversize for adjustability, much like a drawer pull. I glued some 1/4" Masonite to the shoe as zero clearance "sole". As a bonus, it helps with the tipping issue. I just need to be careful to only snug the screw up into the fairly thin aluminum. If it strips, I have room on the backside for a nut. The small pile of sawdust next to the saw is what the vac did not pick up on ripping 8 feet of 3/4" ply. Much improved.
    Do you have a photo of the bottom of your attachemnt as well?

    BTW, I received the Scheppach version of this saw last week and had the same issues as you regarding a bowed track and a non-flat saw base. The mfg has sent me replacement track and will follow up to see if the saw still moves around in the new track (I am sure that it will) then take the next steps...so far the customer service has been good...hopefully I can get all the quirks squared away without too much trouble.

  11. #26
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    Ole, your guard is much prettier.

    As an aside, how is that Freud blade cutting? How does it do with tear out?

  12. #27
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    My Grizzly T10687 has no play in the way it glides along the track. It works as I expect it to.
    They seem to have some quality issues at the factory, judging from the wide range to review feedback.

    http://www.hingmy.com/showthread.php...0687-Track-Saw

  13. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by david brum View Post
    Ole, your guard is much prettier.

    As an aside, how is that Freud blade cutting? How does it do with tear out?
    I just rounded the corners on my belt sander, gives it that vroom-vroom look.

    As for the blade, it does fine but not perfect, I still get a tiny bit of tear out, but then I am cutting Hickory which tends to splinter and tear.

    Here is a shot of the bottom of the guard. I glued the sole on, then added a couple of #6 hinge screws as an after thought, actually I was in too much of a hurry to wait for the glue to properly cure.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  14. #29
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    Funny .. I have 4 Festool routers, 2 x sanders and a domino.. I love the tools .. I never bought a track saw because I was always disappointed with the OF-1400 Router when used on a Festool track. Recently I purchased the Festool OF-2200 Router with the accessory for sliding tracks.. Same thing, its wobbly and unimpressive to me ..

    At first I believed that there was something wrong with mine. I would adjust the screws to attempt to make a tighter fit, to reduce wobble.. And the result was a terrible squealing sound ... which still wobbled.. I was told to push the " wobble " out of the router when using.. ??? I dunno ..

    So I figured the track saw would be the same .. kinda hokey .. I would be curious if it fits the track well or if its got lots of slop built in ?

  15. #30
    I've been looking into track saws for the last month as I'm always working alone and sheet stock and my TS make for an "interesting" time. From a budget standpoint I can swing a Scheppach, grab a Grizly, or put off a few other expenditures and wait for a Makita.

    i don't do a ton of large sheet work, so I'm on the fence about spending more than I need to. I understand "buy once, cry once", but sometimes I tend to use that as an excuse to upsell myself, a habit I'm trying to break. Anyhow I had a question about the Makita and the Grizzly/Scheppach track. Can the Makita run on the Grizzly track? My thinking is that if I go the budget route and the saw dies, at least I could recoup some of the investment by reusing the track with a Makita.

    I guess what I'm looking for is some reassurance that I can spend just over 200 for a Scheppach with 50" of track, another 55" of Grizzly track, and a new blade, and have a good product that will deliver glue ready joints... and not leave me needing to come up with the full price of a Makita shortly thereafter.

    For those looking at the Grizzly/Scheppach, this is a great review/mod video that addresses most if its shortcomings. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vqqcmC5...%3DvqqcmC5UY5E
    I like how he repositions the anti friction strips to stabilize the saw. An alternative may be to just buy DeWalt's replacement strip and add it to the outside.

    Also, does the anti-tilt attachment in the Grizzly accessory pack address the "wobble" issue noted in many reviews?

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