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Thread: Why serious Woodworkers need track saws

  1. #1

    Why serious Woodworkers need track saws

    I used to use a table saw with 60 inch rip capacity, a workbench at the right height for outfeed support, and a router table the right height for infeed support. I could cut up full sheets of plywood by myself. But the size of space required challenged my shop and it was sometimes difficult to keep the sheet goods consistently tight to the rip fence.

    Now I cut up sheet goods with less effort and space required using my DeWalt track saw. It was about $600 with a 106 and 59 inch tracks (might be off a little on length). I made parallel guides for it. I still plan to make a Paulk style bench with crosscutting attachment. I use a wooden lattice on a couple sawhorses now to cut up sheets.

    The biggest advantage of track saws are greater precision and less space required. To cut up sheets with the tracksaw, you need space equivalent to the sheet plus walking space on at least one side. With a table saw, you need twice the length of the sheet. Big difference. Some might argue the precision but I know for me the track saw is better. I can set the stops on my parallel guides and cut repeatedly to that dimension. Exactly. No worry about wandering from the rip fence. Doesn't matter if I am smooth with the saw movement.

    They are also handy with solid wood. I'm building shop cabinets at the moment but the base of the base is PT 2x4s. About as far from hardwoods as you can get. But to straighten an edge, I used the tracksaw. I did the same with a really old 1x6 I removed from the attic when I finished it. I was recycling it into the back brace for the base cabinet. Much easier to rip the board straight with the track saw than it is to use the jointer. You can lay the track on the wood and it will stay in place due to the backing so you can cut up pretty small pieces with the tracksaw.

    The tracksaw is also safer. There is no reason to get close to the blade. Kickback with my DeWalt is almost not possible, it can't go backward on the track. It has a riving knife (most brands do).

    Some cite the dust collection. My tracksaw is better than my table saw but I collect the dust from my table saw too. It is definitely better than my RAS and CMS but that's not saying a lot. For those with DCs, the tracksaw wouldn't be as good since it needs a maximum 35mm hose. But hook it up to the shop vac and you get most of the dust.

    Speed is also better since you are not struggling to move heavy sheets other than once to get them on the cutting surface. Sometimes I do that right on the trailer I brought it home in. If you want to see quick, watch the Ron Paulk video where he is using parallel guides and his worksurface to make a bunch of garage cabinets. They're crude with pocket screws holding them together but he prepares the pieces in just a few minutes.

    I still use my table saw for narrow rips and small pieces of wood. It's also better for most joints. Without it's extension rails it takes up far less space. It's probably possible to do almost everything on the track saw but I have both so I try to do what each is best at.

    The track can also be used with a router and possibly other tools. The router on the track can make really accurate sliding dovetails and other joints. The Festool tracks can be purchased with holes 32mm on center for drilling cabinet sides (with a router).


    Most of us would be better off with smaller table saws and a track saw than with a large table saw with extended rip capacity.

  2. #2
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    Jim, I'm glad you're enjoying your track saw, they're very useful.

    That said I don't own one, I have a sliding table saw which is more useful to me as it can square goods without effort and incorporates a scoring saw for chip free cuts on laminates.

    There are many ways to approach the issue, I simply cut panels oversize freehand with a skill saw and then cut them on the slider.

    I can see where a track saw could be very useful for work in the field as well.............Regards, Rod.

  3. #3
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    Lottsa ways to skin cats these days....
    Wood: a fickle medium....

    Did you know SMC is user supported? Please help.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rod Sheridan View Post
    ........I have a sliding table saw..........
    Rod - exactly what cool stuff do you NOT have?
    When I started woodworking, I didn't know squat. I have progressed in 30 years - now I do know squat.

  5. #5
    I thought about guys with sliding saws when I was writing the original note. I've never used one but I assume they make lots of cuts a lot easier. Cutting square cuts with a track saw almost requires a jig. The Festool MFT is a small table (larger one is about 28x45 if I remember right) that incorporates a jig for a track so you can make precise right angle (or other angle) cuts. Ron Paulk accomplishes the same thing in his workbench with a crosscut jig of plywood to hold a track (and his has stops for repeat cuts). So cutting square or other angle cuts is something that track saws are rather good at but it requires additional equipment.

    Not sure about laminate cutting. One of the tests commonly done is melamine, however, and good panel saws cut it without chipout. That is usually done with the normal "comes with" blade and there are special laminate blades.

    I agree completely there are other ways to work and those other ways can produce very good work, equally as good. I think others may underestimate what can be done with a track saw and I think really good results come somewhat easier with a tracksaw (but it is certainly no miracle worker).

  6. #6
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    I'm really cheap and as a hobbiest I need/can afford to be. I just lay sheet goods on two saw horses, sometimes even on the floor, clamp a straight edge on the cut line and make the cut with my circular saw. I can't finish cut that way; well, I can but generally don't. I just break the sheets down about 1/2" over size and then finish cut those pieces through the TS. Not high tech. or fast, but it costs nothing.

    John

  7. #7
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    The real advantage of the track saw is storage size.

    Portability is a close second (mainly for pros).
    For hacks like me, keeping garage space for cars
    explains the enduring appeal of the design.

  8. #8
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    Lots of good info Jim, thanks. I avoid sheet goods whenever possible. Even the little I do have to work with it I would like a tracksaw. It would primarily be for breaking down panels oversize. Like so many specialty tools, the importance and value ride the curve of what you do an how you do it.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  9. #9
    I'm pretty cheap too. My DeWalt may be my most expensive tool purchase. Costs more than a Festool Domino. But a Grizzly works fine based upon the reviews if you change out the blade (and maybe change the plunge spring). Dust collection and some other tweaks but you can get one with one track for less than $250. About $300 with enough tracks to do what I do. So half or less what I gave for my DeWalt. For those who want the best, a Festool is supposed to be better in some ways than my DeWalt and only costs twice as much. So from about $300 to $1200. If the Grizzly had been around when I got the DeWalt I might have purchased it instead. You get to make your own accessories with the Makita, DeWalt or Grizzly but that saves money too. For hobbiests, who enjoy tinkering, having to make your own jigs could even be seen as a plus.

  10. #10
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    I personally do believe that track-saws are very useful tools for many types of woodworkers and many types of woodworking situations...I'm glad I own one, especially for "on site" home improvement work. Like some others, I do have a sliding table saw in my shop, so it's a rare moment when I use the track saw in the shop, but...it does get used from time to time for convenience or for "problem solving". I happen to be a Festool owner, but there are a number of great choices available to match both needs and budget.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  11. #11
    I'm about as seriously as you can get, I don't have a track saw.

  12. #12
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    The track saw is so easy and quick. I use it for partsing out cabinet parts but where it really becomes indispensable is when doing field work. Cutting up sub floors, wall paneling, plywood patches of any kind, and resizing doors is so easily done with the T-saw whether working off the floor or on saw horses or a dedicated table. Fast as can be to go from a long rip to a short cut off or to swing a piece around and cut some angles or plunge cuts or cut out a corner. I also use it to cut long tapers in pine wall boards or trim and for cutting scribes on cabinet faces or side panels. Screw the track to a wall set the depth and chop through wall boards or the like with no damage to the studs behind. It is actually a fun tool and I am still discovering ways to use it.

    I can tell you that the T-saw has changed the way I work, eliminated lots of useless muscle effort and made me more efficient and more relaxed. This from a guy who's has been a professional woodworker (lots of sub-categories) for more than 30 years. Got to have one.

    ...and I forgot to mention - cutting in stair treads between stringers to exact size and slight angles as is often the case when trimming out a site built stairway.
    Last edited by Sam Murdoch; 04-27-2015 at 8:45 PM.
    "... for when we become in heart completely poor, we at once are the treasurers & disbursers of enormous riches."
    WQJudge

  13. #13
    I just came inside after using my DeWalt a little. I'm cutting up the pieces for drawers for a 8 foot long cabinet that has my RAS and CMS on top. Mainly I was using the RAS to cut up strips I'd cut with the tracksaw yesterday but I cut a couple more strips when I ran out and needed 4 more drawer sides (it was a little more than half a sheet). They are 6 1/2 wide. My parallel guides could have possibly worked but not with the clamp that holds the track tight to the guide. So I marked and cut. I don't love cutting that way, it wastes time and I tend to mess up. One is nice at pretty close to exactly 6.5 and the other is a little more than 1/32 off at one end. For shop drawers it will work. That isn't as good as I do with the table saw. I need to make another jig to align the track when making narrow rips. It will index off the same rib that guides the saw and go to the edge of the wood. I'll have an adjustable hairline to adjust for the blade width.

    I added this mainly to make the point that the best accuracy with track saws is found with jigs to set the track with. For rips down to a little less than a foot, the parallel guide works great. When they get narrower than this I need to come up with a new jig. Or use my table saw. Still working on it. I used a fine pencil line for what I was doing but a knife line would have been better.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Dwight View Post
    I just came inside after using my DeWalt a little. I'm cutting up the pieces for drawers for a 8 foot long cabinet that has my RAS and CMS on top. Mainly I was using the RAS to cut up strips I'd cut with the tracksaw yesterday but I cut a couple more strips when I ran out and needed 4 more drawer sides (it was a little more than half a sheet). They are 6 1/2 wide. My parallel guides could have possibly worked but not with the clamp that holds the track tight to the guide. So I marked and cut. I don't love cutting that way, it wastes time and I tend to mess up. One is nice at pretty close to exactly 6.5 and the other is a little more than 1/32 off at one end. For shop drawers it will work. That isn't as good as I do with the table saw. I need to make another jig to align the track when making narrow rips. It will index off the same rib that guides the saw and go to the edge of the wood. I'll have an adjustable hairline to adjust for the blade width.

    I added this mainly to make the point that the best accuracy with track saws is found with jigs to set the track with. For rips down to a little less than a foot, the parallel guide works great. When they get narrower than this I need to come up with a new jig. Or use my table saw. Still working on it. I used a fine pencil line for what I was doing but a knife line would have been better.
    Some folks set a razor blade into the line at each end of the cut and then touch the guide rail to the blades for perfect alignment.

    Narrow rips is not where the T-saw excels - especially for repetitive rips - but it can be done by making certain that the guide rail is fully supported (usually involves a separate piece that is longer but equal in thickness to the cut piece) - that the cut piece can't move - and that the guide rail is clamped down. You need to eliminate even minor error with this operation so clamping down the rail is essential.
    "... for when we become in heart completely poor, we at once are the treasurers & disbursers of enormous riches."
    WQJudge

  15. #15
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    Tracksaws and sliders are not really in the same class. Like suggesting a 5 hp cabinet saw when one mentions needing a $500 portable jobsite saw. Does a serious WW need one? Obviously not, but I agree they are very useful. If nothing else, they are useful for breaking sheet goods down to near final size for final ripping on the TS. Or better. Been there. We all have different needs and budgets.
    Last edited by Ole Anderson; 04-27-2015 at 10:41 PM.
    NOW you tell me...

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