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Thread: In praise of - the track saw

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Griswold Connecticut
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    6,926
    I guess I'm the odd duck here. I like the track saw for ripping an initial edge on a board. (I don't do enough work with plywood to the extent many do.)
    Most of my projects start with rough sawn wood. A track saw saves a lot of jointer time, or coming up with angle jigs for a table saw.
    "The first thing you need to know, will likely be the last thing you learn." (Unknown)

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Northern Michigan
    Posts
    4,973
    Sometimes its just fun to take a stick and whack a hornets nest!

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Griswold Connecticut
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    6,926
    Quote Originally Posted by Larry Edgerton View Post
    Sometimes its just fun to take a stick and whack a hornets nest!
    More fun if you're a beekeeper and have a bee suit.
    "The first thing you need to know, will likely be the last thing you learn." (Unknown)

  4. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Cutler View Post
    I guess I'm the odd duck here. I like the track saw for ripping an initial edge on a board. (I don't do enough work with plywood to the extent many do.)
    Most of my projects start with rough sawn wood. A track saw saves a lot of jointer time, or coming up with angle jigs for a table saw.
    My last project was a couple sets of low shelves for my wife's office/crafts room. One was 7'8" long and the other only about 3 feet long and both were about 3 feet high. They fit under the sloped ceiling in specific parts of her room and hold stuff in plastic containers. They are 16 inches deep. She wanted pickled pine. So I glued up shelving boards, sanded them, stained them and then put on some water based poly. I used the track saw to make the cuts including getting a straight edge on the boards before glueup. Worked great. For the crosscuts, I used a known accurate square to draw a line and cut to the line. Some day I will have a Ron Paulk style setup for the crosscuts. I used my home made parallel cutting jigs cutting the boards to width. That worked pretty well but one or two had some width variation, presumably because the track couldn't be clamped with the guides on it and the boards were not completely flat nor my technique good enough and the track moved a little. I've done this on sheet goods with better results. So that will need attention next time. But about a 1/16-1/8 error in width on a couple boards in this project was not a killer. Overall I consider this a success for the track saw. The only plywood in these projects was the luan plywood backs. It was inexpensive solid wood but mostly solid wood projects.

    I think people buy track saws for sheet goods but once you have one, you will find it is handy for other things. I've also used mine several times to trim solid wood doors. The depth of cut for the DeWalt is plenty for even exterior doors and the accuracy is welcome there too. I put a couple degree bevel on one too.

  5. #20

    Track saw and router equals jointer

    So I'm just completing an 8' dining table, required joining three 1 3/8" planks. Used a Festool track saw on an ezsmart track to make the cuts then went back with a long 1/4" bit in a wimpy Festool 1010 router a with it's guide locked into that same ezsmart track. (I'm using what I've got.)
    Anyway, absolutely perfect results.

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Upland CA
    Posts
    5,547
    Aside from the usual plywood ripping, and 45's for counter corners, the neatest thing I used my DeWalt for was to make two sets of corner shelves for around the outside bay surrounding my kitchen sink. Each set had several shelves to make (both sets different angles), and each shelf had five sides. The kicker was that these shelves were only about 7" X 10".

    We made up cardboard templates, outlined them on the oak boards and did them all with the track saw. Worked great. Some cuts were only three inches long.


    Here is a shot of them in progress:


    PB050027.jpg


    I know I could have made a straight line auxiliary fence setup on the TS, to do it, but at that time, I had never seen one.
    Last edited by Rick Potter; 08-29-2015 at 3:31 AM.
    Rick Potter

    DIY journeyman,
    FWW wannabe.
    AKA Village Idiot.

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    NE Ohio
    Posts
    6,976
    I used several different home made circular saw guides over the last 25 years and they worked okay. Finally, I had a job that I thought was big enough to justify a track saw instead of my old setup. Looking back, I wish I had bought a track saw the day they were introduced. I get easier setup, better cut quality and near perfect dust collection
    Exactly....
    I use a Ryobi with a 40T Freud blade and a shop made guide for some special times when the track saw won't work - - such as kitchen counter tops with a built in splash guard.
    I can come close to the Festool's cut quality and accuracy - - but - - it takes forever to set up and I have to go painfully slow to make sure the saw doesn't wander....
    and there's still a high risk the saw will somehow screw up a $200 plus section of counter top....

    I equate using a shop made guide to clamping a 2x4 on my table saw to use as a fence. Sure it would work - - most of the time, but, it wouldn't be as accurate, safe or quick as the real thing..
    My granddad always said, :As one door closes, another opens".
    Wonderful man, terrible cabinet maker...

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Lawrenceburg, Tenn.
    Posts
    1,133
    I have several offcut pieces of 3/4" foam that I lay under my workpiece and cut into. They were essentially free, and protect my workbenches from the saw blade. I have not had any problems with my Grizzly track saw since I got it.

    Doc
    As Cort would say: Fools are the only folk on the earth who can absolutely count on getting what they deserve.

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