Kitchen Cabinets

[Steve Gojevic]

Hi:

I have a lot of woodworking tools (for hobby and diy home stuff). One thing I don't have is a track saw. I have used my table saw, circular saw, and bandsaw to cover my cutting needs.

I will be making kitchen cabinets for my house from prefinished maple plywood that I got a good deal on. This means breaking down 4x8 sheets. I don't have enough room to maneuver a sheet on my table saw. I would like to use a track saw to do this.

My table saw is an early 90s Sears Craftsman that I made into a large table surface with outfeed tables. It has a Delta T square fence that I added. I don't think it's up to the accuracy level to make precision cuts for kitchen cabinets. In the future I plan on getting a Sawstop (my kids will be learning how to use the table saw).

I just noticed that Milwaukee came out with a cordless track saw. I have a bunch of Milwaukee 18V tools, batteries, and chargers already. The price is at the high end, but it seems to get good reviews on youtube. It seems that any of the better track saws are going to cost in the same price area as the Milwaukee. My plan is to buy the bare Milwaukee track saw ($399) since I have 18V batteries already. Then I will buy a couple of 55" tracks to allow cutting plywood in either crosscut or rip. People who own the good brands of track saws say that you can make the final cuts on the track saw and avoid re-cutting on the table saw.

Anyone have any suggestions? Am I overlooking something? Comments from experienced woodworkers are always welcome.

Thanks
Steve

[Holmes Anderson]

There is a recent thread https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....ksaw-precision on the subject of track saw accuracy. Some say they can get accurate parallel and squaring cuts with great care but even with parallel guides and a rail square I think it will be difficult to get the accuracy of a decent table saw. With cabinet size panels you may see out-of-square deviations as large as 1/8" using a track saw. The track saw is great for breaking down full sheets in place and giving you at least one good edge but you will probably get better crosscut accuracy with a sled on your table saw. If your fence isn't good then maybe buy some parallel guides for the track saw. I use a Makita corded track saw and it is good.

[John Pendery]

For years before buying a sliding table saw I used a combination of track saw and cabinet saw and built a lot of kitchens and casework. It was much slower and lacked the instant fool proof accuracy of a large sliding table saw, but you can absolutely get great results with the combination of a track saw and table saw. Since you are doing it for yourself it’s even less of an obstacle.

[Richard Verwoest]

I use the Bora guides and their skill saw base plate. With a couple little tweaks to their guide, I get nice straight cuts. I enlarged the screw holes on the extension straight edge and added better screws. When joining 2 rails for long rip cuts I use another ground straight edge to line up the 2 lengths and tighten the screws. And since there is a zero clearance strip, all I need to do is line up where I want my cat and lock it down.

[Steve Gojevic]

For years before buying a sliding table saw I used a combination of track saw and cabinet saw and built a lot of kitchens and casework. It was much slower and lacked the instant fool proof accuracy of a large sliding table saw, but you can absolutely get great results with the combination of a track saw and table saw. Since you are doing it for yourself it’s even less of an obstacle.

So you still used the table saw to do the final cuts, after cutting on the track saw?

I am wondering if I should buy the Sawstop and just use a cheap track with my circular saw to break down the sheets to manageable size for the table saw.

I would still have to make a sled for the table saw that was big enough to handle kitchen cabinet panels (24" x 30" approx).

Steve

[John Kananis]

Track saws are great (I love mine) and all but none of them will come close to the precision of a table saw. Use the track to break down and get clean edges. Then finish cut on the ts. Sled or small slider attachment (the latter being new to me but I'm enjoying it) on the ts is a must imho.

[Russell Hayes]

I am almost done building my first set of kitchen cabinets from hardwood plywood. I have a makita track saw and a cabinet table saw. There is no reason you can't get the same quality and accuracy from either. The advantage of the table saw is repeatable cuts but for full sheets you may need a helper. The advantage of the track saw is you can break down sheets on the floor on top of a sheet of foam insulation or what I'm doing, on a temporary table on sawhorses. And with a track saw you shouldn't need a helper. I built a simple hinged swing lift arm attached to the sawhorse table to get the sheet up on it. I cut most everything to final size with the track saw. I cut the cabinet bottoms in one piece with the stretchers, nailer strips and drawer dividers since they need to be the same length then rip the 4" wide stretchers etc on the table saw.
I personally have had trouble getting accurate cuts on my table saw with a full sheet of 3/4 ply working without help. It's just too much weight to wrestle with. I've bound up the blade and knocked a contractor was out of alignment in the past trying to do just that.
Good luck I'm sure you will be proud of it in the end.

[Tom M King]

I wouldn't buy a track saw for one set of cabinets. A straight edge guide will work fine. I've built stuff for a living for 48 years and still don't own a track saw. This doesn't have the good sawdust control, and you have to hold the saw against the fence, but it will cut a perfectly straight line just fine.

It's 1/4" plywood base with a good factory edge of 3/4 cabinet plywood for a fence. Leave the saw side of it wide enough to trim with the saw you're going to use. Once trimmed with that saw, you can lay that edge of the guide right on the marks. Remember to cut on the correct side of the line.

[Jim Becker]

1) A track saw can be a major benefit to folks when working with sheet goods, in particular. Even when they have a big-butt saw, it can be cumbersome to maneuver full sheets and typical .75" material is quite heavy.

2) With good measuring and careful attention to detail, you can go right to finished dimension and not need to use your table saw for most cuts

3) The new Milwaukee track saw is EXCELLENT, based on the early reviews and now production units that folks I follow have reviewed. It has all the benefits that one will expect based on what Festool and others have done plus some good engineering that makes bevel cuts and other things accurate and easy. It's also compatible with the same tracks for folks who already have them from Festool, Makita and some others. (not Dewalt) And...it uses the M18 battery setup which is "yugely" popular with the commercial crowd as well as many others who own M18 for their own purposes. I don't have any Milwaukee tools (other than a hefty 75th anniversary Sawzall) but if I wanted a cordless track saw, they'd be getting my money for the saw to run on my Festool tracks and MFT.

[John Pendery]

So you still used the table saw to do the final cuts, after cutting on the track saw?

I am wondering if I should buy the Sawstop and just use a cheap track with my circular saw to break down the sheets to manageable size for the table saw.

I would still have to make a sled for the table saw that was big enough to handle kitchen cabinet panels (24" x 30" approx).

Steve

Hi Steve,

Yes, sorry I was not clear. I used the track saw to break down the sheets, but ran them through the table saw more often than not to reach final dimension. This was more due to the fact that the table saw with its fence lends itself well to the repetitive dimensions kitchen cabinets dictate than the inability to make accurate cuts with a track saw. With parallel guides and attention to detail you could likely get away with no table saw at all. Some will inevitably say otherwise. A track saw will give much cleaner cuts than a normal circular saw with a cheap guide. I use festool track saws, so can’t speak to the Milwaukee, but they have a replaceable zero clearance edge guide and “splinter guard” that nearly eliminates and chip out.

it sounds like you are already planning on purchasing the saw stop, which will speed things up considerably. I would go ahead and buy the bare track saw and a track as well as they are very useful for all kinds of things, and you will likely be able to pull off your entire build with it alone along with a couple simple jigs and attention. I realize I just suggested to buy both so I’m sorry if that’s not helpful!

John

[Marc Fenneuff]

I have a Makita track saw that I use to break down stuff to make all the final cuts on the table saw. I use a sled on the table saw, with a single fence, for squaring cabinet carcass panels.

I would also not buy a track saw for one project, especially if it made a big dent in the budget. That said, I prefer my track saw to a circular saw + guide for keeping the dust down.

I'm a table saw guy so this is what works for me. But a lot of guys say that if you are crunched for space, you can do all these sheet goods operations with a track saw and a good square. I don't know if/when I'll be able to justify the expense of a parallel edge guide for the track saw.

Make sure you have a good method to square your carcass panels, especially if using side-mount drawer slides (ask me how I know this).

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I find it difficult with my track saw to get a perfect square or parallel cut, but I have had it close enough. The thing with a system such as Festool is that they have a way to get at least the square cut.

I have often used my track saw to "joint" an edge, works great.

I have used home made tracks for a regular circular saw a few times with success. So, if you just wanted to dip your toe in the water, just make one. It will not be as nice as a pro one probably, but you can get a feel for what you will be doing. If you intend to clean it up on the table saw, it probably does not matter if you just draw a line and follow it free hand because you will clean it up on the saw; but you waste more wood.

Andrew

[Steve Gojevic]

Ok, I have to make a decision soon!

As of now, I think I am going to buy the Milwaukee track saw and two of their 55" tracks so I can make the cuts on plywood.

Then, I'll try using it for the final cuts. If it works, then I will make the cabinets using only the track saw without upgrading to the Sawstop.

If it doesn't work out, then I will be "forced" (haha) to upgrade to the Sawstop.

Steve

[Joel Gelman]

"My table saw is an early 90s Sears Craftsman that I made into a large table surface with outfeed tables. It has a Delta T square fence that I added. I don't think it's up to the accuracy level to make precision cuts for kitchen cabinets. In the future I plan on getting a Sawstop (my kids will be learning how to use the table saw)."

It seems interesting that you would go with a track saw in part because you don't think your table saw is up to the accuracy to make cabinets. If that were me, first thing I would ask myself is why it isn't accurate enough. Is it that a setup issue or a saw limitation issue. If setup issue, you dial it in. If not accurate enough for a cabinet, and no fix, seems like you should get rid of it and get your Saw Stop, which would perhaps offer a safety advantage to your kids who will be learning how to use a table saw.

[Phil Gaudio]

FWIW: I use these foam board insulation sheets with good results: lay them down on the garage floor and then lay your sheet goods on top of them. Great way to handle sheet goods while protecting the surface of the sheet and the blade of the saw.