While most people in woodworking tend to emphasize the table saw in their shop, I’ve always put my focus on the track saw. In my Texas shop, dust collection is the key reason behind this. In Hawaii, however, dust collection isn’t as big of a concern. Space, however, is…
So, with no real room for a table saw at the moment I’ve called on the track saw once again.
In Texas I have a Festool TS55 and a number of different length guide rails. The saw itself cost around $600 while a single length of 55″ guide rail runs around $150. You can easily get well over $1000 in this setup.
The Festool does work well however… and while many people complain about the TS55 being underpowered, I’ve never had an issue with it. I’ve abused the damned thing and it just keeps cutting.
In Hawaii, however, I didn’t have the budget for the same setup. So, I went to CPO and bought a refurbished Makita SP6000 for $220 and paired it with a pair of Powertec guide rails from Amazon for $112. The result is a setup with similar functionality to the Festool rig I have in Texas, but at less than half the cost.
So, how does it perform?
The Makita is fine. It’s certainly doesn’t feel as well made as the TS55 (the power trigger feels terrible if I’m honest), but it cuts just fine and after replacing the stock Maklita blade with something a litter better, you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between a Makita and a Festool cut. I don’t love this thing… it’s far from luxurious… but it works.
But how about the Powertec guide rails? For the price, you can’t beat them. I did have to re-glue the splinter guard on one of my rails, but the extrusion is well done and both of my rails are as straight as anything I’ve gotten from Festool. The guide rail connectors, however, are junk. But to be fair, the guide rail connectors from Festool are junk as well.
End of the day, you get what you pay for. But sometimes, you don’t need all that much to make things work.
I will say when I handled the TS55 in person, it did have a premium feel to it.
