Just ordered a track saw.

[imagineer]

I just ordered a track saw. Why might make your hair stand on end…

I’m in the midst of a project for Mrs. and Daughter Imagineer…building a larger chicken coop. The outer surfaces of the coop are 5/8” thick T-111 plywood. Whereas I’m physically capable of lifting one of these sheets, supporting it and running it across my table saw is a bit too much to keep steady.

So, I opted to make the cuts using my old trusty Skil circular saw. To make a cut across the full 48” width of the panel, I needed to stand on a small step stool and lean way across the plywood sheet to reach the far edge.

Due to a combination of poor judgement, bad body position and a somewhat dull blade; with about 3” to go, the rear edge of the saw base lifted, the blade bound and the saw kicked back . . . toward me. Although I was no longer squeezing the trigger, the blade was still spinning very fast. I could see it because the power cord was pulled between the saw housing and blade guard, keeping the guard mostly retracted. The angry saw made a few somersaults as it passed under my left arm and chest, cutting it’s own cord and eating a bit of my t-shirt on the way by.

After researching available track saws, I ordered the one from Grizzly. It met my criteria and price-point, but more importantly, it has an extra set of brackets that when installed, keep the saw from lifting off the track.

 

[billconner]

Let us know how grizzly works. I've thought about one but when table saw is not right, put sheet on floor or ground and use a wide cut off and 2 clamps or sheetrock screws for a fence. I get the cord snagging - happens to me sometimes. Not sure the track saw eliminates that.

Did get a chance to use a Festool track saw once. A very nice machine!

 

[tjansson]

Glad you are ok. Fair enough on ordering a track saw.

I typically just stop the saw, leave it there, step around and finish the cut standing on the other side of the sheet. And having a cordless saw helps.

 

[neophyte]

Let us know how grizzly works. I've thought about one but when table saw is not right, put sheet on floor or ground and use a wide cut off and 2 clamps or sheetrock screws for a fence. I get the cord snagging - happens to me sometimes. Not sure the track saw eliminates that.

Did get a chance to use a Festool track saw once. A very nice machine!

Festool track saws are known to jump the tracks sometimes if the blade binds.
I’ve had it happen, and there have been threads over on the Festool forum about it.
Maybe the brackets on the Grizzly track saw will help prevent this, I have little knowledge of the grizzly track saw.
One advantage to the standard plunging Festool design, is that the base is spring loaded to the saw motor, so if you just pick the saw up while it is running, the base springs down, covering the blade, and gets licked down by the retractable switch you have to slide before you can initially plunge the blade.
It’s almost slways better to clamp the track in place rather than trying to hold it down.
There is at least one video from Germany of a guy cutting his hand with a Festool track saw, because he was using his other hand that wasn’t holding the track saw, to apply pressure to the track, to keep the track in place while cutting.

 

[Wamsutta]

I learned my lesson about 20 years ago to have respect for power tools with rotating blades. I'll spare you the details.

 

[acer66]

I am in progress of putting on the sheeting on the exterior walls and the track saw is great to make things easier with all the cut outs compared to a regular saw imho.

While I have a smaller one I still treat it with great respect like it was said before.


Glad the OP did not get hurt and yes please keep us updated how yours work out.

 

[peejay75]

The angry saw made a few somersaults as it passed under my left arm and chest, cutting it’s own cord and eating a bit of my t-shirt on the way by.

Glad you're ok, and since you are, an lol for that description!

 

[LeeG]

I put a piece o styrofoam insulation on the ground, put my sheet goods on that, and use my track saw to cut them to size. Fully supported on both sides. I have a Festool, since it was the only one really available 15 years ago.

One of the best purchases I’ve ever made.

Lee

 

[niget2002]

I put a piece o styrofoam insulation on the ground, put my sheet goods on that, and use my track saw to cut them to size. Fully supported on both sides. I have a Festool, since it was the only one really available 15 years ago.

One of the best purchases I’ve ever made.

Lee

Same.

 

[SBAG]

Same.

Same, except I put my foam on a cut table made from 2x4s and HF Bauer sawhorses; thinking about the full sized 4x8 bora centipede though.

 

[RTM]

For those who do t like styrofoam, Lee Valley sells a kit to make a bunch of 2x into a platform.

Veritas Panel Platform Kit - Lee Valley Tools

Discover the Veritas Panel Platform Kit. Buy this product now on our Lee Valley online store.

www.leevalley.com

 

[imagineer]

Here's a little irony... I was sharing my circular saw tale of woe to the girls at home and my daughter pointed out that the t-shirt that got cut up (instead of me getting mauled), was a freebie from a Red Cross blood donation.

 

[jar944]

I put a piece o styrofoam insulation on the ground, put my sheet goods on that, and use my track saw to cut them to size. Fully supported on both sides. I have a Festool, since it was the only one really available 15 years ago.

One of the best purchases I’ve ever made.

Lee

The nice thing about foam board is that if you are short on space you can use the bunk of plywood as a cutting table. Just flip up the top sheet and toss the foam under. Wash rince and repeat until it's gone.

 

[niget2002]

Same, except I put my foam on a cut table made from 2x4s and HF Bauer sawhorses; thinking about the full sized 4x8 bora centipede though.

I have a 4'x8' workbench that I used to use for this as well. The problem is, 1) I had to stretch to reach across the 4' width and 2) now the bench always has so many projects on it, I'd spend half the afternoon moving everything in order to do it.

It's way easier for me now to just toss the foam on the floor of the carport. I can pull the plywood out of the truck and rip down to manageable sizes right by the truck. Then carry the smaller project pieces into the shop for doing work.

A collapsible setup for use under the carport would be nice. I may try to figure something out for that at some point.

 

[niget2002]

The nice thing about foam board is that if you are short on space you can use the bunk of plywood as a cutting table. Just flip up the top sheet and toss the foam under. Wash rince and repeat until it's gone.

Put the stack of plywood on a motorcycle table. Then you could raise it every so often to keep it a more mangable working height.

 

[SBAG]

I have a 4'x8' workbench that I used to use for this as well. The problem is, 1) I had to stretch to reach across the 4' width and 2) now the bench always has so many projects on it, I'd spend half the afternoon moving everything in order to do it.

It's way easier for me now to just toss the foam on the floor of the carport. I can pull the plywood out of the truck and rip down to manageable sizes right by the truck. Then carry the smaller project pieces into the shop for doing work.

A collapsible setup for use under the carport would be nice. I may try to figure something out for that at some point.

I try not to do the get on the knees or do the kimchee squat; 47 year old body working on 80. Thanks Army!

 

[niget2002]

I try not to do the get on the knees or do the kimchee squat; 47 year old body working on 80. Thanks Army!

45 myself and can understand. Not military, but did too much dumb stuff as a kid.

 

[jar944]

Put the stack of plywood on a motorcycle table. Then you could raise it every so often to keep it a more mangable working height.

Hydraulic lift tables are nice for that, but I don't think I'd put a full bunk of plywood on one.

 

[niget2002]

Hydraulic lift tables are nice for that, but I don't think I'd put a full bunk of plywood on one.

Mine is good to 1500lbs. Quick google says that comes out to about 25 sheets of 3/4" plywood. So, yeah... I guess it wouldn't be the best for a large stack. It'd be fine while collapsed, but you'd have to burn through most of the pile before lifting.

 

[Max]

Festool track saws are known to jump the tracks sometimes if the blade binds.
I’ve had it happen, and there have been threads over on the Festool forum about it.

This is news to me. Could you link some of those threads? A search did not find them.

Edited to add: And a +1 for putting foam insulation board under a track saw to cut on the floor. Works great for me.

 

[imagineer]

Let us know how grizzly works

The track saw was a good investment. There were a few quality control findings (no surprise . . . made in China) but nothing that was a game stopper. I used it to cut full-length strips from, 3/8" and 3/4" plywood. The saw slowed down a bit on the 3/4, but still completed the cuts.

Where the track saw really shined was squaring up the edges, top and bottom of the chicken coop doors. The doors are made with 3 layers glued up with Gorilla glue. The inside surface is 3/8" plywood, the middle is a 3/4" thick pine edge band to contain Styrofoam insulation and the outside surface is 5/8" thick T-111 plywood. Being a glue-up, the edges aren't exactly aligned. After identifying which edges need attention, I used the track saw to take just a sliver off where needed. The glued up doors are 1.75" thick so I had to cut very slow. I would have been near impossible to have done free-hand, and my table saw cross cut sled is too small for the job.

Regarding the quality control issues:
There's a rubber strip adhered to the edge of the track. I believe they call it a splinter guard. On all 3 sections of track, the strip was either misaligned or peeling off. it was an easy fix to re-adhere and realign them.

The ends of the track sections all had burrs from being saw cut.. That too was easy to remedy with a flat file.

One item that took some effort to correct... one of the 2 plastic cams used to snug the saw carriage to the track, was either glued or melted to the screw holding in place. I wasn't able to just unscrew it because of the cam protrusion, so I ended up holding the plastic part with channel locks and breaking the screw free with an Allen wrench.

One improvement I'm going to implement is to number the 3 lengths of track, and on the leading ends of sections 2 & 3, file a small 'lead-in' bevel on the aluminum to prevent the saw carriage from hanging up when advancing across the joints.

 

[FTWingRiders]

Wow.. that was a close call.. glad it missed you! I’ve a shop full of Grizzly, but haven’t tried their smaller power tools.
I love my track saw, a Mikita 36v and 8’ of track. Nice clean cuts.. It’s the best way to handle full sheets and get them manageable.

 

[neophyte]

The track saw was a good investment. There were a few quality control findings (no surprise . . . made in China) but nothing that was a game stopper. I used it to cut full-length strips from, 3/8" and 3/4" plywood. The saw slowed down a bit on the 3/4, but still completed the cuts.

Where the track saw really shined was squaring up the edges, top and bottom of the chicken coop doors. The doors are made with 3 layers glued up with Gorilla glue. The inside surface is 3/8" plywood, the middle is a 3/4" thick pine edge band to contain Styrofoam insulation and the outside surface is 5/8" thick T-111 plywood. Being a glue-up, the edges aren't exactly aligned. After identifying which edges need attention, I used the track saw to take just a sliver off where needed. The glued up doors are 1.75" thick so I had to cut very slow. I would have been near impossible to have done free-hand, and my table saw cross cut sled is too small for the job.

Regarding the quality control issues:
There's a rubber strip adhered to the edge of the track. I believe they call it a splinter guard. On all 3 sections of track, the strip was either misaligned or peeling off. it was an easy fix to re-adhere and realign them.

The ends of the track sections all had burrs from being saw cut.. That too was easy to remedy with a flat file.

One item that took some effort to correct... one of the 2 plastic cams used to snug the saw carriage to the track, was either glued or melted to the screw holding in place. I wasn't able to just unscrew it because of the cam protrusion, so I ended up holding the plastic part with channel locks and breaking the screw free with an Allen wrench.

One improvement I'm going to implement is to number the 3 lengths of track, and on the leading ends of sections 2 & 3, file a small 'lead-in' bevel on the aluminum to prevent the saw carriage from hanging up when advancing across the joints.

The rubber strip is supposed to be trimmed with the track saw, so the strip lines up exactly with the inside saw blade kerf edge.

 

[imagineer]

The rubber strip is supposed to be trimmed with the track saw, so the strip lines up exactly with the inside saw blade kerf edge.

Obviously, but they need to be attached correctly first. There's a small rib extruded in the underside of track that the rubber strip is supposed to align with. On the 3 lengths of track in my kit, these strips we installed poorly.

 

[mike93lx]

You'll love having a track saw.

Overall, I really like my grizzly. I did shorten the spring slightly as it was far too strong out of the box and it's much nicer now. Miner's helped with a lot of projects

 

[MFortie]

I just bought a Kreg track saw (and a set of Track Horses) to build some shelves and support pieces in my MH compartments. First time using one and very impressed with the cut and ease of use.

No more wrestling 4x8x3/4 ply up onto a TS. Seems I have a little trouble nowadays handling full sheets (turning 69 next week); I think the wood has gotten denser in the last 20 years!

I also picked up a sheet of 1-1/2” 4x8 insulation and made my cuts on it (supported by another sheet of ply on the Kreg Track Horses). Easy way break down the sheets.

 

[oldman_pottering]

Glad you are ok, I think we have all done crazy stuff to make things work at times. A track saw is on my list but until that happens I have this adjustable alloy clamping bar that secures to the sheet but to make your cut you have to alloy for the offset of your saw base to mark it out. It's ok but not as easy as a track saw and obviously you just use a circ saw

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

In my years as a carpenter, I have had Skilsaws jump. It's pretty unnerving. (I hate left handed worm drives, BTW.I never seen a right handed one.)

Never stand in the bight or the line of fire.

Track saws can easily break down sheet goods into cabinet level of accuracy. A bit of carelessness using guide and your sheet has a hook in it. That was when I decided I needed one. And I'm too old to casually throw sheets of plywood around, which you have to be able to do using a table saw. Even then , you need lots of runway with a TS.