Cutting to "dead nuts" on plywood

[MJ]

Ok, I'm amount to tackle a project where I need to cut some plywood to "dead nuts'. I can rip easily enough with my TS, but cross cutting will be a challenge and not possible with my TS (not enough real estate on the saw for the cut).

I was thinking of cross cutting with a circ saw to a length slightly larger than what I needed, then come back and use a router with a compression bit to get it "dead on".

Any other good suggestions?

Yes, I know about building one of those circular saw cutting guides, but I got one for the rough cut, but don't trust it for the "dead on". I just want to "whisper cut" with the router, to get it to size.

MJ

[Artemus]

If you don't trust a cutting guide for your CS you probably wont like a cutting guide for your router either. Hand plane or hand sand it? Art

[Ed Pawlowski]

How much time and money do you want to invest? build in-feed and -out-feed tables for the table saw.

Depending on the width of the cross cut, a sled does a nice job.

[-MIKE-]

A really good saw and a good blade that is thick, instead of the paper thin ones that seem to be so popular nowadays. I'm dealing with the same issue. Those thin blades flex way too much and it's just too easy to cut a wavy line or have the bottom flex out giving you an un-square cut.

I haven't been able to find a thick 7-1/4" blade. Perhaps the ones that come with those expensive plunge cut saws would work. That's your other answer: a good plunge cut saw and guide.

[Swingman]

If C_Less can fall for one, anyone should be able to ... ;)

[Zz Yzx]

I've done it many times with a circular saw, a good carbide plywood blade, and a clamped-on guide. Good side down.

Measure twice, cut once.

-Zz

[Zz Yzx]

PS: my nuts are dead on.

[russellseaton1]

Depends. If you are just doing this one job and that is it, then do as sug= gested elsewhere and measure twice and cut once. You can clamp a straight = edge to the plywood and cut exactly where you want to cut. Might have a bi= t of trouble finding a true straight edge that is 4 or 6 or 8 foot long to = guide your saw. This approach requires time to clamp the straight edge exa= ctly where you need it. Not a slam bang thank you maam job.

If you want to cut this plywood and lots of other plywood exactly where you= want every time, then get a rail guided track saw. Such as the Festool TS=

55 or TS75 saws. Easy to use these saws. Just lay the guide rail on the p= encil marks, clamp in place, run saw on guide rail. Done. Quick and easy.= This is the method to use if you are going to cut plywood exactly over an= d over.

[DJ Delorie]

I built a box-frame 6 foot fence for my table saw, for cutting plywood. Biscuit four boards into a tube about 6" square, then joint/plane it to be flat and true. My regular fence has holes for screws through which I attach it. Given that, and roller stands, I can do full sheets of plywood on my 10" contractors saw.

I've done the router trick too, to clean up an edge from a circular saw, using some other sheet of plywood as the straight edge. A good plywood blade in the TS makes that unneeded, but it does work when you're cleaning up the saw marks from hardwood edges or rough cuts

[John Grossbohlin]

I've got a Freud 7 1/4" blade with an 1/8" kerf that I've been loath to replace because I cannot find another...

A problem I ran into in the past, before my Porter Cable saw, was end play in the blade shaft. Even with a straight edge the cut would wander...

John

[krw]

I'm sorry to hear that.

[Puckdropper]

" [e-mail]" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I bought a 4' aluminum saw guide from Woodcraft. It takes a bit of fiddling to get it right, and I have to make sure I measure the offset correctly as well. Once it's on, it's plenty solid for my purposes. Most of the time, the fiddling doesn't take more than 5 minutes. For my purposes, it was $30 well spent. (Plus, as along as I adjust for the offset, all my portable power saws & routers can use it.)

Puckdropper

[Larry Jaques]

Yeah, I have double riveted, triple locks on the wallet, and it was hard to go for that Makita, but I'm glad I did. I need to get a few adapters to get it hooked to my DC next.

I expect to use it more once the CNC router is done. I finished the last mod and got paint on the legs, the gantry pieces, and all the little parts today. The main frame gets color tomorrow.

-- Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing. -- Abraham Lincoln

[HerHusband]

MJ,

If your final piece is small enough to fit on your table saw, rough cutting with the circular saw and final cutting on the table saw works well.

Otherwise, I got by for years using a "saw board" with my standard circular saw. The cuts were accurate, but even with a good plywood blade I got considerable tear out.

I haven't tried it, but you could probably cross cut close to the final dimension with your circular saw, then use a straight edge and a router with pattern bit to clean it up.

Last year I invested in a Makita SP6000K track saw:

1_2

The difference from my old circ saw and saw board is amazing. Soft start, quieter motor, perfectly accurate cuts, and no tear out at all. I still find it easier to rip sheets on the table saw, but I prefer to use the track saw for cross cuts.

Anthony