I need to rip 8' X 4' plywood. I saw a 100" saw guide at Lowes and thought that might be useful. Then I see online how some are made:
Using a wormdrice saw for standard plywood is a little overkill, unless it is real thk. A good 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 hp circular saw will work fine on standard to 3/4 in thk plywood. just be sure to use a good carbide blade and take your time.
The reason I ask is that I already own a wormdrive. I don't own a circular saw.
what do you mean by circular saw? table saw? as far as I recall the blade on every worm drive saw I've ever seen has been circular.
you also didn't give enough information about your plywood.
so table saws are great for precision cuts in high quality plywood, providing the saw is massive enough, has adequate infeed, outfeed and wing support and that the blade is appropriate for the material being cut. of course, such a setup represents a significant investment in cost, setup and maintenance time and dedicated space.
with some care, cutting results that come close to the quality of the above setup can be had from a handheld circular saw, be it worm drive or not. the things that make a difference are: *work surface- the plywood needs to be evenly supported. some folks like a sheet of styrofoam laid down over the floor. others build specialized cutting tables. *cutting guide- the one you linked to will work just fine, assuming you take pains to get it straight when you build it. *the shoe of your saw- the reference edge (the side of the shoe that runs against the guide) has to be parallel to the blade, or the saw will drift from the cut line and/or blow a lot of splinters out of the edge of the plywood. *the blade- it has to be sharp, run true and have the right tooth geometry for the cut you're making.
Yes, but normally referenced by type (table, wormdrive, etc.). When I say circular, I mean the short stubby electric hand saw such as:
It really doesn't matter. I'll want a straight cut in any plywood I cut.
I have a table saw but it's not setup to cut 4X8 sheets of plywood. Not enough table space/support to feed a single sheet by myself. I have done this and found it to be inaccurate - I do not get a straight cut. That's why I was looking at the guide.
A shop made jig like:
Will work fine with a worm drive saw, as long as you cut the jig with the worm drive saw.
I use a guide similar to that one, except I used a strip of aluminum channel for the guide. Leaving the 1 or 1 1/2 inch on the left allows room to clamp it in place. Works great. But I don't have a worm drive saw. Can't see where it would matter.
It will work fine. Just build it with the fact that your saw blade is on the left. I have a Milwaukee circular saw with the blade on the left. I prefer it to the ones with the blade on the right because it seems easier to eyeball the cutting. My cutting guide is just like the one shown but designed for a "left blade".
Max
I am doing exactly that and it works great. The only challenge is that some cuts with the guide end up being a bit of a reach (cutting a 4x8 sheet into two 4x4 sheets, for example) and the weight and balance of my Skil Mag 77 make it a little harder to operate with one hand.
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