cheap tracksaw

[Electric Comet]

seems like a good deal for a complete setup

i am not a big fan of their larger equipment but i saw a favorable review of the larger tracksaw

it is designed in germany

[notbob]

But, where is it made?

My Bugera guitar amplifier is designed in Germany. It's built in China. No big deal, as the amp is surprisingly well made. Still, I get a bit suspicious whenever I see someone trying to capitalize on the fact something may be "designed" in a location famous for its past engineering prowess.

That issue aside, WTF is a "tracksaw", besides yet another tool I've never heard of. I think I get the general idea, though. Instead of a piece of scrap clamped to a workpiece to act as a makeshift fence, use extruded alum to make a precision track. Brilliant! Seriously, I can see why it would be popular fer cutting panels and plywood.

nb

[Swingman]

A German product, the Festool TS75 and TS55 were the first "Plunge Cut"/Track saws to gain a lot of traction in the US:

DeWalt and Makita both came out with one later.

Both Leon and I are Festool junkies, and swear by the TS75-55 ... be careful, it's a slippery slope.

Here's mine in action:

For the past six or seven years it has taken the place of a job site table saw for me when remodeling kitchens and baths.

I also use it daily in the shop, particularly to rough cut stacks of plywood that would be tough to handle in my small shop:

[DerbyDad03]

Are you cutting into the door used as your table...just a little?

[Swingman]

I can lay my hands on more old doors, which would end up in the dumpster on most remodel jobs, than I could ever use.

Most of the time we use those, and a couple of folding sawhorse, for jobsite "work benches".

Flat, light, strong, and disposable ... in that same dumpster.

Think of it as my nod to liberal/progressive values ... gotta start somewhere. ;)

[DerbyDad03]

Good Grief! All that extra wear and tear on those expensive Festool blades!

I've got four hanging from my garage ceiling, 2 on each side of the GDO track. The door just barely clears them while moving.

...and picnic tables!

[krw]

Someone should tell Festool about this idea. I bet they'd sell a bunch!

[krw]

I bought the door, so just put a piece of particle board on top. I framed a lip on the edge of the board to keep it from sliding around.

[nailshooter41]

Hmmm... the Grizz doesn't stack up all that well. If you want some real ut ility value out of a track saw, get one that can be used to dimension your work accurately. Otherwise, you can use this:

or some variant of this:

Both can be used to rough dimension lumber for breakdown. I used to carry one in my truck, and the Johnson worked surprisingly well with saw s, as long as no one dropped it or bent it.

When I thought I was going to be building some simple shelves for a custome r, I was looking at the different track saws. Two competitors, Makita and Dewalt had their pros and cons, each having their strong points, each comin g equipped differently, making it hard to compare.

But the one that won in quality of cut every time was the Festool. Never s aw DeWalt or Makita beat the Festool, except in price. But when comparing apples to apples, I think Festool is actually fairly competitive in their o ffering of this tool and after careful comparison there is only a couple of hundred or so dollars difference between the DeWalt and Festool.

The capper on that for me was that I saw the quality of cut that Karl was g etting on year when visiting as he had been breaking down the sheet goods a s needed for a cabinet order. I remember thinking then, wow... if I had th is I wouldn't need to worry about a table saw on a jobsite. And at the end of the day, take it apart, unplug the saw and take the whole thing home wi th no fuss at all.

But the cut edges... really, really nice. At that time he had been using t he saw for about 3 years (IIRC) and the original blade still left a perfect cut edge on the micro thin veneer of the birch cab ply. I think in this s etup that the blade alone is probably worth $80 or more, a component OFTEN overlooked in regards to the quality and accuracy of cutting with one of th ese saws. If the Festool setup lasts that long and cuts that well with the original blade, no doubt, the Festool would be my choice if I am put in th at position again.

Personally, I would take my Johnson guide and Makita sidewinder all day lon g over that Grizzly.

Robert

[-MIKE-]

I have an 8' version of that. Work very well.

[Leon]

Actually they have one like this but I doubt it is inexpensive.

[Leon]

Swingman showed you his track saw, below is what I have done with mine. I was commissioned by an airline company to build a display for their convention displays of their aircraft. The lower airplane is 60" long and has a 60" wing span. The posts that both are mounted on protrude through the top and anchor with a large peg, on the bottom end, into an inner lower shelf. The trick was to cut the hole exact and at a 15 degree angle through the top. The fit had to be very close to perfect to prevent wiggle. I use the TS75 track saw to simply plunge to make the cuts, not totally unlike the action of a drill press. I locked the saw so that it did not slide on the track. The track also is your alignment tool, it places the saw precisely where it needs to be. Anyway I covered the top with a Formica like material after cutting the hole in the top. I also rough cut all of the separate pieces of laminate with the track saw before adhering and trimming.

Oddly the company that built the rest of this commercial display could not build the one to display the star attractions. Like all of the other display components this had to be broke down and reassembled 50+ times all over the world.

That was 3 years ago. Six months ago I was invited to the company's

25th anniversary party. It display still looked great. ;~)

[Leon]

IIRC Karl had the Johnson like guide and a Makita sidewinder when we began working together on kitchens 10 or so years ago. IIRC the saw carriage had roller bearings to guide the saw down the track.

I do recall having to clamp the track to the work, something that you do not have to do with the Festool tracks and the clones. I never clamp the track on thick material that stays relatively flat. I do use clamps on 1/4" sheet goods.

[Swingman]

The doors I use for this purpose already have a problem, or we would donate them to Habit for Humanity.

But, we still use them before doing so by using a sheet of 3/4" insulation as a pad to protect them.

AAMOF, in one of the photos you can see that being done while cutting on top of a stack of plywood.

[notbob]

We have a HfH Re-Sale store. Been there a few times. Lotta doors!

nb

[Swingman]

And sinks ... got to the point where some ReStores won't even take them.

When building a house, and suddenly needing odd items, like a hard to find Simpson product, I always check the local Habitat ReStore ... saved my butt quite a few times, in more than one city.

I use a program/system called "Priority Matrix" for project management. The last item on any matrix/list, when either building or remodeling, is: "Call Habitat/schedule pickup".

Great organization, IME.

[-MIKE-]

Those door in the racks at Home Depot and Lowes already have a problem... They were made and being sold as doors. :-)

[DerbyDad03]

re: ReStore doors.

My son lived in a basement room of a friend's house. The basement stairs went down to a landing, then you turned left or right and down 2 steps into a room on either side of the landing. There were no doors on either room when he (and his girlfriend) moved in. The room to the left was the laundry room, used by all the other housemates. He (and especially his GF) really wanted a door on his side.

The wall for the stairs ended at the landing, so the only place to hang the door was at the end of that wall, opening into the room. That meant that the door had to be hung so that it closed over the step and against the landing.

We went to a Re-Store, found a door for $20 and asked if they had a jamb. The guy found a jamb and threw it in for free. Another $5 for hinges and hardware and we were set.

We went back to the house, cut down the door and jamb - a lot - to fit over the step and hung it. We actually hung it upside down so that the knob was at a reasonable height when you stood on the landing. It sure was funny looking. You had to reach down to open it from outside of the room and up to open it from the inside. When it was open, it was something like 8" off the floor because of the step.

It served its purpose - for the whole 3 months that he lived there. Kids!

[nailshooter41]

Right there with you! Some of the doors they sell should be used as pallet skids to protect their concrete. Out of square, varying thickness across the length, etc. And to the big box guys, a "hollow" door means hollow. L ast retrofit of a couple of colonial style panel doors I felt like I was bu ying a four sided frame with nothing in it.

I cut the door for length and found that to be true.

At lease their smooth hollow doors have a cardboard matrix in them. Nothin g at all in the colonial style blanks I bought from Lowe's.

Robert

[DerbyDad03]

et skids to protect their concrete. Out of square, varying thickness acros s the length, etc. And to the big box guys, a "hollow" door means hollow. Last retrofit of a couple of colonial style panel doors I felt like I was buying a four sided frame with nothing in it.

ing at all in the colonial style blanks I bought from Lowe's.

My buddy had a tract house built a few years back. Not a bad looking place. He told the builder that his wife wanted a cat door put in the colonial style door going to the basement. He asked the builder what it would cost to have him do it because he didn't want to void any warranties by doing it himself (he's not a real handy guy). The builder told him to try it himself first. He said he could replace the door for cheaper than he would have to charge him in labor to put the cat door in. That should tell you the quality of the doors they used.

I ended up helping him (read: doing it). The door did have a cardboard matr ix in some sections, but the whole door was basically cardboard.

It's been about 6 years. The house is still standing and the cat door hasn' t fallen out yet. Go figure.