Shopmade Panel Saw

[Maskman]

In the most recent issue of Fine Woodworking there is an article on building a collapsable panel saw. Does anyone know of any other designs, plans, etc. out there? Thanks a lot, Jer

[Maskman]

[Joel Corwith]

One of the first ShopNotes has plans for a panel saw. Just guessing I'd say #4. I pretty much went into Homedepo and copied one of theirs.

pretty similar to the ShopNotes version. And just parts phx

And there were 24,400 hits on 'panel saw plans' for a google group search.

[Bob]

I've never understood the relative value of one of the homemade panel saws. They take up a lot of space, even when folded. I screw a couple of 7 foot 2x4 boards to the wooden tops of my two sawhorses and lay the panel on top of them. I adjust the blade of my circular saw to cut about 1/4" deeper than the thickness of the plywood or Mdf panel (thus cutting into the 2x4 boards. Its fast and doesn't take up a lot of space when stored.

Bob

[Maskman]

[B a r r y]

That works well, but I've found something works even better for me.

I put the sheet goods on the floor, on foam insulation, and simply kneel on the sheet with my Makita trim saw. The 2'x8' foam sheets easily store in my garage rafters, or outside, under my deck. One could easily cut the foam into whatever size stores the easiest for them.

I picked this technique up here on the 'wreck a few years back and have yet to go back to sawhorses.

Barry

[Larry Jaques]

On 11 Sep 2004 21:48:06 -0700, "Bob" calmly ranted:

Ditto with scrap strips of 1" insulating foam panels and a $20 StrateCut(tm) aluminum channel guide. No fuss, no muss, easy storage.

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[Maskman]

[mike]

I built a panel saw that is on wheels, similar to saws you see in the home centers. It is not collaspable but stores along a wall. Uses sliding door rails and hardware to guide the saw. Accurate, dead square crosscuts. I do not rip with the panel saw as I have a cabinet saw for ripping. Last year I had a job that required almost 300 crosscuts in oak plywood, thus building a panel saw.If you anticipate a lot of crosscutting sheet goods, then a panelsaw is very handy.I probably could figure out a way to rip with my saw without removing the saw and turning it 90 degrees on the mdf base.I might lose accuracy of crosscuts though.

mike

[GerryG]

I still think the key factor is what you need to do. In the last project I had

3-4 sheets to cut up, and just did it over a bed of 2x4s. The next project will need about 15 sheets of 3/4 ply and I'm waiting until I can see the cutting diagrams to decide if it justifies a panel saw. If I had several times that number of sheets, there wouldn't be any question.

Yes, it could still be done with a straight ends and 2x4s. But then I really wouldn't need a table saw, either. The reason I have one is because of the number of rips I typically need. Same with a panel saw if the number of wide crosscuts grows enough.

It also seems to me that you could make >I like this idea. Thanks.

[Cable Tech]

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