Track Saw advice...

[A.Steve]

Hi... I think I want to buy a cheap track saw. I am struggling to make a decision... I'm hoping to solicit some advice here...

I'm only an occasional DIY-er - ready to give most things a go - under no illusion that I've any natural skill. I've bought some tools; I've inherited more tools - though they weren't the best quality.

I've already got:

* Einhell sliding compound Mitre Saw - It's great - I got mine for £150.
* ~20 year old cheap when new chop saw. Nothing wrong with it - but I don't need it now I've got the Einhell.
* ~20 year old (very cheap when new) Titan 10" Table saw. Poor condition. I am keeping it - but it is difficult to cut accurately with it. OK for garden projects etc.
* ~20+ year old circular saw. It was dropped a decade ago - twisting the base. I've used it pushed against a straight edge to cut ply/stand-board. It's basically scrap - it smells of burning and won't hold the depth/angle at which it is set. I used it to cut rubbish to burn - but it's not up to much else.

I only very occasionally cut sheet materials. Maybe one job every other year. I've two jobs I want to do involving sheet material in the near future. I want to trim a kitchen counter-top... and I want to cut replacement chipboard flooring to replace damaged pieces. My existing saws aren't suited to either task.

My hunch is that the right tool for the job is a track saw. I've always found it difficult to make accurate cuts using a circular saw... and, I'm guessing, this would be much easier with a track to avoid my cut wandering off course. I don't want to waste money - but I'm also aware that my requirements are very basic... and that good track saws seem very expensive. I feel I need to replace my circular saw... and I'm wondering if a cheap Track saw would be the right purchase.

I looked at the McAlister track saw in B&Q - but I wasn't very impressed... the build quality seemed cheaper than the price and it's only 1200W.

Online I've found:
Evolution R185CCSX - 1600W - 1.02m track (bit short?) - £113
GMC 336282 1400W - 1400W - 1.40m track - £102.74

Is it silly to be considering one of these cheap saws? Would I be better with a standard circular saw and my old trick of trying to use a straightedge against the edge of the base of the circular saw? Does anyone own either of the cheap track saws above? If so - would you recommend the one you've got?

 

[ETAF]

my son-in-law DIYer went for a makita SP6000 in the end after a lot of research we both did
i think he purchased from FFX , box, tracks& clamp , track bag, - but this is on D&M, but without the clamps

Makita SP6000K1 240V 165mm Plunge Saw, Carry Case with 2 x 1.5m Rails & Connector Bar & Rail Carry Bag, at D&M Tools

Makita SP6000K1 240V 165mm Plunge Saw, Carry Case with 2 x 1.5m Rails & Connector Bar & Rail Carry Bag, at D&M Tools.

www.dm-tools.co.uk

I still use guides and a circular saw for a lot of my DIY and hav eused to make cupboards, window boxes and refuirbish a cloakroom, I have both a silverline and the trend guide which works well on sheet material when clamped - i use a template to setup up the distance from the drawn line to the guide itself, and clamp, takes a bit of time, but as a DIYer and retired thats not an issue , time doesn't cost me money

have a look at Peter Millard on youtube - he has done a lot of videos about tracksaws - and budget ones, certainly worth a watch

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I've always found it difficult to make accurate cuts using a circular saw... and, I'm guessing, this would be much easier with a track to avoid my cut wandering off course. I don't want to waste money - but I'm also aware that my requirements are very basic... and that good track saws seem very expensive. I feel I need to replace my circular saw... and I'm wondering if a cheap Track saw would be the right purchase.

You are right about a track saw being a good option if you need to make a lot of straight cuts in sheet materials. A track saw, however, is not ideal for cutting rough sawn timber, etc and it won't work well on thicker materials and it can't easily do short crosscuts on stuff like 3 x 2in softwood (fortunately you have a chop saw for that)

... the build quality seemed cheaper than the price and it's only 1200W

1200 watts is about right - 160/165mm industrial models from Festool, Makita and Virutex are all about 1200 watts. Bearing in mind that the main function of these saws is to cut materials no thicker than 25mm most of the time, it is adequate

Of the two you posted the GMC is a true plunge saw, with better dust extraction and the ability to make centre panel cuts. The GMC having a closed safety guard will have better dust extraction than the Evo. It will also need a shorter guide rail than the Evo because it can make a plunge cut (thus needing only 100mm or so overhang at each end of the cut, so a crosscut of an 8 x 4ft can be done with a 1400mm rail - the Evo doesn't plunge, so will require something like 300 to 350mm overhang at the start of cut and maybe 200mm at the end of cut, meaning 1700mm or so of rail is needed for the same cut)

I'd say, from long experience, that a 700 or 800mm rail is useful for short cuts, but not really that accurate if you want to do a full length rip on an 8 x 4ft sheet - 2 x 1400mm rails are more accurate for that (the more joints there are, the less accurate the cut can become).

Bear in mind that you will need a cutting table of some description to work on with this type of saw; I make up 7 x 3ft (approx) frames for this when on jobs. Also that the saws ideally require a dedicated power tool vacuum cleaner as they generate a LOT of dust when cutting MDF, plywood, cement fibre board, etc.

Do budget for a couple of extra blades - different materials require different blades

 

[big-all]

its also worth pointing out perhaps 150-200mm [may be less??] is needed for the saw overhang for the saw to sit on so its on the track when the plunge starts thats why tracks are not "board size" so a 800mm track may only cut a maximum 625 in width
my comments may only be fully relevant to the dewalt design as it swivels forward on plunge by around 50-75mm dependent on depth off cut

 

[daggermark]

The best of the cheapo track saws is the Parkside (Lidl own brand). Unfortunately you have to watch like a hawk for when they get listed on the "middle of Lidl" page, and pounce immediately. I waited almost 6 months and when I got there they only had 2 left. Fortunately I wasn't in a rush for one as I already had a circular saw and a nice thick piece of ply I used to clamp to the workpiece for a straight edge. The track saw has proven far superior in terms of straightness of cut and I'm very pleased to now have it.

I believe the Parkside is also compatible with some other brand tracks with minor modification - the earlier recommendation of Peter Millard's youtube videos is a good one.

 

[A.Steve]

Thanks for the replies so far. The Makita SP6000 probably is a superb tool - but it does feel like overkill for my purposes. £439 is ~3 times more expensive than my most expensive other power tool... and is likely to be the tool I use least often.

For rough-sawn material - I expect my old, tatty, table saw is ideal. I only used my on-its-last-legs circular saw for cutting sheet material... which isn't something I need to do very often. Flooring and counter tops mainly... I used my table saw to make a drawer this year - it turned out OK - perhaps I'd have been more accurate with a track saw - but the end result was OK. It was a practical project - I wasn't aiming to win woodworking awards.

The observation about closed/open blades and dust extraction seem relevant. In a workshop environment - if making lots of cuts - I'm entirely sold about the need for dust extraction. For few cuts - on very infrequent occasions - probably outdoors - I feel dust is less of a problem for me. I didn't feel that dust was any concern with the circular saw - I just cleaned up afterwards. I do have a vacuum cleaner for my workshop - but it's not dedicated for power tools... just a cheap basic wet/dry no-name cleaner. I've not seriously tried to connect it to my existing power tools - it didn't seem necessary... On the one occasion I tried... the extra hose hindered rather than helped me do accurate work. When I connected it to my table saw... it made no difference at all.

If I bought a plunge/track saw with a covered blade... while I like the safety aspect... would I likely run into difficulty if I were to use it without dust extraction? For example, is the blade more likely to jam in the housing if used without dust extraction? If so - then maybe an open blade is better for me?

 

[foxhole]

The best of the cheapo track saws is the Parkside (Lidl own brand). Unfortunately you have to watch like a hawk for when they get listed on the "middle of Lidl" page, and pounce immediately. I waited almost 6 months and when I got there they only had 2 left. Fortunately I wasn't in a rush for one as I already had a circular saw and a nice thick piece of ply I used to clamp to the workpiece for a straight edge. The track saw has proven far superior in terms of straightness of cut and I'm very pleased to now have it.

I believe the Parkside is also compatible with some other brand tracks with minor modification - the earlier recommendation of Peter Millard's youtube videos is a good one.

Saw track saw in Lidl this week.
Another cheap option here,

Excel 165mm Plunge Saw 1200W/240V with 1 x Guide Rail, Connector & Cla

Powerful 165mm 1200W saw, the router can be used for rabbeting, rounding off, chamfering, routing of edges, as well as pitting in wood and plastic.

www.googleadservices.com

 

[^woody^]

Maybe one job every other year. I've two jobs I want to do involving sheet material in the near future. I want to trim a kitchen counter-top... and I want to cut replacement chipboard flooring to replace damaged pieces

Just use a straight edge, such as a level, clamped to the material.

Don't fall for the hype.

 

[cdbe]

I've also shied away for years but took the "plunge" recently and got an refurbished/return erbauer from eBay for around £100. I only use it occasionally so it's a bit of a pain having to read the instruction manual each time but it's performed well - first time was to trim 3mm off the edge of an engineered oak door - so good it barely needed a sand down afterwards and second to trim some cheap contiboard - again a perfect cut.

As for using a circular saw and straight edge, I don't know as my circular is a doggy 40 year old Bosch thing that bites and burns its way through - nails, screws and all - a better saw would no doubt produce better results. I've previously used my router for worktops etc but quite slow.

Only thing I would say about the erbauer set is it only comes with two short rails and extras are expensive.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Parkside have a straight edge clamp available every now and then, which is able to allow a cut width ways across a sheet, or I've always just clamped a straight edge to whatever I was cutting, a bit of a pain setting either up tbh. Have a cheap and cheerful table saw now which is accurate enough for me.

 

[^woody^]

Parkside have a straight edge clamp available every now and then, which is able to allow a cut width ways across a sheet,

It's 1200 long, but that's not long enough for a 1200 width sheet when the clamp is taken into account.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

My mistake, it only copes with 1m, I'd never actually measured it before, always assumed it'd do a full width.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Don't fall for the hype.

Well said Cap'n Ned...

...so, have you actually gotten around to using a rail saw yet?

If I bought a plunge/track saw with a covered blade... while I like the safety aspect... would I likely run into difficulty if I were to use it without dust extraction? For example, is the blade more likely to jam in the housing if used without dust extraction? If so - then maybe an open blade is better for me?

The closed blade tools are also the plunging type of saw (very, very few open blade saws have a plunge facility and AFAIK none of them auto retract at the end of the cut), so they have better extraction - if connected to a vacuum. You won't run into difficulties if you use a saw without a vacuum other than having to clean up all the time but having a vacuum also extends the blade life and makes for a better quality cut. The other thing about extraction is that because the guide rails (tracks) require a clean surface to operate on, having extraction makes for a cleaner working environment. With the saw running on a guide rail you find that the extraction hose can't easily pull the saw off track

No hype - just facts

 

[opps]

Just use a straight edge, such as a level, clamped to the material.

Don't fall for the hype.

Hype?

I have an older generation (single) Festool guide rail that is long enough for a 2440mm sheet. I know that it will give me a straight cut, leading in and out. It clamps from the underside, meaning that there are no obstacles.

I can draw pencil lines where I want to cut, line up the rubber edge of the guide rail and be confident that I will have a straight line. I will not need to prepare the cut edge afterwards.

Personally, when it comes to cutting sheet materials, I think that plunge saws on a track are much safer for a novice.

Which ones have you tried?

 

[opps]

I'd day, from long experience, that a 700 or 800mm rail is useful for short cuts, but not really that accurate if you want to do a full length rip on an 8 x 4ft sheet - 2 x 1400mm rails are mire accurate for that (the more joints there are, the less accurate the cut can become).

I have the first gen festool rails. I do occasionally use the 2 times "1400" tracks with the single connector bar. It is not very accurate. I believe that the newer ones have two connector bars though and are vastly superior.

I was alway annoyed that the first gen 8ft was just about long enough to plunge in and out, at a guess it just over 2.6m