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Track Saws

26K views 174 replies 19 participants last post by  Steven Owen 
#1 ·
Before doing some research on track saws, I'll admit I never understood why any would actually want/need a track saw for woodworking?

I always thought Track Saws were primarily designed for contractors cutting long mitres in kitchen counter tops.

I've watched dozens of videos woodworking sites, Twitter and YouTube. The vast array of quite impressive projects you can produce using a track saw.

I also thought Kreg's solution to allow circular saws to run on track would potentially make track saws irrelevant.

I doubt you could ever get the same speed, performance or accuracy using a circular saw on a tracks. The blade on most circular saws are a source of added vibration and tear out.

Festool was one of the only companies making Track saws a few years ago. They were off the charts pricey.

With Triton, Makita, Bosch and Dewalt, etc... making ,track saws there's a lot of great options outside of Festool.

Triton newest revision of their track saw is very refined and gives the Festool Track Saw a run for it's money with the quality of their current design.

I would never considered a track saw before seeing how the track saws could be used on more advanced projects. I always felt my Table Saw and Circular Saw had me covered.

I've seen the light and will probably buy a Track Saw within the next year or two.

What do you guys think of the track saws? Do you think they are worthwhile or do you feel there's other options that work just as well for less money?
 
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#160 ·
@Steven Owen Haven't forgotten, but one eye just won't stop giving me grief and I can't really see all that well yet. That new blade is mighty pretty. Nice thick carbide in the teeth so it will sharpen many times for heavy users. Noticeably thicker than the stock blade, so I don't want to cut the rubber edge line with the stock blade.
 
#161 ·
That’s unfortunate. I want to make a new China Cabinet for my Mom and a new desk for me:

I’m pretty much stuck with having to cough-up a prettier penny for the Festool TS 75.

There’s not many track saw options for anything that can handle 2 inch solid wood top cuts.
 
#162 ·
@steve Owen

How much call are you going to have to cut 2" thick hardwood? It doesn't make a lot of sense (financially anyway) to spend all that extra money for the additional capacity for a one-time project.

I've cut many 1-1/2" thick maple countertops with a circular saw and straight edge and had more than acceptable cuts - you need a good solid saw, and a high-quality sharp blade.

I don't know about the Triton (or Festool either to be honest), but my Makita is giving more than acceptable cuts in 3/4" plywood, and just humming through the cuts. Are there some aspects of the Makita that could be changed? - of course there are, but the same thing can be said about pretty much every tool out there. How many tool reviews have you read where the reviewer had absolutely no criticism, however minor?
 
#163 ·
The TS 75 isn’t that badly priced once you consider they include a 75 inch track.

I only use plywood for drawers. I’ll never be cutting the board down the 8 foot length. Cuts in hardwood sections is going to be my primary use. Breakdown sheets for the Table Saw will be the secondary use.

I just want to buy this Saw once. I also want to minimize the number of power tools required to get a perfect edge. The TS 75 is a bit heavy for plywood, it’s the top rated track saws for clean edge hardwood cuts while preserving the scrap edge.

Makita hasn’t done anything to refine the performance of the SP6000 on the wasted side of the board. When you’re cutting pricey walnut and Mahogany. You want to make use of the scrap for other jobs.
 
#165 ·
It looks like Mafell might be the reason why there’s no Bosch track saws in North America. Mafell is manufacturing the Bosch plunge saw; I guess they don’t want cheaper Blue painted Mafell cutting into their sales in North America.
 
#166 ·
I posted my review in a separate thread, but thought I'd repost it here as well. I also get to clean up some spelling goofs here.

After a couple of weeks delay, here's the promised review of the Triton plunge/track saw, Model TTS 1400. I purchased this on sale about a month ago from Rockler. I also purchased the 59 inch long track for it and the two, 27 inch short tracks, since I wanted sufficient length to cut 5 ft sq BB ply.

First step was replacing the stock blade with a 165 mm Infinity purpose built blade. This had a slightly wider kerf than the Triton and the carbide teeth look to be slightly wider and noticeably thicker for potentially more sharpenings. Replacement was easy. There is a small switch with two overlapping circles beside the top of the plunge handle. This is the setting for changing blades. Press down on the handle and the blade goes down just far enough to reveal the bolt and washer that hold the blade on. The saw clicks and holds this position until you are finished. Slide the blade out the bottom slot, slide the new blade in, put the washer and bolt back in and tighten. There is a push button that when pressed in, locks the blade so it won't rotate. A handy item is that the Allen wrench used to loosen/tighten the bolt fits in an opening in the upper handle so you won't lose it.

Next order of busines was connecting one short track to the long one, since you must trim the rubber hold down strip before first use. I was disappointed to discover that one of the short tracks did not quite line up with the long track, in fact, this raised portion caused the saw to hang up slightly when passing the joint. I will see about a replacement. The other segment lined up correctly. Be sure to get the alignment right before tightening the set screws on the connectors. The connectors are two strips so the set screws engage the top and bottom of the two T tracks into which they fit. There is a very tiny bit of play that will permit you to align the two tracks before cinching them down tight with the supplied allen wrench. I stowed the wrench in the instruction book, otherwise I'll surely lose track of it.

You trim the edge using the scoring setting. The same switch that allows changing the blade has a second circle symbol with a line drawn through the edge of the circle for the scribe cut setting. This limits the plunge to about 3/16ths below the track. I did this with two 2x4s set side by side. The scribe cut was clean and crisp. This produces a nice clean edge on the rubber. The anti friction tape on the tracks did their job so sliding the saw was smooth and easy. You must turn the anti kickback knob on the side of the saw's base to allow it to slide backwards on the track.

The knobs... The blade side of the saw contains several settings. The trunion adjustment allows setting the blade angle anywhere from 90 to about 48 degrees. Very solid and seems to be precise. There is a depth of cut limiting knob that you set so the teeth just clear the workpiece. I think I set it to go too deep, so as the teeth came up out of the workpiece, it tore out fine splinters in the outside. The cut was very clean under the rubber hold down side.

If you look at the pictures, you'll see several strips cut from the same piece of BB ply. The top edge is the roughest and was cut with my DeWalt 18v circular saw with a fairly fine blade. It was the exit side of the cut. The middle narrow strip shows the tearout from the Triton on the unprotected edge. This ply has been sitting in our very dry weather for months and I think that contributed to the problem. The third strip was cut with the Triton with blue tape on the edge and has almost no tearout. Blue painter's tape will be a regular thing for me. I think I also need to reduce the depth of cut so the whole gullet isn't visible below the workpiece. A shallower angle slice might help with tearout. The only problem edge is the one not supported where the blade exits. All other edges are very clean. I have not tried a piece of melamine, so I can't comment on chip out. I suspect that with the Infinity blade, scribing and keeping the good side down, it will be slight

Dust collection was quite good. The picture shows the residue after 3 cuts. The DC port happened to fit into a hose I got from Lowes. I'll be using some of Rockler's stretchy tape to seal this a little better, but there was no dust flying around at all. My hose terminates in a 4 inch connector that fits into my HF DC unit. I use the same setup to clean out my table saw, but I'll keep the hose in the garage shop with the track saw. I was expecting mediocre performance on DC, so this was a very pleasant surprise.

It takes a little while to figure out what all the knobs do, but they mostly have to do with fitting the saw tight to the track. There are holes at the end of each track so you can hang them up, out of harm's way.

Power on this saw seemed to be a little light. You will want to let it run up to speed before plunging, then let it wind to a stop before lifting the saw off the track. It is close to 10 lbs, and if I had to lift it all day long, it would be unpleasant. If I were doing construction, expecially finish work, I'd pop for the Festool, but for my purposes the Triton TTS1400 is a very nice choice

Over all, I'd give this an 8.5 to 9 on a scale of 10. Worth the near $500 I paid for the whole kit and kaboodle. But I will definitely be using painter's tape or scoring cuts with it for best results.

Nice to get back in the shop again. And this is much easier to read than the original. Good writing is all about editing.
 

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#167 ·
Finally got back out in the shop and had to cut the bottom for a pull-out shelf, thought I'd post these photos of the cut my Makita made on a piece of 1/2" birch plywood - standard Makita blade that came with the saw, the offcut edge is to the right, just like the first photo, cut with the "good face" down (force of habit). I bought the plywood at HD so it's probably not A1 grade, but more than good enough for a drawer bottom. I've been pretty satisfied with the cut I've been getting with this saw - the Makita blade actually gets pretty high scores in the reviews that I've read. I'll see how it holds up to some more use before deciding whether I need to spend the money for an Infinity blade.
 

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#172 ·
I'll have to keep that in mind for the next time - I have a little extrusion made to fit along/under the fence to stop the laminate from slipping under. Always remember about it after I've juggled the sheet through the saw holding the RH edge up off the table so it doesn't slide under the fence - maybe I should add a hook to the saw cabinet and hang it there so I know where it is.
 
#173 ·
Right, it slides under the fence and sometimes rides up the blade and jumps. That's how I started this project. Then part way through I remembered I had a track saw, I put down that piece of plywood, set the blade to 1/8" so it only minimally scored the plywood under the laminate. Cut it very clean! I also used clamps to hold the track to the plywood, sandwiching the laminate between the track and the plywood. It worked very well!
 
#175 ·
I wonder if the XP6000 is going to become the ugly step child of the Makita line-up.

There’s seven new blades being designed to expand the functionality of the XPS01PTJ. They fixed several problems people complained about in the design of the XP6000. The XPS01PTJ cordless has a better handle, better dust port design, improved egonomics better knobs, and a smoother plunge.

Makita has zero plans to do anything to fix or improve the XP6000 design. None of new high performance blades will be designed to work with the XP6000. All the new blades will be exclusive to the X2 platform based XPS01PTJ.

It’s kind of annoying but I guess you can’t sell battery upgrades for the XP6000.
 
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