Thread: Table saw conundrum size/space/purpose

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

The track saw amazed and disappointed me, on one hand it was a dead straight cut but I expected it to give me the same tolerance cut of a cabinet/slider saw and I was very quickly P'd off when I saw the amount of stuffing around it took to get anywhere near that and I must admit I gave up on the whole deal. It is a really good system for site work but chippies have a different idea of what is accurate to me and if I was a chippie it would be the first tool I would buy after a cordless drill.

Hi Chris
Having broken down a 3000 x 1000 x 50 slab with a tracksaw I know what you mean.

But I've also used the MFT kit where it's the grid of holes that keeps everything square and allows the track saw to shine.
Without something like an MFT you will always be faced with lots of stuffing around.

Hi

Well for what it's worth, I'd vote for a sliding table panel saw.

Yes, I know the problem is SIZE ) but, if you "shop around" and look on Gumtree as I did, you could score a bargain. During my reno's I managed to acquire the original narrow two car garage for a wood workshop, as I built a wider (acceptable) sized garage for the cars.

My intention was to put a 3m x 1.2m bench in the centre of this "new" workshop with benches and machines around the sides of the workshop. This did not happen.

Like you, I had a lot of cabinetry work to do. I considered a panel saw because the tablesaw I already had would require some additional table extensions to support the in feed and out feed sides. To cater for the 2400 x 1200 mdf, this would of course require (more or less) the same space as a panel saw. So, I looked on Gumtree and managed to find a Lazzari Juno 3000i panel saw which I obtained for a bargain price of $700. The saw was operational and worked well but still required a clean up and service. I did the clean up and service and purchased three new blades, a 14" rip blade, a 14" crosscut blade and a 4" scribe blade. The new blades set me back approximately $1000! I decided to replace the rollers for the outrigger arm. The original rollers worked but the outrigger arm vibrated as it moved, that cost $240 at a local engineering company.

This saw has a 3m long sliding table (GREAT ). The saw therefore needs AT LEAST 6m to operate. This is hard to fit inside a 5m garage (now workshop). Fortunately, the new garage is directly in front of the workshop, so I positioned the panel saw so that the "fixed" portion of the base is just inside the workshop roller door, so the sliding table now extends out into the garage by about 2m

As I need a minimum of 2.4m between the workshop wall and the saw blade, the blade of the saw is now 2.5m from the left hand wall putting it more or less in the centre of the whole workshop area. This will make it difficult to place the table saw, radial arm saw, compound mitre saw and bandsaw into the remaining space, but I'll figure out a way as soon as I get time to work on the workshop, I'm too busy with the cabinetry at the moment )

As for the cost, the cheapest quote I received for a custom made flat pack kitchen was much more than the cost of the saw and the material cost to make the kitchen myself. So in one sense, the saw was effectively free and I can now build the cabinets for the walk in robe and the alfresco area and a new bar upstairs. If I decide to sell the saw, I'll recoup the money I paid for the saw, with a possible bonus (except for potential buyers that read this post ) ).

The benefits of the panel saw are mostly obvious, but one of the best features to have is the scribe (scoring) blade the edges of cut panels are SQUARE and razor sharp (DAMHIKT). So the application of edgebanding on the cabinets looks superb. Yes, there are methods to prevent or at least reduce chipout when using a track saw etc. but NOTHING beats the convenience of a scribe blade.

So after all that drivel, I suggest if there is ANY way you could afford and fit in a (small) panel saw or table saw with a sliding table you won't regret it. BTW, don't forget the other option of the vertical panel saw. These have many benefits too and there are plans available online.

Best wishes

Time for an update...
I have contacted a number of suppliers in Qld, NSW, Victoria and SA, and it appears that there is a severe lack of table saws currently available, everything is on back order. So I've put my name down for a Laguna Fusion, a Harvey, and a Sherwood when they arrive. In this case whoever gets stock first wins. I'll provide an update when I get one.

I have decided to not get a panel saw, or a saw with a rip capacity of more than 1m (although I wish I could just build another shed so I could fit one). I'm building a foldable 2400x1200 cutting table instead that will double as an outfeed table. Its essentially going to be a super sized MFT with a track saw rail from Timbecon that is fixed in position so that it always cuts perpendicular to a fence along the long edge. I'll post some pics once the table is built.

Thanks for all the replies.

So, shipping containers have arrived. But now I have another choice to make - Harvey HW110LC-30 or Harvey HW110LGE-30. This never ends.

There are plenty of positive reviews of the HW110LGE-30, but I can't find any feedback on the smaller lighter model (which usefully can get plugged into a 10 amp socket). If you have anything good or bad to say about either, please let me know.

the Dewalt 7491 accepts dado blades FYI. One of the only TS that does in australia. I have the same storage issue and though the Dewalts are OTT for DIYers, and a little larger than say the Metabo (which has some cool portability features btw) I believe it is one of the most accurate and dependable on the Ozzie market. Has quite a large rip capacity too for larger sheets (825mm right). I'm still researching and so far the only thing making me doubt laying out for the DW7491 is the ridiculous cost of a trolley stand and whats rumoured about the mitre gauge slot being sloppy. If I'm going to fork out nearly a grand, I want no extra mod costs