• This topic has 37 replies, 19 voices, and was last updated 5 years ago by kcr.
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  • Table Saw
  • hunterst
    Free Member

    Now then

    I’m looking at buying a table saw for a project I have coming up and I have been promising myself one for ages.

    Has anybody used any of the following or got any other recommendations.

    The ones I’m looking at are

    Scheppach HS100S £160
    Clarke CTS14 10” £155
    Evolution Fury 5-s £150

    thanks

    nickjb
    Free Member

    What sort of job? I prefer a chop saw for smaller bits and a rail saw for larger bits. I do a fair bit of woodwork and never really felt the need for a table saw. There are some jobs where it would be handy but there is usually a good work around

    kcr
    Free Member

    Left field suggestion: would a track saw be suitable for your project?

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    footflaps
    Full Member

    If you have to do a lot of repeat cuts a table saw is the quickest solution, you can just set the fence up and fire away…

    nickjb
    Free Member

    Same on a track saw. Maybe not quite as quick but you can add stops for repeat cuts, very easy. I’d say it’s safer too.

    tomd
    Free Member

    I’ve got that Fury 5s. It works ok for me, it’s solid enough for the price. My dad has one also and uses it a lot for his woodworking hobby. He likes it but reckons the guides and all that are a bit flimsy so need care to get good cuts. I’m not sure if anything around that price would be better.

    blokeuptheroad
    Full Member

    Bought an Axminster tools one a year or so ago and it’s been great. It was a little more expensive than those you are looking at, but has a cast iron bed and seems to be superb quality. I have had a lot of DIY jobs involving woodwork recently and have used it a lot. I have a mitre saw too which also sees a lot of use, but having the two is really versatile. Although I have been using them for fairly rough and ready DIY carpentry out of necessity, it has awakened a bit of an interest in wood work and making stuff for pleasure. I have found myself watching quite a few YouTube woodworking tutorials and thinking ooh, “I could make that”!

    hunterst
    Free Member

    I’m going to be using it to cut plywood sheets when I clad the inside of the garage.

    I bought an evolution chop saw last year and its been brilliant – cant believe how much I use it.

    Over the last 4 or 5 years, if I have ever needed a tool I buy it as I’m trying to build my workshop up. I could have used a table saw a couple of times recently so it feels like the right time to get one.

    The last time I cut plywood sheets I used my circular saw, which always feels like a bit of a faff to be honest. Just feel the job would be so much easier on a table saw.

    A track saw would obviously do this particular job but I think I would use the table saw for a lot more than cutting sheets.

    joshvegas
    Free Member

    sheeets on a table saw is an absolute nightmare.

    you want a track saw.

    Honestly its the right tool for the job.

    It’s not a circular saw with a guide if thats what you are worried about. its much more refined.

    Just plonk the track where you want it and cut. I’ve done loads of stuff with a track saw including cutting slithers for betwixt floor boards and they went to to 1mm edge on some of them.

    try lifting a sheet and placing it on a small table and holding it flat . then imagine trying to do that with a spinning disk of death.

    blokeuptheroad
    Full Member

    The last time I cut plywood sheets I used my circular saw, which always feels like a bit of a faff to be honest. Just feel the job would be so much easier on a table saw.

    A word of caution with cutting plywood sheets. Unless you get a massive table saw, and someone to help you, cutting full sized sheets of plywood (8 x 4 ft) on a table saw is not practical. Despite having access to a table saw, I still use my circular saw to cut the full sized sheets into more manageable pieces. I do it on the garage floor with the sheets raised up on old 2x4s with a long straight edge clamped to the sheet as a fence for the circular saw. It works and is fairly precise if you take your time, but there is no getting away from the fact it’s a massive faff. There is probably a better way, but I haven’t found it yet.

    joshvegas
    Free Member

    There is probably a better way, but I haven’t found it yet.

    Track saw 😀

    you can make a less faffy solution for a circular saw by glueing a straigh edge to a bit of board and cutting the edge of the board whilst running against the fence. that cut face get put on the line and away you go. but a track grips so you don’t need to faff with the clamps unless its critical.

    Other advantage is a track saw goes with you. You can trim a door/kitchen cabinets etc in the room. no runnign outside cutiing to check then back outside etc.

    BigJohn
    Full Member

    I do a lot of cutting boards. A lot. From time to time I think of a table saw but I absolutely know I must never get a table saw, band saw or router table. That way lies loss of a finger or worse. I have never found anything I can’t cut quickly and accurately with my track saw.

    There are two excellent Youtube channels that deal with the track saw v table saw question. Peter Millard and Gosforth Handyman. If you look at the Peter Millard one he gives very realistic and good reports on the cheap end of the market too.

    If you have a pair of trestles (saw horses) and a couple of 2400mm lengths of CLS timber (3×2) you’re good to go. And ignore people who tell you you will need a long rail for the saw, I do all my work with a 1400mm one (and I cut 2800mm boards all the time) and I’ve done the same job with a cheap circular saw and a guide made out of a couple of pieces of offcut.

    Blazin-saddles
    Free Member

    For cutting sheet material, track saw all the way. I use a table saw for small stock only, thin rip cuts on small boards etc.

    TheFlyingOx
    Full Member

    I’ve got that exact Scheppach and whilst the saw itself is great, the table and fence are a bit naff. Just not secure enough for repeat cuts, and the table isn’t really big enough for 2440×1220 sheets. The loose stuff can be tightened with a fair amount of faff but to be honest I’d go with a circular saw/track saw, a couple of trestle tables and a straight edge guide held in place with a couple of clamps. It sounds like more faff when you read it on a forum but compared to using a cheap, small table saw it’s a piece of piss.

    BigJohn
    Full Member

    I used to have a problem with cutting smaller strips with the track saw but since getting an MFT type top and some bench dogs, together with a few self-made jigs and fences I’ve got it sorted.

    peaslaker
    Free Member

    Track saw definitely.

    The internets is biased to the american home woodworking scene where table saws have been seen as mandatory in unfeasibly massive permanent workshops. They’re evidently good for repeatable cuts on multiple parts but that isn’t what ripping a sheet is about. I’ve just been through quelling my table saw envy.

    I have a track saw, router, router table and a router track adapter plate. Does me for most things. Clamping and bench dogs make it safe and quick. A couple of Peter Millard jigs will see me sorted for cross cuts and the like.

    rene59
    Free Member

    sheeets on a table saw is an absolute nightmare.

    you want a track saw.

    Honestly its the right tool for the job.

    This. Track saw is perfect for breaking down sheets.

    footflaps
    Full Member

    sheeets on a table saw is an absolute nightmare.

    +1

    A table saw should be used with wood smaller than the table. An 8×4′ sheet of ply will be a nightmare on a small table saw and the track fence won’t stay put with an 8′ lever working against it.

    I use a track saw for ripping Ply. You need a sacrificial sheet or piece beneath so the trestles / ply sheet doesn’t collapse when you finish the cut. Set the blade depth to cut a few mm into the under sheet.

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/ecoMpy]Ripping Ply with Bosch Tracking Circular Saw[/url] by Ben Freeman, on Flickr

    timba
    Free Member

    You need plenty of space for a table saw otherwise they’re a pain. If you’re cutting 8’x4′ sheets you need to be able to feed in and feed out and manoeuvre the sheet too
    You can’t safely cut rebates and grooves on some (all?) because of the guard and bracket (riving knife), and all of the time that it’s not in use it’s in the way
    Cleaning out underneath is a pain as well, so it’s a tracksaw every time for my purposes

    TheDTs
    Free Member

    Was going to say the same as Timba, you need the same amount of space all round the saw as the size of the sheet you will be cutting. Plus space to move it.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    If I was buying again it would be track saw

    But as is I have a 60 quid used elu table/flip chop saw (solid as a solid thing)

    And an 8 inch Hitachi rip snorter.

    At the time tracksaws were the preserve of the pros and were from the premium brands mostly . And circa 4-500 quid.

    It can be done with the above but a tracksaws would be quicker and easier on your own esp if your buying new. Cheap table saws are not great at big stuff

    hunterst
    Free Member

    Thanks for all of the advice.

    Looks like a track saw would be the thing to get.
    Wish i had bought one instead of my circular saw.

    As i have the space (2 workshops at 6x5m)i think a table saw would still be a good addition one day but for this particular job – track saw is the way forward.

    Thanks again

    highpeakrider
    Free Member

    For a cheap table saw I got the one below, to mak it easier to move I made a wood stand for it with lockable castors.

    https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb674tas-254mm-table-saw-230-240v/9486j

    TheFlyingOx
    Full Member

    Wish i had bought one instead of my circular saw.

    Circular saw is almost as good. I use my circular saw with various lengths of box section aluminium as a guide and some quick release clamps to keep them in place. Takes maybe 20-30s longer to set up for each cut but it works fine.

    nickjb
    Free Member

    Circular saw is almost as good. I use my circular saw with various lengths of box section aluminium as a guide and some quick release clamps to keep them in place. Takes maybe 20-30s longer to set up for each cut but it works fine.

    That is what I used to do and thought the same but the track saw really is on another level. Much easier to use and get accurate, repeatable cuts.

    kcr
    Free Member

    A track saw is also much safer and allows for better dust extraction than a circular saw, which is very useful in a home workshop.

    BigJohn
    Full Member

    I was making wardrobes and cupboards a good few years before I bought my tracksaw. There’s not a massive difference in the quality achievable or the time taken. Google “making a fence for circular saw” for this essential accessory.

    bavariangaz
    Free Member

    Sorry to hijack… any recommendations for track saws?

    kayak23
    Full Member

    Sorry to hijack… any recommendations for track saws?

    What track saw?

    nickjb
    Free Member

    Sorry to hijack…

    It’s not really a hijacking, it’s where this thread was really going right from the start.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    and allows for better dust extraction than a circular saw,

    By what method does it achieve that. Once I stick the dust extractor on the circular saw there is relatively little reportable leavings

    Tbh mostly in lazy and just cut outside with wreckless abandon

    kayak23
    Full Member

    By what method does it achieve that. Once I stick the dust extractor on the circular saw there is relatively little reportable leavings

    Because the blade is way more encased on a track saw, almost completely. The depth of cut is also usually more controlled, most usually a millimetre or so into a sacrificial board so the dust only really has the dust extractor to go into. Regular circular saws wang it about a bit more with the blade exposed under the cut.

    mark_rich
    Free Member

    Also do a track saw Inc rails for £80, no idea what its like, but I’m sure it would be ideal cutting up sheets.

    https://www.aldi.co.uk/workzone-track-saw/p/087060236365900

    My next purchase will be a dewalt 54v circular saw, the new version is able to run on a rail, which is like 2 tools in one for me, about £500 with rails though so prob too expensive for DIY use.

    footflaps
    Full Member

    Because the blade is way more encased on a track saw, almost completely.

    That’s a plunge saw, not a track saw. I have the Bosch track saw and it’s identical to their circular saw bar the groove in the base plate. Dust extraction is OK, but loads still leaks out; I keep meaning to upgrade to a Festool plunge saw.

    kayak23
    Full Member

    That’s a plunge saw, not a track saw

    Interchangeable terms to most rightly or wrongly.

    BigJohn
    Full Member

    What track saw? It depends on what’s important to you.

    My Festool gives great accuracy and quality, great dust-free working and helps me work quickly. But it costs a lot. The cost is not only that of the initial purchase, it’s the ongoing expense of wanting to get a bigger and bigger collection of cool grey and green boxes with drills, dominos, routers, sanders etc.

    If I had just one project in mind I would probably go for a Titan or whatever. Peter Millard’s Youtube channel is great for helping you decide. He’s a fine carpenter with lots of Festool kit but (like me) he is a fan of cheap tools where it makes sense. You should get help on your decision.

    Actually, if it was just the one job, I’d use any old circular saw with a home made fence.

    footflaps
    Full Member

    it’s the ongoing expense of wanting to get a bigger and bigger collection of cool grey and green boxes with drills, dominos, routers, sanders etc.

    Yes, Festool does that to you….

    kcr
    Free Member

    Interchangeable terms to most rightly or wrongly.

    Yes, I was assuming plunge and track to be the same things. I have the Titan, which is officially titled “plunge saw” by Screwfix. If you tape up the small hole for accessing the arbor screw, the blade is completely shrouded, apart from the cutting edge.

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