jacko9 said:
Hello people,
I'm looking at getting a track saw to break down 4' x 8' sheets of plywood with dust collection but, I don't have room for the longer guide rails so I thought about buying two 55" rails and attaching them together for ripping the 8' length.
Can anybody tell me if there are any issues with keeping the two sections in alignment moving them around the shop all day while cutting up sheet goods?
Jack
In 2006 when I was thinking about going back into the cabinet making business, I expected I would need a large sliding table saw, which would require I lease a big building. I also did not then own a truck.
A trusted dealer who in the past had sold me a lot of conventional table saws with power feed and sliding tables listened to me and showed me the then new TS55 with rails. I liked the glue-ready cut quality and the fact that I needed to rent so little space. I was shown how to connect 2 1400mm rails to make the 8' rips. Then my dealer recommended that I buy another extra 1400mm rail. That way I could keep 2 connected and use the single rail for making cross cuts, eliminating the need to disconnect the rails except for transport. Also, and very important, that extra rail served as the straight edge to ensure alignment of the connected rails.
Crazy as it sounds I made good money with the CT-22, TS55 and an OF1010 router to drill shelf-pin holes. Back then the 1400mm rails were not available with holes, so I bought a 1080mm holy rail. Only when I needed to build a bunch of 7' tall pantries did I buy the 95" holy rail, which my dealer delivered for free. A few weeks later I was confident in the cash flow from making cabinets I bought a decent used truck. That day I drove to my dealer and bought a 3000mm rail. I still kept the 3 1400mm rails for work on sites where it was inconvenient to maneuver a long rail.
Can you break down several sheets by yourself in a day with a connected rail set-up? Back then there were many days I broke down 10 sheets with the three rails, the TS55 with CT-22, two saw horses and a sacrificial sheet of shop grade 19mm plywood, which also served as my assembly bench.
Frankly using the rails and TS55 was easier on me physically than breaking down sheets using any sort of table saw by myself.
Sure, 3 1/2 years later I used my profits to buy a 20,000 sq ft industrial building, along with a pressure beam saw to break down sheets under CNC control. I also invested in a new fork lift to move full lifts of sheet goods and a Schmalz vacuum lift to move sheets from a stack and position them on the beam saw or the adjacent CNC router.
It can be done while making a profit.