Do I need a Table Saw

[jacko9]

Table saw is a must have for me making furniture, it would be the last machine to leave my shop.

Jack

 

[Kev]

Regarding Hammer vs Sawstop - I'd go Hammer every time.

I'm very deliberate when it come to tools - particularly power tools. Accuracy and quality are my first consideration. Safety is very important, but 99.99% of it in a workshop is YOU !!

 

[polarsea1]

+1 for the Hammer. I have a Laguna TSS with scoring and I love it but would really be able to put the extra yardage on a 79" slider to good use.

I'm 71, worked in some mills, and the only kind of saw I'm really leery about is a knee bolter shake saw. [eek]

 

[suds]

So far the Kapex and TS55 plus the bandsaw have taken care of my needs but i'm getting more involved and it seems the table saw would speed up things but the Kapex has really helped more than anything. 

 

[suds]

Blackberry I find it interesting that the Kapex and TS55 suffice and you still have the tablesaw.

 

[jacko9]

I'm 42, I come from a long line of woodworkers in my family... in fact I'm the kid at family "get togethers" I used to pride myself on having never really cut my finger.  Not anymore, I've cut myself twice and both times is because I became complacent.  I have a TS55 for sheet goods and a Kapex for crosscuts.  I wouldn't trade my table saw for either of them!  It's the center of my shop (also known as my garage).  I don't have unlimited space but I still wouldn't do without the table saw.  I have a Delta Unisaw.  The Sawstop wasn't available when I purchased it.  When my two young boys grow up I'll buy them a sawstop and they can borrow my TS55.  The number of repetitive cuts a person does in a day is crazy.

+1

I agree and my tablesaw is the center of my shop (formerly know as a garage 35 years ago).

 

[Blackberry]

I used the 55 last night on a jobsite.  Personally, when I'm in the shop I use the 55 for breaking down sheet goods.  The table saw and kapex for everything else.  I do rip sheet goods on the table saw. I basically use the 55 when I don't have the table saw available.
 

 

[jacko9]

I would use a track saw to break down full sheets of ply, currently I use a Porter Cable worm drive trim saw with a ply wood straight edge to make the initial full sheet cuts.  Yes I would love to have a Festool track saw to do that job but, after that I use my table saw to get quick repeatable cuts for the cabinet parts.

I will admit, that 95% of my work is furniture and hardwood cabinets so I don't deal with sheet goods all that often.  Since I'm an self identified "tool junkie" I'm just looking for the next project to buy a Festool track saw [wink]

Jack

 

[fshanno]

Yes.

 

[Stephen B]

[size=11pt]

Reading the replies, and in my own experience, you could conclude YES.  
However, if you have very limited space, and more time, be happy with your tracksaw (and perhaps with the Parallel Guides).

But I could not do without both my T55 and tablesaw, although the saw is mainly used now for ripping.

 

[Cableaddict]

I'm not familiar enough with the MFT to give the OP a complete answer, but as a guy who was about to sell his Unisaw, and decided not to, I'll share my thoughts:   

Last summer I finally got a really good bandsaw, and I have a large collection of (sorry!) Eurekazone products, so I thought I'd get some room & cash back by selling my Unisaw.  - It has an extended table, huge overhead DC,  etc, so it really takes up room in my 1/2 garage / shop.  I like the safety of the "deadwood" concept, and I LOVE to be able to easily work outside in good weather.

Well, the EZ tracksaw stuff is great for breaking down sheet goods, and no offense to Festool (who's products I use & love) I think that overall the Eurekazone table & clamps are a better design, maybe also the track itself.

However,  when I started to do serious, precision work on this stuff, the whole bloody idea fell apart really fast, for two reasons:

1:  Precision.  Eurekazone is where precision goes to die.  I would assume that Festool would be better, but you're still dealing with a track system. 

2:  Dust, dust, dust.....  It doesn't matter how well you seal the top of your CS, dust flies out the bottom, in front of the blade.  If you don't mind a little fine dust in the air, then OK, but I believe in the significant dangers of fine wood dust.  I don't even want to smell it.  With my Uni setup, I don't.

If I decide to stay with my tracksaw stuff & sell the Uni, I will probably at least get a Festool CS, and hope for better dust collection, but I don't see how to deal with the stuff that flies out of the bottom.  (Not to mention routing on a track system.  OMG.....)

If I CAN get more dust under control (maybe by turning my cutting table into a giant "sanding table" and connecting my shop's main DC underneath it)  THEN I can say goodbye to my Unisaw. -  But for me it's because I also have the Eurekazone "EZ One" table, which lets one do small cuts with easy repeatability.  Again, I don't know enough about the Festool table & accessories (I am about to start learning, as I may want to switch over)  but the OP should make sure there's a way to do as I just said:  small cuts, with repeatability.  -  And of course with great precision, if possible. 

- Hope I didn't open a can of worms by mentioning Eurekazone.  - Just trying to help the OP (and myself) think it through.

 

[NuggyBuggy]

2:  Dust, dust, dust.....   It doesn't matter how well you seal the top of your CS, dust flies out the bottom, in front of the blade.  If you don't mind a little fine dust in the air, then OK, but I believe in the significant dangers of fine wood dust.  I don't even want to smell it.   With my Uni setup, I don't.

I don't know much about the Eurekazone products, but from what I can tell from their pictures on their website, it looks like their table doesn't support most workpieces for the entirety of the cut. 

With Festool, if you're using the MFT (or if you have some sacrificial surface directly under the workpiece), there's no dust shooting out the bottom or out the front because there's nowhere for the dust to go downwards or ahead of the saw blade, so almost all the dust is captured.

That is, until the end of the cut where the blade starts clearing the workpiece.  Then, a lot of that dust is released.

 

[suds]

Dust hasn't ever been a problem and that's one of the main reasons Festool was a good fit for me. My wife is a clean fanatic and believe me, that saw wouldn't have made it 5 minutes in my garage if dust was produced!! [eek]  That's a reason for the Sawstop also, very little dust.  I have two vacs, one Festool and another Shopsmith 330 Dust extractor.  They both do a excellent job of keeping dust to a fraction.
My main point in my initial question is that having the FS track system and the Kapex plus a bandsaw seemed to cover just about everything I'd ever need to cut with precision and without too much setup required.  Other than being a tool nut, it seems I have most bases covered even though the nut in me wants another tool. 

 

[Cableaddict]

2:  Dust, dust, dust.....   It doesn't matter how well you seal the top of your CS, dust flies out the bottom, in front of the blade.  If you don't mind a little fine dust in the air, then OK, but I believe in the significant dangers of fine wood dust.  I don't even want to smell it.   With my Uni setup, I don't.

I don't know much about the Eurekazone products, but from what I can tell from their pictures on their website, it looks like their table doesn't support most workpieces for the entirety of the cut. 

With Festool, if you're using the MFT (or if you have some sacrificial surface directly under the workpiece), there's no dust shooting out the bottom or out the front because there's nowhere for the dust to go downwards or ahead of the saw blade, so almost all the dust is captured.

That is, until the end of the cut where the blade starts clearing the workpiece.  Then, a lot of that dust is released.

That's good to know, although I suspect this has more to do with the design of the Festool circular saws than with the MFT.  I'm actually considering getting a TS75, but putting it on my Eurkazone system.  (I can't afford to switch everything, plus Festool doesn't have anything like the EZ one table.)  The TS75 is a beautiful piece of kit.

 

[JeromeM]

2:  Dust, dust, dust.....   It doesn't matter how well you seal the top of your CS, dust flies out the bottom, in front of the blade.  If you don't mind a little fine dust in the air, then OK, but I believe in the significant dangers of fine wood dust.  I don't even want to smell it.   With my Uni setup, I don't.

I don't know much about the Eurekazone products, but from what I can tell from their pictures on their website, it looks like their table doesn't support most workpieces for the entirety of the cut.  

With Festool, if you're using the MFT (or if you have some sacrificial surface directly under the workpiece), there's no dust shooting out the bottom or out the front because there's nowhere for the dust to go downwards or ahead of the saw blade, so almost all the dust is captured.

That is, until the end of the cut where the blade starts clearing the workpiece.  Then, a lot of that dust is released.

That's good to know, although I suspect this has more to do with the design of the Festool circular saws than with the MFT.   I'm actually considering getting a TS75, but putting it on my Eurkazone system.  (I can't afford to switch everything, plus Festool doesn't have anything like the EZ one table.)   The TS75 is a beautiful piece of kit.

It is because if you use a Festool saw with a sacrificial surface under the wood being cut there is almost no dust.
You will not get that with the Eurkazone system even with a Festool saw because the distance between the base of the saw and wood is greater than the Festool track, even if you put in a sacrificial top it won't be as good. You will also find chip free cutting on the off side is difficult to acheve for the same reason.
The MFT is one way to get the result, there are others.

 

[CarolinaNomad]

2:  Dust, dust, dust.....   It doesn't matter how well you seal the top of your CS, dust flies out the bottom, in front of the blade.  If you don't mind a little fine dust in the air, then OK, but I believe in the significant dangers of fine wood dust.  I don't even want to smell it.   With my Uni setup, I don't.

I don't know much about the Eurekazone products, but from what I can tell from their pictures on their website, it looks like their table doesn't support most workpieces for the entirety of the cut. 

With Festool, if you're using the MFT (or if you have some sacrificial surface directly under the workpiece), there's no dust shooting out the bottom or out the front because there's nowhere for the dust to go downwards or ahead of the saw blade, so almost all the dust is captured.

That is, until the end of the cut where the blade starts clearing the workpiece.  Then, a lot of that dust is released.

That's good to know, although I suspect this has more to do with the design of the Festool circular saws than with the MFT.   I'm actually considering getting a TS75, but putting it on my Eurkazone system.  (I can't afford to switch everything, plus Festool doesn't have anything like the EZ one table.)   The TS75 is a beautiful piece of kit.

Cableaddict, 

Check out Richard/RMW's post using 8020.  I think the MFT can easily be converted into the EZ one Table.  And the clamping mechanism of the EZ one table can be attached to the MFT. 

http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-jigs-tool-enhancements/has-anyone-built-gary-katz's-assembly-and-cutting-table/msg236850/#msg236850

 

[Slappy]

get the SawStop , I did without for years [sad] life is better with a TS  ;D
[wink] less set-up , a great set of blades with some jigs & sleds  the possibilities are endless with a table saw