Tracksaw 55 Issue

[Packard]

Lately, I’ve only used the circular saw to breakdown some large panels to fit in my car.  My Chrysler van will accept full sheets of 4’ x 8’ panels, but not the 49” x 97” that Lowes Carrie’s for MDF.

I did use it when I was cutting vinyl soffit.  Using 140 tooth all steel hollow ground blade, mounted backwards.  Used like that, I ended up with factory-like cuts.

 

[Coen]

[...]

Does anyone set their blade depth on a circular saw to 3/8” to cut 1/4” thick material?

Well, if cutting 6mm ply on the MFT I would definitely not cut at max depth...

 

[Packard]

[...]

Does anyone set their blade depth on a circular saw to 3/8” to cut 1/4” thick material?

Well, if cutting 6mm ply on the MFT I would definitely not cut at max depth...

Cutting on a MFT table or on foam panels is only “conventional” with track users.  We sometimes see “conventional” differently within the FOG community.  Most circular saw users cut over “air”.

If you are using 2 x 4 studs laying flat on a table or the ground, max depth will hit the ground or the table top, especially with thin materials.

 

[mrboult]

Cut looks very normal to me (15 years of weekly TS55 use) for cheap plywood, cut across the grain, without a scoring cut.
I assume this isn't the off-cut you are showing us, therefore the extra green splinter guard that mounts on the right side of the blade is not relevant here.

That tear-out looks like it'll sand out fine, but if you need to prevent this level of tear-out on the cuts then taping the top side and fully supporting the bottom side with sacrificial material is likely the way to go. Maybe a scoring cut first rather than the tape is also going to work? Going slower always helps too

Don't think there is anything wrong with the saw or the user here. Looks just as I'd expect without further steps taken to limit the tear-out.