Very few days does my shop break down less than 50 sheets. We own a pressure beam saw as well as a big sliding table saw. Yet we still use Festool TS55 with rails to break down sheets into parts with different angles and bevels.
Sure, often big sliders are used for that purpose. Ours is connected to a computer to control the rip fence, blade exposure, bevel angle and blade speed.
Many shops do most of their break down on a slider, but it can be frustrating because you still push the sheet through the blade. Setting enough rollers to support a full sheet takes time. Our slider has a 14' table so it is possible for use to break down 4x10' sheets.
However, what we find is that this same slider is very efficient and accurate on solid lumber. Most days that keeps it busy. Meanwhile the beam saw accurately produces all the many sheet good parts with only right angles.
Our experience is less than 10% of sheet parts used in custom cabinets have miter or bevel angles. All of us are experienced users of Festools. So while one cabinet maker is using the slider, others of us put sheets on our large work tables, all with 19mm shop plywood sacrificial surfaces and 20mm holes drilled on our CNC nested router on 96mm centers. Sure we make as many cuts as possible on the beam saw, meaning we seldom need to make a trim rip or cross grain cut with a guide rail. We have large protractors to reproduce angles accurately when we set our guide rails. Should we need right angles, we have some very large squares to set the rails. Since the work tables all have locking casters, to avoid back strain, we bring a table under the vacuum lift to move a single sheet from a stack to working position. That same lift also positions sheet goods on the CNC nested router and the beam saw.
When we do use the slider saw for sheet goods we roll a stack down to the saw and assign a second person to help lift and position the sheet. In our experience we save person hours because only one cabinet maker is needed to make the same parts on the work tables using Festools. I have found one person who is experienced and confident with Festools often can make large complicated sheet parts that was as fast as could be done with a crew of two on the state-of-the-art slider. But when making parts from solid wood, nothing is as efficient and accurate as that same slider.
My belief is there are reasons for every tool on the market. It was Festools that allowed me to gain confidence of so many clients that I needed to expand to a large enough shop I can use nested routers, beam saws, slider saws and automatic edge banders. With the nested router we can and do drill millions of 5mm holes for adjustable shelves. When the nested router is in use on other parts we drill those holes with LR32 rails and the OF 1010. Other parts we make with OF 1400 and OF 2200. The bander is marvelous doing its thing with relatively flexible banding. My reputation is built on thicker tongue and grove solid banging, so an OF 1400 normally cuts the groves and the MFK 700 does the trimming. If time is available on a CNC router, then we always can cut the groves on it. With our experience we can cut them as fast with a guide rail and OF 1400. Every tool has a reason for being.
JSands said:
In addition to solving the auto-vac-on, I also ordered the 50mm hose for the CT22 vac... I would like to improve the dust collection as well. Once I get it all "just right" I will consider my 75 plunger for sheet breakdowns, a great alternative to a sliding table saw...while all these accessories cost more the saw itself (including the 118" rail, dual Gecko's, clamps, vac switch, 50mm hose, etc.), as I see it, this system will perform equal to a sliding table saw... at least for my needs... as I don't break down 50 sheets a day.... so in the end, a much lower cost, and most importantly, it dissapears when I am not using it, freeing up work space...
