I am surprised Rockler does not make a whole line of inexpensive plastic or acrylic table saw sleds made for specific brands of saw, so the runners would fit just so. Imagine all the jigs and attachments they could incorporate into line-up. Much like Kreg is doing now.
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I’m a noob… but if I can cut it with a miter saw that’s what I use.
It just goes to reinforce that it’s important to always use the right tool for the job. A butter knife can be used as an screwdriver but I don’t keep one in my toolbox.
I use my table saw for long rips and specialty cuts like dados. I’ve used my router table for rabbets and shoulder cuts but they come out much cleaner on the table saw with a stacked dado blade. For 2x4’s and angle cuts I use my miter saw.
Honestly though I wish they could come up with a better solution for handling large sheets of plywood that doesn’t cost thousands of $$. I’ve tried long fences with circular saw but it’s really hard to get a nice clean cut and balancing a huge sheet on the table saw is just asking for trouble.
This looks like a good option
The problem with woodworking as a part time hobby is it’s incredibly expensive to afford all the specialty tools you need for certain projects (not to mention requiring a large shop) so most amateurs will improvise with whatever they have - and that leads to accidents.
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The calculus is influenced heavily by the market for spendy 8’ cabinet saws, which pretty much consists of high end shops, where the workers are in a consistent environment and already practice pretty thorough safety protocols, and large cabinet manufacturers, who often pay their cabinet makers less than $15/hr.
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Dad’s still got his. We don’t tend to use it terribly often. But there’s often a line of family members and neighbors looking to use it for those things it’s best at. And he’s had several surprising cash offers to buy it.
It seems they’ve got something of a cult following among certain kinds of wood workers. And the miter saws have been adding some of their features over the last 5 years (and some from table saws). Personally I think the biggest issue with it is the foot print. For the amount of space it takes up, larger than a table saw. You don’t get much more capacity to deal with stock sizes and shapes over the chop saw with an extension table. And it’s not as capable on that front as the table saw.
Last I was there they had a big one at Crosscuts PDX. Still useful for rough milling large lumber stock for sure. I can only imagine how it affects their insurance tho…
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that’s a pretty hard hiking trail…
(and you beat me to posting the story)
I have that Dremel and it’s pretty useful for 1/4" material n shorter runs, but anything more than that seems to overload it pretty quickly, and the blade gets incredibly hot if you try to rip anything more than 3/8.
I’ve had pretty good luck with the Kreg rip saw guide with my circular saw. I’m sure it’s not as accurate as a Festool track saw, but $79 vs. $790 is a pretty easy call for me.
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Breathing is dangerous; we should all stop breathing.
Drinking is dangerous; we should all stop drinking.
Remember, life is a zero-win game; no one comes out of it alive. 
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The festool track saw system, while still expensive, works pretty damn great, for only hundreds of $$
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I’m not seeing how a table saw is more dangerous than the time I mounted a jigsaw in my vise upside down. Of course I had to retract the blade guard and tape the power switch in the on position. But I mean it worked.
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Yeah, that’s the one I want after seeing something similar on This Old House.
I have something similar but keeping the fence guide straight over a long cut is tricky. Plus you can only cut in one direction which makes material handling difficult. A track system is really the best way to go.
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Will that thing handle a 4x8’ sheet of plywood?
It’s not necessarily any more dangerous than the miters or table saws, except in that they haven’t made them in so long they can’t really be found with modern safety features.
That’s sort of the one thing I ever use it for. And mostly because if I’m in dad’s garage it’s always right there. It’s sort of a convenience saw for basic cuts and breaking things down. They used to be the do everything saw. But the combo of table saw and a good miter does more, takes up less space, is more portable. And again won’t as easily accommodate a full limb.
It’s just as likely to take a finger off as the miter. And significantly less likely to embed either board or blade in your chest than the table.
But I don’t do a lot of this shit, nothing complicated. And I probably wouldn’t use the damn thing if it wasn’t right there.
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Didn’t see it up there, but I seem to recall a product that locks a blade the momement it spots something not wood touching the blade Saw Stop (or SawStop) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOReKxH5NlA
most saws are dangerous. they are meant to cut things.
table saws are one of the tools i see people using improperly and carelessly most often, but i get more chills watching people use the bandsaw. the tool i’ve seen people hurt most on is actually the jointer planer. my personal experiences are anecdotal as statistically table saws are the number one most accident causing shop tool. still i can’t imagine doing any serious work without one. it is usually the first major shop tool anyone gets because it is the most useful, which might also be why more people get hurt on it, more inexperienced people use them.
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Jointer planers scare the shit out of me - especially the el cheapo ones that have no base stability, so I’ve never had the desire to own one.
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When I first saw the SawStop, I thought two things:
- this is great technology, well executed, solves a real problem
- I have serious ethical qualms with the obvious agenda to make this an industry standard, unless these people are willing to give up their patent
I guess my concerns were not unfounded.
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I was shocked to read professional carpentry forums discussing the SawStop where the calculus basically boiled down to “not worth it”. Everyone was pretty convinced that they could definitely always be safe enough all the time every day to not have to need the additional expensive safety tech.
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