Panel saw plan or idea?

The "strait-line" clamps with saw-sled work and don't take up much space. If you find that too slow and want to waste more space, you just need to set up some sort of linear bearing and sled - the cheap method used on the original shop-bot CNC router was uni-strut and patio door bearings, and could be adjusted adequately for CNC routing, or much better than is needed for the average panel saw.

Turn that vertical or nearly so and provide a pulley & counterweight and you are most of the way there. If you want to spend more on it use some sort of precision material and the fact that you do own machine tools - ie, two chunks of 6-foot 1" drill rod at $60/each (or hardened bearing shafting at $72/each - McMaster prices) and bore holes in guide/bearing blocks rather than using unistrut and patio door bearings, which were designed for folks without machine tools to speak of. Or spend even more money for proper linear bearings to slide on the shafts...

The saw sled itself can be a board or hunk of plywood the saw bolts to. Bit of a ledge and some supports for the sheet goods and Robert is your mother's brother. Make the ledge level and the linear shafting plumb, and it cuts square... Walk into the big-box lumber store near you if you want to study one in person, rather than in pictures, but realize that commercial ones will not be designed in a way for easy home-brew copying

- they will have complexities you can avoid and save money on.

Several Wreckers have posted plans over the years. DAGS, while Google still indexes the Wreck.

4.18 million hits.

Think you can find something, Tawm?

'Course, Leon, et al. will be along any time to sell ya the Dr. Fester equivalent. Methinks they're onto something, too.

BUT, iffen yer as cheap^H^H^H^H^Hfrugal as I think you are, here are plans for an 8' circ saw guide:

-- That's the thing about needs. Sometimes, when you get them met, you don't need them anymore. -- Michael Patrick King

One appealing design used steel fencepost tubing (large section, a lot of bending moment at a low price per foot) for rails, and a U-bolt with a dozen or more plastic washers was the linear bearing (you use several of those). You just need the U-bolt inner diameter and tubing OD to mismatch in size by the washers' standoff distance.

Usually I use a skilsaw with a guide on the floor to do my cutting, but here's one from ShopNotes that seems nice:

add a laser doodad for bonus points.

I get good results from a Porter Cable 314 and clamped-on guide strips:

pass or two with a block plane removes any hiccups and edge splinters. For furniture-grade work I clamp the panel upright between two B&D Workmates and hit it with a longer two-hand plane. The high school wood shop teacher was an old Swedish cabinet maker who taught us how to do good work with manual tools instead of relying completely on expensive machinery. I can still cut smooth flats and press-fit mortices on oak logs for pole sheds without electricity. It's made well enough that the sole plate edges are truly parallel to the blade, unlike my Makita 9.6V panel saw. Both were second hand and used a lot, the PC314 held up better. If it could cut through 2" lumber I'd use it for everything.

jsw

I have one of these:

you clamp on the guide and then you could, quite literally, make an accurate cut with your eyes closed (though I wouldn't recommend it).

Cuuute! I think I'll opt for a 6-1/2" next time (maybe a Makita SP6000K), once Dad's old Craftsman dies. It's not even getting

-noisy- after 40+ years. I use my crosscut saw and ryoba more than it, though. I haven't tried the Ryobi 4-1/2" 18v saw yet, but the old 14.4v didn't have a battery life worth mentioning...unless you were cursing.

You were a lucky schoolboy, Jim. Handy training.

Yeah, 4-1/2" is just too small to cut tubas.

-- That's the thing about needs. Sometimes, when you get them met, you don't need them anymore. -- Michael Patrick King

A few sawhorses, a straightedge, and a Skil saw? ;-)

Cheers! Rich

I saw "Information Overload" from Google. I'm sure someone has already weeded out non-contenders. Two schools of thought: Follow the path or start from an unpolluted mind. Or, buy a used saw that falls into my lap from Craig's List or such. (I guess that's three schools of thought...)

Hmm, that just might fill the need and I can always upgrade if the demand is there. Thanks!

I had plans at one time, think it was in a library book. Used a heavy- duty window support unit, like a big clock spring in a box, to support and counterbalance the skilsaw. Elementary guides were made out of electrical conduit and HDPE, the rails and braces were 2x stock. I didn't build one because I don't have the wall space and alignment would have been a bugger.

What I DO have is a couple of fancy clamps, they span the 4' and 8' directions, I just use them as guides. Same outfit now sells the same clamping mechanism with a square J-hook on one edge and a baseplate for the saw hooks onto that. Have a baseplate for routers, too. Haven't felt the need, myself. A Workmate and a saw horse complete the rig, it all takes down and stores in a corner. The clamps can be had from the various woodworker's supply outfits, locally I've seen them at both Rockler Hardware and Woodworker's Supply. I've built a bunch of stuff using them, last project was the floor for my storage hut, used a bunch of 3/4" pressure treated plywood on that. Bozos didn't use any even fractions of a sheet, either, when they designed the floor plans. Lots of cuts needed with lots of oddball scrap.

I've used my DeWalt contractor saw for ripping 4x8 sheets, you can get extensions for side and back to do this single handed. It comes with a rack and pinion adjusted fence that makes ripping to specific widths dead easy. A roller or two helps, also. Get a good plywood blade when you do this, the $6 cheapies are NOT the way.

One of the local big boxes will rip sheets, gratis, on their panel saw, I've used this service to make small ones from big ones and make it easier to cut to size later. You do have to do your layout work before you go shopping. They don't guarantee exact size, either.

Stan

I got several expandable roller conveyers that will hook together. I just put them in front and behind my table saw. They don't stash totally out of the way, but they still take up less room than a panel saw. Another neat idea I have seen done on cabinet saws is to put fold down tables on the front and back.

I clamp a piece of scrap upright in the Workmate and align it with the saw table by eye. I can never get roller stands aligned well enough that they don't tug the sheet sideways. I've used inverted furniture dollys for floppy sheets that didn't need precise height.

jsw