Crosscuting ply

[Trey Isbell]

How do you guys crosscut plywood. Ripping is not a problem for me but trying to manhandle a 86" x18" piece of plywood to crosscut is a problem for me. I have a jet 10inch cabinet saw. It is hard to keep the 18" side against the fence accurately. What is the best way to crosscut large sheets of ply. Thanks.

[Frank Hagan]

A panel cutting sled is the best idea IMHO. I don't have any pics of mine, but Nahm has one demonstrated at YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZFOX9kUKm4

You can google for "panel cutting sled for table saw" and get quite a few hits.

[Lee Schierer]

I use a skill saw or jig saw to jut off manageable pieces. If you use an edge guide and the right blades the cut is as good as you get on a TS. Cross cutting an 18" x 86" piece on a TS using the fence is dangerous. The drag from the long piece is likely to bind the blade and create a kickback situation. The fence generally should never be used to make a cut that is on a piece that is longer than the side against the fence.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I used to pre cut panels with the skillsay
Now I toss 'em on the slider.

[glenn bradley]

Shop made edge guide and a circ-saw to get them close to size with one good edge, then rip to width and crosscut with a sled on the tablesaw.

[Prashun Patel]

Trey-
Crosscutting anything longer than 36" for me is a bear on the tsaw and just doesnt feel safe or accurate. For these cuts, I use my circular saw and a jig kinda like this:

http://www.woodworkingtips.com/etips/etip030228ws.html

I tape the top of the cut to prevent tearout.

[Ted Shrader]

Trey -

I use a sled on the TS with a roller stand (if required) to supprt the extra length.

Regards,
Ted

[Sue Wise]

I use the EZ guide.

[Jason White]

Festool TS55 and guide.

Before that, regular circular saw and a straightedge.

Jason


How do you guys crosscut plywood. Ripping is not a problem for me but trying to manhandle a 86" x18" piece of plywood to crosscut is a problem for me. I have a jet 10inch cabinet saw. It is hard to keep the 18" side against the fence accurately. What is the best way to crosscut large sheets of ply. Thanks.

[Myk Rian]

Sounds like you're cutting the 18" length.
Turn your miter gauge backward on the table (in front of the wood). Put the wood to it and cut till you get to the edge of the table. Stop the saw and don't move the wood. Put the miter gauge on the right way and finish the cut by pushing it through.

[Mike Wilkins]

Even with a 10" Unisaw in the shop, I use a Festool TS55 rail-guided saw for cross cuts in plywood and any other sheet material. Unless you have a panel saw or sliding tablesaw, man-handling full sheets of ply or MDF is a real bear.

[Trey Isbell]

does anybody make a sled or do I just need to build one. I know David Marks would always use a sled on woodworks. Anybody have a picture of their crosscutting setup

[Chris Padilla]

GCS - Guided Circular Saw

Festool and DeWalt make the saw and the guides although they are spendy.

A good old circular saw and a straight board work. There are also commercial guides out there for this.

As to what to cut on, grab yourself a 1" - 2" thick piece of rigid foam insulation. Toss the 4x8 sheet on the floor/driveway...toss your 4x8 plywood on it...cut away. Over time, the foam will fall apart but I've had one for several years now so it'll take a while.

[Scott Pearson]

I use a sheet of pink foam that I plop on the floor of the shop as a cutting surface, the ply goes down on top of the foam. Then I mark cut lines on each end of the ply and cut using a skil saw with a fine tooth blade and a shop made guide.

I get very even and straight cuts with no noticeable tear out.

Scott

[Jan Weiner]

Prior to the EZ guide, I used a shopmade cutting box with two parallel pieces of angle iron for the guiding a circular saw baseplate. With a stop clamped to a worktable, you can cut a lot of repeatable pieces quickly.

Two inch yellow masking tape across the cut line keeps the plywood from splintering. Total cost ~$6 for the angle iron. The rest of the box was from shop scraps.

[frank shic]

trey, if you have the extra money and space, you may want to consider buying a sliding table like the exaktor or excalibur if you're going to be doing a lot more large sheet cutting. it makes it ridiculously easy to chop a large sheet into their FINISHED pieces without having to run it through a second time to square and clean up the dimensions. otherwise the guided circular saw systems will work for a price or you could just cobble together an L shaped circular saw jig yourself with a couple of scraps and some screws although getting the angle perfectly perpendicular can take some time and experimentation.

[Tom Majewski]

I always thought it took 2 people to cut a sheet of plywood on the TS untill I worked at a cabinet shop for a while. Felt like a girlyman asking for help the first time while others were handling 3/4 mdf by themselves. With a big outfeed table it's not too hard. Lean the front on the table, turn on the saw and walk around and pick up the back end. If the fence is right of the blade, hold it up and push from the rear/left. Once you get with a couple feet near the end of the cut, move your grip more to the center. Keep an eye on the rear of the fence where you want wood contacting the fence, of course keep the other eye on the blade and front of the fence.
A freshly waxed or powdered top helps it slide smooth.

[Danny Thompson]

Easy: large crosscut sled (2' x 4')