Ideas for panel saw grid

[Chuck Stewart]

Attached are photos of a woodcart/panel cutter that I built by combining two plans from Shop Notes. Though I love the wood storage (no more scraps laying around garage floor) the panel cutter leaves me less excited for several reasons but the main one being that every time you make a cut, your cutting into the grid system in order to get thru the panel. The designer found this acceptable but to me it would create an uneven surface over time not to mention looking trashy. I have visions but cannot wrap my mind around some type of bracket or pushout that once mounted to the grid can be rotated out or in depending where the cut is being made to keep the piece say 1/4" away from the grid. What makes it challenging is you have to account for both vertical and horizontal cuts. I can't really attach a piece of 1/4" plywood to the grid because you see the swing out blocks at the lower levels that hold the panel. Those are another story, they are going to have to be turned into not only holding blocks but clamping blocks for the lower section being cut but I won't burden you good folks with that yet...a heck, yes I will...once that's fixed all I have to do is figure out the perfect stationary clamp for holding the top of the cut to avoid binding, maybe something mounted to the 2x4s at the top that swing down and clamp. Thank for any ideas...

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

That's a cool way to handle panels~!!

[Chuck Stewart]

Thanks Cliff,
Maybe if I can't get it to function as a good panel saw cutter I'll use it as a giant easel to burn etching into wood or my dremmel tool to cut out holes..lol

[Jim Becker]

Very nice setup, Chuck.

[Ed Peters]

How about building up your grid with a sheet of rigid foam insulation to protect the structure? Cheap and easy to replace plus you get two sides with each sheet.

Ed

[Chuck Stewart]

Ed,
foam would be a good idea other than plywood but where I hesitate is you will notice 8 panel support blocks running across the grid at the two lower levels...the lower ones for a full sheet cut and the uppers for shorter pieces. Would have to notch out large enough to get my hand on them to rotate, but possible. Thanks for the interest

[Bryan Roberts]

I am looking to assemble something like this myself but I would limit it to vertical cuts only. This would solve half of your concern because you would not be cutting into your vertical 1x's. Why I would do vertical cuts only is because gravity always pulls straight down so when the saw is moving vertically there wouldn't really be any drift left or right. Cutting horizontally might possibly cause ever so slight migration of the saw downward as you cut. This might mean the starting end and the finish end of your horizontally cut panel might not be identical.

The other, and I think a solution that you might appreciate is that all the horizontal 1x's would not be flush with the vertical 1x's. They do of course need to be half lapped for rigidity, but just keep them below the surface edges of the vertical 1x's.

The only downside is that once in a blue moon you're going to end up cutting down exactly where a vertical 1x is going to be but this can be compensated for by moving the panel a given increment left or right. Just remember that when you are reading your measuring tape strip on the top.

[Chuck Stewart]

Brian...I can see how that would work for a vertical cut,good luck with your project. I have Shopnotes #48 (Vol.8) for the Tilt out Panel and Shopnotes #55 (Vol.10) for the wood cart. Both are in PDF form but they are the full mags and are 22MB in size, too large to post here. Tried extracting them with no luck said they were write protected. If you have a favorite free file hosting site I'll put them there and give you the URL to download. You could modify the plans to your liking

[Dino Makropoulos]

Attached are photos of a woodcart/panel cutter that I built by combining two plans from Shop Notes. Though I love the wood storage (no more scraps laying around garage floor) the panel cutter leaves me less excited for several reasons but the main one being that every time you make a cut, your cutting into the grid system in order to get thru the panel. The designer found this acceptable but to me it would create an uneven surface over time not to mention looking trashy. I have visions but cannot wrap my mind around some type of bracket or pushout that once mounted to the grid can be rotated out or in depending where the cut is being made to keep the piece say 1/4" away from the grid. What makes it challenging is you have to account for both vertical and horizontal cuts. I can't really attach a piece of 1/4" plywood to the grid because you see the swing out blocks at the lower levels that hold the panel. Those are another story, they are going to have to be turned into not only holding blocks but clamping blocks for the lower section being cut but I won't burden you good folks with that yet...a heck, yes I will...once that's fixed all I have to do is figure out the perfect stationary clamp for holding the top of the cut to avoid binding, maybe something mounted to the 2x4s at the top that swing down and clamp. Thank for any ideas...

Chuck,
nice setup.
take a look at the grid of the $25.000.00 panel saws and make something similar using t-tracks and sliding supports.
you can even have build in clamping with t-tracks and 2 toggle clamps.
you don't need to cover the entire area if you do cross cut first
and rip cuts after.
good luck and if you need more info, let me know.

[Bryan Roberts]

Thanks Chuck for the offer. You asked if I have a favorite free file hosting site to put them there and give me the URL to download. I don't have a free file hosting site (actually I don't even know what that is). Don't worry about it. If I have a burning need for the plans you have already provided the volume numbers so I can look them up or inquire after them when I'm ready.

Bryan

[Gary Lange]

I think I am going to make one that will cut bot vertical and horizontal sheet goods. I am thinking of a 2" X 2" frame with several pieces running horizontally and several pieces vertically so that I can flip it over and cut whichever way I need to.