Make your own track saw tracks

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Very nice. I have seen similar for saws AND for routers. I have made a couple of these. One of them was a "special purpose" version for cutting counter tops with a lip so that I needed to literally turn a corner in the cut.

[Steve Kang]

Great tip Edwin, thanks for sharing. If one were to by a 2nd blade for 8/4 hardwoods, would your recommend the 28 or 14 tooth?

[Edwin Santos]

Hi Steve,
I would recommend the 14 tooth for ripping 8/4 lumber. I have it and it works very well for that. I ended up getting the 28 tooth also and I use it for Baltic Birch, undercutting doors, other stuff. Cheers

Edwin

[Alan Schwabacher]

It looks like a very nice way to get whatever rip length you want, cheaply and conveniently. The question I have relates to the differing thickness of your two types of track.

The track acts as a ZCI on one side of the cut, but to my thoughts, that's not enough. If I need to leave material to trim, I might as well cut roughly and trim to size on a tablesaw. So I'd want both sides of the cut to be finish cuts, which means I want something to act as a ZCI the non-track side of the blade. That's easy to add, but with two thicknesses of track, I'd need two thicknesses of offside ZCI, or three if I want to use the saw without a track.

How do those with tracksaws deal with this? Is it simply that a good sharp blade makes a good enough cut without the ZCI, or is this a real consideration with two thicknesses of track?

[Edwin Santos]

It looks like a very nice way to get whatever rip length you want, cheaply and conveniently. The question I have relates to the differing thickness of your two types of track.

The track acts as a ZCI on one side of the cut, but to my thoughts, that's not enough. If I need to leave material to trim, I might as well cut roughly and trim to size on a tablesaw. So I'd want both sides of the cut to be finish cuts, which means I want something to act as a ZCI the non-track side of the blade. That's easy to add, but with two thicknesses of track, I'd need two thicknesses of offside ZCI, or three if I want to use the saw without a track.

How do those with tracksaws deal with this? Is it simply that a good sharp blade makes a good enough cut without the ZCI, or is this a real consideration with two thicknesses of track?

Hi,
The general presumption is that the non-track side of the blade is waste. In other words you're laying your track on the keeper workpiece. If you have a lot of waste and you would use it and cut again, same thing. The other thing is if you're trying to treat the waste side as your keeper, things get a little complicated because you will have to allow for the blade kerf in arriving a precise finished dimension.
Maybe I don't understand your question?
Edwin

[lowell holmes]

You can take a 16"x 60" (or whatever length you want) of 1/2" plywood, nail a 3/4"X 1 1/2" strip to it wider than the sole of your skill saw to about center, leaving a width that is wider than your saw. Then place the saw with its base touching the strip on the right hand and rip the right hand side. This leaves a crisp edge that will define the cut line when you place it to rip a cut line edge on the ripping jig.

After that you clamp the ripping fixture to the plywood with ripping guide where you want it and cut away. It works like a champ.

[fRED mCnEILL]

Hmm, good reason to switch.