Originally Posted by
Jim Dwight
I used to use a Ryobi BT3100 with extension rails and a mobile base. It gave me 60 inches or more of rip capacity. But my current shop is a little smaller so I took off the extension rails and later bought sawstop. But before the SawStop PCS I got a DeWalt track saw with 106 and 59 inch rails. Later I added the 40 inch one. My SawStop has 36 inch rip capacity.I much prefer the combination of a smaller table saw and track saw versus a really wide rip capacity table saw. The PCS is definitely nicer than the 3100 but that is not the point of this discussion. It is just hard to move a sheet, particularly of 3/4, sheet goods through a table saw, especially in a small shop. In a large enough shop with infeed and outfeed support and with a way to move the goods to the saw, then it would be different. But in my small shop, it is just MUCH preferable to cut the sheet goods either on my accessory table with a sheet of foam under it or even on the trailer it came home in. Moving a 11 lb saw is just easier than moving a 75 lb sheet that is also large. Circular saws can work well for making roughing cuts to break down sheet goods allowing you to more easily use the table saw for final cuts. But track saws are very capable of finish cuts. They are very accurate and the cut quality is comparable to the table saw. I also use my track saw to edge joint long boards. My jointer is a small INCA and will not straighten the edge of a board longer than about 4 feet. I am even thinking of making a 10 foot dining table using my track saw to cut glue up ready edges on 10 foot boards.