Switched to a track saw for cabinet work and I'm never going back

Spent years fighting with a circular saw and a straightedge for sheet goods, finally borrowed a buddy's Festool track saw last month. Anyone else find the track setup cuts down on tearout way more than you'd expect?

3 comments

3 Comments

rowangonzalez7d ago

The plunge action on a track saw makes a huge difference for tearout. I started with a cheap 6.5 inch circular saw and a clamped down level, and I was always getting chipped edges on melamine. The track system lets the blade start spinning before it touches the material, so it cuts clean instead of tearing. Another thing is that you can set the depth perfectly to just score the surface on the first pass, then go deeper on the second. Are you using the splinter guard on the track too?

troy_gibson437d ago

@rowangonzalez the splinter guard is key, plus running tape along the cut line helps a ton too. I do the scoring pass trick on laminate and it's night and day better than trying to cut it all in one go.

oliviabennett4d ago

The first thing I learned was to slow down the blade speed if your saw lets you adjust it. @troy_gibson43 that scoring pass trick saves so much material it's almost funny looking back at all the wasted trim I had before.