Panel Saw - Limited space..what to buy

[Tugalis]

Evening Ladies and Gents,

We are upgrading our table saw in the workshop. Currently we don't have a huge amount of space however we will be looking to move into a unit in the spring.

At the moment we use a HEAVILY modded ts-200 unit with a custom fence, large in-feed and out feed tables. It has worked great due to the mods and the induction motor but work is picking up so its time to invest to save on the finish time.

We cut down a large amount of Birch Plywood so I am thinking of getting a panel saw with sliding table. The other requirement would be a scoring blade due to the issues we have had in the past with chip out.

The saws we have been looking at are.....

Startrite TS1 http://scosarg.com/startrite-ts1-slidin ... w-220v-1ph
Axminster PS315 http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-tr ... saw-101256
Minimax SC1 http://scosarg.com/minimax-sc1-genius-panel-saw-1ph

There is a bit of a price difference I know. I understand Startrite is a solid brand but is the saw worth the extra cost? Does anyone have any exprience with any of the saws listed?

If you have any other recommendations I'm all ears. Ideally it would be great if we could find one with a sliding table travel to cut a 5' (1525mm) board, we cut ALOT of these down but if it has to be 4' then we can manage.

Thanks in advance,

T

 

[MikeJhn]

Sounds to me that one of these would be more suitable: http://www.axminster.co.uk/machinery/sa ... panel-saws

Mike

 

[Adam9453]

Have you considered a second hand saw, the old ones tend to be much more solid in my opinion.
Unless you spend serious money on a new altendorf etc

 

[marcros]

would a track saw be worth considering?

 

[Bodgers]

would a track saw be worth considering?

OP refers to a workshop based business, so probably not. Repeatability, would probably be an issue.


Sent from my MI 3W using Tapatalk

 

[marcros]

i note that, but jigs could be set up for repeatability, the cut is finish quality, they can score, and it is replacing a ts200. I guess it depends on quantity of ply to be cut.

 

[PAC1]

I would manage with what you have until you move and then buy the biggest panel saw you can, probably with a 2.2m to 3.2m sliding unit with a large outrigger table. You may need to double the budget but there is the world of difference between 2 men struggling to cut a 1500 x 3000 sheet of ply on a table that is not big enough and an outrigger that is not big enough and one man using his thumb to push the same sheet of ply on a properly set up large panel saw. It is so much easier, accurate and a better finish on a large machine. I imagine at the moment you are cutting oversize and then planing or sanding to the finish size.