[Mashie Saldana]

Speaking of track saws, I finally got one in 2016 after finding out about their existence here on AVS. I ended up with the Dewalt DWS520KT and it has yet to disappoint.

 

[jcmccorm]

Whew, I like Dewalt stuff, but that's not inexpensive. Why do track saws allow plunging? What does that get you? Being able to start a cut in the middle I guess?

 

[Trimlock]

@Trimlock I'll tell you what, if I had money to burn and didn't already own the Makita, I would be going with the Bosch setup that is finally available in the US. The 63" track would be much nicer than the 55" Makita and the Bosch is slightly more powerful at 13 amps vs 12.

Bosch 6-1/2 in. 13 Amp Corded Track Saw with Free 63 in. Aluminum Tracks and Carrying Bag-GKT13225FSN1600 - The Home Depot

The Bosch GKT13-225 Track Saw with Plunge Action delivers precision and power, ideal for making table-saw quality cuts to wood and wood-based sheet goods such as laminated particle boards and plywood.

www.homedepot.com

@jcmccorm If you can spend for it, a track saw would completely change your game! I used mine for everything I built before I got my table saw and still use it frequently. It can be very accurate (if set up properly) and it's really quick to set up and make cuts with.

I’ll consider it. I’m looking at a large table project at the end of the year and I’ll need this.


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[Trimlock]

Whew, I like Dewalt stuff, but that's not inexpensive. Why do track saws allow plunging? What does that get you? Being able to start a cut in the middle I guess?

Depth control is important as you don’t want to plunge the blade too far below your cut. You also don’t want to cut a lot of material at once so you can plunge cut at .5” at a time.


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[johnson636]

I went ahead and drank the Kool-Aid.

Plunge Cut Track Saw TS 55 REQ-F-Plus-FS

www.festoolusa.com

 

[Mashie Saldana]

Whew, I like Dewalt stuff, but that's not inexpensive. Why do track saws allow plunging? What does that get you? Being able to start a cut in the middle I guess?

It's for when you have to do cuts into floors and other similar situations.

Here in the UK DeWalt pricing is ok, I think I paid about £300 for mine, a Festool equivalent would have been three times that. A Bosh probably around £200-250.

 

[Trimlock]

I went ahead and drank the Kool-Aid.

Plunge Cut Track Saw TS 55 REQ-F-Plus-FS

www.festoolusa.com

You purchased it?


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[johnson636]

You purchased it?


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Yup.

 

[Trimlock]

Sweet!


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[dtsdig]

Nothing big to report for tonight. I’m working on making the first horizontal panel, like for the top, bottom and chamber separations. It will take a bit to get right, but after that, I can just copy them and bang them all out quickly.

@johnson636 Congrats on your track saw purchase! I hope you enjoy it!

 

[dtsdig]

As always, life is busy. I think I finally have a plan on how to cut the 45 degree miters on all of the edges for the top and bottom panels. I’ll see if my plan will work tonight. Here’s a quick shot of how these will look. Holding them together with ratchet straps works pretty well.

 

[jcmccorm]

Fantastic work! Curious how the top and bottom work out (besides those angles); the baffle being shorter than the sides. I'll hang out and wait to see how that resolves Great looking design and I'm jealous of your skills.

 

[dtsdig]

@jcmccorm Thanks, man. Everything is just mocked up in that pic. The vertical panels have not yet been cut to final length. This was all just making sure all of the miters came together nicely.

 

[jcmccorm]

@jcmccorm Thanks, man. Everything is just mocked up in that pic. The vertical panels have not yet been cut to final length. This was all just making sure all of the miters came together nicely.

Ahhh. Got it. And the miters came out great. That, and the angled dado/rabbit cuts. You're a braver man then me to cut those baffles. Looks like it's working out great.

 

[dtsdig]

The real bravery comes when I attempt to cut 45 degree miters on the underside edges of the 6 sided so-called "master" top panel I spent hours making while maintaining it's exact overall dimensions.
My brother, who is an actual trained and experienced woodworker, thinks I'm nuts trying to attempt what I am doing with my "amateur" garage setup. It wasn't necessarily a cut on me or my tools, just that he has worked in shops where the German-made sliding table saw was $20K vs my made in China Grizzly setup. Even in his world, the accuracy I am hoping for was not easily attainable on the most expensive shop setups.

But hey, "have MDF, will cut" as the saying goes. lol

 

[dtsdig]

A bit of an update from last night. I worked on getting all of the side panels to match the baffle final height. This wasn’t too bad using my cross-cut sled with a stop-block attached to my fence.

I also ran my sled through the blade at 45 degrees which is how I’m planning to get all of these ends mitered.

 

[johnson636]

Ok, you're just showing off now

 

[jcmccorm]

Ha! But please keep it up 😃

 

[dtsdig]

I don’t know about that, but I do like the challenge! Here is a crapload of mitered ends! Everything appears to be very accurate.
Hindsight and all that, I would not have done the rabbet along the edges of the baffle. Now I’m left with a predicament. I should have done a miter on those edges as well.
Anyway, I am happy with how all of the uprights turned out!

 

[jcmccorm]

Why would you have not done the rabbet on the baffle? (just curious) I figured you were trying to minimize the exposed MDF edge.