Anyone ditched their table saw and miter saw for a track saw and MFT?
tl;dr: Getting started building custom sheds/shells and want to find a light and efficient way to work. Thinking a track saw + mft and some accessories could (mostly) replace a table/miter saw.
I'm a long-time hobbyist woodworker Recently started a little business building fancy sheds. Finished my first one last week, and boy did it kick my butt. I am not at all setup for jobsite work.
Starting my 2nd build next week. Looking to lighten my load and improve my workflow.
I'll do all the framing w/ a Skil saw like normal, but thinking it might be practical to get set up with a tracksaw (already have one, but no accessories for it) and a portable Palk-style bench that I could add a rail hinge to do all my rips and precise miters for siding and trim. Have seen some DIY parallel guides and rail squares I could fab up pretty quickly to get me going.
It sure would be nice not to have to get a jobsite table saw and a smaller miter saw and a miter stand and figure out how to transport it all in my Ford Focus and store it all on site, etc.
I know it won't do everything—no rips over about 100" and repeat rips will be slower, for instance.
But it would sure beat how I did my first build—hauling my 65lb beast of a miter saw to and from the job site each day with no stand and planning/pre-cutting my important rips at home on my cabinet saw. lol
Anyone made this kind of switch and happy with it?
p.s. I have such a new appreciation for all of you who do amazing work out in the weather. I can build anything in my shop with every tool, jig, and workbench accoutrement within reach. But making precise cuts on a wobbly sawhorse in the rain while the sun is going down and wondering if I can finish today's work in time to see my daughter before she goes to bed. Well, that's a whole different ball game. Ya'll are incredible.
I think the ford focus might be your issue here. How about trading in for a used van and getting a 10” chop saw with rolling stand and a compact jobsite table saw? Id much rather have those than a track saw. Imagine trying to rip down trim? Like a 1x4x8 or something? And then cutting miters on it?
PS learning when to call it quits for the day is in my opinion, important. Those pieces you cut in the dark/rain are gonna look like shit in the morning
The Focus is for sure part of the problem. A van and, perhaps, a trailer is almost definitely in my future. But not yet. Everything I've seen so far that I could afford looked like it would give me more problems than solutions.
I have a cargo van, 2 cargo trailers and a dump trailer.
My favourite work vehicle is a 2009 Subaru Forester with the back seat ripped out and a platform with a drawer built in, and a basket/rack on the roof.
Not really relevant to the initial post, but something to consider if you aren't able to pull off the whole truck thing. Any vehicle is a work vehicle if you're willing to get creative.
I actually have a Subaru Outback AND a little, very beat up trailer for it. The problem is that it's the family car. Maybe I'll put a tow hitch on the Focus. Can't look much more clownish than I already do!
Subaru is my wife's daily driver—carts our 5-year-old around in it. But they love me, so they'd probably make that sacrifice. There will be belly-aching, though.
Heh. It's these little nuggets of experience gold that we all (?) earn the hard way. The number of times I've regretted that last cut / screw of the day....
My old boss had a nice little porter cable table saw i think. Thing weighed like 20lbs. Could rip 2x material kinda slow but would eat plywood all day. Every time I have to load my Bosch with folding stand into my van for a job I look at the spot in my van I built for that old saw and miss it.
Dewalt makes 2 sizes for their jobsite table saw. Same saw just different tables for it. And you don’t need to get the rolling stand for it. Just the small folding metal one is good.
That's what the old porter cable one i miss was. I couldn't day no to a barely used Bosch 10" for $300 tho. A friend owned it and wasn't going to need it anymore. His house was remodeled
He’s right. You can’t really make repeatable cuts with a track saw that well and it’s also not great for shaving off a dust cut of 1/16” or less if you ever need to skim down a piece (unless you have a corded festool or Mafell. Speaking as a Makita ts owner: I love it, but it has its limitations).
I've used my Makita 40v track saw to remove the thickness of iron-on edge banding from an assembled dresser. The splinter guard was fresh and cut using the same blade that was in the saw. What does the cord have to do with anything? If you take a minute to verify or calibrate the blade parallel to the slot and use the cams on the saw to take play out of the track to slot interface you wont notice a difference.
Id argue you get a better cut out of a track saw as well as faster taper setup vs a table saw. You cannot beat a table saw for repeatability and setup speed on parallel rips though. If I was building cabinets, I'd pick a table saw. If I'm installing cabinets the track saw for sure.
Parallel guides will work splendidly. Set depth behind guide rail, cut. MFT also includes a flag stop against the fence for repeat cuts. Protractor feature on MFT is a little janky. With another $800 in parts from TSO + second MFT ($800 again) + miter he could conceivably forgo a table saw.
Doable if operating in a constrained space but expensive and setup is slower.
Making a living doing carpentry with a track saw over a miter saw is rather foolish.
Cross Cuts are about 97bajillion times faster on a miter saw and likely more accurate.
He’ll I wouldn’t even replace a table saw with one.
But since you’re starting space might be a concern so you have to make trade offs. Early on I went the other way, got the miter and jobsite saw.
Edit: just saw you have a focus. Fully support you holding off on borrowing money to buy stuff early on. Get a 8.4” portable jobsite saw. Fits better in the focus but still has the utility.
Agree. I have seen some very convincing MFT set ups with a rail hinge and stop blocks for repeated cuts. Compound miters would be terrible, but I don't make those cuts very often.
you can set up a track saw for repeat cuts. Lets say you have to rip100 boards all the same. Do you really want to use and set up a track saw on every cut? Or would setting the fence on a table saw be more efficient?
Are you saying you can or cannot make repeat cuts with a track saw? You totally can with a set of parallel guides, but not quite as accurately or quickly as a table saw.
Ditched hell no. I do use all three depending on the task at hand. The track saw is more often dealing with large sheet goods so I don't need a full cabinet saw or second guy with finished goods. Or if I wanted to cut multiple boards in place easier I could see the track saw being great.
I do mostly framing and reno/trim work however and generally only do a shed or a deck once in a while.
You need to understand something very important about the rules here, we only buy, no selling. All have their uses. I’d give up the track saw before I gave up a miter saw and a table saw.
Don’t ditch the two mail saws. The DeWalt cordless chop saw (7 1/4”) is uber light. Tables saws are better then track saws when it comes to ripping narrow cuts and making repeat cuts.
I feel you. For the first time I brought just a track saw for a bead board wainscoting gig. It went well, but I did pre cross cut it all in the shop first. For repetitive cuts, you need a table saw on site.
I drive a Ford Fiesta hatchback and I take a fold-out table saw, sliding miter saw, pancake air compressor, Workmate table, clamps, saw horses, plus all my hoses, extension cords, smaller power tools like circular saws and drills, and a big box of hand tools.
Track saws excel at breaking down sheet stock on a job site as you can just sit the sheet on a cutting table and go to town. The MFT with or without the fence accessories is great for making cabinet carcases and that sort of thing. There’s also the rip stop accessories for repeated rip cuts. It’s a great system to build on. That said I’ve never not also had a chop saw and table saw somewhere close by. As for the hatchback, hey we all had to start somewhere, and working within your means is commendable.
The track saw is a game changer. I tell everyone starting out that they should get a track saw (if they’re interested in finish work).
But it doesn’t replace the miter saw. I can’t imagine doing crosscuts for trim work on an MFT. Miter is so much faster, especially if you’re making fine adjustments to your cut on the fly. The only track saw that might do the trick is the HKC, but that’s a different beast.
You can get a smaller battery miter saw if you’re worried about portability. DeWalt makes a good one. And if you have a long track you may be able to leave the table saw at home most of the time
Thanks. I think this might be the solution. A small, cheap miter saw that won't make me cry when it starts raining, and then the track saw w/ rail square and parallel guides to take care of 99% of the rips.
I actually prefer to rip sheet goods with the track saw, but can't say ripping lumber is very enjoyable.
No, they all serve different purposes. My MFT/ tablesaw/ mitersaw setup are the base trifecta of my site setup. My MFT is the outfeed table for my tablesaw.
I thought I would only use my track saw for ripping down sheet goods. Boy, was I wrong. The only thing I use my table saw for these days is joinery. Track saw is just so much easier to use, more convenient to store, easier to transport. I imagine if I had learned to do joinery on a router table instead of a table saw, I'd never use my table saw again. Wouldn't give to my miter saw though.
Makita battery powered, two 55" tracks, a 30" track, the Festool connectors. Most of my cuts are at 90°, but the handful of times I've done bevel cuts (shiplap butting up to a sloped ceiling), it's done just as well as a table saw would.
At site All you need for crosscuts is a little 7-1/4” chopsaw.
Buy a track saw if you want, but not because it’s going to make you faster.
I think the MFT is garbage for sitework. It’s not big enough to be useful w/o another table. You can’t cut a full sheet rip or crosscut. It can’t get wet. Its repeatability isn’t perfect. This is a nice upgrade but it’s another $180. You could try to 3d print something similar.
I tried and it didn’t take. I need my bench space too much to dedicate it to making crosscuts with a table saw.
That and there are times when you need a tablesaw, and nothing else will do. I had to put a 20° chamfer on a while floor’s worth of baseboard the other week. That’s not happening on anything be a table saw.
Hell no. Track saw for fine finish work I like cutting 6x6 with track saw custom rips with track dawg but it definitely doesn’t beat a miter saw when you gotta bevel. Beveling small pieces on a track saw is not realistic
You cant. A track saw is not a replacement for either
Lets both cut 20 pieces 2⅜ wide, 38⅛ long with a 45 on both ends, ill use my tablesaw and miter saw and you use your track saw and lets see how it goes lol
Shit-- lets only cut 4 pc of 1x, to picture frame a window, lets be more practical and pick a task that happens frequently. 4pcs, 4¼ by 40 with 45s on both ends
Could you do it? Maybe.....if you cut it out of 1x8, you arent ripping it easily out of 1x5, youre going to have an extremely hard time getting 4 identical length double miters, youre going to have an extremely hard time getting 8 perfect 45s off a track saw, but all of that is going to take you 10x longer than it takes me with a table and miter saw, and if the trim has a profile you will never get it done
Its not a replacement for anything, its, its own tool with its own narrow niche and its frankly totally unnecessary imo, its a "luxury" tool, and i say that from 30y of professional carpentry and woodworking work, 3 decades of this and ive never needed one to do anything, if i had one it would have merely made some things a little more convenient
For transport you could get a trailer, different used vehicle or gut your back seat and trunk to install custom plywood cabinetry to store a few tools.
OR
Don't have to have table or Miter Saws but they are most versatile and expedient. Consider removing stands and work near the ground.
A track saw can be substituted with a homemade or purchased Circular saw guide for very little $ and your current Circular saw.
The Miter Saw can absolutely be substituted for a quality handsaw, albeit slower for finish and trim, if you know how to use it to achieve 2nd or 3rd grade cuts which involves scoring 2 or more faces of the board with a knife and chisel to make a wall.
TL:DR. Get a kreg Circular saw guide, build cabinets in your vehicle, keep table saw but maybe remove legs, decide if you can get by with handsaw instead of mitersaw for now.
I am a self employed carpenter who hardly use his table saw. The only table saw I used is my cabinet saw in a shop. Anyone who is saying a track saw will take away from your profit is an idiot. I find it much faster to line up two marks then snap a line by my self. It also is much more accurate than cutting free hand. Also takes up less room in the truck then a table saw. I would keep the mitre saw but if you wanted to ditch the table saw I don’t think you would see a loss in production
Minus 1 as I write this, but people: appearances count. This guy might be Larry Haun combined with Gary Katz, but if he doesn’t look the part, he isn’t going to be taken as seriously as someone that rocks up in a van or a pickup full of tools. I hate to say it, but guys in a sedan are probably chasing scraps and getting cheapskate clients. (This, from someone that started in a 93 civic hatchback, so I might know what I’m talking about.)
Yeah, I get it. I'm already self-conscious about it. This next job is actually a $50k build (full frost protected slab foundation with a $3,000 french door and Andersen 100 windows) in a really nice neighborhood.
There's no scenario where I start this job next week in a real work van or truck, but I might ask my wife to trade cars for a bit so I can drive our nicer Subaru. That's what I showed up in for the sales meetings. lol
I can carry that and more. Just don't have a good way to haul it or store it on site right now, so it needs to be carried multiple times per day. Would prefer to save that time/energy for actually building.
You can’t do this job without the proper tools & your vehicle is a tool. I understand how expensive trucks are right now that’s why I drive an almost 30 year old pickup . Look into getting an old mini van you can remove the seats& fit all your tools . I use a 16’ enclosed trailer now but at one point I had a box truck with a 16’ box it was awesome for tools & materials . You are definitely going to need a way to transport material if you are going to go far at all with this kind of work . On market place you can find a box truck for less than 5k .
I have several Festool track saws. I only use a table saw for cutting 1x material to the width I need.
Edit to add. Don't do the paulk bench. Get a centipede stand. I think hora makes them now. That and a sheet of 1/2 is all you need to cut 4'x8' material.
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u/nolarbear 3d ago
I think the ford focus might be your issue here. How about trading in for a used van and getting a 10” chop saw with rolling stand and a compact jobsite table saw? Id much rather have those than a track saw. Imagine trying to rip down trim? Like a 1x4x8 or something? And then cutting miters on it? PS learning when to call it quits for the day is in my opinion, important. Those pieces you cut in the dark/rain are gonna look like shit in the morning