Wood working Mags: Good 120v Table saw?

[shirk]

A friend of mine just bought a EZ-Smart system, which uses a more modular design and allows you to use any circular saw for its tracks. He likes it a lot, and it has a great following online.

Okay now I want to sell the used low grade table saw I got this summer and buy the EZ Smart system.

Good review here.

I spend Sunday afternoon cutting four sheets of 4x8 MDF with a straight edge and skillsaw. Getting them square to final size is going to be a pain with the small table on my table saw.

[Rodneyyee]

^^This. I build cabinets and furniture for a living, and can honestly say that the track saw is one of the best recent innovations in tools.

I have a Powermatic with a 50" cut and a huge Excalibur sliding table, and when I want PERFECT cuts, I choose the TS55 instead. The table saw is great for ripping and for repetitive cuts, but for breaking down panels and for absolutely straight cuts, the track saw cannot be beaten, especially with a long track. For a small shop with no 240v it's a no brainer. None of the lightweight table saws will even come close to the quality of the cuts you can achieve with a track saw. Festool is the standard and is priced accordingly, but quality is very high. Makita's saw uses the same tracks and is also rated highly. A friend of mine just bought a EZ-Smart system, which uses a more modular design and allows you to use any circular saw for its tracks. He likes it a lot, and it has a great following online.

Many people assume that they need a table saw to do serious woodworking, but track saws have truly changed the equation. I just spent almost a year doing crazy custom trim on a recording studio that ended up being about $1000/sq ft and used the TS55 for everything, including lots of veneer work. Frankly, my Powermatic is mostly used to do repetitive rips and to process raw lumber these days. Another point is that the Festool and Makita saws pretty much require the use of some sort of dust extractor (you can get away with a shop-vac). The dust collection is so designed into the tool that without it you will be just covered in dust and won't be able to see your cutline at all.

Have fun--just don't expect to save money building furniture for yourself, unless you are very experienced and well equipped. It will be incredibly fulfilling, though, and you can get exactly what you want.

100% good advice. Most everything you see at home depot are shit. Many of their tools are cheaply designed and will keep your work looking amateur hour. Don't get me wrong, just buying good tools is step one-skill-craftmanship and TIME are the hardest to come by.