I know, i know, different tools, different jobs. But listen.
I built a track saw thing because I had a bunch of plywood to break down. It hangs off the side is my bench so I can fold it down when I’m not using it.
It works great, considering the warped plywood, lack of fixturing, and incomplete legs. But…
I don’t think i can have it and a LR3 on the same table
that table is the only place I’m gonna get a LR3.
I don’t have as much sheet good to break down lately
I just got an awesome new table saw, so I can break down sheets 3or4ftx4ft on that.
For the odd really long cut, what do y’all think of having a routine or two saved for long cuts, then tossing a sheet to break down on the cnc, power on, square, jog to the right dimension, then go.
Too many thoughts!
A router based cnc is a terribly inefficient way of breaking down large sheets if you have a table saw.
I have a table which is basically a ladder frame which folds flat and is held flat against the wall with a cleat when not in use and it’s light enough to carry outside when I want to make a real mess, but usually as in the pic it goes into service where the car usually parks.
It’s 900x1800 or a couple of feet shy of full sheet, but a full sheet of ply will sit happily on it. I use a straight edge and circular saw to break down sheets to within a mm of a final dimension and run a finish cut on the table saw. (Your tracksaw would work clamped on it)
As you can see it the frame is sacrificial but you are looking at 15 years of abuse in the photo. It also substitutes for carpenters trestles, and it’s great for holding odd shapes if you have to plane, cut or jigsaw.
I reckon I could have the parts cut and trued and the table put away faster than you can say “now where did I leave my router spanners?”
Sadly, that’s what I say about everything! "I could make a template and use the router faster than… " and hence my LR2 sits as a decoration!
Innefficient, yes. But I only get the luxury of one big table. So I’d also have to disassemble and move the cnc in order to get out my saw and straight edge. I could break it down on the floor, but I may or may not have scarred my old garage floor this way, the wife would be really pissed if something happened to the epoxy in this garage, lol.
And I’m not really comfortable with anything larger than 4 ft on the tablesaw(yet).
Cutting a long straight line is not really a big deal. Slower than a dedicated tool, yes. Slower than setting up a tool and using it, probably not all that much.
Just make the saved gcode either at set common widths and have a locating point, Or drive the machine to where you want it to start and gun the straight line.
I think it is a great solution, and for one offs probably the same amount of time spent doing it. Now doing a whole kitchen worth still might not be all that bad because you can be moving material around while it cuts for 2 minutes.
Why does your track saw need to be clamped? I just break down my sheet goods on my floor on a 1" pink insulation foam sheet. I have the Makita track saw and don’t need to clamp. I started making some parallel jigs on the cnc for different widths of cabinets and it works great
Big +1 on the pink foam “spacer.” Keep a couple of slices of it around and you can plop them on the lowrider table (with the machine parked at one end) and make your roughing cuts with a circular saw. I’ve got 2 “long ones” and 2 “short ones” depending on the direction I need to slice the big sheet. My shop is in the basement, and I have to schlepp new materials down a staircase with a 90 degree turn and through the finished family room. I greatly prefer breaking big sheets down up in the garage.
Funny, foam sheets are how i scarred the floor. I had multiple pieces, and I grabbed a thinner piece with a thinner sheet of wood. Buzzed right through them both, lol. Fyi, concrete smells… not great…when you run a circular saw on it…
I use an actual track saw on my LR2 for breaking down sheet goods and honestly, it’s probably the way to go. The tracks are so much lighter and easier to quickly position and put away.
That said, you may run into issues regardless with the LR3 design with the rail and belts mounted to the top of the table. You’ll be sacrificing cut area or constantly taking them on and off the table. I’m planning on adapting the LR3 to my existing table which already had conduit rails, but they are mounted extending from the sides of the table and slightly below the surface in order to stay out of the way when doing exactly this kind of sheet breakdown.
That is what I’m thinking right now. Building a table large enough to handle a full sheet cnc seems like a bigger job than adding rails to a full sheet table. I think ill add some 2x4 around the top for clamping, then some more on the long sides for belt and rails. I can slide large sheets in from the short side over the table saw.
The panel saw project was awesome while I was building the coops, but I haven’t actually used it since then (hence why I haven’t actually put real legs or alignments or stops on it).
I’d have two saved gcodes. One for horizontal cuts. One for vertical. Since you’re doing a straight cut, you could cut both directions. I’d probably had write the gcode (as I don’t konw what type of slicer would give what you want)
I’d do like you said. I’d home the machine. then use the box to jog to where I want the cut to be.
Then my gcode would do the following:
Set x0y0
go down to whatever cut depth I want.
Move to X(length of table)
go down same cut depth
Move back to X0
repeat for depth of board.
An 8’ 3/4 piece of plywood would take a bit to cut, but you can do other stuff in the shop while it’s doing it.
