Machine Builders Network+ Forums Machine Builders Network General Discussion What odd jobs did you do today?

'Nother little oddball tool build. I actually use this one, though.

For every track saw on sale, there's probably a build video someone has done of how you can build one instead of buying.

I have been enviously eyeing some of these saws for a while, but every time the cheapskate in me says "not yet". Rather than take a prybar to the wallet, I decided I'd try and follow one of these build videos and see what I get.

My personal criteria for this was as thin as possible to reduce loss of cut depth, and as minimally invasive to the saw frame as possible, ideally allowing most non-track uses as is, and the rest by being able to take off the track guide modifications with a minimum of fuss.

I have forgotten which video or article I finally used, but here is what I ended up with:

The base is a section of one of the better grades 1/8" hardwood ply, about a foot wide and about 5' long. The track bit is a chunk of extrusion that used to be a guide for a pocket door. It is mounted to the center of the ply with countersunk machine screws up from the bottom, and nuts on top.




The saw guide is made from several chunks of hard maple in a U-shape. The leg that goes inside the base is shorter by the thickness of the metal. The distance from the saw base to the inside edge of the U was set to be a sliding fit over the extrusion. The inside edge of the base side of the U also has a groove that accepts the lip of the saw base. The single mounting bolt location was picked so that it would not interfere with the motor. The back edge of the U is mitered to just clear the motor housing when it is set all the way down.



Once you have the track guide made and sliding well, lower the blade and cut off the edge of the base ply. You can now line up the track right on your marks where you want to cut.

This worked okay, but it was missing one of the features I really like about the commercial versions, the ability to use it without clamping.

I recently saw another build that had a good answer for this, even if I didn't like a lot of the rest of their build...stair edge traction tape. I grabbed a roll of the gray rubbery 3M stuff from the box store, rather than the more abrasive black stuff to hopefully minimize marks on the work. So far it does a very good job of holding the track in place.