Consistent rips on panel saw

[grim_d]

Hi all!

I recently got myself a 2.8m sliding panel saw in order to speed up production on my cabinet making.

I'm torn as to the best way to rip sheet material into pieces for door stiles/rails etc.

Previously I used a track saw and I've been able to get perfectly repeatable results without any further edge processing (until paint), the downside is obviously the time it takes per cut.

What's the best approach to doing this on a panel saw to get consistency?

Split sheets in half and use the Rip fence? Rip fence with slider? (I use 22mm MRMDF so throwing whole sheets around is challenging)

Rough strips using the slider then use the rip fence?

Rip them slightly wider than required then plane and thickness? (Seems a long way round)

Appreciate any thoughts!

 

[Sideways]

DIY project this afternoon as it happens : I just ripped a sheet of 22mm down into strips for rails and stiles.
I had the timber merchant rip it into 2 so that I could get it home in the car and half sheets were more than heavy enough for me to lift onto a cutting bench for the tracksaw.
I wouldn't expect any problem with cut quality. 48T 160mm whatever blade on the tracksaw scales up to about 100T 350mm blade for a commercial panel saw so just get one of those. The cut edge should be good enough to go straight to finishing just like the tracksaw.
For rapid, repeated rips, I think you'll be using the rip fence. It would be great to use the slider but by the time you've got the part sheet exactly aligned to the blade and clamped both ends I imagine that will be as slow as using the tracksaw.

 

[Spectric]

When a timber yard I use cuts up sheets on their Altendorf they just set the stops, lay the sheet on the slide mechanism and done, it is so quick how they can size a full sheet down into pieces and much faster than any tracksaw but you need a lot of space.

 

[grim_d]

@Sideways

I'm using a CMT 300mm 96T TCG blade which leaves an excellent finish but it's more about variations in cut quality when manually pushing the material along the fence, slight wobbles etc.

I suppose I have to admit my only additional Infeed and outfeed support currently is a pair of roller stands.

I've seen conflicting opinions on wether or not i should be using the slider in conjunction with the rip fence.

@Spectric

It is fantastic at sizing panels, as it should be I suppose!

 

[Eshmiel]

@Sideways

I'm using a CMT 300mm 96T TCG blade which leaves an excellent finish but it's more about variations in cut quality when manually pushing the material along the fence, slight wobbles etc.

I suppose I have to admit my only additional Infeed and outfeed support currently is a pair of roller stands.

I've seen conflicting opinions on wether or not i should be using the slider in conjunction with the rip fence.

@Spectric

It is fantastic at sizing panels, as it should be I suppose!

I read and see elsewhere that a motorised feeder can do a lot to eliminate the less-than-perfek edge cuts on a TS caused by the variable quality of human hand-pushing. And, as another poster mentions, using the sliding table can have a similar effect as it makes pushing the workpiece through the blade by hand a much smoother experience than pushing it along a fence.

A good quality motorised feeder is an expensive add-on, though.

I have an older model 10" Scheppach TS with a large sliding table - not quite a panel saw but close, as the table and fence can be set to make very accurate cuts. I get the smoothest cuts from using the sliding table. I

t is possible to do so against the fence instead but for this I use side and down-pressure feather boards and a large pushing thingy, so that I can concentrate entirely on pushing the workpiece through the blade and down the fence as smoothly as I can. Even so, we humans are not quite as good as them motors for applying a constant force in a straight line.

It's also important in fence-cutting to have that fence perfectly aligned with the blade and very stable. A blade running without excessive vibration or wobble (excessive meaning "very little indeed") also makes a difference to both the pushing by hand experience and to the final result.

 

[Spectric]

but it's more about variations in cut quality when manually pushing the material along the fence, slight wobbles etc.

I would have thought that the slide should allow very easy movement through the blade, have you checked it has a smooth motion over it's entire travel ?

 

[grim_d]

I read and see elsewhere that a motorised feeder can do a lot to eliminate the less-than-perfek edge cuts on a TS caused by the variable quality of human hand-pushing. And, as another poster mentions, using the sliding table can have a similar effect as it makes pushing the workpiece through the blade by hand a much smoother experience than pushing it along a fence.

A good quality motorised feeder is an expensive add-on, though.

I have an older model 10" Scheppach TS with a large sliding table - not quite a panel saw but close, as the table and fence can be set to make very accurate cuts. I get the smoothest cuts from using the sliding table. I

t is possible to do so against the fence instead but for this I use side and down-pressure feather boards and a large pushing thingy, so that I can concentrate entirely on pushing the workpiece through the blade and down the fence as smoothly as I can. Even so, we humans are not quite as good as them motors for applying a constant force in a straight line.

It's also important in fence-cutting to have that fence perfectly aligned with the blade and very stable. A blade running without excessive vibration or wobble (excessive meaning "very little indeed") also makes a difference to both the pushing by hand experience and to the final result.

It would have to be a pretty narrow feeder, my rail/stile stock tends to be 70mm, I have been thinking of getting a set of the Jessem clearcuts for a table saw however, they work excellently on the router table.

Whether or not they would be able to pull a half a sheet of 22mm MDF against the fence is debatable though.

Blade/fence all set up perfectly.

I would have thought that the slide should allow very easy movement through the blade, have you checked it has a smooth motion over it's entire travel ?

It does, but I still have to rely on the rip fence for repeating the cut, squaring a panel that is 4 times longer than it is wide against the crosscut fence is nigh on impossible.

The fancier saws have capability for setting parallel rips up with the slider.

 

[Spectric]

The fancier saws have capability for setting parallel rips up with the slider.

Yes I can see the difference, this is what my local timber yards saw does as they just do the long cut to width and then rotate to cut multiple pieces from this and might be why it has such a large footprint.