vertical panel saws

[Pecker]

HI all, and a happy, propserous new year to everyone.

I am currently pricing up to make 400 shipping crates. These are quite big just over 4' square. And will be made from 8x4 sheets of Stirling board.
I only have a smallish workshop so space will be tight anyway.
I am considering buying a cheap (£1200 ish) new/secondhand vertical saw. My normal table saw does not have a slider. I am planning on just one man doing most of the work, and so thought a vertical would make life easier.

Has anyone any experience of these?
Can they do small 3" wide cuts?
can they do cuts right down to the last few inches, so If I wanted to cut a sheet into 3" strips, could I do the whole sheet in it?

Any advice or comments very welcome

Woody

 

[Green]

I use a massive and very old Holz-Her 1265 vertical panel saw at work, mostly solo.

One man can do a lot of work with a saw of this type. I cut two sheets at once normally.

3" wide can be cut but only at the start of a panel (IME) I wouldnt fancy cutting right down to the end of a sheet as it isnt clamped and would be liable to slip around. I reckon about 8" - 10" left on would be a sensible minimum but different machines maybe have a clamping system etc.

With four hundred units surely you could use something else instead of trying to cut 3" strips?

 

[Pecker]

Cheers Green. Just to explain, we are in a tricky situation here. Due to various legal import requirements, we cannot use any real wood in the construction (it has to be heat treated and you have to be registered etc etc). The sides are just over 4' tall and so we need to increase the height, furthermore we also need to build the corners up externally to enable us to screw them together - hence the strips. In reality I think many are about 4 " wide not that that makes much difference :roll:

woody

 

[wizer]

I hear what your saying about space restrictions. But have you considered either Festool or EZ Smart

 

[Green]

Hi

I think you will have no problem cutting the strips and a vertical saw is the way to go for big batches. If you havent used one before you will be shocked at how much you can get done in a day.

Check some saws out, I only have experience of one particular model and there may be others that are capable of cutting right up to the end of a sheet.

Sounds like a decent job.

 

[Pecker]

Hi

Sounds like a decent job.

Yeah, now I've just got to get it :lol:

woody

 

[lostintheforest]

if you look on ebay for wall saw theres a holzer for £100 starting bid it looks a bit big but.

 

[Big Fat Pig]

If you`re interested, there was a project to build a wall saw in `Good Woodworking` somw years back. Issue 143 to be precise. ( I know as i`m looking at it right now.)
In fact there are 2 versions, a posh one and a simpler, but looks just as effective , and quicker to build version.

I can scan the article and send if required.

Piggy

 

[gidon]

That was a Ian Dalziel article wasn't it? It was very good - I remember being tempted to give it a try. I liked the outside one attached to the fence.
Cheers
Gidon

 

[WellsWood]

A couple of years ago I was asked to supply a load of 50mm wide strips of 25mm ply to my wife's flooring company. From memory it was about 10 full sheets all cut into strips. I looked at various options but in the end the most cost effective was to get the timber merchant to cut them for me (I just slapped on my profit margin and delivered the lot straight to site 8).
If all your cases are to be the same size maybe ordering the materials in pre-cut would be a good bet - save a tremendous amount of labour, with or without a panel saw.