Review and photos by Raf Nathan
Track saws have been available for many years and offer many uses for both workshop and site use. Use them as a standard power saw or add in the track and you have a portable panel saw, plus the plunge capacity is useful for cutting in kitchen sinks and similar in bench tops. The aluminium track is clamped to the wood to be cut and the saw is guided through the cut by locating in the track rebates.
The Scheppach Track Saw Package CS-55 is made in China and offers 160mm diameter blade, 55mm depth of cut, riving knife, standard sized dust outlet, 1200 watts and possibly best of all, a very reasonable price. At this price it is well under the cost of a similarly featured Festool or Makita. My thought of course was: what is the quality/longevity like then at this price?
I had some slabs of fairly hard celery top pine to dimension to final size. Normally on my small panel saw this would be quite a trying exercise passing heavy slabs on the sliding table and getting things square. The Scheppach track saw though made this an easy operation.
With minimal set-up time I had all the slabs sawn square with no dramas and hardly any fuss. I used the optional 48 tooth blade to produce a quality clean sawn face. Sure power could be slightly more, but it was sufficient although the Chinese build quality has yet to prove its
longevity.
My only criticism was the rubber anti-splinter strip. This is attached to the aluminium track with tape and on my sample could be wiggled around. This meant that while the rubber prevented splintering it was not secure enough to be used as a measuring guide. I measured directly from the aluminium track to position the cut. At this price I could justify the spend on this tool even if it was used only a few times a month.
Tool currently available from Hare & Forbes for $297, (02) 9890 9111.