In article ,
Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote:

I would really like to have a panel saw at home but they are costly.
Has anybody seen plans? I don't need fancy, just to straight cut 4x8s
of ply and such. The table saw method is unwieldy and I have some
projects that will use a lot of ply pieces. The first project is
cabinets along the long wall in the garage.

The "strait-line" clamps with saw-sled work and don't take up much
space. If you find that too slow and want to waste more space, you just
need to set up some sort of linear bearing and sled - the cheap method
used on the original shop-bot CNC router was uni-strut and patio door
bearings, and could be adjusted adequately for CNC routing, or much
better than is needed for the average panel saw.

Turn that vertical or nearly so and provide a pulley & counterweight and
you are most of the way there. If you want to spend more on it use some
sort of precision material and the fact that you do own machine tools -
ie, two chunks of 6-foot 1" drill rod at $60/each (or hardened bearing
shafting at $72/each - McMaster prices) and bore holes in guide/bearing
blocks rather than using unistrut and patio door bearings, which were
designed for folks without machine tools to speak of. Or spend even more
money for proper linear bearings to slide on the shafts...

The saw sled itself can be a board or hunk of plywood the saw bolts to.
Bit of a ledge and some supports for the sheet goods and Robert is your
mother's brother. Make the ledge level and the linear shafting plumb,
and it cuts square... Walk into the big-box lumber store near you if you
want to study one in person, rather than in pictures, but realize that
commercial ones will not be designed in a way for easy home-brew copying
- they will have complexities you can avoid and save money on.

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