Recently, we had a running thread on the wisdom and value of a panel saw in
the workshop. I had the opportunity yesterday evening to use one, for the
first time, and thought I would share my impressions.

By way of background, I'm an enthusiast, not a woodworking professional.
In my early 50's, I've done rough and finish carpentry, masonry and almost
every kind of home repair since my early years. (Except major electrical
and gas. I hire pros for that stuff.) I took my first shop courses in
furniture and cabinetry since junior high school 2 1/2 years ago, and have
been completely hooked since.

The adult ed program bought one of these last summer: The Milwaukee
Vertical Panel saw, with extensions, as listed at:
http://store.yahoo.com/toolsplus/mlw6480-20.html

It is an impressive sight, and seems quite well made. The frame and rack
are square tube aluminum. The rollers for the saw frame are large, and
enable one person to easily move the whole saw easily. This is a good
thing, because our shop, like almost every other one I've seen, is smaller
than we would like. We end up having to shuffle equipment to get adequate
room to work larger panels. More on this in a moment.

The operation of the equipment is pretty smooth, although there is some
stiffness in some of the latching mechanisms, likely because ours has not
yet seen a lot of use. The saw sled is well counterbalanced, and stays
where you put it, even before locking down to the rails. There are in-
place measuring rules, which matched up well with the marks I'd made
earlier, with a carpenter's tape.

Last evening's project was to get the carcase cuts made for a pair of upper
wall cabinets, such as one would use in a kitchen. These are prototypes
for the kitchen re-do on the near horizon, the initial project for an adult
ed cabinet-making class (pocket joinery) and intended for storage in the
garage-turned-workshop. I had purchased, about 6 weeks ago, a 4x8x3/4"
sheet of 'Chinese Birch ply', 13-layer, and factory finished with a water-
based poly. Standing in the sheet goods rack, almost everyone who saw it
commented on how good this stuff looked. I hope(d) it would be an answer
to a problem of space and time, in doing my kitchen cabinets.

I'm tempted to blame the storage in my shop, because this stuff was no
longer flat, when I laid it on the panel saw. We've had some warmer than
usual weather, and the garage has been almost Texas-like, unusual for
Northern California. By the way, this is a HEAVY sheet of wood - as heavy
as good quality MDF. It took two people to load it into the pickup, and
two to unload it. It also took two people to move it across the saw, to
rip cut as the cut list required. This was, I thought, one of the prime
reasons for the panel saw - 1 man operation on large sheets. Either that
was a misconception on my part, or we were doing something wrong. Wouldn't
be the first time for either.

The rip cuts were straight, however, with little, if any, burning, and
then, only when we stopped moving the sheet. Using a sharp blade, there
was minimal splintering of the (very thin) veneer. The cross cuts were
easier, because the stock stayed in one place, and the saw sled moved. The
saw had plenty of power for the tasks we gave it.

We haven't figured out dust collection for this tool yet. While we have a
large cyclone and 6" ducting), this saw hasn't been connected to the system
yet. As such, cleaning up took much longer than setting up and making the
cuts. And this plywood yields a fine, powdery dust that doesn't settle
right away. I'm ordering a mask this evening.

So, would I use this tool again? Given that I am going to have a kitchen's
worth of cabinets to do, and probably 10 or 12 sheets of 3/4" ply to cut, I
am ambivalent. Even with no-cash-cost use of this tool, I don't know that
it offers enough benefit for me to haul everything down to the school shop.
I think that pulling the sheets out of the back of the pickup truck, onto a
cutting table set up on sawhorses, and rough cutting with a circular saw
and clamped guide makes at least as much sense. From there on to a work
cart, and then to the cabinet saw for the finish cuts means less material
handling. And more importantly, I don't have to wait for a helper with a
strong back.

With larger sheets, more cross-cutting vs rip cutting, more room to
manuever stock, more production-type work, I can see where this tool could
be useful. But not for me. YMMV.

I will use prefinished birch ply when I do the finish cabinet run, although
I will spend more for the better grade next time. I paid maybe $45 for
this sheet.

Patriarch

patriarch wrote:
snippage...
I had purchased, about 6 weeks ago, a 4x8x3/4"
sheet of 'Chinese Birch ply', 13-layer, and factory finished with a water-
based poly.
snippage...
I'm tempted to blame the storage in my shop, because this stuff was no
longer flat, when I laid it on the panel saw.
snippage...


Actually, you can blame the lack of flatness on the fact
that it's plywood.

UA100

patriarch wrote:
snippage...
I had purchased, about 6 weeks ago, a 4x8x3/4"
sheet of 'Chinese Birch ply', 13-layer, and factory finished with a water-
based poly.
snippage...
I'm tempted to blame the storage in my shop, because this stuff was no
longer flat, when I laid it on the panel saw.
snippage...


Actually, you can blame the lack of flatness on the fact
that it's plywood.

UA100

"Before" you start the cabinet project... read this article
and pay very close attention to his jigs...

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/pages/w00035.asp

Nice write up on a very cool device:

patriarch wrote:

Recently, we had a running thread on the wisdom and value of a panel saw in
the workshop. I had the opportunity yesterday evening to use one, for the
first time, and thought I would share my impressions.

"Before" you start the cabinet project... read this article
and pay very close attention to his jigs...

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/pages/w00035.asp

Nice write up on a very cool device:

patriarch wrote:

Recently, we had a running thread on the wisdom and value of a panel saw in
the workshop. I had the opportunity yesterday evening to use one, for the
first time, and thought I would share my impressions.

Pat Barber wrote in
:

"Before" you start the cabinet project... read this article
and pay very close attention to his jigs...

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/pages/w00035.asp

Nice write up on a very cool device:


Thanks, Pat. I've been using a carpenter's level, clamped to the plywood,
and a large framing style circular saw. The saw was/is a reminder of the
'more is much better' mindset from carpentry projects.

The jigs in this article are very clever. Thanks for the link.

Patriarch

Pat Barber wrote in
:

"Before" you start the cabinet project... read this article
and pay very close attention to his jigs...

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/pages/w00035.asp

Nice write up on a very cool device:


Thanks, Pat. I've been using a carpenter's level, clamped to the plywood,
and a large framing style circular saw. The saw was/is a reminder of the
'more is much better' mindset from carpentry projects.

The jigs in this article are very clever. Thanks for the link.

Patriarch

Unisaw A100 wrote in
:

patriarch wrote:
snippage...
I had purchased, about 6 weeks ago, a 4x8x3/4"
sheet of 'Chinese Birch ply', 13-layer, and factory finished with a
water- based poly.
snippage...
I'm tempted to blame the storage in my shop, because this stuff was no
longer flat, when I laid it on the panel saw.
snippage...


Actually, you can blame the lack of flatness on the fact
that it's plywood.

UA100

Is ApplePly likely to be any better? The prefinished product seems to be a
real benefit for me, due to my lack of space for finishing the assembled
cabinets, or the cut materials, for that matter.

Patriarch

Unisaw A100 wrote in
:

patriarch wrote:
snippage...
I had purchased, about 6 weeks ago, a 4x8x3/4"
sheet of 'Chinese Birch ply', 13-layer, and factory finished with a
water- based poly.
snippage...
I'm tempted to blame the storage in my shop, because this stuff was no
longer flat, when I laid it on the panel saw.
snippage...


Actually, you can blame the lack of flatness on the fact
that it's plywood.

UA100

Is ApplePly likely to be any better? The prefinished product seems to be a
real benefit for me, due to my lack of space for finishing the assembled
cabinets, or the cut materials, for that matter.

Patriarch