Panel saws

Every part of a cabinet starts at the saw. That's where a side panel, a shelf or a door is cut out of a sheet, to size and with a clean edge. In this lesson you'll see the sliding table saw and the beam saw, why the saw has two blades, how the board is guided along a fence, and what has to be in place before every cut.

0:24The sliding table saw

The sliding table saw is the most common panel saw in a cabinetmaking workshop. Its blade sits under the table and comes up through a slot in it. On one side of the blade is the sliding table, and on the other side is the main table, with the rip fence.

On the sliding table the board lies still, and the table travels past the blade with it. The board isn't pushed across a table or turned, so the cut is straight even on large boards. Longer sliding tables can take a whole stock sheet.

0:56The scoring blade

The teeth of the main blade enter the board from above and leave it at the bottom face. As they leave, they tear the hard melamine paper and break off tiny pieces of the edge. The bottom face is left chipped: a ragged, jagged line that shows even once the edge is banded.

That's why a panel saw has a second, small blade in front of the main one: the scoring blade. It turns the opposite way to the main blade and makes a shallow cut in the bottom face before it. Its teeth go into the face instead of coming out of it, so the paper doesn't break. The main blade then cuts through that groove, and the edge stays clean on both faces.

The scoring blade must be exactly in line with the main blade, and its cut as wide or slightly wider. If it's narrower or off to one side, a small step is left on the edge and the chipping comes back on one side. Set the height and width of the scoring blade as the saw manufacturer's instructions say.

Without a scoring blade, only the top face gets a clean edge. If your saw has no scoring blade, put the face that will be seen on top. For melamine-faced boards, it's still better to cut with a scoring blade.

2:08Guiding the board

A cut is only as accurate as the edge that slides along the fence. So the board is always guided with a straight edge. The factory edge of the sheet is cut off first, as the trim, and all other cuts are measured from that first straight cut.

Narrow strips and parts that are cut to width run along the rip fence. The size is the distance from the blade to the fence, for example four hundred millimetres, and the part that's cut to size passes between them. Cross cuts are made on the sliding table: the board lies against the fence on the table, square to the blade.

2:44The beam saw

A beam saw works the other way round. The board lies on the table and stays still, while a pressure beam clamps it from above. The saw comes up from under the table and travels along the cut. Then the pusher moves the board on for the next strip.

A beam saw can also cut several boards at once, stacked on top of each other. It cuts by program, which knows the sizes and the order of the cuts. That's why you find it in larger workshops, and at panel suppliers who cut for others.

So the difference is in what moves. On a sliding table saw the board travels past the blade. On a beam saw the board stays still and the saw travels.

3:24Safety at the saw

Never work at a saw without its guards. The blade guard is lowered onto the board, and the dust is extracted through it. Behind the blade is the riving knife. It keeps the cut open, so the board doesn't pinch the blade and the blade doesn't throw it back at you.

Never push a narrow part past the blade with your fingers. That's what the push stick is for, and your hands stay out of the line of the cut. At the saw, wear hearing and eye protection, and nothing loose.

Before every cut, check four things: the blade guard and riving knife are in place, the push stick is to hand, the extraction and hearing and eye protection are on, and your hands are out of the line of the cut. Set the blade height and the rest as the saw's instructions say, and learn to work at a saw with someone who knows how.

4:12In short

In short. Boards are cut on a sliding table saw or a beam saw. On a sliding table saw the board travels with the sliding table past the blade. The teeth of the main blade leave the board at the bottom face and can chip the paper. The scoring blade turns the opposite way and cuts that face before the main blade, so the edge stays clean. Its cut must be in line with the main blade, as wide or slightly wider. The board is guided with a straight edge against a fence. On a beam saw the board stays still and the saw travels, by program. And the blade guard, riving knife, dust extraction and push stick are always in place.

Easy Form Studio doesn't run the saw, but it prepares the work for it. From the project it builds cutting diagrams: each sheet with its parts and their numbers from the cutting list. All the cuts run from edge to edge, the way a sliding table saw can cut them.

In the export settings, enter the kerf of your own saw; the default is four point four millimetres. Also switch on the cut sequence CSV: a list of every cut, sheet by sheet, in the order they are made.

The tutorials Nesting and board prices, and Cutting list and cut size, show the whole process step by step.

A three-question quiz and the summary are on the academy page, the link is below the video. In the next lesson: the cut size, the saw kerf and the trim, and how much edge tape takes off a part.