Jrbuilder Posted March 31, 2019 Report Share Posted March 31, 2019 Hi I just purchased the cordless track saw. I made my initial cut in the track and the rubber was very rough. It had the tiniest bumps at regular intervals down the track. Made a couple more cuts and it seemed to smooth out. By the fourth cut the saw kind of bound up in the middle of the track and when I finished my cut I noticed the middle of the track I actually cut the aluminum track! I had the saw adjusted like the manual says to slide easy but no chatter side to side. I don’t understand how the saw cut the track but now I’m left with not trusting the rubber strip to line up my cuts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimboS1ice Posted March 31, 2019 Report Share Posted March 31, 2019 Hi I just purchased the cordless track saw. I made my initial cut in the track and the rubber was very rough. It had the tiniest bumps at regular intervals down the track. Made a couple more cuts and it seemed to smooth out. By the fourth cut the saw kind of bound up in the middle of the track and when I finished my cut I noticed the middle of the track I actually cut the aluminum track! I had the saw adjusted like the manual says to slide easy but no chatter side to side. I don’t understand how the saw cut the track but now I’m left with not trusting the rubber strip to line up my cuts.Which saw do you have? On my makita you adjust how the Saw rides the rail and if it’s too close you’ll hit the rail Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisK Posted March 31, 2019 Report Share Posted March 31, 2019 Welcome to the forums. Which saw do you have? Is it possible that you jumped off the guide? I have the Festool and the base shoe of the saw has adjustable wheels that allow for lateral movement in the guide. Hope this helps, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jrbuilder Posted March 31, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2019 I have the Makita XPS02 cordless plunge cut saw. I have the wheels adjusted so there is no side to side play with the saw in the track but not too tight as to make the saw difficult to push down the track. It seems every cut I am taking a little more off the rubber and after a dozen cuts there is less than 1/16 of rubber sticking out the track. Don’t understand why I keep getting closer to the track with each cut. Going to take some measurements to see if blade is parallel to slot in base and maybe switch to a thicker kerf blade to see if blade is warping during cutting. I am cutting red oak stair treads but going slow with the feed rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SetBuilder Posted March 31, 2019 Report Share Posted March 31, 2019 are you ripping or cross cutting the oak? are the cuts clean or are they leaving burn marks? If you change to a thicker blade then you will most likely cut more into the splinter guard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jrbuilder Posted March 31, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2019 Cross cutting the oak. The cuts are clean and smooth. Took measurements and the blade is parallel to the slot in the plate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimboS1ice Posted April 1, 2019 Report Share Posted April 1, 2019 I have the Makita XPS02 cordless plunge cut saw. I have the wheels adjusted so there is no side to side play with the saw in the track but not too tight as to make the saw difficult to push down the track. It seems every cut I am taking a little more off the rubber and after a dozen cuts there is less than 1/16 of rubber sticking out the track. Don’t understand why I keep getting closer to the track with each cut. Going to take some measurements to see if blade is parallel to slot in base and maybe switch to a thicker kerf blade to see if blade is warping during cutting. I am cutting red oak stair treads but going slow with the feed rate.With that saw if you adjust the wheel too tight it will bring it too close to the saw, the wheel needs to be tightened just enough it takes the play out but over tighten and you’ll bite the rail Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jrbuilder Posted April 2, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2019 22 hours ago, JimboS1ice said: With that saw if you adjust the wheel too tight it will bring it too close to the saw, the wheel needs to be tightened just enough it takes the play out but over tighten and you’ll bite the rail Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Thanks for the help. That is probably what happened. I’m calling it user error and ordering a new piece of rubber for the track and starting over. Played with the saw yesterday some more and now my cuts are about a 16th away from the rubber that I cut too close earlier. When I got my table saw I spent several hours dialing it in and practicing with scrap but I was in a hurry with the track saw and just jumped right in. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtrgeo Posted April 3, 2019 Report Share Posted April 3, 2019 On 4/1/2019 at 5:38 PM, Jrbuilder said: Thanks for the help. That is probably what happened. I’m calling it user error and ordering a new piece of rubber for the track and starting over. Played with the saw yesterday some more and now my cuts are about a 16th away from the rubber that I cut too close earlier. When I got my table saw I spent several hours dialing it in and practicing with scrap but I was in a hurry with the track saw and just jumped right in. I am having a hard time seeing how over-tightening the adjustment knobs would cause the saw to cut the aluminum guide rail unless it was so tight it was causing you to pull the saw up off of the guide bar to move it. The saw has solid stops against the guide bar on the blade side of the base. No matter how much you tightened them it can only move the blade in to the positive stops. If you just snug them up slowly you can get to where the saw will still move easily but not be loose on the rail. Get the adjusters to where the are still allowing a slight clicking sound when attempting to push the base side to side. Turn the adjuster very slightly clockwise and try moving the base again. Keep repeating this until the clicking goes away and the saw still slides freely. Do one adjuster at a time leaving the other loose. Once you have both adjusted check the saw to see if it is still moving easily on the guide rail. If it is a little tight go back and do the first one again. That will usually clear it up. If your blade is not adjusted far enough from the rail (leaving ~3/32-1/8" of the rubber strip) then you would need to adjust the saw's alignment. This is not so easy on the Makita as it is all done by loosening the four screws holding the black plastic bevel adjustment pieces. The screws run through larger holes in the base permitting you to move the saw blade alignment. Beware once you do this it will take some effort to get things back into alignment. The blade should have a slight toe-in with respect to the rail, approx .005". This is best adjusted by only loosening three of the screws leaving one as a pivot point. Usually it would be the front screw closest to the blade but may need to be the rear depending on if your screws have bottomed out against the side of the hole you need to move in. I found my cordless' blade to be closer to the track than I preferred (~1/16") and slightly out of alignment, leaving cut marks from the back of the blade, and had to go through this effort. It can take a lot of test cuts to get things to where they should be. If you decide to try I have some info that may help. Also, I have found the stock blade while it provides a nice smooth cut is very flexible and can wander in hardwood or thicker cuts. This for me has for me shown up in cuts that are not quite square to the surface. Overall it is a great saw but the stock blade has some limitations. BTW - You can peel off the rubber splinter guards and move them over a few times before you have to replace them. I have found a heat gun works to re-activate the adhesive. Just make sure you keep it clean. George Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jrbuilder Posted April 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2019 I would appreciate whatever info you have to help me check the alignment of the blade. Are you measuring the blade relative to the slot in the base similar to aligning a table saw blade to the slot in the table? Also what blade did you end up using in your cordless saw? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtrgeo Posted April 4, 2019 Report Share Posted April 4, 2019 Jrbuilder - I sent you a PM with the files I have. I found it next to impossible to get accurate measurements by trying to measure the blade to the slot in the base. There just is not a solid place to easily reference from. I tried the suggested methods of making a cut and then measuring blade toe in using a business card but preferred to use feeler gauges as it is just a more reliable measuring tool. In the end I ran across an Instagram post (by jar944) which made me realize I had the tools to easily get reliable measurements. Using a dial indicator on a magnetic base, both cheaply available from a place like Harbor Freight I was able to get my toe-in to exactly .005". The guide rail is sitting on the edge of my table saw cast iron wing and the magnetic base is attached to the bottom of the table saw guide tube. By holding the blade down and sliding the saw back and forth I am able to see the difference in the blade with relationship to the guide rail. If you try this you will see that the blade is actually a little thicker towards the center of the disk so you really need to look at the reading at each edge and ignore the middle. Please remember to remove the batteries or unplug as applicable when making these measurements. Regarding the blade, I have stuck with the original blade for now as I am only using the saw for cutting up MDF and other sheetgoods. The stock blade actually works well in that application. I have been given the suggestion to try a Tenryu 28 tooth blade for ripping. This blade is a little thicker having a wider kerf and should not flex as much as the stock blade. However, it will cut into the rubber anti-splinter strip changing its relationship to the stock blade. I will wait until I have a need to straightedge some hardwood before I go down that path. Note that other than the Makita blades you will generally only find 160mm blades which are designed for the Festool. These blades work fine on the Makita but you do lose the ability to use the score function of the saw. Dewalt and Triton also use the 165mm blades but I have not bothered to look at them as the Triton blade sounds like it is has issues and have not heard much regarding the Dewalts. Some people like the Freud options and Oshland blades get decent reviews for a low priced option. With the new Kreg saw using the 165mm blade I am hopeful we will see some other 165mm options in the US market. Sorry for the long-winded answers but just trying to share all the details I have. Feel free to contact me if you have any more questions. George 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddy Posted May 9, 2019 Report Share Posted May 9, 2019 Great info from gtrgeo. When I bought my makita cordless track saw it was cutting too close to the aluminum also so I loosened the 4 screws underneath the saw and moved it out as far as I could and tightened one of the back screws to work as a pivot then moved the front in slightly so it has a toe in on the front of the blade and tightened all the screws. I may have had to do this a few times though to get where I was happy with it. In regards to using 6-1/2" blades I have found Concord blades on Amazon to work amazingly well, comes in different tooth counts from 18 tooth all the way up to a 60 tooth blade and can be got for under $20. There is one thing though, you have to change out the inner arbor flange to make the saw except blades with a 5/8" arbor. The part comes from their brushless 6-1/2" circular saw and costs around $15 but it means you can stay with using Concord blades if you happen to like them, they're not full kerf blades but they're a lot stiffer than the blade that came with the saw and any other thin kerf blade in the 6-1/2" range. I also picked up a norske fiber cement blade which has a 5/8" arbor and used it to cut sheets of durock when doing a bathroom and shower. Best way I've found to cut that material. I hated not having the scribe feature when using the oshlun blades so I tried different brands until someone had mentioned the concord ones and have been sticking with them since Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve R Posted February 26, 2021 Report Share Posted February 26, 2021 I have had the same problem on deeper cuts, the saw actually cuts into the aluminum until it binds, while still being seated in the track, it sounds impossible, but it happens. Good luck trying Makita technical help. Cuts great at 3/4” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve R Posted February 26, 2021 Report Share Posted February 26, 2021 I don’t like the idea of trial and error setup, and now have 2 damaged tracks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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