I’m in the process of making a panel saw for my personal use. I hate having to drive down to my buddies place to cut some ply. The drive to and fro waste a lot of valuable time. I need to get this project done within a week before school starts back up again! I don’t want to buy one because it’s either too expensive or either too expensive.

I just started noticing that the steel stock I purchased months ago, aren’t actually all straight. Some bend a little at the end- wonder if I can bend them back? I had 24′ of 1.25X1.25″ tube that was straight and I used it to create my frame. More to come!

UPDATE 05/03/08

I drew out my dimensions for my sliding bracket(SB). The SB is 16″x16″x.25″ aluminum plate.

I had to rough cut it and I tried to leave 1/8 edge so I can go over it with my router. That is the first time I’ve ever used a router on aluminum and I made a few miscalculations here and there but it came out great!

I came back with my router and routed the edges to make it look symmetrical and purdy.

I have mounted the saw I’m going to use for my panel saw as a mock up. Doesn’t it look great? I love how it’s coming out! the SB looks great!

UPDATE: 05/07/08

I finally was able to take a photo of the frame. Here is the frame=) I hope the bottom piece is flush. If it isn’t, I’ll have to buy 3″x.5″x10′ to square it up. I hate to grind the welds!

This is the pulley that will help counter-balance the saw.

These are my wheels to move it around. I still have not made the support brackets for the frame; thus, it leans on whatever is behind it.

UPDATE: 05/08/08

I installed the wheels today and they work great!

I had to add more bracing in the back- O the wonders of designing and making your own projects are that you find so many defects that you must overcome! I’m adding horizontal bracing in the back for more support and to make the surface more plumb and even. I have never thought of this until I actually came across it. Now there’s something new to add to my pool of knowledge.

UPDATE: 05/17/08

I took a 2″x4″x10′ and ran it in a planer to take it down to 1.25″x4″x10′. Time consuming and lots of saw dust to collect and clean up.

Once that was done, It was then mated to the panel saw frame.

I finally installed the slider face plate.