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Panel /wall saws-what do you recommend?
I am planning on upgrading my Keencut Excalibur cutter to a wall saw, as I am reliant on waiting for Geoff to get time to cut boards too big for the excalibur.
I have been looking at this
http://www.sagetech.co.uk/products.htm (series 1)
found on the toolbar, and it appears to be ideal, but as I haven’t looked at any others yet I thought I would ask for others’ opinions, what do you all use? (I have no idea of what to expect to pay either, yet…)
Thanks
Lorraine -
34 Replies
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Hi Lorraine
We have both a Koolcut and Excalibur and although the Koolcut could serve virtually all our needs on it’s own it is better suited to bigger panels and bigger cuts. We have found the Koolcut is a good machine although I can’t say how much better than other brands.
Cheers
Macky -
well, its worth looking at the Drytac Inglet if they have them at signuk this year, last year they did and it is very neat.
its a cutter and a circular saw in one, we thought it was great considering H&S
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Both looked nifty bits of kit,…any ideas on price Dave? would like to know but dont want half hour call from a sales rep!!!
cheers -
i cant remember… but was as expected with any sign making equipment a little higher then it should be… that model comes with a few options, like laser guided thing. They were demo’ing it with a lady cutting alsorts including dibond.
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One of the things I’m planning to see at the sign show are the excalibur and fletcher cutters – the new inglet looks very promising though – the fact that a version is available that cuts substrates up to 10ft length makes it an ideal choice providing it doesn’t produce too much dust and cost a a fortune
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Me to phil so might bump into at one of their stands,….I’ll be the with the one with the melted credit card and crying!!! 😀
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quote Steve Bird11:Me to phil so might bump into at one of their stands,….I’ll be the with the one with the melted credit card and crying!!! 😀
don’t u mean the saw tooth blade!!!
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lol…yes that as well hopefully!!!….unless a shiny new sol jet pro catches my eye first!!
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hi lorraine
very interesting topic, as i have just put my keecut exacilbur 5000 on ebay, i gave a job out to a company last week 200 peices of 80mm x 40mm alupanel, the guy on the cutter cut is thumb down to the bone whilst cutting so many small pieces. (I felt really bad!)
anything smaller than 200mm x 100mm i think the keencut struggles with! so i give it out to be cut.
i am going to the show tomorrow to look at cutters, the one i think i will be buying if it is there is the varga table saw (swiss) £1100 to £1500 depending on the euro, supposed to be a very accurate cutter down to 10mm with a working bed of about 2 foot , is this the sort of thing you are looking at or bigger. i find the keencut good for big stuff, but if you are cutting ali composite on a regular basis you need to change the wheel sregular to keep it cutting well.simon cardiff
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i just googled it simon… yes i know it as we had one, only a small one but is accurate but saw blade doesn’t really come out enough. we ebayed it too.
we would cnc’ that job, we also have a over head saw and it is evil, so thats why we was looking at alternatives too, but the cnc works well
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Hi Simon, just checked that out,….why does it need to be profesionally removed and refitted?
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i couldnt not get it lined up i had about 4mm difference from top to bottom until independent keencut engineer (neil stout) came out last week he doesnt suggest customers set them up themselves. (but he did make £200 notes out of me!, so maybe he is biased)
although they say you can cut ali composites on it, if i had to be honest i do not think its really designed for it, if it was there would be better clamps on it.
i am one of these people who think machine set up should be left to the pro’s
Simon
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Morning everyone, interesting how others are experiencing the same problems as me with the Excalibur, as said, great for cutting large pieces but way out on small bits.
I do cut mainly composite, and I think maybe I should get a new cutting head, but I would like to cut 10 ft sheets. I like the look of the Inglet, will have to look at the spec on it. -
Hi Lorriane
i Have been to the show today and keencut say they have a new weighted head with redesigned bearings available for the excalibur which will improve on the drag. it takes minutes to fit and only £54 they are also working on a new clamping system that may or not be available this year.
i came away thinking small pieces of ali composite should be cut on a CNC, this is the way i plan to go if i can find a cheap enough company to source the work out to.
Simon
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Hi Simon, I’ll defo get to the Keencut stand tomorrow, the new head sounds like a must!
I’ll be looking for other solutions too. Gotta be quick, only have from arrival till 1pm, it’ll be all socialising after that!(drink1) :drink4: :wave3:
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it wont take you to long to look around a lot of people are not there this year?
I really enjoyed it but 3 hrs was more than enough to see everything this year!
Simon
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Hi Simon, you aren’t wrong, arrived after 12, left car at the Hilton & walked to NEC, met everyone in the bar before 3pm! (Another story! :lol1: )
Lorraine
Still undecided on panel saws, by the way!
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Hi Lorrainne
why do you need a saw at all?, who ever is cutting your dibond etc. should be falling over them selves at the moment, to do free cutting if not change your supplier!.
after going to the show I have decided to take my excallibur off ebay as i know its good enough for most of the big jobs especially now I have had it squared up. the saw i am eventually going to get is actually a small one called a varga saw cutting bed of 2ft down to 10mm accurately with no visible blade, so i dont have to count all my fingers before i head for home! (yet to demo one though) all my big cuts I plan to get done mostly, outside free of charge.
i dont like the thought of aiming my arms and my six pack (i mean 24 pack) into the path of a circular saw, I am far to young and pretty to die ???
Varga saws were retailing at around £1100 & vat but maybe now as much as £1600 due to the ailing pound.
anyone out there got a varga, any comments most appreciated.
Simon
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I looked at the Keencut which seems to be the ideal solution (dust free, accurate and safe) only downside being it only cuts a maximum length of 2.1M whereas I often need to cut a 10 x 4 or 8 x 4 sheet length ways.
The Sagetech devised panel saw looks very promising. Hopefully Chris Dowd (who bought one) will feedback at how good it is.
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Hi Phil
Even the new keencut machine they had on show isnt really designed for Signwriters, the keencut guys themselves were ready to admit that it was better but still only 100% perfect for framers. Dibond and alike puts a lot of strain on it, quickly wears the cutting rollers and although they have inproved the drag, it still lifts the dibond when cutting which you will notice on small pieces.
it did look pretty though for the money but i would only give it a 4 out of 10 untli they make it fully dibond compatible.
Simon
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Thanks for the advice Simon 😀
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I finally took the plunge and ordered a Keencut today. Looking forward to playing with my new toy which should be delivered next week.
I’m away to lie down now, as I’m getting a bit dizzy and breathless at the thought of spending all that money 😕
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did you have a look at the wall saw device that chris dowd bought phill?
i have the keencut too but im not a big fan of it though it does serve a purpose. -
Yes I did Rob. John (Singh) bought one as well. I was tempted, but wanted something proven and dust free that Alison would also be happy to use. If Chris and John report back that the portable wall saw is as good as it seems I might get one as well for cutting boards longer than 2.1M which is as long as the Keencut goes. Meanwhile, I’ll have to continue cutting longer boards on my saw table, but the majority of cutting should be handled by the Keencut now.
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It will be about 6-8 weeks before we can take delivery of this saw owing to the high demand at the show
The actual piece of equipment being bought is the frame (fibre glass)
The saw will be purchased separately by me
……along with a triple chip blade (190mm)I thought the saw was part of the deal but no big prob’s as I can pick up a circular saw relatively cheap
In fact in a sense its a good thing! Why?
Because if the saw breaks down it can be replaced easily
No engineers or techi’s required -
I just received a keencut steeltrak yesterday, must admit it’s a sturdy piece of kit.
Shame about the 2.1 metre limit, but in actual fact if it did do a full 8ft it would have not fitted in my shop.
Used it on a boring job this morning, 70 panels of 5mm fmx, was a doddle compared to using the javelin (my arms are saying "thanks, and about time too" to my wallet).
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My Steeltrak arrived at lunchtime today.
True to form, the delivery company (TNT) managed to damage it in transit.:roll: I could see from the crumpled packaging that it had been miss handled and when I opened it I discovered a bracket was badly bent. Apart from the bent bracket there was no other damage, so I emailed the suppliers with pictures of the damaged part and asked them to send a replacement bracket for me to fit myself.Meanwhile I have straightened the existing part as best as I could which has allowed me to assemble and try out the machine but I have been unable to insert one of the bolts to fully complete the assembly.
Why oh why oh why can’t the bastards at TNT deliver something without damaging it (hot) (hot)
Apart from that it’s an impressive machine. Nice and sturdy and does a clean job of cutting forrex and alumninium composite. I also bought the "V" groove cutter tool for cutting a "V" groove in composite to make up folded pans. This device works very well and is also much cleaner (and easier) than a hand held router that I have used in the past with varying degrees of success.
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quote Phill:I also bought the “V” groove cutter tool for cutting a “V” groove in composite to make up folded pans. This device works very well and is also much cleaner (and easier) than a hand held router that I have used in the past with varying degrees of success.Is that an add on, or a separate piece of kit Phill? Linky?
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http://www.keencut.com/Steeltrak.aspx
Excellent Phill, this is something we spoke about i think, we were keen on it as it is more health/safety conscious.
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It’s a tool that bolts on in place of the composite cutting wheels. It’s brand new and I only heard about it at the sign show. It’s not yet mentioned on their site. Costs about £100
(Actually, it’s mentioned at the very bottom of the page here
http://www.keencut.co.uk/steeltrak.aspx
But when you click on the link it doesn’t work -
Its linked in Products, under Accessories 😀
Looks a knacky add on….wonder will it fit to older versions?
I feel an email coming on.
Best of luck with the new toys Phill 😀 -
quote Harry Cleary:Best of luck with the new toys Phill 😀
I’m planning to go in and play with them over the weekend Harry 😀
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quote Harry Cleary:Its linked in Products, under Accessories 😀
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