Wall saws? Opinions / recommendations?

[Cammy – Europoint Display]

HI There,

Not many Signmakers have a wall saw , if anything they may have a bench saw or maybe one of those hydraulic air blades for trimming down , all suppliers cut to size the substrates you are talking about which saves you this expense.
Tends to be the bigger companies who will buy one themselves.

All the best

[Peter Normington]

Have you checked out the one for sale forums?
https://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=19373

Peter

[Robert Lambie]

there is one for sale in buy sell swap as peter says. i considered buying this last week but went against it because signuk is so near and we may see something else. (not necessarily a wall saw)
we have tried buying two in the past, on both occasions the saw was too high for our unit. we only have about 10-11ft clearance. (be careful of that)
another thing, if you cut lots, get the vacuum attachment for the waste. foamex and perspex shavings are the worst ever to have lying around any workshop were vinyl or painting is being done. like our router, we planned building a partition to form a room around the machine. this would reduce dust and noise.
if you don’t mind buying from the states, you could try sawtrax.com
great machines and great prices for sign firms with a budget and limited space.

as cammy says though, most suppliers will cut the sheeting down for you if need be.

[Hugh Potter]

i agree with what cammy says, but there are plenty of times where i would use one if i had it, rather than sawing or jigsawing it before planing the edges smooth !

[Janice LeBlanc]

We have a sawtracks panel saw. There are drawbacks to their design, but it is great for plywood, but not stable enough in the back for plastics and foam. You never get a square cut, it jigs off at the bottom of the cut. Just a warning. Lots of money, and we bought it and have had to customize it for our uses. Still not using it for everything as I said before, and it is an expensive wall decoration!

Janice

[Andrew John Sawyer]

Thanks for the input. Height is not an issue and I have budgeted for extraction. The reason for the wallsaw is I have just bought a Solara UV flatbed printer and we can print images several up and cut between thus giving us more flexibility. If I put a sheet of MDF behind the opal/foamex and just nick into it I should minimise any splintering as this will hold it rigid.