The Dewalt Track Saw has a unique advantage over other track saws: a double-sided rail – a rubber edge strip on both sides – which allows cutting along both sides of the rail. This means there’s no need to flip the track around to cut from the opposite direction and the overall life of the rubber strips is extended because there’s two of them. All other track saws (so far), come with single-sided rails. Unfortunately, a drawback of Dewalt’s double-sided rail is that it makes it difficult to align the rail perpendicular on a panel for crosscutting. I discovered this shortly after purchasing the saw. Because each side of the rail has a soft rubber edge (the rubber is there to align the track and to minimize chip-out), the rail can’t be butted up against a front and back stop as with other track saw rails. Dewalt does sell a T-square accessory but based on some of the reviews I’ve seen, it’s not very accurate. Maybe good enough for the weekend warrior but not the discriminating woodworker.
Front and rear anchor blocks hold the rail firmly in place
I mulled the crosscut problem over and came up with an inexpensive solution that works quite well. It consists of a 36″ x 42″ piece of 3/4″ thick plywood (the crosscut table) with a guide fence and front and rear alignment/anchor blocks for the track saw rail. Each block has two protruding 1/4″ dowels that fit into the slot on the underside of the track saw rail. The bottom edge of the panel is butted against the guide fence, the rail is pressed down onto the dowels, and the panel is shifted left or right until the cut line aligns with the right edge of the rail. At this point, the rail is secured in place and it’s a simple matter of placing the track saw on the rail and making the cut. No guesswork and no clamping the rail in place to keep it from moving.
Slot in bottom of track saw rail slips over the anchor block dowels
Each anchor block is the same width as the fence and is attached to the base with two screws. The front block was easy to install – it simply butts up against the end of the fence. The rear block was trickier because it had to be positioned exactly to ensure a square cut. This involved placing the rear block in the approximate correct position, sliding the guide rail down onto each block, and sliding the rear block sideways left or right until it appeared square. Squareness was determined by placing an accurate carpenters square against the guide fence and the raised track in the middle of the rail. I double-checked using the 3-4-5 method although this seemed to give conflicting results (probably because it was difficult to exactly mark and measure from each reference point) so I ended up just using the square. The block was clamped in place and a test cut made using two panels. The panels were placed side by side with the fence edge against a straight edge and the cut edges touching. If the gap was uneven, the anchor block was shifted slightly and two more test cuts made. This process continued until the test panels fit evenly against each other. The rear block was then clamped in place and secured with two screws.
Removable rail anchor blocks secured to base by two screws
As you can see in the photo below, the slot in the middle of the track fits over a 1/4″ dowel with just a little wiggle room. While “prototyping” the crosscut jig, I initially used only one dowel per anchor block but discovered that this wiggle room was just enough to allow noticeable sideways play when the rail was slid into position. I then tried two dowels per block and the play went away. This means the dowels must not be exactly aligned – even though the holes were drilled on the drill press with a common stop – effectively creating a footprint slightly wider than 1/4″.
Close-up view shows how track slot fits snugly against the 1/4″ alignment dowels
One drawback to my design is that the block has to be approximately the same thickness as the panel. If it’s too thick, the ends of the track saw rail will not contact the panel, possibly resulting in chip-out. If too thin, the dowels won’t be high enough to extend into the rail slot (the slot is about 5/16″ deep so there is some allowance if the block is thinner than the panel). I addressed this issue by creating three separate sets of anchor blocks made from 1/4″, 1/2″, and 3/4″ plywood. An alternative approach, and what I may end up doing in practice, is to just use the 3/4″ anchor blocks, and use spacer panels underneath to make up the difference.
Dewalt track saw crosscut table is ready for use
My Dewalt track saw crosscut table works quite well. There’s no slop in the rail, it doesn’t have to be clamped down or otherwise held in place, and it produces repeatable 90 degree cuts. I may have to patent this thing – or maybe Dewalt will read this and be inspired to design a truly functional crosscut jig…
