Panel woes

[theBongolian]

For the last year the Lowes panel saw has been "out of order". So finally I sent a message to lowes corporate over their facebook account. They answered in what seemed like a form letter, saying they would forward it to senior management at the local store. SO I let a few months go by and go to lowes. I check the panel saw and there is no sign on it. So on the way to get a panel I see a Lowes guy - and say "I'm getting a panel, I'll need it cut". He walks off without saying anything. I load up the panel get to the saw and NOW there is a sign on it that say "out of order"!

So I go to home depot. The white board panel that I use is $13 for 4'x8' sheet.
Home Depot has it for the same price, but--- the sheet is only 7'x 3'!! Now I'm wondering if the all the white board sheets are all going to be 7'by 3' from now on?

[contumacious]

That sure does stink. You may want to speak to the manager about it.
A saw like this with a saw guide is quite easy to use to cut your panels down to size. Since you can set the cutting depth to be just below the thickness of a single sheet of hardboard, you can cut the panel on the floor or on a folding table in the garage, holding it up off the table/ floor with cheap 1x2 or 2x2 furring strips. No need for saw horses or a table saw. Lay the panel on several 1x2 strips that are running parallel to the cut and make sure the blade doesn't touch your support surface.

https://www.rockwelltools.com/versac...w-rk3440k.html

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Empire-9...E902/203175575

You will need to transport the full sized panels which is going to require a truck. Maybe a friend can help if you don't own one.

[theBongolian]

I have a van that can haul a full sheet and I have a home-made horizontal panel cutting rig - and I have the 4.5", 5amp version of that saw(can cut 2x4 where the smaller one can't -I LOVE that saw).

But I don't want to do that. It's a pain in the buttocks. Maneuvering an 8ft x 4ft sheet around by your self, setting up my rig, breaking it down, storing -et. It's just much simpler to go to Home Depot. If there weren't that option, then I'd do it the hard way.

[Dcam]

I hear you bongo:
That stinks.

When I really have to, I put my 4x8 panels flat on the driveway and set 2 by 4s,
four of them; under the panel. One on each end and two near the middle.
The two near the middle support the cutting.
It is a pain, but ya' gotta' do what ya' gotta' do.

[contumacious]

I only trust the nearest Lowe's to make one cut on my panels - cutting them in half if I need to fit them in my smaller vehicle rather than my truck. I supervise the cut from start to finish, otherwise I will end up with errors. If I had them to cut a bunch of 9x12's for me, the results would be unacceptable.

[theBongolian]

I asked an internet buddy what he did to get his panels to fit perfectly every time in the floater frames he made. It doesn't take much for the spacing around the painting to be off for you to notice it. -- He made the frames first, then cut the panel to fit.