Sign shops have unique needs that are not found in other shops. They cut many different types of materials, from composite wood sheets, Acrylics, PVC, Corrugated plastics, aluminum and aluminum composite materials (ACM). They are typically very space restricted and very sensitive to saw dust. They need a specialized sign saw that can cut these materials without a lot of dust.

Since the needs of today’s sign shop are so specialized, we offer a specialized sign saw that is clean and capable. The saw blade is surrounded by a dust brush containing the saw dust that allows the high flow dust hose to evacuate the particulate. The brush even sweeps the cut on the pull back. The pivoting knife insert has variable tension. It can cleanly cut foam boards, 4 mil Coro (even 2 sheets at a time), 10 mil Coro and even score cuts PVC. You can also do horizontal cuts with the knife.

Other combination panel saw and mat cutter machines on the market are not as Easy to use, Fast to use, Safe to use or as accurate as our machine and I will explain why.

Why are Saw Trax Panel Saws and Substrate cutters easier to use?

Our Makita 5007F saw has a built in lighted viewing port in the dust cover, theirs doesn’t.

Our saw is off-the-shelf and can be serviced or replaced at Makita service centers or dealers. Their saw is proprietary and is more expensive to replace with longer down times.

Our saw uses cheaper and common 7.25″ saw blades. Their saw uses obscure and expensive 8″ saw blades.

Our knife pivots for score cutting and can rip cut. Their knife can only cut vertically and doesn’t score cut.

Our knife cuts in a specially formed slot in the dust pan that supports the product on both sides of the cut preventing it from pushing back. With theirs you have to attach a backer board that is attached with two screws. You have to use a Philips screw driver to hold the screw and reach around to the back of the machine to blindly screw on a wing nut. If you leave it on to cross cut with your saw and then try to rip cut, you will bend the saw tooth and be replacing the saw blade.

Our knife uses an OLFA knife with segmented blades so you can sharpen in by snapping off a segment. Their knife uses the old style utility knife blades that has to come out and swapped ends. You only get two “fresh” blade uses instead of multiple “fresh” blades with a segmented knife blade.

Our machine has a center support step to support strips so they don’t fall down and bounce into the saw blade after the cut. Theirs doesn’t.

Our stop can be used on either side of the saw and on the optional mid fence. There’s can only be used on the left side.

Our stop has a strip bar attachment that allows you to make uniform and repeatable cuts on strips less than 6″. Theirs doesn’t.

Our stand folds out like a ladder and is factory attached using 10 lock nuts. Their stand has to be attached by you and uses 2 pieces of angle iron attached with U-bolts and doesn’t use lock nuts.

Our frame wheels pivot off the ground when on the stand for stability of the machine while cutting, theirs don’t.

We use 12 sealed steel bearings on our quick release carriage for a smooth pull down. Theirs uses a U-bolt with nylon washers which is not as smooth.

Why are Saw Trax Panel Saws and Substrate cutters are faster and safer to use?

Changing from one tool to another is not only faster than any other combo cutter, it is much safer. It is faster because the pins that hold the tool insert in place never come off the machine. They are pulled up and rotated a 1/4 turn and the lock open. The tool is then rotated out and the new tool is rotated in. The pins are then rotated another 1/4 turn and the spring loaded pins seat the new tool insert in place. This process takes about 10 seconds. Other combo machines use knobs that have to be screwed off the machine. What makes this difficult is the Once the new tool is in place, they are screwed back on. It would be simple but these knobs don’t have the hole centered in them so they come back on in an oblong circular motion. Carriage changes take over a minute. Attaching or removing the backer board takes a few minutes. It depends on how fast you can find the screw driver and whether or not you don’t drop the wing nut behind the machine when screwing it on.

Our machine is safer because the saw has a blade guard still on it at all times. You can take it off and set it on a table or floor. The OLFA knife blade can retract into the knife so once again you can set it on a table or floor. Their machines don’t have a guard on their saw or the ability for their knife blade to retract. Where do you put them when off the machine?

Why are Saw Trax Panel Saw and Substrate cutters more accurate?

A number of factors go into what makes a panel saw accurate. The alignment of the material rollers, the play in the tool carriage and the alignment of the guide tubes to the material rollers are the major factors in getting straight and square cuts.

At Saw Trax, our material rollers are attached to fences that are machined and formed at the same time making them identical. The placement of the material rollers determines if it is a left or right fence. The material rollers are on steel hubs with the hole centered. These fences are bolted onto a plate that is laser cut and welded onto the frame. On the 10 ft. frames, an Accu-Fence bracket is used to index the alignment from the left fence to the right fence. We use 10 rollers on our 5 ft. frames and 18 on our 10 ft. frames for material support. On theirs, they weld their fence plates to their frame. To make up for the alignment issues when the welds cool, they use a cam system to align their material rollers. If a roller gets out of alignment, it can cause your cuts to go out of square. They use 8 rollers on their 5 ft. frames and 14 on their 10 ft. frames

The play in the tool carriage is a factor when cross cutting and rip cutting. For cross cutting or cutting vertically the saw travels in a carriage on the guide tubes. To have the saw move precisely and smoothly, we use 12 bearings, 3 on each corner of the carriage. For rip cuts when the saw is turned sideways and the material push through it, we have two carriage locks to ensure the carriage is locked in place. They use a U-Bolt with nylon washers on it for a bearing system. It is very difficult to “tweak” these and there is a compromise of easy movement of the carriage and the play that you can tolerate. For rip cutting they only use one carriage lock so it is possible for the carriage to jiggle on one side.

The Sign Package includes;

• the Makita 5007F saw with 2 L.E.D. lights that illuminate the line of cut,
• a spinning insert for fast changes from vertical to horizontal cutting,
• a dust collection system that uses a dust brush and an over-sized 2.5″ hose to evacuate the dust,
• a pivoting OLFA razor knife that uses segmented snap off blades for fast sharpening,
• a variable tension spring hold down for holding thin materials,
• a material stop for fast cut set ups,
• a strip bar for cutting strips with the stop,
• left and right measuring tapes,
• vertical rip pointers with tape for fast rip cut set ups,
• a folding stand that is factory attached,
• frame wheels for easy movement of the saw

If you are cutting 3 mil Aluminum Composite Materials (ACM), Saw Trax offers options like a rolling ACM cutter that makes dust free cuts with a rounded edge on 3 mil ACM , a sheet clamp that ensures your material does not shift when cross cutting (recommended with the ACM cutter), a floating router for V grooving ACM and a mid-fence for cutting smaller pieces waist high. Other combo machines don’t offer these accessories.

One important difference of the Heavy Duty Saw Trax ACM cutter and the light duty, non-saw substrate cutters is ours doesn’t “noodle” the cut piece rendering it unusable which saves you quite a bit of money in material costs.

When you couple these features with the only panel saw that will never go out of square and uses sealed steel bearings on a quick release carriage, you can see why a Saw Trax machine is the choice of today’s sign shop owner.

The Compact models are ideal for customers with space constricted shops. The Full Size models are designed to have more material support to provide ease of use when rip cutting

If you own and operate a sign shop, there is no better cutting tool than the Saw Trax Sign Maker Panel Saw and Cutter. Contact us today for a dealer near you.