So, you’re convinced: After all this you really want a track saw, but it’s not in the budget. Well, you’re in luck, as there are a number of track saw adapter kits that can turn almost any regular circular saw into a track saw. You won’t have the plunge action inherent in a track saw, but all the other benefits are there — perfectly straight cuts, less splintering and tearout, easy repeatability and more.
These systems, like the Kreg Accu-Cut kit, use an adapter plate matched to the supplied tracks. The adjustable plate accepts your circular saw and holds it onto the plate with a series of small adjustable clamps. Once mounted, your saw slides smoothly on the track just the same as a “real” track saw.
As long as we’re talking adapters, there also are adapters that extend the usefulness of a track saw system to routers and jigsaws. Some track saw brands offer adapters (Festool, for example, has track adapters for their own routers and jigsaws), but you’ll find plenty available from third-party sources.
Router adapters are the easiest to find, with many made specifically for particular router makes and models and compatible with the most popular tracks. Setup couldn’t be easier and requires only that you remove the existing baseplate and replace it with the adapter plate. Once secured, the router rides the track smoothly and in a perfectly straight line.
Jigsaw adapters aren’t quite as numerous, but it’s very easy to make your own. If your jigsaw is equipped with a removable plastic shoe, simply purchase an extra shoe to use in combination with an easier-to-find router adapter. A generic router adapter that’s flat and not shaped for a specific router brand works best.
You can see how I’ve tricked out my DeWALT jigsaw. I lined up the extra DeWALT shoe and just glued it in place atop the router adapter. Any glue or plastics will work fine for this task.
As with the router (and track saw, of course), the cut is perfectly straight every time.
