I use 1" laminated multi ply sheets cut to 9-1/4 x 11-3/4 pieces. Currently using about 6-8 sheets per week.

I am currently having my supplier cut the sheets to size for me for a charge of $45 for each order. I have found another supplier of the exact same product for $59.00 per sheet cheaper. However, this supplier can't cut to size. So I am looking into vertical panel saws to cut.

Questions: Is this the best cutting operation option for me? If so. what brands do you suggest? What are the points I should look for in buying a used? There are 2 for sale on this site. #1. Putsch Meniconi brand; #2 Holz Her 1265. Opinions?

The Holz Her 1265 looks like a good deal. I had one exactly like it that I bought used and used it for about ten years until I replaced it with a cnc. Worked great for cross cutting.

The saw will give good versatile use for other work.

But look beyond that and realize that it would be set up, sharpening etc before the delivered product is in your hands.

If you are passing the cost on, keep passing it on

My opinion, the only vertical panel saw worth owning is a Streibig. If you don't have a use for one other than this one thing, maybe not worth the investment? I don't know what they cost now, but mine is 10 years old, and I think it was $27k?

$59/sheet, seven times a week is $21,476. Call it a two year roi because you'll have to either pay somebody to run it, or do it personally. That's not terrible. I've done a lot more for a lot less.

I do love my panel saw. I'd be a lot less further along without it.

Puzzleman:

For years I have been cutting pieces needing to be clean both sides on my Unisaw. I have folding outfeed and side tables attached, so full sheets have never been a problem.

I make a blank zero clearance insert out of Baltic birch, and use an alternate bevel blade. I run the blade up through the insert. I make a cut with the blade at about 1/4" blade height, raise the blade high enough to cut through the material, and run the same cut through again. A poor man's self-scoring blade table saw, although a little more time consuming.

For me, this has worked for everything from melamine to walnut burl veneer, and allows you to use existing equipment.

Your managing to lower the material costs are remarkable, and unless you truly want to finance a panel saw with your savings, you might try another method first.

If my continued sales or usage of these pieces is guaranteed for a few years, or increases, I might consider the purchase. If you really don't need a panel saw for anything else, there are probably other things that you could do with the money.

Eight sheets a week is not that much cutting, and you even might consider subbing it out if you had other things to do. You could make arrangements for your new supplier to drop ship it to your sub.

Good luck with whatever you decide.
TonyF

Your new savings would allow you to easily finance any saw you want, maybe even a CNC.
Now, you didn't give much details about anything else regarding this work (i.e. how precise your cuts need to be, chipping or no chipping on the back, do you edgeband those pieces etc.) or about your other operations.
I've been cutting cabinet parts on a cabinet saw for 2 years before I got a slider, and since your parts are all the same, a simple cabinet saw with a few jigs could also do the work.
If you could use some more capable machine for some other things in your shop, maybe it would be better to go for that one.

Anyway, make sure that $59 lower price will be there long enough for those savings to work.
In my area things disappear overnight, sheet materials come from Canada one week, next week from Columbia, third week from Vietnam and so on, color/shades/thickness/prices seem to be a random variable and nobody knows if the material I buy this week will be available next week or even ever again. I hope you're in a more predictable environment.

Thank you for your feedback.
When I bring the cutting in house, I will not be lowering my pricing. My customers are good with it as it is now.

I am looking at a new one versus a used one. Have found a couple of used ones locally so I will be looking into those. New ones look great but the price is higher. But then again, I can get it financed at a reasonable cost.

Thanks for your help.

How much space do you have? If you have space I would buy a used sliding table saw, I see them for sale all over the place, a lot of them are SCM, they make a great saw. You could cut what you need in no time, beautifully I might add. The rest of the time the saw could be used for many other things, I have owned both the sliding saw and the vertical saw and I think the sliding saw can be used for a lot more things. Just my 2 cents.

Space is a big limitation. Shop part is only 1200 sq ft. Have 8 ft spray booth and 2 4x8 cncs as well as pallet rack and production sanders and such for building.

Slow, but unless you absolutely can't spare the cnc time, I'd just cut them on the cnc.

I am just curious what you use your 2 cnc’s for, wouldn’t take long to cut these parts on a cnc.

I make puzzle stools and toy boxes. Step Stools with the name puzzled into the top. Toy Boxes with name personalized into the front by inlay.

I work on a retail calendar in that 50% of my business is from November to January. During that time I keep both machines running the whole day. One is just for cutting the letters for the step stools and toy boxes. The other cuts the frames for the step stools, parts for the styles of stools, parts for the toy boxes and carving out for the inlay in the front of the toy boxes. During the holiday season, I have no time left on the machines for anything else. We run 10 hour days 6 days a week for all of November and December.

Used to cut the blanks on the cnc in the past. Was not able to cut the 5x5 sheets of baltic birch for the stool backs on the cnc as they are too big. So I had my supplier cut them to size for me. Then had them cut the fronts for me as well and it improved my flow as we were able to process more stools during each day. I realized that my customers pay me to do the personalization in the stool and toy box, not cutting wood into squares.

Was happy with the situation, until the manufacturer extended the lead time without telling anyone. That's when I started scrambling for my particular type of wood. That's when I found that I could save $59 per sheet. Use about 200+ sheets per year, so that $12,000 in a year. Cutting fee is $45 per setup so that works out to $180 per week and that works out to $9,000+ in a year. That is $21,000 in cash flow. By using a panel saw, I can maintain current product flow by having an non-cnc person cut the pieces to size.