Shopfitters and on-site cabinet installers rip narrow material constantly. Trim. Scribe pieces. Filler strips. Edging. Most of it gets ripped down with a circular saw, a length of straight-edge, and a pair of saw stools — or, worse, a fence cobbled together from off-cuts. The job is dusty, the cut is rarely clean, and ripping narrow strips against a fence is genuinely hazardous because the off-cut wants to drop or pinch the blade.

A full-size table saw solves the cut problem but creates new ones. Lugging a contractor saw onto a fit-out site, finding power, setting it up, and packing it away eats an hour out of every day. For a shopfitter who's moving between three or four sites a week, that's half a day a week of pure setup time.

The CSC SYS 50 cordless Systainer saw takes the table-saw concept and rebuilds it as a Systainer. It's compact enough to stack with the rest of your kit, runs cordless on the 18V battery platform, and clips onto a dedicated underframe that turns any installation site into a workshop in under a minute. Mobile, safe, accurate — and a fraction of the setup time.

The tool: CSC SYS 50 cordless Systainer saw

The CSC SYS 50 is an 18V cordless table saw built into a Systainer³ form factor. It uses 168 mm blades, runs on two 18V batteries (5.0Ah included in the Bluetooth set), and pairs via Bluetooth with compatible Festool dust extractors so the extractor starts automatically when the saw runs.

For shopfit and install work, three things stand out:

• It's a Systainer. The footprint matches your other Festool Systainers, locks to the same stacking system, and travels in the same van rack. No separate saw to lug, no separate space allocation.
• The rip fence is precise and lockable. Set the width once, lock it in place, and every cut comes out exactly the same. For batch work — say, twenty 35 mm filler strips for a kitchen — that means consistent results without re-measuring each cut.
• Cordless removes the power question. On a fit-out site where the contractors haven't finished the electrics yet, or in a retail unit where power is at the far end of the shop, the CSC SYS 50 keeps working when corded saws can't.

The extraction: CTM MIDI-I M-Class dust extractor

Ripping manufactured boards on a fit-out site without extraction is no longer acceptable. Particleboard, MDF, and melamine release fine respirable dust that lands on every horizontal surface in the retail space or office you're working in — and stays airborne long enough to affect everyone else working nearby.

The CTM MIDI-I 15l M-Class Dust Extractor pairs directly with the CSC SYS 50 via the anti-static hose, and connects over Bluetooth. Pull the saw trigger and the extractor starts automatically — no appliance socket needed because the saw is cordless, but the Bluetooth pairing replaces the appliance-socket trigger seamlessly.

The MIDI is a certified M-Class extractor, retaining at least 99.9% of dust with occupational exposure limits in the medium-risk category. For shopfit work in occupied retail spaces, that's the regulatory floor — and the practical advantage is that the client's stock and fittings stay clean.

The consumable: Universal 168 mm 28T blade

Blade choice is what separates a rip cut you'd use as a reference edge from one you have to clean up later. For mixed-material shopfit work — solid timber one minute, MDF the next, melamine after that — a single universal blade saves you swapping every time the material changes.

The Universal Saw Blade 168mm 28 Tooth is built specifically for the CSC SYS 50's 168 mm blade size. The 28-tooth count is the right balance for general shopfit ripping: aggressive enough to clear material fast, fine enough to leave a clean edge on solid timber and melamine. For visible finish edges that need to look perfect straight from the cut, swap to a finer-tooth blade — but for 90% of mobile shopfit work, the universal is the right call.

The accessory: UG-CSC-SYS underframe

A Systainer saw on the floor is awkward to use safely. A Systainer saw on the bench is better, but a workbench isn't always available on a fit-out site. The UG-CSC-SYS Underframe is the answer.

The underframe is a folding stand that locks the CSC SYS 50 at working height. Open the frame, click the saw onto the locating points, and you have a stable rip-cutting station with the rip fence at chest height and the blade where you can see it. Folded, it lies flat against the side of your tool stack. Open, it's a mobile workshop. For shopfitters and installers who can't rely on a fixed bench at every site, this is what turns the CSC SYS 50 from a "nice idea" into a daily-driver tool.

The storage: Saw Blade Bag

Spare blades in a ute toolbox get chipped, dulled, and contaminated. Carbide teeth knock against tools and lose their edge before they're ever fitted to the saw. For a shopfitter who carries a universal blade, a fine-tooth blade for finish edges, and a laminate blade for the occasional countertop job, blade storage matters.

The Saw Blade Bag is a padded, divided storage solution that holds multiple blades by their bore, keeps them separated from each other, and protects the teeth from impact damage. It travels with your CSC SYS 50 Systainer or in the side pocket of your Systainer Tool Bag — small enough to forget about, important enough that your blades stay sharp between jobs.

Why the mobile rip-sawing system matters for your business

• Sets up in under a minute. Unfold the underframe, click in the saw, pair the extractor over Bluetooth. The whole rip-cutting station is up and running before a contractor saw has been carried in from the ute.
• Consistent rip widths across batch work. Lock the fence once for filler strips, scribes, or trim, and every cut comes out identical. No re-measuring, no incremental drift.
• Safer than a fence-and-circular-saw setup. A proper rip fence and bed removes the kickback risk that comes with ripping narrow strips against an improvised straight-edge. For shopfitters working solo in tight retail spaces, that matters.
• M-class extraction keeps the client's space clean. Working in occupied retail, finished offices, or live shopfits? Up to 99.9% dust capture at the blade means the client's stock, fittings, and air conditioning stay clean.
• Travels as one stack. Saw, blades, batteries, extractor, underframe - the whole system clicks together as a single trolley load and rolls from the van to the work area.