Bob Gerritsen
Member
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2012
- Messages
- 241
Right... It may seem I've spent all day playing with the rail but I did actually do some other stuff. Really I have! [embarassed]
Anyway, I've checked the rail one final time, all suggestions made by all of you in mind and with the greatest possible care and I still end up with a panel 1mm wider in the middle. This was measured on the 2800 mm long mdf piece, 100mm from either end in order to avoid the first and last bits of the cut that can be a bit messy. So the 0,5 mm curvature is measured over 2600 mm.
I am 100% sure I've applied no tension what so ever during placement or during the cuts. Also, I was surprised by how sturdy the rail actually is. Try to push it in the middle when the ends are fixed and you really need to apply some force to get it to move ever so slightly. Then afterwards it does spring back so in my view it is harder than one might think to bend it during the cut.
All in all I'm sort of reaching some conclusions for myself. Thinking out loud here:
On the plus side:
- These rails are not influenced by temperature.
- These rails are surprisingly sturdy so it isn't hard to get perfect results with a perfect rail. I mean these rails aren't as fragile as squares are for instance.
- In short, get a perfect rail, treat it with care and let no one else touch it and you get consistent and good/perfect results.
Not so good though:
- My rail is well within Festools official 1,5 mm tolerance. Meaning the 2800 mm piece I cut today could even have been up to 3 mm wider in the middle and still be within Festools tolerances. I understand there are loads of situations where you can get away with that kind of error and wood isn't metal and all that but that is totally missing the point and unacceptable for me and I'm thinking for many others too.
- In the Festool warehouse there are probably piles of these rails and I need to get my hands on a near perfect one.
I'm hoping I can persuade the kind Festool man I spoke to to have someone check a couple and send me the best one. Right now, for all I know my rail might well be better than average but I really need something better than this, I'm thinking at least twice as good.
To wrap it up, I'll be calling Festool tomorrow to see what is possible. I'm really happy I can probably stick to working like this as long as I get a better rail. I'm even willing to actually shell out the cash and buy a second rail and leave the one I have now to bring along to a job site when needed. Make it the quick and dirty rail so to speak and leave the new one for when I really need that perfect cut.
That's more than enough posting for one day. I might have doubled my total by now.
Cheers, Bob.
Anyway, I've checked the rail one final time, all suggestions made by all of you in mind and with the greatest possible care and I still end up with a panel 1mm wider in the middle. This was measured on the 2800 mm long mdf piece, 100mm from either end in order to avoid the first and last bits of the cut that can be a bit messy. So the 0,5 mm curvature is measured over 2600 mm.
I am 100% sure I've applied no tension what so ever during placement or during the cuts. Also, I was surprised by how sturdy the rail actually is. Try to push it in the middle when the ends are fixed and you really need to apply some force to get it to move ever so slightly. Then afterwards it does spring back so in my view it is harder than one might think to bend it during the cut.
All in all I'm sort of reaching some conclusions for myself. Thinking out loud here:
On the plus side:
- These rails are not influenced by temperature.
- These rails are surprisingly sturdy so it isn't hard to get perfect results with a perfect rail. I mean these rails aren't as fragile as squares are for instance.
- In short, get a perfect rail, treat it with care and let no one else touch it and you get consistent and good/perfect results.
Not so good though:
- My rail is well within Festools official 1,5 mm tolerance. Meaning the 2800 mm piece I cut today could even have been up to 3 mm wider in the middle and still be within Festools tolerances. I understand there are loads of situations where you can get away with that kind of error and wood isn't metal and all that but that is totally missing the point and unacceptable for me and I'm thinking for many others too.
- In the Festool warehouse there are probably piles of these rails and I need to get my hands on a near perfect one.
I'm hoping I can persuade the kind Festool man I spoke to to have someone check a couple and send me the best one. Right now, for all I know my rail might well be better than average but I really need something better than this, I'm thinking at least twice as good.To wrap it up, I'll be calling Festool tomorrow to see what is possible. I'm really happy I can probably stick to working like this as long as I get a better rail. I'm even willing to actually shell out the cash and buy a second rail and leave the one I have now to bring along to a job site when needed. Make it the quick and dirty rail so to speak and leave the new one for when I really need that perfect cut.
That's more than enough posting for one day. I might have doubled my total by now.
Cheers, Bob.
