Accidentally purchased imperial parallel guide set.. what to do?

[cygnus a]

2 months ago I dropped $6k on Festool equipment. I was in the middle of moving and have just now been able to play with some of the tools. I found that I accidentally purchased the imperial parallel guides. This is OK for some situations (I am the US and most of my stuff is imperial), but I bought these specifically to work with the LR32 system for building cabinets. 32mm is "about" 1.25 but after 10 inches or so the tolerance stacks up and is no longer close enough. Is it too late to return these? Can these work with LR32 OK?

 

[Peter_C]

Talk to the dealer you purchased them from about swapping for a metric version. Offer to purchase more tools if they do the exchange. Assuming they are still new in box.

 

[Nat X]

You can measure your cuts in cubits if you want. All the LR32 system does is register off of one edge of whatever you put under it.

 

[jjowen]

[attachimg=1]

The Nippur cubit-rod (c. 2650 BC) in the Archeological Museum of Istanbul, Turkey. Note the line of holes spaced at approximately 3 parmak. It is believed that these holes were used to space shelves.

 

[RKA]

Watch a few videos on the LR32 kit.  The length of the cabinet sides needs to be an increment of 32mm so you can flip your rail to do front and rear holes and maintain the same offset from the panel edge.  You'll probably find you will use another means to mark and crosscut.  The width is not critical and that's where you are using the parallel guides, to rip the panel to desired width. 

Indexing the holes from the sides of the cabinet are achieved by the rods included with the LR32 kit, which is metric. 

There are videos that illustrate using the parallel guides to set the rail position for the line boring so you can batch out work faster.  But the initial setting of the stops on the parallel guides is aided by the use of the rods included with the LR32 kit.  The scales on the parallel guides aren't used. 

 

[HarveyWildes]

The Nippur cubit-rod (c. 2650 BC) in the Archeological Museum of Istanbul, Turkey. Note the line of holes spaced at approximately 3 parmak. It is believed that these holes were used to space shelves.

Looks like a OTT opportunity whose time has come and gone:

"We'd like to introduce out latest OTT - the ark shelf spacing kit.  With this essential tool, you'll have everything you need to create shelves for an ark.  Made from the hardest copper alloys known to man, this bar can stand up to the best stone and bone tools that you have.  In order to reflect the variety of parmak lengths that you may have to support, we used a variety of fingers to create this masterpiece, including the always useful 3, 4, 13, and 14 parmak spacing which required lining up the right number of average width fingers precisely.  Rather than engraving the scale, we have inlayed it with contrasting metal, ensuring that the scale will still be readable after 2000-3000 years.  Please note that no slaves were harmed in the creation of this heirloom tool - all of the fingers used in the design and development of the tool were garnered from people who have not yet upgraded to our new line of safety-stop saws.  Don't miss out on this one time tool - if you're building an ark, get yours today."

Rumor has it that the OTT tool company that made this tool was utterly destroyed after selling only one.  The original Akkadian story centers the blame on the company itself.

 

[jjowen]

Watch a few videos on the LR32 kit.  The length of the cabinet sides needs to be an increment of 32mm so you can flip your rail to do front and rear holes and maintain the same offset from the panel edge. 

I would suggest that you do not need to constrain yourself to having the cabinet sides a multiple of 32mm. The current LR32 sets have two longitudinal stops - you put one in each end of the rail (selecting the same offset). When you flip the rail around you always butt the longitudinal stop to the bottom of the cabinet side (or the top - just be consistent!). I do usually have to reposition the parallel side fences along the rail as I flip the rail - but I don't adjust the offset.

 

[pettyconstruction]

The Nippur cubit-rod (c. 2650 BC) in the Archeological Museum of Istanbul, Turkey. Note the line of holes spaced at approximately 3 parmak. It is believed that these holes were used to space shelves.

Looks like a OTT opportunity whose time has come and gone:

"We'd like to introduce out latest OTT - the ark shelf spacing kit.  With this essential tool, you'll have everything you need to create shelves for an ark.  Made from the hardest copper alloys known to man, this bar can stand up to the best stone and bone tools that you have.  In order to reflect the variety of parmak lengths that you may have to support, we used a variety of fingers to create this masterpiece, including the always useful 3, 4, 13, and 14 parmak spacing which required lining up the right number of average width fingers precisely.  Rather than engraving the scale, we have inlayed it with contrasting metal, ensuring that the scale will still be readable after 2000-3000 years.  Please note that no slaves were harmed in the creation of this heirloom tool - all of the fingers used in the design and development of the tool were garnered from people who have not yet upgraded to our new line of safety-stop saws.  Don't miss out on this one time tool - if you're building an ark, get yours today."

Rumor has it that the OTT tool company that made this tool was utterly destroyed after selling only one.  The original Akkadian story centers the blame on the company itself.

That's funny,
I spit my beer on that one.
Thanks ,Charlie

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[lwoirhaye]

I would try asking the dealer for an exchange. If that doesn't work you can do something like get a Woodpeckers metric layout square.  In any case, 32mm cabinetmaking is pretty flexible in terms of cut panel sizes.

 

[SS Teach]

A few years ago Sparktrician posted a chart using 32 mm increments. It had both metric and imperial measurements. If you can't exchange your imperial parallel guides for a metric set try to find the chart on FOG. After you print it off laminate the sheet. I keep mine in my LR 32 Systainer. Good luck and welcome to FOG.

 

[jaguar36]

Not sure where you are located, but if you're local to the Philly/NJ area, I'd be happy to trade!