Another design for universal parallel guide brackets

[rustym]

I'd take a set!

Rusty

 

[bpitch]

+1 =)

 

[Tinker]

how about having a two part bracket. attach  one half to the rail and the other to the  extrusion. maybe have a dovtailed  join between the two so they can be easily detatched  adn reatached but sill hole their calibration.
or some kind of attachment for your other brilliant rail attacment
i would buy a few of these if theyu were done with a similar concept .i hate having to completely knock downt he set up for just a cut or two and then re do it to continue.

I tend to agree with Tinker about the Festool PG's being too limited, I just find them awkward to use since I have to keep shifting them on the track in addition to setting the stops and they need to be set to a specific spacing for each sheet.

My own plan is to have 3 sets of these in different lengths, when I am cutting common cabinet parts I will set up 3 different rails rather than shifting the guides around. Think of a nominal 24" by 42" upper cabinet 12" deep, set one rail each for 42", 12" and 22.5" and cut all the parts.

Some momentum seems to be building...  [big grin]

RMW

In my own situation, when the parallel guides are set up on my MFT/3. I have no room to walk around the ends.  I have to rearrange other toys along the wall.  I would definitely want a shorter length for most operartions. 

I really like Alan's idea.  Of course, that would be more items for me to scratch my head over, "Now where did I put that?" [scratch chin]
The whole idea gets better and better
Tinker

 

[mhch]

I'm interested too

 

[epicxt]

I'm on board as well. Been watching the website for when these were going to be available.

 

[rmwarren]

how about having a two part bracket. attach  one half to the rail and the other to the  extrusion. maybe have a dovtailed  join between the two so they can be easily detatched  adn reatached but sill hole their calibration.
or some kind of attachment for your other brilliant rail attacment
i would buy a few of these if theyu were done with a similar concept .i hate having to completely knock downt he set up for just a cut or two and then re do it to continue.

I tend to agree with Tinker about the Festool PG's being too limited, I just find them awkward to use since I have to keep shifting them on the track in addition to setting the stops and they need to be set to a specific spacing for each sheet.

My own plan is to have 3 sets of these in different lengths, when I am cutting common cabinet parts I will set up 3 different rails rather than shifting the guides around. Think of a nominal 24" by 42" upper cabinet 12" deep, set one rail each for 42", 12" and 22.5" and cut all the parts.

Some momentum seems to be building...  [big grin]

RMW

In my own situation, when the parallel guides are set up on my MFT/3. I have no room to walk around the ends.  I have to rearrange other toys along the wall.  I would definitely want a shorter length for most operartions. 

I really like Alan's idea.  Of course, that would be more items for me to scratch my head over, "Now where did I put that?" [scratch chin]
The whole idea gets better and better
Tinker

Tinker,

I have the same problem with space, I have to move outside to work with anything over a 1/2 sheet of plywood, and even managing the 1/2 sheet inside requires contortions. The rail + bracket = around 9.25", add on about a 16" t-track and you get cutting capacity from 9.5" to 24", which covers most of my needs.

I like Alan's two-part idea also, even toyed with it for a while the last time around. The problem is one of scale, I need to order between 100-200 pieces of each part to keep costs down and so each new part required means several hundred $$ or even $1K in additional outlay. This is a hobby for me (the "retailer" tag is a huge overstatement), its only slightly profitable but I really enjoy it and the end result are tools I want myself, so its a win/win/win if I can get them, make them available to others and pocket a few dollars (i.e. buy another Festool).

This is manageable to me if I keep the $$ outlay down and keep it simple. I am going to try to finalize the bracket design over the weekend and get them ordered, they take 4 weeks to produce at the CNC shop. I found a place online where I can order pieces of 1.5" by 1.5" by .25" aluminum angle cut into one inch sections, then I can make a jig to drill the holes and also be able to provide the adjustable stops. Everything else is just hardware I just need to order, assuming most folks want to get everything in one package rather than hunting down the other pieces themselves.

RMW

 

[Theshipstore]

RMW  Please add me to the list
Sal

 

[rmwarren]

RMW   Please add me to the list
Sal

Sal, you don't even have to ask, you are always on the list. Fellow gadget-junkies have to look out for each other...  [big grin]

RMW

 

[moody]

I'm interested!

BTW, whatever happened to seneca woodworking's guide bracket?

 

[rmwarren]

Playing with the design a bit, kind of moving away from universal towards being specific to the Incra T-Track Plus. Input would be appreciated.

[attachthumb=#]

RMW

 

[moody]

For me it is all good since my incra-tracks already sitting on the shelf waiting.

 

[Emer Construction]

count me in

 

[jjehowski]

keep the design set up for incra

 

[rmwarren]

Question about Makita rails posted here if anyone can help.

Thanks,

RMW

 

[John Stevens]

For an Incra-specific design at $35-40 a pair, I'm in.  If the Icra-specific design would cost more, how much?

Would love a magnifying hairline cursor (and would be willing to pay more for it), but I'm the kinda guy who wants an egg in his beer, too.

Regards,

John

 

[rmwarren]

For an Incra-specific design at $35-40 a pair, I'm in.  If the Icra-specific design would cost more, how much?

Would love a magnifying hairline cursor (and would be willing to pay more for it), but I'm the kinda guy who wants an egg in his beer, too.

Regards,

John

John - that initial cost number for the universal bracket was for the guide-rail-to-Incra brackets and t-slot hardware only. The Incra-specific design only costs a couple bucks more, but if I include the adjustable stop hardware then the price has to increase.

Going low-tech the stops can be as simple as a 1" section of aluminum angle with a drilled hole, cap screw and nut, it's fairy cheap. If they are machined to straddle the t-track they would be made of Acetal & cost nearly as much as the brackets themselves:

[attachthumb=#]

I am tossed between going with the lowest cost or highest quality, the jury is still out.

The hairline indicator is beyond my capabilities. Using the set I machined myself last spring can nail < 1/2mm without much trouble just by sighting along the edge of the bracket:

[attachthumb=#]

Most likely I will offer the brackets only and the stops separately. Anyone who is inclined to save the $$ can easily make functional stops.

RMW

 

[Tinker]

With the slots in your fitting, would it be them possible to fit to the Festool P-Guides.  It would then be possible to lay the Festool guide arms on top of the work.  The short bars could be used for many more operations than are now possible.  The Incra bars could be ordered for lengths between the size of the longer Festool bars and the shorter bar. 

With the present Festool Parallel guides, i almost always find it easier to set up my own jigging on MFT for smaller work parallel cuts.  When i get to longer than my MFT,  I find it difficult to set up the Festool system as I require the extra length of guide rail to accomodate the side bars hanging beyond the sheet.  Consequently, i seldom use the parallel guides.  I am very limited in how i make use of them.  I think your idea would make for a lot simpler operation and if the attachment ends could fit both the Incra bars AND the Festool bars, That might just be perfect.

I could figure out how to make the slides, but I suspect that even if you charged more for slides to fir both bars (Festool and Incra), it would still be a saving when i calculate my time and materials to make my own. 

Tinker

 

[Claimdude]

Playing with the design a bit, kind of moving away from universal towards being specific to the Incra T-Track Plus. Input would be appreciated.

[attachthumb=#]

RMW

Now you have my attention with the self registering style for the Incra bars! I made mine our of wood and they do a good job at self registering but they are large and bulky. I am in for at least one set maybe two of this design along with a couple of the stops.

Jack

 

[Julian Tracy]

I've had much success with doing simple hairline indicators from 1/8-1/4" plexi, scored with an exacto and then "sharpied" and wiped off.  Makes for a pretty accurate cursor that even seems to magnify the scale a bit when using 1/4" plexi. 

Flip the plexi over and put the darkened scored side riding 1mm +- to the scale and you'll achieve remarkable precision.

JT

 

[RDMuller]

The one concern I have with the proposed designs in this thread is the durability issue.  When the guides plus extensions get "banged around" on the job site, there are some nasty forces generated due to the leverage of all of these components working in the wrong way and something is going to get torn up.  Things do get dropped and they do fall over.

That said, I like the direction this is going in that the current guides can be kind of "fiddly" to assemble on occasion.