Bent guide rail....

E

EcoFurniture

Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2008
Messages
608
Hi Gang,

Got a 55" guide rail delivered today and that stupid thing was bent! The bent is more than 5" from center rail to each end... Does anyone ever tried to bend them back? Will it break? It looks like the aluminum has some good stretch marks already....

Btw, I already ordered a new one as a replacement but don't like to see this one being wasted...
 
You have nothing to lose by attempting to reverse the bend. If the groove is kinked or altered the saw and edge guides won't glide properly

Dan Clermont
 
dude

If it's new,  festool should take care of you- at least the shipping company should.

Could you see the damage i.e.-the bend, before you signed for it? If so you could be screwed.

My thought is festool should take care of you< they make enough dough.

You will never get it bent back to usable shape, once you bend an aluminum extrusion it has lost some of its strength at the bend and bending it more just adds.

good luck

tom
 
Festool Canada (Haefele)  has already put a new one in the mail! free of charge. I was lucky that just as I was signing off, I noticed the bend cardboard box, so yes it was noted on the shipping slip  :P

Tomorrow I will take some pictures to proof my claim.

Thanks for your answers, if Haefele doesn't want it back, I will try to straighten it.
 
I was in a pretty bad crash this winter and although I was FUBAR and my truck was hit in every panel the only tool that got hit was my 8' line boring rail.  So now I have a 72" rail and an 18".  Life goes on.  As to straightening your rail; as it was explained to me extruded aluminum comes out of the rollers get heated up, stretched and released.  The tensile strength causes the extruded material to snap back but straightened.  Go figure.  I'm not sure that it is practical to fix.  C Hughes
 
Chris

You drag all your tools around all the time? You said your truck got hit in every panel-do you have a utility body truck? Hope you were ok.

Are you building cabs on site? I am interested because my ts55 has changed the way I look at everything-install just got more interesting.

Also the more I think about it the more I think I'll get the 32" rail.

Tom
 
You would be surprised how handy/how many times you can find use for that 32" rail.
Especially for on site work (for me, "on site" means outside of my shop).
Very handy for temp setups where the work bench is a few 2x's on top of saw horses.
Also handy as guide for shelf rabbets where it is quicker to move the rail than to move multiple pieces under the rail.
Many situations too numerous to relate now.

Inside shop, I will be making shelf pin holes this afternoon. 

Tinker
 
Tom,
      Yes, I build the majority of my cabinets on-site so I drag my tools around with me until I'm on a long term deployment.
        I would buy a short rail if I did not have one already but if you own a ts55 then you probably own a 55" rail.  I'm not sure that there are many advantages in a much shorter rail that would warrent buying the 32" rail.
        Anyhow, the trucks rebuilt and my head is almost round again.  C Hughes
 
Yesterday I received the replacement rail--no damage!

Today I took the chance and tried to straighten the bent one. I almost got is 100% level again but not quite... there is still about 1/8" height difference, tomorrow I will see if the weight of the saw will be enough to push it down to the workpiece.....

I will let you folks know.
 
Chris Hughes said:
Tom,
  I'm not sure that there are many advantages in a much shorter rail that would warrent buying the 32" rail.
       
Click to expand...

If you rip a 4'x8' in half lenght wise, then you could use the 32" guide rail to cross cut the 24" panels. I have 2 of the 55" rails, a 32" and the carrying tote to bring to jobsites.

Respectfully, Dave
 
Dave

I looked at the rail bag-not my cup of tea shall we say- for a about a month I stuffed both my 55" rails into one box and was never happy.

Now I screw them to a piece of .75 ply, one on each side it's solid and it protects the rubber edge.(Vision -me patting my self on the back.)

I have marks on all my rails that show the minimum overhang required to keep both of the 55's setting jaws on the rail for both entrance and exit. Seems to

keep the cut smoother on both ends-but i'm not sure my system would fit a 32" rail to a 24" panel- I'll check it out later.

Never-the-less I just think have a shorter rail would just a little less unwieldy when the situation affords it. Tinker you have got it exactly.

Chris

Where are you at? I am very interested in your on site stuff. I am a cabinet maker myself and I think the challenge of onsite construction would be fun, but

you must haul around a lot of stuff. Please tell us more. Glad to hear you are ok-having all my tools in a truck that just got smashed up would freak me out.

Tom

 
"-having all my tools in a truck that just got smashed up would freak me out."

It would freak out your insurance company too. Mine doesn't have to worry since I only carry liability due to the age of the van. Tools are definitely worth more but it keeps on running and running well. I may have to push it off a cliff to ever get it to stop.

john
 
Tom,
      I'm in SW Michigan.  It's great here (if you like high unemployment).  I'll start a new thread tommorrow regarding on site built-ins.  As to freaking out about tools in a truck, at the time there were much higher priorities like a little baby in a car that was getting pummeled and all the blood squirting out of my bean.  In the end I got the baby out of the car and into my truck while only getting run down once.  What a deal.  And as a reward for God he spared my tools and converted my 8' line boring rail into a 6' and a 18".  Just remember, what doesn't kill you often gives you stitches and staples, and sometimes braces for you teeth.    C Hughes
 
tvogel400 said:
Now I screw them to a piece of .75 ply, one on each side it's solid and it protects the rubber edge.(Vision -me patting my self on the back.)

I have marks on all my rails that show the minimum overhang required to keep both of the 55's setting jaws on the rail for both entrance and exit.
Click to expand...

Two good ideas in one post! Watch out, you're going to blow the stats all out of whack. That's ME patting you on the back ;D
 
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