Best Guide Rail for wkg with plywood

[Notorious T.O.D.]

I knew a guy who had a shop so small he had to have two long rails, one for cutting on the left side and one for on the right side. Same deal with rails for crosscutting...

Just kidding but the thought of it just struck me as funny... Might be a delayed April Fools thing.

Best,
Todd

 

[Frank-Jan]

Todd, I think the kidding was just for the crosscutting,
I don't remember who's workshop it was, but I remember seeing a picture on the forum that showed someone had 2 long rails for exactly that purpose (if I recall correctly they were stored horizontally suspended from the ceiling)

I remember that on one job, where I was cutting a sheet of mdf inside, I had to go outside to be able to turn the rail; I can imagine the frustration having to do that all the time.

I have two 3 meter rails myself, but that's because I had the old style rail first, and I needed the newer type for compatibility with the parallel-guides

 

[wnagle]

I knew a guy who had a shop so small he had to have two long rails, one for cutting on the left side and one for on the right side. Same deal with rails for crosscutting...

Just kidding but the thought of it just struck me as funny... Might be a delayed April Fools thing.

Best,
Todd

Todd,

You can do it with one rail...just cut from the bottom side on the other cut...  [laughing]

 

[harry_]

The simplest solution may be to just place a piece of sacrificial material between your MFT and the material you are cutting.  This will allow you to set the depth of cut deep enough for the right-hand splinter guard to be effective and not cut into your MFT's profile(s).

But, I will be interested to see how you are extending the splinter guard...

Truly the simplest solution would be for Festool to make one better suited for the TS75 instead of recycling the same one from the TS55.

I presume that Festool assumed that the TS75 would be used for thicker material. To all of us that own one, we know that that is simply not always the case (nor should it be).

Darcy, PM me with what you thing would be reasonable for that trade [big grin]

 

[Loren Hedahl]

Back to the original topic  --

I use two 1400's.  I leave the connectors installed in one.  As you might imagine, connected together is for ripping plywood or long trim pieces from hardwood.  Separated, I use the one without the connectors for cutting out panels.

For the initial breakdown of plywood I have two inexpensive roller stands that I set to about two inches above the tailgate height of my pickup and lay a 2 x 4 across the edge of the tailgate.  I pull out a sheet so one end is resting on the roller stands and the other is on the 2 x 4.  I set my guide rail in place, make sure the gap between the two roller stands coincides with the cut I am about to make and make the cut.

Prior to breaking down the sheets, an accurate cut list should be made, detailed with grain orientation and anything else that will assist in making each cut a final cut.  Then I make accurate rail positioning sticks out of scrap for most of the needed cuts.

Doing it this way makes it possible to cut and assemble much, if not all, of the cabinetry on site, quickly and accurately.  With the Festool dust collection hooked up there is more mess drilling the holes for the screws to assemble the cabinets than cutting the panels.

So rather than deal with a 3000 cm rail, I vote for two 1400's.