Better guide rail attachments?

[mino]

With my rails as shown, Yes it is centrally expanding.
My thinking is that I would assess the alignment and see how the Saw or Router runs along the rail. As there is a 0.1mm difference in rail width are now looking to see what type of tape can be used to make both rails the same width. What ever tape is used on the outer rail or paint or coating, can be applied to the side of the joiner for the rail that requires re alignment.
My current thinking is to leave it like it is, and then apply a coating to the reference side of the skinny one, and then live with the 0.05mm miss alignment on the floating side.
The Festool connectors, favour one side when tightened due to the offset design of the relief slot for the flexure.

Not sure from your post of your take on this, so take below as if for posterity mostly:

There is only one reference plane with the FS/2 rails - the vertical surface of the rib that is closest to the cut line. This means that even if two rails are not perfectly same width, which extrusion can never be, when using the Festool self-aligning connector set, the only "variances" in play are the "internal" width and reference wall material thickness of the reference rib. In practice that is within 0,02 mm or so, i.e. irrelevant.

Where one can get a variance in the 0.1 mm range is in the distances between the two ribs and the "back" vertical surface in turn. But that does not come to play when one uses only a single self-aligning connector like with FSV/2 or your setup. As such I would not waste a second worrying about the concern raised. The "unevenness" of the rail along its length - that gets multiplied by the short self-aligning connectors interfacing it - is THE concern to worry about at that stage. It is up to two orders of magnitude bigger and cannot be remediated. Ribs thickness concerns like this are completely irrelevant in that context.

Not using self-aligning connectors is pretty much the only way to get better than what you (and Festool) got now as far as whole-system accuracy goes *).

Thumbs up for the work!

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*) Assuming the reference surface is used correctly there is zero variance and the presence of two rails even allows compensating for rail unevenness if long-enough reference edge is used ...

 

[mcfal12]

EDIT: And apparently the Mafel/Bosch rail connectors work on the same one-edge-straight while the other edge has eccentric washer principle. And people report those as being good.

Having had both festool and makita rails before switching to Bosch/Mafell - it’s night and day and the B/M solution is superior for a number of reasons. 1. The connector is on the top, 2. In a single ‘groove’, 3. The eccentric washer mechanism as you outlined, 4, the width of the rail connector ensures only one is required and 5. I don’t worry I am going to strip the tiny grub screws like with the Festool/Makita connectors.

Of course there are trade offs such as limited OEM and aftermarket accessories with the B/M rails. I posted recently how I was able to use the older dashboard pws hinge system alignment insert to overcome the lack of a ‘rail square’.

https://festoolownersgroup.com/threads/dashboard-pws-and-hinge-rail-adapter.71725/post-732254

As an aside for anyone considering the Bosch FSNWAN Track Miter Guide as ‘rail square’ and angle finder option, my experience was subpar. The sliding adjustment would constantly get stuck. Additionally, there aren’t positive stop detents as you’d expect/want- especially at the price point. (I should probably write up a few review on it).
Back to accessories- there are some Etsy makers producing storage and stop solutions for the Mafell/Bosch rails- but there isn’t a solution like the Festool FS 1400 LR 32. You could undertake a modification and drill the holes out yourself and I think it could be accomplished with great precision with a tool like the UJK Parf Guide Mark II (although designed for drilling holes 96mm on center you can slide the guide back and forth and make it work).

Anyway- Bosch/Mafell rails have benefits and disadvantages over the Festool/Makita design- enough that I switched to the B/M and have no regrets based on my work.

 

[Cheese]

Having had both festool and makita rails before switching to Bosch/Mafell - it’s night and day and the B/M solution is superior for a number of reasons. 1. The connector is on the top, 2. In a single ‘groove’, 3. The eccentric washer mechanism as you outlined, 4, the width of the rail connector ensures only one is required and 5. I don’t worry I am going to strip the tiny grub screws like with the Festool/Makita connectors.

Of course there are trade offs such as limited OEM and aftermarket accessories with the B/M rails. I posted recently how I was able to use the older dashboard pws hinge system alignment insert to overcome the lack of a ‘rail square’.

https://festoolownersgroup.com/threads/dashboard-pws-and-hinge-rail-adapter.71725/post-732254

As an aside for anyone considering the Bosch FSNWAN Track Miter Guide as ‘rail square’ and angle finder option, my experience was subpar. The sliding adjustment would constantly get stuck. Additionally, there aren’t positive stop detents as you’d expect/want- especially at the price point. (I should probably write up a few review on it).
Back to accessories- there are some Etsy makers producing storage and stop solutions for the Mafell/Bosch rails- but there isn’t a solution like the Festool FS 1400 LR 32. You could undertake a modification and drill the holes out yourself and I think it could be accomplished with great precision with a tool like the UJK Parf Guide Mark II (although designed for drilling holes 96mm on center you can slide the guide back and forth and make it work).

Anyway- Bosch/Mafell rails have benefits and disadvantages over the Festool/Makita design- enough that I switched to the B/M and have no regrets based on my work.

Mafell does offer a Holey Rail...207601. Photo 1

The Mafell rails really are the best...my favorite for sure.

You forgot to mention the dual clamp tracks on the bottom of the Mafell rail which allows you to easily cut narrower pieces. Photo 2