Cheap (and Accurate) Guide Rail Positioner

[mr_hockey]

I'm sure some of the pros have already figured this out, but being a newbie I'm pretty excited about this.

I'm building several book cases and had to cut 16 12"x96" pieces out of plywood. I wanted them all exact so I built a positioner for my guide rail.

It took all of 15 minutes to build and costs less then $15.

I took a 36" piece of aluminum "T-Track" and cut it in half.

I attached a block of wood into the track and attached the track (upside down) to the guide rail.

The pictures tell the whole story.

A couple of notes:

*The knobs on the guide rail must by low profile or they will hit the motor housing on the saw
*I attached the 2 positioners about 6" from each end
*To use it, just measure and mark your first cut.
*Next position the guide rail on the marks and clamp the guide down.
*Then slide the wood blocks until they touch the wood and tighten
*After the first cut, just unclamp the guide and slide it until the 2 blocks make contact with the wood and clamp down. (no need to measure the additional cuts
*Note-As you clamp, push the guide away from the blocks as you tighten to assure a good contact.

After cutting all 16 boards, I stacked them together and they were perfect.

Enjoy!

 

[Warrior]

Hockey,
nice jig. You are in good company, as Jerry Work has written of a similar jig use with the MFS. But yours is easier on the wallet.
Eiji

 

[colevalleytim]

I like this.  One thought, make the block a little wider--say 6" with a rib that aligns it squarely to the track.  I guess you could also add a self adhesive tape to make life easy as well. 

But this looks really good, and easy to calibrate in the field.

Nice job
Tim

 

[mr_hockey]

I like this.  One thought, make the block a little wider--say 6" with a rib that aligns it squarely to the track.  I guess you could also add a self adhesive tape to make life easy as well. 

But this looks really good, and easy to calibrate in the field.

Nice job
Tim

Tim,

Good call on adding a rib to the block of wood.

I had the same idea and did apply a tape to the t-track, but here is the problem I found:

* I used a rather thin 5/32" bolt and washer to attach the T-track to the guide.
* The problem I noticed was the small diameter of the bolt in the guide track was repeatable to "only" +/- ~1/16" (repeatable-taking the positioner off the guide and then reattaching it to the guide)
* I suppose if I used a thicker diameter bolt (like a toilet bolt), this problem would go away.

FYI... with my set-up the positioner will cut from ~7" to 30" (YMMV)

Does Festool make their own positioner for the guide rail ???? I didn't see one in their catalog.

 

[The Dude]

Most excellent, I am wondering if you could tap and drill through a rail connector to fasten into your rail?  Hmmmm, Very nicely done!

Timmy C

 

[mr_hockey]

Most excellent, I am wondering if you could tap and drill through a rail connector to fasten into your rail?  Hmmmm, Very nicely done!

Timmy C

You probably could, but you would give-up the flexibility of sliding the T-tracks along the guide rail to accommodate the different lengths of wood.

 

[The Dude]

The rail connectors loosen, you could tap up through with your bolt and star head.  Could be a pain, you would need to countersink the bolt into the connector.  If if could be done though, you would certainly have the rigidity when connecting to the rail.

t

 

[colevalleytim]

What if you added a second small block next to the guide rail that could be used to calibrate the tape and take out the "slop" from the smaller bolt?

 

[Corwin]

Hmmm, with a jig like this, I would take a slightly reversed approach.  I would have a rounded stop block that indexed off the edge of the workpiece, and mount the jig to the Guide Rail with a part that sits flush against the leftmost outer edge of the rail so the jig aligns with that edge rather than the T track.  I would still attach it using the T track, just would not align it to the track.  Now, I would not have thought aligning to the track was in error until I performed the recent fix on the Angle Unit. Anyway, this method of attaching the jig to the rail with a part that keeps the jig perpendicular to and indexed from the Guide Rail should allow for increased accuracy.

Or, then again, maybe I'm all wet.  

Corwin

 

[mr_hockey]

Hmmm, with a jig like this, I would take a slightly reversed approach.  I would have a rounded stop block that indexed off the edge of the workpiece, and mount the jig to the Guide Rail with a part that sits flush against the leftmost outer edge of the rail so the jig aligns with that edge rather than the T track.  I would still attach it using the T track, just would not align it to the track.  Now, I would not have thought aligning to the track was in error until I performed the recent fix on the Angle Unit. Anyway, this method of attaching the jig to the rail with a part that keeps the jig perpendicular to and indexed from the Guide Rail should allow for increased accuracy.

Or, then again, maybe I'm all wet. 

Corwin

I thought about using a round stop also, but the flat block against the work piece gives you a good visual that the t-track is indeed perpendicular to the guide rail.

FYI I was surprised how easy this jig worked -->> the t-tracks stayed perpendicular to the rail all the time. I just stood at the mid-point of the guide rail and just slid the whole thing until the 2 stop blocks made contact, clamped the rail down and cut. It couldn't have been easier  ;D ;D ;D

 

[ririmarqueverte]

A similar system comes with the LR 32 kit. Of course much more expensive and you do not have the merits of coming up with the idea and making it. Well done.

 

[markcoutinho]

Hey, MrHockey,

Looks great, but one question from my side:
do you use just one positioner? I'd say you'll need two to be sure the guide rail is straight (depending on how big the material is that you want to saw).

 

[mr_hockey]

Hey, MrHockey,

Looks great, but one question from my side:
do you use just one positioner? I'd say you'll need two to be sure the guide rail is straight (depending on how big the material is that you want to saw).

Indeed you do need 2 of these jigs. I placed each one about 6" from each end of the wood.