Festool FS-PA and FS-PA-VL arrived today...
- Thread starter Mettes
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pingvinlakrits
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- Oct 2, 2007
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I got one of the first FS-PA's, have had them for a few months now. Last year I could have used it many many times.
Funny thing is when I got it I was itching to use it but then it was closet camping for a month when we went on holiday and then when I got back the interiors we were scheduled to do got postponed and we started out two days ago.
The embarrassing thing is that I brought the FS-PA to the shop but as most of the shelves I was making were 750mm the FS-PA was a tad short and for the 600mm shelves I totally forgot I had brought it and ended up doing all on the MFT :
.
Anyway, tomorrow is another day and a huge shelf is going to be built from scratch and I think I might actually USE it this time.
Thanks for the reminder!
I do hope they come out with a version that does up to one metre lengths.
The FS-PA is quite small and should not be a hassle to bring along on a plane as long as you ditch the box which is too big.
Funny thing is when I got it I was itching to use it but then it was closet camping for a month when we went on holiday and then when I got back the interiors we were scheduled to do got postponed and we started out two days ago.
The embarrassing thing is that I brought the FS-PA to the shop but as most of the shelves I was making were 750mm the FS-PA was a tad short and for the 600mm shelves I totally forgot I had brought it and ended up doing all on the MFT :
.Anyway, tomorrow is another day and a huge shelf is going to be built from scratch and I think I might actually USE it this time.
Thanks for the reminder!
I do hope they come out with a version that does up to one metre lengths.
The FS-PA is quite small and should not be a hassle to bring along on a plane as long as you ditch the box which is too big.
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- Nov 3, 2007
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Les:
The Parallel Guide for Guide Rails Sets or individually are available for shipping March 1. We already have some.
Tom
The Parallel Guide for Guide Rails Sets or individually are available for shipping March 1. We already have some.
Tom
Hmmm.... one thing I have to question is the design. It seems the design of the unit requires that the FS-PA be installed at the ends of the board. Because of this restriction, you have to have a rail that is always longer than the piece you are trying to rip.
If I need to rip a 10' long board into two pieces .... guess this couldn't do it unless I bought the super long rail.
I guess I could also join 2 or more rails together, but in my experience it can be hard to keep them perfectly straight
I think it might have been better if you could mount the guide underneath... i.e. not needing to be at the ends of the board. Then you could rip an extraordinarily long board by sliding the rail down the length and sawing in steps a meter at a time.
If I need to rip a 10' long board into two pieces .... guess this couldn't do it unless I bought the super long rail.
I guess I could also join 2 or more rails together, but in my experience it can be hard to keep them perfectly straight
I think it might have been better if you could mount the guide underneath... i.e. not needing to be at the ends of the board. Then you could rip an extraordinarily long board by sliding the rail down the length and sawing in steps a meter at a time.
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- Nov 3, 2007
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Les:
The pricing is for a pair, whether you buy the pieces separately (495717 plus 495718) or together (P00108).
David W:
I don't understand your questions about using shorter or longer guide rails. The same restictions apply as usual. These Parallel Guide Sets attach to your existing guide rails.
The Parallel Guides attach to the guide rail and measure from the back of the work piece that the guide rail is sitting on. The Extensions insert into the Parallel Guides and measure from the end of the off-cut. With the set, you can cut repeatable, parallel pieces measured from either end of your work piece without having to move the work piece... You bring the guide rail and saw to the work piece, which is part of the beauty of this rig.
It solves a lot of problems about making parallel or square cuts and also the back-breaking task of either moving your large work piece to and through the table saw or how to set up multiple MFT's (or some other custom table) to achieve a platform upon which to break down large pieces repeatably.
There are other, equivalent benefits for any size or shape piece but if one starts with a 4' x 8' sheet as the basis of understanding their benefit, all of the other utlitiy starts to become clear. Jerry Work has brilliantly (as usual) pointed out some of those benefits at his site, www.jerrywork.com.
Tom
The pricing is for a pair, whether you buy the pieces separately (495717 plus 495718) or together (P00108).
David W:
I don't understand your questions about using shorter or longer guide rails. The same restictions apply as usual. These Parallel Guide Sets attach to your existing guide rails.
The Parallel Guides attach to the guide rail and measure from the back of the work piece that the guide rail is sitting on. The Extensions insert into the Parallel Guides and measure from the end of the off-cut. With the set, you can cut repeatable, parallel pieces measured from either end of your work piece without having to move the work piece... You bring the guide rail and saw to the work piece, which is part of the beauty of this rig.
It solves a lot of problems about making parallel or square cuts and also the back-breaking task of either moving your large work piece to and through the table saw or how to set up multiple MFT's (or some other custom table) to achieve a platform upon which to break down large pieces repeatably.
There are other, equivalent benefits for any size or shape piece but if one starts with a 4' x 8' sheet as the basis of understanding their benefit, all of the other utlitiy starts to become clear. Jerry Work has brilliantly (as usual) pointed out some of those benefits at his site, www.jerrywork.com.
Tom
I think I understand David's question but here is a conundrum. If you mount the parallel guides as they are designed you do need them to be outside of the work. I am speculating, without having a set to look at, that they would occupy the real estate under that portion of the guiderail you need to have overhanging your work already, that is, for the starting and stopping of your saw.
If, OTOH, they were designed to be above the rail they would then be in the way of the saw, unless they were even further away from the work. This would also make it more difficult to register the cut.
It sounds like what David wants are guides that attach to the left side of the rail and that are essentially flush with the bottom of the rail, such that they could lay over the work. Naturally, the stop mechanisms would need to be lower to catch the work and they would need to be designed to allow registering under the rail for work narrower than the rail.
In general, I think what Festool has designed is really without problems because of the fact you already need guiderail overhang at each end of your work. The only advantage to flush guides would be that they would lay cooperatively on really wide work.
If, OTOH, they were designed to be above the rail they would then be in the way of the saw, unless they were even further away from the work. This would also make it more difficult to register the cut.
It sounds like what David wants are guides that attach to the left side of the rail and that are essentially flush with the bottom of the rail, such that they could lay over the work. Naturally, the stop mechanisms would need to be lower to catch the work and they would need to be designed to allow registering under the rail for work narrower than the rail.
In general, I think what Festool has designed is really without problems because of the fact you already need guiderail overhang at each end of your work. The only advantage to flush guides would be that they would lay cooperatively on really wide work.
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- Nov 3, 2007
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I get it now...
You could concievably use one parallel guide at a time, on opposite ends of a guide rail, as a squaring mechanism. It would be a little cumbersome though, having to change set-ups and checking to make sure the cuts will meet in the middle.
As designed and intended, these guides are pretty slick. If you need to cut 10' or even 12', you might consider the 5000 mm Guide Rail or connecting guide rails together as you said, David.
Tom
You could concievably use one parallel guide at a time, on opposite ends of a guide rail, as a squaring mechanism. It would be a little cumbersome though, having to change set-ups and checking to make sure the cuts will meet in the middle.
As designed and intended, these guides are pretty slick. If you need to cut 10' or even 12', you might consider the 5000 mm Guide Rail or connecting guide rails together as you said, David.
Tom
