Festool FS PA parallel guide - NEW!!!

[Mettes]

"Festool facts" arrived in my mailbox yesterday (it's there trimestrial promo flyer here in Belgium) and it had some new stuff in it.  One I think is of exceptional intersest to some of us...

A new parallel guide for the guide rails, it will be available from November, it consist of two extrusions that connect perpendicular to the rail.  It slides in the top T-slot of the guide rails and is according to the text: "ideal for repetitive cuts"  if you look closely you can see two stops at the end of the extrusions.

Hand sanding blocks, they come in three different styles and they use the same paper as the machines:
* Stickfix, soft, diameter 150mm (back of the picture)
* Stickfix, hard, diameter 150mm (back of the picture)
* Stickfix, hard, 80x130mm

the round sand paper disks are folded "around the corner" so you have sandpaper at the sides of your block

A Systainer for storing your Planex abrasive, there's also some new paper for the Planex, Brilliant 2, P16 - P320

and then the most strangest of them all, the Festool Fakir TP 220, it's for perforating wallpaper before removing, so that  water can soak in better...

The pictures are of poor quality, I scanned them but the prints were so small and of bad quality that I had to enlarge them.

 

[Tom the Remodeler]

I like the parallel guide idea, I'm looking forward to more pics and info. Thanks for the heads-up! 

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Mettes,
If that parallel guide does what I think it does, I will be very happy!  I've been wanting a device like that for years, and have experimented with making my own sort of thing a few times, but never could get it quuite right.

Keep us updated on this, and send us any other reports you see about it!

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[Forrest Anderson]

"Festool facts" arrived in my mailbox yesterday (it's there trimestrial promo flyer here in Belgium) and it had some new stuff in it.  One I think is of exceptional intersest to some of us...

The pictures are of poor quality, I scanned them but the prints were so small and of bad quality that I had to enlarge them.

Well spotted Mettes! That information is very interesting, and I am sure a lot of people will be keen to find out more information about the parallel guide in particular.

There is an on-line version of this Festool Facts newsletter, and although the photos aren't very good there either, at least there's some text, albeit in French/Dutch:

Belgian FF newsletter (in French)
Belgian FF newsletter (in Dutch)

Here is the French accompanying text for the FS PA, together with a Google translation:

La nouvelle but?e parall?le de Festool vous fait ?pargner
du temps et des efforts lors du sciage. Attachez la but?e
parall?le ? votre rail de guidage FS et vous n?aurez plus
besoin de tracer des lignes au crayon sur votre pi?ce ?
usiner. De cette fa?on, vous sciez de fa?on parfaitement
droite, proprement et rapidement sur toute la largeur de
la planche. De plus, la but?e parall?le est l?outil parfait
pour des coupes r?p?titives.

The new thrust parallel Festool you saved
time and effort when sawing. Fasten the stop
parallel to your guide rail FS and you will not need
need to draw lines in pencil on your room
workpiece. In this way, you quite cutting
right, cleanly and quickly across the width of
the board. Moreover, the parallel lock is the perfect tool
for repetitive cuts.

Forrest

 

[Forrest Anderson]

Some more information on the FS-PA:

From the German dealer Kisling we have:

Parallelanschlag FS-PA
Order No 495717
2 Pieces
190.40 EUR

and

Verl?ngerung FS-PA-VL
Order No 495718
2 Pieces
113.05 EUR

The items were listed on the UK Festool website, and although they don't seem to be there now, it was caught by Google's cache, and gives the UK price:

FS-PA  -  in self-service display pack  -  131,50 GBP  excl 17.5% VAT 
FS-PA-VL  -  in self-service display pack  -  78,00 GBP excl 17.5% VAT

Forrest

 

[Mettes]

Hey Forrest, nice catch

It gives a better view of how the thing works.  The FS-PA is used to make perpendicular cuts and has stops to repeat cut the same dimension.  If you want to make small offcuts of the same width, say 50mm, you're gonna need the FS-PA-VL.  It has a little bridge that allows the sawblade to pass without cutting in the extrusions. 

It's a nice system but has some drawbacks, it's not really usable on the MFT, unless you make spacers to keep your workpiece clear of the table.  And offcuts aren't supported by the FS-PA...

 

[nickao]

It says it fits into the "t slots". I imagine it also works in the "V-groove" of the mft/3 and stand alone as well on a sheet of plywood?

This needs to be included with an MFT and would eliminate 50% of the threads having to do with the alignment difficulties of the Mft system. It looks like a giant leap forward for the MFT portion of the Festool system.

Nickao

 

[Frank-Jan]

I saw the folder too yesterday, I was a bit annoyed they didn't mention it at the festool/protool demonstration the day before. If I had seen it then, I would have ordered a new style 3m guide rail with the discount I had on all orders then. (from the looks of it, it won't work on the old style rail, which we have)
If they had released those things already, it would have made my current job much easier/more fun. I had to rip lots of plywood into strips for soffits, fascia on a house we built that's nearing completion (our part of it, anyway). I had to rip about 150 running meter of underlayment and similar amounts of 18mm and 10 mm wbp plywood. 

After using the parallel fence with good results cutting some thin strips, I thought it would be ideal for cutting the 18mm ply for the fascia, when mounted from the other side of the TS55. Which we would normally do at home on the tablesaw, but since the supplier is near the jobsite, I decided to unload the trailer there, and save the hassle of driving the 80 km round trip with the loaded trailer, and the extra unloading/loading. I did saw the 23.5cm wide strips from the stack with the parallel fence, I didn't have to mark each strip, but it didn't work as nice as with the guiderail. The thought of making a jig similar to the one that MichaelM posted in the jigs section crossed my mind lots of times when cutting the wider strips, but these things fit my needs better.

It says it fits into the "t slots". I imagine it also works in the "V-groove" of the mft/3 and stand alone as well on a sheet of plywood?

It attaches to the guide rail, I don't see how you could attach it to the V-groove without modification.

BTW Mettes, have you checked if you won the T12?

And Forrest thanks for finding the pictures, you're a great sleuth. I tried finding clearer pictures than in the folder myself, but couldn't find any.

 

[nickao]

Ahh I get it now, thanks Frank-Jan .

That is a device I would like to see attached  to the table itself front and back in addition to how it already attaches to the guide rail.

Kind of how my Incra fence works on my table saw. It seems this set up would work great just attaching to the table rails itself(in lew of the additional cross rails on the device) and I would like to see it made to easily do that.

Nick

 

[Cannuck]

Whoo hooo!  That parallel guide has me excited.  I was running out of accessories to buy!  Gotta feed my festool addiction...

 

[Gene Howerton]

I wonder if we will get this in the US.  Will it need UL approval.  Bob or any other dealers care to comment? ;D

 

[Bob Marino]

I wonder if we will get this in the US.  Will it need UL approval.  Bob or any other dealers care to comment? ;D

Gene,

This is the first I am seeing of it and it would fill a gap in the system quite wel. I will inquire tomorrow.

Bob

 

[stvrowe]

I saw similar sanding blocks (the round ones) in the Hermes booth at the IWF and they felt comfortable.  I did find them at Specialty Tools.  The link is:

Koltec Sanding Blocks

No doubt the Festool version of these will be competitively priced.

Steve

 

[Frank Pellow]

I too will be looking with expectation for more information on the new parallel guide for the guide rails.

I have not purchased any new Festool stuff for almost two years (unless you count consumables like sandpaper, pads, and saw blades).   If this thing works like I think it works and if is available here, I will definitely be ending that long dry spell.

 

[Mettes]

BTW Mettes, have you checked if you won the T12?

offcourse, but no luck... 

I must admit that a couple of edition ago I won one of the consolation prices, a Festool watch, still have it lying around here somewere in it's origanal box...

 

[jakiiski]

Looks very interesting indeed and might solve a problem I expect many of us might have.
Can someone please go and get a pair of those and try them out?

They're not even available in Finland yet (just called the main distributor in Helsinki), trying to get them to get a pair and bring them to the woodworking convention in Lahti 17-18.10.  :

 

[Forrest Anderson]

Some English-language information about the new FS-PA guide can now be found on Page 3 of the UK Festool Facts Newsletter, Autumn Edition

Forrest

 

[jakiiski]

Do you think that in addition of making one side parallel, will it also ensure squareness?

 

[Frank-Jan]

Well, the thing locks to the rail at 2 points, so if you set it square, I guess it could be used as a straight-edge-fence.

 

[fshanno]

Does the FS-PA signal a shift in thinking at FESTOOL?  It looks like something from Eurekazone.  Are they starting to address the notion of accurate, rapid placement of guides parallel and perpendicular to existing edges at specified repeatable distances?  I think it would be easy for them to come up with attachments to do that but they seem to be disinterested.  Doesn't look like the FS PA handles thin rips from thin stock (such as 1 1/2" rips from 3" stock, i.e. the holy grail of guided saws)? 

I was beginning to think that the engineers at FESTOOL had never heard of a table saw or a panel saw so they didn't really understand what we were ultimately looking for.  Either that or FESTOOL secretly is a table saw or panel saw manufacturer and doesn't want to cut into it's own business.

What I can't understand is why some company like Incra or Rockler hasn't already addressed this concept with after market stuff that works with FESTOOL guides.  Would that be some sort of patent infringement?