Guide Rail Guidance

[MacMitch]

I need at least one more guide rail. I have the FS1080 guide rail that came with my 1080 table and a FS1400 that came with my TS55 saw. I would prefer not to buy 2 or 3 more guides. I read that the 42" FS1080 guide and the 55" FS1400 do not combine to give one enough length to cut the 8' sheet goods I cut regularly. I have an OF 1400 Router and may want the hole drilling system for all the cabinets I am planing to make. I have several items in the hole drilling kit, all I need is the hole guide and fence. Unfortunately there only seems to be two guide rails with holes offered. Neither of Festool's 42" or 95" guide rails with holes will solve my issue with cutting 8' sheets..

If I buy another FS1400, the two would combine to give me 110" which I bleieve will handle 8' sheets, but I see no 55" fence with holes. I have a Rockler Jig It Shelving Jig (5mm, 32mm spacing,hole drilling jig) which I understand is not as nice as the Festool hole drilling kit. I was thinking the Rockler jig might help me drill very accurate holes in a FS1400 without forcing me to try to make accurate marks and line up on them. I have a drill press but I am thinking the Rockler Jig would be more accurate. The Rockler jig comes with a Rockler/Insty-Drive Self-Centering bit. Has anyone been able to drill accurate enough holes in a standard guide rail to use it with the hole drilling kit? I guess I can just use the Rockler jig to drill shelf holes and just use 2 standard FS1400s to cut full sheets.

I have also been looking at the MFS system. I was wondering if I could cut cabinet sides with the MFS and just attach the router after making the cut and drill shelf holes using the indexing system on the MFS.

 

[Mirko]

If your serious about drilling the holes yourself you should talk to a machinist, they could offer advise, that could really make it a piece a cake.
But I must say It will probably be no easy task. Have you looked at a Festool guide with holes? The holes are ever so slightly elongated, I suspect this helps the pin in the jig to drop into the hole effortlessly, somthing to think about anyway. good luck.

Mirko

 

[woodshopdemos]

Do not drill the holes yourself. Frankly, unless you really need countless holes drilled, I think you can use either hole guide rail and just piggy back down the panel as is necessary. That is relatively easy.
  I like the long guide rail even if I use it to make only one cut in a 4 x 8 panel. I then switch to a shorter one to make "crosscuts." If you are seriously into cutting panels, I think this will work better for you than splicing them together just when you need them.
  For procedures sake, I like to have 7" extra on the start end and it can be flush on the tail end. And, yes, I have made cuts with less guide rails. I start the cut with the 7 inches and clamp only that end and make the cut as far as it will go. Then I reset the guide rail for the rest. It is easy to line up the 2nd section by eye. I work a lot with white melamine and it is slippery and the guide rails will slip if shoved. So don't shove them. And I am not try to be facetious. If your saw is smoothly adjusted to the guide rail, and you have used dry lubricant on it, and are careful to guide the saw on the rail rather than push it, you will find very little movement (none) off the track.

 

[MacMitch]

Thanks for the help guys. I will not attempt to drill those holes myself.

John is it the FS 2700 you are using? At 106", it provides a little more than the extra 7" needed. I was afraid that a guide that long might bend out of shape if not handled carefully. I can see the advantage of not having to splice the two pieces. I am concerned that the enviornment I work in might be a little rough and tumble for a long guide though. I had a two piece Ez Smart guide (8'+) and a table I made with Ez parts. I just gave them to a builder friend who was a major help in several construction projects. The Ez table and guide has some nice features in terms of portability; but, I was stressing the table rails and my back trying to load full sheets alone (see my post on table size and work table construction). I am also hoping to reduce my parts inventory, especially tables and guides.

I have a home and business on 12 acres. I have several sites that I need to work at. My shop is about 20'x14', so I share an adjoining room and a patio (soon to be enclosed) with our dogs. Which is to say, I need some degree of mobility with my tools. Festools fit my combination of: construction, carpentry, cabinet making and furniture construction very well. The diversity of what I do and where I do it does prove a challenge in tool selection even for Festools, though. I keep trying to move the project to finish the unfinished room that is my shop to the top of the to do list. Unfortunately, I keep finding myself fighting battles on multiple fronts. The guide and table issue needs to be resolved ASAP though since it has stopped progress on several of my battle fronts.

I have multiple projects planned that will require breaking down sheet goods in three different locations. I am planing on breaking down something like 100 sheets of T111 and a large but smaller quantity of 1/4" and 3/4" cabinet plywood. I think those kinds of quantities will require a table and guide that are both mobile and heavy duty, a tough combination to come up with. I got a great deal on rebuilt skid forks for the tractor and I can get close to all three sites with it. I plan to build something to move sheets from the forks to the table and storage areas though:
Maybe- /Users/mikeholbrook/Desktop/Work Tables/Panel Moving Shuttle Article - Issue No. 280.webarchive

John I love your site and study your demos on a regular basis, they are much appreciated.

 

[Dave Rudy]

I was stressing the table rails and my back trying to load full sheets alone

MacMitch,

Here is the solution I finally opted for. http://www.hafele.com/us/documents/hac_hpc_materialcartmi.pdf

I love it.  It lets me slide 4x8 sheet goods off the pickup at bed height (up to 1000 pounds at a time), swing them 90 degrees without strain (due to engineering of pivot point), roll into shop, slide foam under top sheet and cut down using ATF55 and rails.  Since height is adjustable, it also doubles as an extension (infeed outfeed) table for machines, extra work table (just put a sheet of melamine or plywood on it and ready to go), etc.

The price is quite reasonable -- the only downside is that it takes some space, so is not a good solution for really small, crowded shops.

Dave

 

[Dan Clark]

Dave,

Nice lookin' cart.  If you don't mind, how much does it go for?

Regards,

Dan.

 

[Ted Miller]

WWers wholesale carries it for $972.18...

 

[Dan Clark]

Ouch!      A little pricey.  OTOH, if it saved you some trips to the back doctor, it would pay for itself in no time.

Thanks,

Dan.

 

[Greg B]

After a quick online search, I found the cart for $538 plus $125 for shipping http://www.lockandhinge.com/scripts/main.cgi?action=big&product=007-94-000 .

GB

 

[Dave Rudy]

Dave,

Nice lookin' cart.  If you don't mind, how much does it go for?

Regards,

Dan.

Hi Dan.

I got mine for around $400 with free shipping from Hafele.  Several companies make what appear to be identical carts and they sell at a wide range of prices.  This one is about the best deal around.  Their web catalog is difficult to work with -- you'd have to call them to get an exact price.  800-423-3531  Item No 
007.94.000.  It's called "HPC cart" or panel cart.  Red only (other manufacturers make it in blue or other colors).

All things considered, it was a wise expenditure, not out of line with the cost of one Festool or so.

Dave

 

[MacMitch]

$400 sounds much more reasonable. It looks like a great cart. I am just trying to figure out where I could use it. I do not currently have a path between my shop and where I unload wood that something that size could travel through. It would be quite hard to rearrange the crowded work out room I have to pass through. The access to my shop is through the back yard and a wood chip trail. The kit cart I mentioned above folds up to a mobile two wheel devise, not much wider than a sheet of plywood, that can then unfold into something that will leverage the sheet goods onto the table. I think the lighter weight, collapsible devise may function better in my environment.

I guess the GIF file with the article on the cart I triied to supply above is useless. Here is a link to The Workbench article :"Panel Moving Shuttle". Hope this works.
http://www.workbenchmagazine.com/main/wb280-caddy01.html

 

[hopikiva9]

At first I used two short rails joined with the bars but after understanding the saw better I bought the 118" rail...  it's the one that works for panels...    especially for any sort of angle along the panel because you have that extra lenght.  For straight cuts along the 96" or 97" [some panels are oversized] it makes the work fast, accurate and easy.  I might add it is easier for long cuts to have a helper handy to line up each end of the rail on your marks.

After cuts like long rips are done, then the shorter rails are handier, like the 55" for most crosscuts.

I have the MFT 1080 tables, actually two of them, but find for cutting up panels I prefer my own 4' x 8' work tables...  I have a bunch of various length 1" square sticks that I use to slide around under the panel to support the rail and the parts of the panel... these allow for the blade to cut through but not cut into my tables.

adios