Guide rail splinter guard

[chavezja03]

Greetings.  I recently bought the TS 55 and an additional 55" guide rail to help me cut down sheets of plywood.  First off, I'd like to say that I'm very glad I made the purchase.  I can foresee more Festool products in my garage.  When I received the saw and additional guide rail, I immediately assemble the two together and cut the splinter guard.  I cut the splinter guard per an old Festool video which showed the guide rail overhanging the MFT.  I am currently building a shoe rack out of melamine and noticed my cuts are out of square.  With the second sheet of melamine I purchased I measured 1/4" along the 8' edge, to remove the badly chipped sides.  I plan to do this all the way around the entire sheet.  When I lined up my marks to the splinter guard, I  noticed that the two marks located on the opposite ends lined up perfectly, but the two marks closer to the middle of the sheet were not.  Those two were short of the guide rail by a couple of millimeters (I'm guessing).  Could the way I cut the splinter guard have anything to do with this?  Should I order a new strip and cut it while it's on the piece of wood?  Or does anyone else have a better explanation for this?  Thanks in advance for your comments.

 

[Sparktrician]

I'm going to suggest that you use a straightedge (like a 4' - 6' level, or a Betterley Straightline Connector) to align your rails.  They often don't line up dead-on due to manufacturing tolerances.  You will likely see the situation improve. 

 

[chavezja03]

I failed to mention it, but I did use a level.  It's not a 4' level, but I did use one.  I went as far as to check the straightness of the level just to be sure.

 

[BMH]

Had the same problem, moved to a 6 foot stabila level and it was gone. This video should help You have to move the rails slowly and check it often as they will move on you. Just graduated to a FS 3000 and what a difference when it makes in speed and accuracy.

Bruce

 

[chavezja03]

Bruce, thanks.  Looks like a need to get a six foot level.  The question I want answered is, should I have cut the splinter guard over a sheet of ply?  Or was cutting it with nothing underneath it ok?

 

[chavezja03]

I just checked the alignment of both rails by placing the splinter guard over the sheet I'm about to cut.  I locked the blade down and slowly ran the saw from one end to the other while I was looking up from underneath.  The gap seemed consistent through the entire length.  I'm thinking it has to be the sheet of melamine.  What's odd is, the measurements on the two ends are spot on, but the measurement I made along the middle of the 4' side is slightly bigger.  This was done obviously with the 55" rail.  But I was having the same problem with the two rails mated together.  The measurement is always off around the middle vs. the ends.

 

[kris]

I always cut the splinter guard with support underneath fwiw.

 

[BMH]

To cut a sheet of plywood or melamine you need to give yourself a straight edge to start everything. Make sure that your rails are assemble correctly using a true straight edge. Make sure that your sheet good is correctly supported as this can through off your cut if it is bowing.

1-Place your rail along the 8' side about a 1/4" and run your first cut. This is your reference edge for all further cuts
2-It is easier to run your cuts parallel to the first one knowing that both ends will not be 90 degrees to the long one.
3-Now you square off your ends using the reference edge. You can use the MFT3 to do this or you can use a large square to butt your rail against to square off using your reference edge.

To make sure that your piece is square I recommend your measure your diagonal after each cut to your are certain you are doing it right.

Bruce

 

[chavezja03]

Bruce, thanks again.  I did start on one of the 8' sides, a 1/4, but then went straight to the 4' side.  I'm still off but not by much.  My issue from earlier, not being able to line up the guide rail in middle is gone, but I'm not square.  I'll have to figure something out.  Thanks for the advice.  I will use your suggestion on the next piece of ply I purchase.

 

[SP Woodworking]

That's a great little vid, thanks for posting that up.

 

[atlr]

[Removed period from the end of the previously mentioned link to make the link work for my browser]