Guide Rails - Connection or one piece

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fifo28

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Nov 29, 2010
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When cutting full sheets of plywood is there any advantage to have one solid guide rail or connecting two smaller guide rails?
 
fifo28 said:
When cutting full sheets of plywood is there any advantage to have one solid guide rail or connecting two smaller guide rails?
Click to expand...

Advantage of one piece!  No need to worry about making sure the rails are straight and taking time to connect them together!

Disadvantage  One large rail is more difficult to transport and store

Advantage to connecting! Easy to store and transport  also you can connect different sizes of rails for your exact length you want for different jobs as a one piece can be to long and one another can be two short so you could have a really short rail with a medium rail. Cheaper!

Disadvantage connecting if your not careful you could knock it out maybe???  It takes time to connect them together AND the splinter guard often gets cut shorter near the start of the rail and end  and when you connect the rails together the end and start of the connected rails become the centre of the large connected rail and you then end up with a splinter guard of set from the blade.

JMV
 
If you plan on cutting sheet goods on a pretty regular basis and for long time then get long rail. Easier set it down cut and move and with parell guides repeat cuts are a breeze. I did the connecting thing but not for long and bought long rail.

I now own 9 rails. 

I just ordered a custom one 45' long  to rip 5 sheets at a time length wise.  And also so I would have the longest one off all you guys!  Lol. Just kidding laugh it off!!!
 
jmbfestool said:
fifo28 said:
When cutting full sheets of plywood is there any advantage to have one solid guide rail or connecting two smaller guide rails?
Click to expand...

Advantage of one piece!  No need to worry about making sure the rails are straight and taking time to connect them together!

Disadvantage  One large rail is more difficult to transport and store

Advantage to connecting! Easy to store and transport  also you can connect different sizes of rails for your exact length you want for different jobs as a one piece can be to long and one another can be two short so you could have a really short rail with a medium rail. Cheaper!

Disadvantage connecting if your not careful you could knock it out maybe???  It takes time to connect them together AND the splinter guard often gets cut shorter near the start of the rail and end  and when you connect the rails together the end and start of the connected rails become the centre of the large connected rail and you then end up with a splinter guard of set from the blade.

JMV
Click to expand...

This pretty much sums up the pros & cons. I've would like the always ready longest rail but I must admit that the storage issue – even in my shop - has lead me to be satisfied with connecting shorter rails together. As for cutting off the starter end of the splinter guard, I typically keep my connectors set up in one end of the FS 1400mm (55") and rarely use that rail except as the long end for ripping 8' plywood, so I am not using the splinter guard on that rail to align with a pencil mark etc. at the beginning of a cut. Anyway, even if I were to get one rail long enough to do 8' rips I would still want the 3 shortest rails offered . I use those all the time. Having written the above, I would NOT connect 3 rails to make one length unless I had no other option. Someday when I have the extra cash for such a luxury I will purchase the FS 3000 – just don't know yet where I will keep it.
 
Pretty well summed up by the previous posters.

I like one piece. I have the place to store it, it is always ready, no converting nuissance.

Go long if you have the space and funds. 

Seth
 
Ive been thinking about the same thing. When I connet 2 55" rails together along with the paralell guides they are (to me) just a tad short. The cost of a 118" guide rail is around $300 bucks. I was considering getting the 75" for around $150  that guide rail that would give me 130". plenty of length to use the paralell guides. and it would be easier to store.

However breaking down the rails with the connector can get old real quick and as already mentioned storeage for the long guide rails is kinda a pain. I have been thinkingof just connecting the rails and leaing them connected not breaking them down. Unless I need to do some work on site.

My plus's and minus's. I still havent made a decision yet.

So those are my thoughts on the issue.
 
Reading a thread in the Problems area about a 3000mm ail not being straight I thought I would post this here rather then redirect the subj there.

if I had 2 guide rails connected then I could at the time of use, Use a straight edge to ensure it is straight to eliminate the problem of the longer guide rails haveing a curve or not being straight.

If it is not it would be easily adjustable by losening the connectors and straightening the connected rails.

Is that a fair statement?
 
The short answer is  - YES. Adjusting is easy enough, though I find that I never need to make such adjustments now. When I first started using my saw with rails I worked off stacks of plywood mounted on "saw horses" Every now and again I would find that my saw line wasn't very straight. Easy to put a 4' machined straight edge along the joint and ease up on the screws holding the connectors to pull things into proper position.

BUT - finally figured out that it wasn't the guide rails that weren't straight but rather my table wasn't all that flat. A little hollow in the table and aligning the rails can be problematic. You MFT users don't have this issue. My solution was to set up a permanent table with an 1-1/2" thick full sheet of MDF mounted on a rigid 2x6 frame as a base, with a sacrificial 1/2" sheet on top of that. On top of the 1/2" piece I also use a 1/2" foam board. That is the real sacrifice piece under the stock I am cutting. Anyway - if you work off a flat surface you should not have straight edge issues while connecting guide rails. So my experience leads me to believe.
 
It would be nice if festool Made a rail which was hinged so you buy a 3 metre rail which folded at 1.5. 

You just unfold it and its ready the hinge would be adjustable so if their is a slight bow you can adjust it but once SET you should not need to adjust so you have the benefit of a one large rail and also have the benefit for easy storage and transport.  The hinge COULD come off and you then have shorter rails but  that would just be a bonus as it is main design would be for people who would like to just be able to quickly unfold the rail and ready to go.  IT will also help if you needed to swing your rail around and in a small workshop or something it can be difficult to swing the rail around to cut from the other direction by simply folding the rail turn it around and unfold and ready to go again.  Also once your are finished with the rail for a little bit but you still need it but you dont like leaving it some where for it to get damaged because its sooooo long.  With a connected piece you would take it apart and put it back together later  but a one piece you have no choice but to risk it! So with a foldable version you could simply fold it and store it some where safe! 

JMB
 
Thanks Sam,

Im looking hard at that 75" rail. Im thinking price and transportation not to mention it gives me plenty of lenth for the guide rails.

I have 2 MFTs I use so Im guessing Im in good shape. I use an idea I got from watching Guidos videos. I use some sacreficial ply on the MFTs when ripping full/long  sheets.
 
You'll do fine with the 75 and a 55 and others as you can afford. I started using the foam board as a sacrifice piece (learned this on someone else's web site, but sorry I can't give proper credit) because when working down through a stack of ply for kitchen parts it is a lot easier to swap out a very light piece of foam than another sheet of ply. I also think the foam adds less abuse to the saw blade - though I haven't  done any scientific testing of that theory - just seems so.
 
Thanks again Sam, I know which web site your talking about.

He was a pretty good guy.
 
I found it annoying to spend time connecting, aligning and disconnecting all the time to match the length of cut.
I've multiples of the smaller size rails (under 1400) for smeller work, and a 3000 for sheet work and layout. I bought the 2400 for field work because it fits (inside) the shell on my truck. In other words... ONE PIECE!
 
yes, my experience is the same as several folks have stated above. I have (had) the two 55" rails, connect-unconnect several times on the same job.

I bought the 6' rail, that helped a lot on stuff that was shorter than 6'.

Then I got the 9' something rail - it just barely fits into my ford explorer (my everything vehicle) and it's soooo nice cutting the 8' sheets.

I didn't have much success with joining the two rails - bowed in the center.

One of the 55" rails had an "incident" when I was cutting a 45 deg. one day  [oops] so I cut it and now I have two shorter rails that I use  for smaller cut off jobs :)
 
OK one more question, Since i have 2 55" rails i so since I dont like putting the rails together and taking them a part all the time what about just putting them together and leaving them together.  Just check the rail alignment with a straight edge  before I use them.  I will have a good place to store it. meaning hang it so it wont get beat up ect.
 
sancho57 said:
OK one more question, Since i have 2 55" rails i so since I dont like putting the rails together and taking them a part all the time what about just putting them together and leaving them together.  Just check the rail alignment with a straight edge  before I use them.  I will have a good place to store it. meaning hang it so it wont get beat up ect.
Click to expand...

If you plan on permanantly leaving them together and the cost isn't a problem, why not get a single long rail and use the 55" rails for your shorter rails and for field work?  I don't see a benefit to joining them forever and having to check alignment every time you go to use them.
 
I did not notice if the seller mentioned how bent it was.  Some on this forum said their 3000mm rails were bent, but not by much.  Unless the seller said it was really bent, one never knows.

Then again, even if the bend was too much to deal with, your idea of cutting out the bend would work, especially using connectors to reconnect the two straight pieces.

Ken Nagrod said:
GreenGA said:
I just stumbled across this on eBay.  The poster mentions that it has a slight bend, but, for the right price.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120771240874&viewitem=&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3ASS%3AMOTORS%3A1123
Click to expand...

I don't see the purpose of buying and using a bent rail, unless you cut it at the bend or cut out the bent section to make two rails that are straight.
Click to expand...
 
Unless you can get this locally and inspect it personally, caveat emptor. Bent rails are bent rails. Even if this rail is only slightly bent now, it can be dramatically different after the shipping company gets through with it. Incidentally, slightly bent, in my book, means the cut is junk.

The entire purpose of using a guide rail is to have a virtually perfect reference for the saw/router so the cut is virtually perfect.

I know this sounds like opining but I'm pretty certain it is factual... "Straightening" a guide rail that has suffered plastic deformation results in a guide rail with more plastic deformation not a fixed guide rail. You can never return it to its original state without running it through the original extrusion dies and process again.

With that said, there are certainly uses for junk... I find myself reaching for scraps a lot.

Tom

 
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