Guide System Help

[casper]

I have just borrowed the circular saw and guide system to cut some sheets and need some help. There were no clamps with the guide, is it ok to use it without the clamps? I won't be plunge cutting which would lift the guide off the sheet. Is there an easy way of gauging the distance needed to place the rail in reference to the cut line?

 

[Bob Marino]

  Casper,

  Clamps are not (always) needed as there are rubber antislip strips on the bottom of the rail. Clamps sometimes makes things a tad faster and they do offer assurance though. I am not sure what you mean by "not plunge cutting which would lift the guide off the sheet"?
You place the rail's rubber edge (splinter-gaurd) where you'd like the cut to be.

Bob

 

[Eli]

The cut line will be just next to the black rubber strip on the underside of the saw blade edge of the guide rail, so just lay it right up on the line. Some recommend tapping razor blades into the line itself and moving the rail up to them, remove before using the saw obviously. You can safely cut without clamps. Make sure to set your depth on the saw to go entirely through your sheet goods. That must be a pretty good friend that lent you his saw and rail.

 

[casper]

I owe him money, so he lent me the saw Actually I was a bit dubious in asking but he had no hesitation at all, I lent him my C12 so maybe that helped. The rail appears to be quite stable, so I was unsure about clamps so sought the experts opinion. By plunge cutting I meant starting in the middle of the sheet not the edge. It must be old timers disease as I put the rail on the part I was going to cut off, I will now turn it around and use the black strip as the guide :

 

[casper]

I forgot in the previous post, thanks for the help and advice.

 

[Michael Kellough]

You don't need the clamps even when plunge cutting. It is reccomended to use a stop to prevent the saw from driving itself backwards during an abrupt plunge (it doesn't lift from the rail) but if you plunge slowly (not too slowly or you burn the wood) you can safely and accurately plunge without either clamps or stop block. I recently had to cut octagonal rings of several small sizes using a short guide rail and a basic combination blade on an old ATF 65 and the results were more than satisfactory.

This system was designed for plunge cutting so simple rips and crosscuts are a walk in the park.

 

[Tinker]

The strips hold quite satisfactorily to prevent the guide from sliding.  however, if you are used to holding a non Festool type circular saw against a guide board, or a speed square, you are probably used to putting lateral pressure against whatever guides you are accustomed to using.  In that case, old habits are sometimes difficult to avoid.  For your first operations using the Festool plunge saw and guide bar, it might be wise to use clamps until you become accustomed to the idea of merely letting the combination of saw & guide follow the line by themselves.

It is probably easier for a newby to woodworking to operate with the theory than it is for somebody who has used (what i am beginning to think of as obsolete) older methods for many years.

Once you have become accustomed to the saw and guidebar, be very careful, you have then stepped upon the slippery slope. ;D
Tinker

 

[Michael Kellough]

The strips hold quite satisfactorily to prevent the guide from sliding.  however, if you are used to holding a non Festool type circular saw against a guide board, or a speed square, you are probably used to putting lateral pressure against whatever guides you are accustomed to using.  In that case, old habits are sometimes difficult to avoid.  For your first operations using the Festool plunge saw and guide bar, it might be wise to use clamps until you become accustomed to the idea of merely letting the combination of saw & guide follow the line by themselves.

It is probably easier for a newby to woodworking to operate with the theory than it is for somebody who has used (what i am beginning to think of as obsolete) older methods for many years.

Once you have become accustomed to the saw and guidebar, be very careful, you have then stepped upon the slippery slope. ;D
Tinker

Tinker makes good points here. To keep the guide rail in place simply push straight down on it. Most times the pressure applied to the guide rail from simply holding the spring loaded plunge saw in the down position is sufficient. I usually put my left hand on the forward rde of the saw shoe or on the front bevel knob to avoid over compressing the soft foam strips on the left side of the guide rail.

When the wood is warped and the guide rail doesn't make good contact or you've failed to clear dust from between the guide rail and the wood so it slips too easilly, or the wood is short and placing the saw in the start position tends to move the far end of the rail, then you need some kind of clamp.

You can use a simple spring clamp on the far side of the cut and as you approach the clamp just pull it off with your free hand. If that is too tricky just stop cutting and remove the clamp. Then, back the saw up a bit on the guide rail, pull the trigger and let the saw get up to speed and plunge into the kerf void and continue on.

 

[casper]

Good point on forcing the saw laterally against the guide, I will keep it in mind and just push forward. Yes old habits do die hard but I have never had to cut heaps of this stuff before so maybe I haven't got it to badly. This will be my first cabinet as such, I am making a cabinet to go into the area under the fence rails on my cabinet saw and will be adding a router top to it. The router top will be able to be lifted off and used anywhere I want.

 

[sachemjeff]

are you able to hold workpiece so there is no motion under the rail ?

 

[tbellemare]

Michael makes a really good point about clearing the dust. If you are running the system with no clamps, it is a good idea to clear the dust so the rubber strips grab well. That can include wiping the bottom of the guide rail.

With very little practice, you will be able to "feel" how well the guide rail is gripping before you start the cut.

I made the mistake before of not having the saw set deep enough and had a sliver left to cut, while using no clamps. The last time this happened, I was skimming the bottom off some bi-fold, closet doors and demonstrating the saw to a couple of carpenters at the same time. I just set the cut a couple of mm deeper, backed the saw up to the start, and reran it down the rail. The cut was perfect and the offcut was perfect. They were impressed...

Tom