how to efficiently rip a bunch of strips with a track saw

[Stephen B]

Imperial is still used throughout the world in some fields... and is even MORE confusing!

I'm a professional pilot, and I fly large helicopters in Nigeria on a Six-Week on, Six-Week off schedule.  In the aviation world, we have to use not two, but FOUR systems of measurement.

Altitudes are expressed in Feet. Speeds and distances are expressed in Nautical Miles. Runway visibilities are expressed in EITHER meters or feet, depending on where you are operating from (and that is not consistent). Fuel, again depending on the location, is expressed in Gallons, Liters, or imperial pounds. Engine instrument pressures may be indicated in PSI or Bars...depending on where manufactured. Barometric pressures are expressed in two ways as well, and some altimeter manufacturers have been making their instruments to indicate both. Confusing?? You better believe it!

Even NASA has had problems with this. A number of years ago, a Mars Mission ended in a crash because someone at NASA had used Imperial measurements instead of Metric. The lander was lost during descent as a result, at a loss of almost $1 Billion.

I'm an advocate of moving entirely to the metric system... even in the air. We were supposedly supposed to have completed this conversion by the mid-eighties, just as other countries have done in their past, but politics have once again intervened, and our education system has failed its children by continuing to press for the buggy whip, instead of the engine.

There has been many a debate on Metric vs Imperial since I registered on the FOG back in early May this year.

You have summed up the reasons and need for a universal system exceptionally well through your NASA and aviation examples. However real change will still take time. Eg in Australia we have been officially metric since around 1972, but still people refer to 4x2inch timber, 32inch televisions, 54 inch mower decks an so on. Some of this is history, a persons age or because one of the major universal market places [ie USA] is yet to convert.

Other posts have explored the reasons and having read them I make no claims of superiority, each to their own, or what works for them; however your examples do highlight  the need for a convention at international levels.

 

[Paul G]

A typical Canadian tape measure has metric on one side and Imperial across from it ..

That is a very uncommon device here

 

[peter halle]

A typical Canadian tape measure has metric on one side and Imperial across from it ..

That is a very uncommon device here

The most common one here is a Stanley that you can find in the big box stores.

Peter

 

[Paul G]

A typical Canadian tape measure has metric on one side and Imperial across from it ..

That is a very uncommon device here

The most common one here is a Stanley that you can find in the big box stores.

Peter

I tried at Home Depot and Lowes here and left empty handed.

 

[tjbnwi]

Pick your poison;

http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-33-158-4-Inch-PowerLock-Tape/dp/B00002X2GG

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002UKRNG2/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=1535523722&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00002X2GG&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0X8AN6HS2CQGZAWT4SX5

Tom

 

[Michael Kellough]

I like this little Komelon.

 

[missionman]

Does Festool know we use inches in the US? [/sarcasm]

They'd sell more stuff if they honored our system here in the US. Converting metric all the time is about as fun as a colonoscopy. I've had this issue with EU manufacturers in other industries, those who adapt to the US do better.

I bought a metric / english ruler from Fastenal.  It saves me tons of headaches whentrying to set up the domino and other festool tools.
Larry

 

[fdengel]

A typical Canadian tape measure has metric on one side and Imperial across from it ..

That is a very uncommon device here

The most common one here is a Stanley that you can find in the big box stores.

Peter

FastCap makes one.  I have one that I was able to get at Woodcraft.

 

[GhostFist]

I HATE COMBO TAPES! It's one or the other for me

 

[Tinker]

I had just gotten out of the army and was helping my buddy with building his house.  While i was working on his fireplace, he had taken his ancient (in those days, it wasn't really so ancient) 1934 Model B Ford dump truck to get more sand and cement.  It was rusty and battered with no doors, but it was useful for what we were doing.  As he putted down the road, old tattered straw hat pulled low in front to keep the morning sun out of his eyes, a torn T-shirt and raggedy dungarees covered with cement and lime dust, a shiny new Cadillac with New York plates stopped him from the other side of the road.  The driver, obviously a well dressed chauffer, with a couple of elder ladies in the back seat, inquired of my friend, "Could you tell me, please, where we might find Jack Olson's Horse Farm.

Tony looked at the man for a few moments as he appeared to be thinking out the problem, gave a big spat of tobbaco juice towards, but not reaching, the car.  He drawled out his reply, "Ayah."  He then paused as he appeared to be giving further thought.

"Well?" queried the driver who Tony figured was from the city and used to a faster pace.

"Ayah,  He's right back down the hill heyah about three ax handles an' a plow share."  With that, he slammed his truck back into gear, popped the clutch and with a grinding of gears and a cloud of dust, he took off leaving the two elderly ladies and their chauffer with jaw dropping surprise on their faces. Tony was still laughing when he got back to the job with his load of cement and sand.
Tinker

 

[fdengel]

Rule of thumb.

According to my late father who often did approx. measurements with his thumb, the approx. distance from the thumb knuckle to the thumb tip is 1 inch.

Mine is about 3.75mm.

 

[Tinker]

I used to measure with my hands. From thumb tip to pinky tip was 8 inches.
Now it is 203.2 mm.
Tinker

 

[CarolinaNomad]

What do you guys think of this slight change to Tom's Design?

http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-jigs-tool-enhancements/how-i-rip-ff-and-door-pieces/msg270244/#msg270244

The holes for Qwas Dogs become the rail at incremental distances from the cut line.  It's basically a 3/4" board with holes in it.

I placed a domino centered on the cutline as the stop.

 

[tjbnwi]

Carolina,

I think your "upgrade" is a great idea. I'm muling over the best way to implement your concept. I don't have the Qwas dogs, so I can only work this out in my head.

The other thing I have worked on is 2 tapered pieces that slide past each other and can be locked. This would allow for an infinite adjustment and it does not matter if you measure in imperial or metric. A few index marks for your most common rips and you're good to go. The other thing I have to work out is elevation adjustment, the rail support piece must be the same thickness as the work piece, otherwise the cut will not be square.

Now if work would stop getting in the way I can get back to working on these issues.

Tom

 

[CarolinaNomad]

I made a slight change.  Flipped the infeed.

I like using the rail dogs because it allows me to create something parrellel anywhere on the board.

http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-jigs-tool-enhancements/how-i-rip-ff-and-door-pieces/msg270373/#msg270373

 

[rustym]

Just used the narrow rip guides to cut some 2 1/2" strips for a project.  They worked perfectly, but one caution, when moving your rails from one cut to the next don't bump the board you're cut very hard or you could move the setting on the narrow guides (don't ask how I know this).  The pics will tell the story.  I also used a few scraps of the same material I was cutting under the back edge of the festool guide.
First pic: setup, Second pic: setup, Third pic: narrow guide on rail, Forth pic: setting on narrow guide at 2 1/2", Fifth pic: resulting cut on material, Sixth pic: ends stacked next to each other to show they are all the same, and last pic: the stack of material cut.

Rusty

Rusty Miller
I'd rather be woodworking!

 

[Steve248]

There was a lot of talk about the US being one of only 3 nations left that use imperial measurements. In England we do use imperial measurements but with a lot more confusion.

I try to use only metric but at times use imperial. If you go to a woodyard you will hear most customers talk in inches, 4 x 2, 8ft x 4ft sheets etc. The staff always use metric though, and the timber is actually metric.

In the summer, if it gets really hot, people will talk about it being in the 90's or may getting to 100. However, in the winter, those same people will talk about it getting down to zero... (Fahrenheit then Centigrade.)

In cars we talk about how many miles to the Gallon we get but fill up in Litres.

This sort of thing goes on and on... Basically we are in the middle of moving entirely to metric but it will take many more years. The US will eventually migrate in exactly the same way, it is happening.

I quite like being able to work in both, I can calculate in fractions quite effectively but it is clearly easier and quicker  to do in metric. I visualise in imperial measurements easier than metric, for example a 6ft person.

Like I said, we are confused because we are in transition. I was born in 1968 so I only used imperial for quite a few of my early years, we still had shillings and half crowns until I was 3! But I can clearly see everything, everywhere in the world, being metric in time, it will come.

 

[John H]

Map of countries officially not using the metric system

 

[NYC Tiny Shop]

I use my square to mark the first strip (A)  (now, I use the paolini 6 inch woodpecker) and then cut w/ track saw. Then, I take the cut piece (A) and place it under the guide rail up to the splinter guard and put a board (B) up against that piece and clamp (B) down. I take my first cut piece (A) out and now have a simple jig to cut as many of the same size strips of (A) as I need.  Hope this helps. Cheers.

 

[Tim Brennan]

Although Britain has gone metric, a lot of imperial measurements are still used in workshops. As a result were sort of bi-lingual, with metric being our first language ( depending on which generation you're from). A game I like to play ( because I'm good at it) is to take a house hold object and guess the overall dimension. I can do this accurately in mm just by looking, it takes time to build this skill so I can see why the US don't want to change from what they are used to.

In Ireland, distances on road signs are in miles and all the speedometers in cars are in km/h. So I asked "how do you work out how long it'll take to get somewhere?"

"We don't worry about that over here"