My Homemade Parallel Guides

[lablover27]

Saw someone did these on ask festool so I made my version of them.  WOW, they turned out to be super accurate too.  Saved me a few bucks.  I was saving for a Festool router but Eldest Son says no need.  One might be coming from Santa.  Now, I bet Festool Bob might know something about that???  Hopefully he ordered from you

Anyway, here is the guides  I think I might make a bigger set too.  This gives me up to 33 inch cut.  Works purrrrrfect for cabinet sides etc
You will also notice I modified my workbench to include a removable cut insert (different shade of MDF)  in the center.  This way I can cut right into my bench and just have to replace that one insert.  Works great for now

 

[Frank Pellow]

Well done!  Those look like they should, indeed, do a good job.

 

[chrisrosenb]

Looks great. I may make a set of those if you do not mind.
How heavy are the guides?
If they are mounted on an 8 foot rail, would it require 2 people move it?

Chris

 

[rnt80]

Those look good.  You may have been looking on tf at the pair that I built, they were modelled after Eiji's.  They are extremely handy and cheap.  I may build another pair and make a few variations.  The original pair I built are too long.  I wanted to make them long enough that I could cross cut a sheet but I have yet to use them for that purpose.  Secondly, the piece that connects to the rail needs to be as thin as possible (I don't mean the thickness of the piece).  The wider the piece is the less capable the guides are of cutting thinner pieces since the stop blocks can only be moved as close to the rail as those pieces allow.

 

[lablover27]

I made em with 1/2 ply  super light.

 

[rnt80]

I made em with 1/2 ply  super light.

I knew I didn't do a good job of explaining myself.  I made mine of 1/2" ply as well.  What I was referring to was the width of the piece that connects to the guide rail.  The length doesn't matter, but the wider that piece is, the less ability you have to rip narrower pieces of plywood since the moveable stop won't be able to move closer to the guide rail.  Does that make sense.  I don't know how wide your attachment pieces are but I think I made mine around 3", when they really could accomplish the same thing at 2" or maybe even 1.5".

 

[lablover27]

I made em with 1/2 ply  super light.

I knew I didn't do a good job of explaining myself.  I made mine of 1/2" ply as well.   What I was referring to was the width of the piece that connects to the guide rail.  The length doesn't matter, but the wider that piece is, the less ability you have to rip narrower pieces of plywood since the moveable stop won't be able to move closer to the guide rail.  Does that make sense.  I don't know how wide your attachment pieces are but I think I made mine around 3", when they really could accomplish the same thing at 2" or maybe even 1.5".

Aghh got it.  YEa, 3 inches.  I should of made em smaller myself.  I'll call these prototypes 

 

[nico]

Look great,
any chance that for some detailed pictures or plans ? 

Nico

 

[Corwin]

Those look good.  You may have been looking on tf at the pair that I built, they were modelled after Eiji's.  They are extremely handy and cheap.  I may build another pair and make a few variations.  The original pair I built are too long.  I wanted to make them long enough that I could cross cut a sheet but I have yet to use them for that purpose.  Secondly, the piece that connects to the rail needs to be as thin as possible (I don't mean the thickness of the piece).   The wider the piece is the less capable the guides are of cutting thinner pieces since the stop blocks can only be moved as close to the rail as those pieces allow.

Nothing wrong with a large and small set... 

You could rip a spacer from some same thickness material say 12" wide first, then place that between stops and the material you want to cut.  This offsets your scale setting;  set 12" wider than you want, so a 14" setting yields a 2" piece when using the spacer.

 

[lablover27]

Corwin, thats a great idea.  Thanks a million

 

[bluecpu]

lablover27,

That looks great, I was trying to invent a solution as well.

I hope you can answer a couple of questions:
1) Could you please tell me what attachment is used to the Festool Rail (underneath black knobs)?
2) Do you think that you could get away with a single unit in the center of the rail (maybe with a wider attachment at the rail
and a wider fence on the edge).

I was going to attempt to use a Single Incra LS32 Positioner attached to the center of the rail and have a large "edge fence" along the reference edge.

I hate to measure and really like the repeatability of the Incra LS positoner.

I will post pictures if I can get it to work correctly.

Thanks,
bluecpu

 

[Corwin]

Here's an old photo of one of my parallel jigs.  Uses hinges as the attachment method such that when setup for those narrow cuts, you can simply flip the rail back between cuts...

 

[lablover27]

Blue...thats a good idea with the incra.  Not sure how well the single would work.  I have a Incra as well so I might try it.  Corwin has the right idea.  I would like to get the black incramental track teeth that Incra uses..then the sky is the limit 

 

[lablover27]

lablover27,

That looks great, I was trying to invent a solution as well.

I hope you can answer a couple of questions:
1) Could you please tell me what attachment is used to the Festool Rail (underneath black knobs)?
2) Do you think that you could get away with a single unit in the center of the rail (maybe with a wider attachment at the rail
and a wider fence on the edge).

I was going to attempt to use a Single Incra LS32 Positioner attached to the center of the rail and have a large "edge fence" along the reference edge.

I hate to measure and really like the repeatability of the Incra LS positoner.

I will post pictures if I can get it to work correctly.

Thanks,
bluecpu

Sorry forgot to answer one.  Under the knobs are 1/4 -20 bolts.  The heads seem to fit well in the track.  I did notice however that they dont lock in that track either.

 

[lablover27]

BlueCPU

MAybe a few of These would be cheaper as well.  Hmmm  now my brain is workin overtime

 

[bluecpu]

I considered those, but I did not think they would support a wide enough cut range.

I found this, I think Item 3 is what you are looking for......

http://www.incrementaltools.com/PARTS_INCRA_Shop_Stop_p/pc-shopstop.htm

ID#: Circle 3

PULT-500400

Incremental Positioning Rack, 1/32" x 4"

$1.95

Bluecpu

 

[lablover27]

Yup

Thanks for the link..gonna get some and rework my homebrew 

 

[Corwin]

Blue...thats a good idea with the incra.  Not sure how well the single would work.  I have a Incra as well so I might try it.  Corwin has the right idea.  I would like to get the black incramental track teeth that Incra uses..then the sky is the limit 

The Incra Jig Track come standard with those 'black incramental track teeth'.  The green incremental tracks shown in the photo of my jig are metric, as are the scales.  Metric conversion kits can be ordered and the parts swapped.  On my parallel jig (above) I can also swap out a set of Imperial tracks for the metric ones shown -- presto-change-o-- one jig, two sets of scales.  Well, four really, if you count the 52" long sets...

 

[Corwin]

Oh, and I also have two of those Original Incra Jigs and they can be used as part of a parallel jig.  And since they also share the Incremental Tracks, they can also be changed out for metric use...

 

[lablover27]

very cool.  I like the fact they lay ON the material.

I drive my wife nuts when I try to re-create the wheel    What would life be if we could not make our own jigs...

Joe