Not a fan of joining guide rails

[Tayler_mann]

Use your Mft and a few bench dogs and viola.

After joining them the key is to be gentle on them as not to displace them. The rail connectors are about 600mm to short.

 

[jeh]

The Festool rail joining system is one of the weakest (and possibly the weakest) part of their system. They should rework their rail design to allow for a better connector. Mafell has one that is substantial better.

Also, a longer rail is not necessarily the best solution as you end up battling deflection. I have an FS3000 and access to another and both have some deflection in them. Two shorter rails would not or would be less likely to suffer from this assuming you could join them perfectly.

 

[Holmz]

The Festool rail joining system is one of the weakest (and possibly the weakest) part of their system. They should rework their rail design to allow for a better connector. Mafell has one that is substantial better.

Also, a longer rail is not necessarily the best solution as you end up battling deflection. I have an FS3000 and access to another and both have some deflection in them. Two shorter rails would not or would be less likely to suffer from this assuming you could join them perfectly.

For me, it was all about the rails.

I believe that Mafell rails are actually Bosch Rails with red paint. however I got the Bosch as they were cheaper and locally available.
One could run the Mafell MT55 on FT rails, but the rest of their larger saws only ride Mafell/Bosch.
The Bosch TS is less costly than the MT55, but both are good saws.
It is hard to really claim any of the three are not top quality good capable saws... despite the Canadian video.

So being as I was 'rail focussed' I went with the Mt55.
Being able to run the FT CT26 hose into it, and having it gracing an MFT on a Bosch rail, makes it as system compliant as I need.
It just seems like every day is XMAS with Red-n-Green, and if one is colour blind then 'alles well'.

IMO... In an ideal world there would be a DIN standard and all the rails would look like Bosch rails, and then any saw could ride on any rail and "the system" would be universal.

 

[Kev]

Just in passing, I really like the FSK rails and can't wait for the HK85 to land .. with it's awesome trenching doodad.

 

[Holmz]

Maybe I need to spend a day in the Northern beaches and have a squiz?

 

[jnzz001]

Connectors are just a gimmick, they are unusable and it's just a marketing hogwash. You will lose more money ruining your work than a new longer rail is worth in a heartbeat.
There is no way to join rails perfectly as the angle changes as you tighten the screws and even if you hold them straight (you think you do...) they bend later due to the setup stress relief.
So inaccurate...
I still have some of them, never use them though.
Get longer rail that's all you can do...

 

[DB10]

Just in passing, I really like the FSK rails and can't wait for the HK85 to land .. with it's awesome trenching doodad.

Hey [member=13058]Kev[/member] when I spoke to a Festool rep last month about the HK85 and the trenching doodad he seemed to think it wouldn't make it over to Aus, do you know different.

 

[Staniam]

I have had no problem joining the guide rails with the Festool joiner bars.  I have a 4' steel that I use with true rips every time.  I haven't used my jointer with helical head in months now that I have the TS55 and rails.  Bill

I haven't run into any problems either. I join two 55" rails all the time as well as 55" and 32" rails together. I read somewhere on here that you shouldn't over tighten the Festool rail connectors so I just went on YouTube and watched the rail Festool video and never have problems joining. I use a 4' level as my straight edge. The Beterlay or whatever, it's  $100 come on, like someone said before, with that price tag you might as well wait for another paycheckhart and purchase the longer rail. It looks great, but I could think of a ton of better things to spend $99 on.

 

[Kev]

Just in passing, I really like the FSK rails and can't wait for the HK85 to land .. with it's awesome trenching doodad.

Hey [member=13058]Kev[/member] when I spoke to a Festool rep last month about the HK85 and the trenching doodad he seemed to think it wouldn't make it over to Aus, do you know different.

[member=42735]DB10[/member] I was just assuming we'd get it [sad] I may need to shop OS [huh]

 

[Holmz]

Well there are three opinions.
1) Love the rails
2) Rails need user-training and/or a straight edge
3) Dislike of the rails.

 

[Stephen B]

Just in passing, I really like the FSK rails and can't wait for the HK85 to land .. with it's awesome trenching doodad.

Hey [member=13058]Kev[/member] when I spoke to a Festool rep last month about the HK85 and the trenching doodad he seemed to think it wouldn't make it over to Aus, do you know different.

Well as the 'dodad' seams to struggle on some videos, I am not surprised. Would be a big hit on some of our Aussie Hardwoods - Not.  [eek]

Eg. Gruve cutting sequence in video discussed at -http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-tool-reviews/festool-hk-85-video-demonstration-by-an-expert-!!/msg423879/#msg423879

And this was with what appears to be a pine or other softwood species.

Naturally, I defer this perception of mine to the expertise of anyone who has actually used this saw and the accessory with a hardwood species (other than Balsa Wood  [smile]).

[member=13058]Kev[/member]. [member=42735]DB10[/member] [member=11196]Peter Parfitt[/member]

 

[Wuffles]

Well there are three opinions.
1) Love the rails
2) Rails need user-training and/or a straight edge
3) Dislike of the rails.

4) Ambivalence about the rails and/or has lots of different sized rails and doesn't see the problem?

 

[Tayler_mann]

As everyone had their own opinion I don't hate joining rails but I would rather have a 5000mm track cut it into a 2000 and a 3000 and be good to go for all needs.

Since I am a TRACK JOINER instead of a smarter purchaser I will say this: I made the mistake of having a track not straight and ruined 5 cuts off of a few large white oak boards. It was a $100 mistake but I fixed it on a jointer and planer and all was good.

You can do the work with whatever tool you have. It just comes down to convienece and speed. Which in a commercial setting is the reason I have purchased all my Festool.

So in conclusion the fault is not to Festool for having a weak joining system because they have supplied the option of larger tracks. It is to the sales man at the store not properly informing their clients and the purchaser not doing a full research before buying.

 

[Jaredg]

While there are different ways to join rails this works for me. This is what happens when you blend hobbies.
1. Use a pair of homemade rail connectors. Homemade guide rail connectors
2. I use a Bluepoint GA438 straight edge. straight edge is 1-13/32" wide and 3/16" thick and the working edge is held to a .0002" per 12" length tolerance. It's used for checking tolerance of cylinder heads but a straight edge is a straight edge.

After reading reviews of the festool connectors vs homemade ones I think homemade is the way to go, more consistent distribution and greater clamping force.