Parallel guide question for hobbyist

Jmaichel

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Aug 27, 2010
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Any hobbyist out there that use the parallel guide system instead of a table saw? Just wondering how practical/useful it is for the hobbyist. I know there are probably several pros that use it on a regular basis. I would just like a perspective from a hobbyist.

Thanks,
James
 
as a sort of pro ( dont use my festools everyday) i only use my parralel guides if im doing really acurate cuts and multiples (over 3-4 maybe) in one go. they are a pian to set up for one or two cuts. i sometimes use them for angled cutes. use different measurments on each end . works great for that.
they wont replace a table saw  if the track saw hasnt done it
 
My response is pretty much the same as Alan's.  I really like the parallel guides but only for multiple cuts.  Prior to having the parallel guides, I built a kitchen of 30+ cabinets without - it would have been handy but not essential.  I still go to my table saw, but less frequently.  I would put my money on other tools (such as the Domino), although I am glad I have the guides.
 
I tend to build a lot of shelving and bookcases - my wife is a librarian and she brings her work home as it were. So the parallel guides are very useful to me for turning sheet goods into shelving, and producing the edge banding. 

I'm not young any more and horsing a 4x8 on a table saw is scary to me. I still have a table saw, but it's a portable Bosch that I can use for things once the sheet goods are cut down. The only regrets I have are that the Bosch doesn't have the precision a good cab saw does. I'm hoping some day there is a high end small table saw.

To me the track saw is more of a way of avoiding having a big wonking table saw setup to handle sheet goods. About a year I was thinking of updating my table saw to a Saw Stop when I discovered track saws and Festool.

So that update turned into a downsize.
 
James,

I am definitely a hobbyist. I use the parallel guides instead of a table saw but for a reason. I work out of a small one car garage with a full traditional hand tool bench, mft/3, 8x72" jointer, box planer, and 19" bandsaw.

Until December I also had a 5hp cabinet saw but since I bought the ts75 and mft two years ago, my table saw became more of a place to sit things while I worked with the bandsaw or ts75. In December I sold the cabinet saw and never looked back. I purchased the parallel guides for repeat cuts but as others said I only take the time to set them up for repeat cuts. For one or two cuts, I use the mft and qwas dogs etc.

Hope that helps, not sure if you own the guides or not.

Ken
 
I consider myself a hobbyist and have a set of the parallel guides and also the extensions. In addition to that I made a set of guide end suprts so that the guides do not tip when cutting large amounts of shelves from a long piece of sheet material. As stated in the above replies they are terrific for making shelves. Good too if you need sides that are the same dimension. Also with another jig for the guides I make my own rail and stile stock for my face frames. As long as you have plenty of material on the feed side you can also cut very accurate edge banding strips too. So feel that I have made a wise investment.
[attachimg=#1]
The supports to keep the guides from tipping with long material.
[attachimg=#2]
Guide supports on parallel guides on storage hanger.
[attachimg=#3]
A set up for cutting rail and stile stock from larger board with safe and repeatable results.
I hope this inspires and I sure that you will be happy if you get these. I recommend that the set which has the extensions be purchased and you will save some cash that way too!
 
Thank you for all the suggestions and input. I don't see myself ever batching out several pieces of the same size besides shelves for bookcases here or there. Just setting up a guide rail on the MFT, using Qwas dogs or using a piece of MDF as a template might be a better solution. I would rather put the money toward other tools anyway.

Thanks
James
 
I bought them a few weeks ago and haven't got round to using them yet mainly because they seem like a lot of faffing around. I will set them up when I get a quiet spell but I'm less impressed now I own them than when I was lusting after them. Also for a precision tool the way the guide references the scale is a bit pants and looks prone to introducing errors.
 
I had a set until a week or so ago, I bought them second hand about a year ago. I never really got on with them and only used them a couple of times.
I am a hobbyist but don't work very often with sheet goods, and having a table saw the need wasn't as great as some.

Put them on E-bay and the went like hot cakes.
 
What Andy 5405 said is dito for me.
I have a very narrow shop and when i set up the full set (basic + extensions)  i barely have room to move around in my shop.  The only time I find a use for them is when i set up outside where i have lots of open space to walk around what I am cutting.

I also do not set them up unless i have multiple cuts.  I find i can work a lot faster by clamping blocks (or anything handy)  to my MFT.  i do need to keep plenty of wood under the rails, but the over all accuracy is just as good as with the PG's and quicker for me to set up.  I have shaved some pretty thin pieces (down to edge banding thickness) by using the stops clamped to the table method. 

I don't understand how one of above responders cuts angles by using the PG's.  Not being smart ass here, I just would like to know. The brackets are such that the guides set up perpendicular to the guide rail.  Using blocking and clamping to my MFT, I have cut wedges out of scrap if i need them.

There are times when i wish i had my table saw back, but I have found almost any problem can be solved using the MFT/TS 55 with clamps and blocking.
Tinker
 
Thank you very much for the responses, this is exactly what I was looking for! I too have a small shop to moving them around the shop might be a hassle. I got sucked in after watching a few videos and I am sure the actual setup and use is not nearly as impressive. Money good be better spent somewhere else.

Thanks,
James
 
I've been looking at them for a while now, but I find it hard for me to justify the cost for those few times that I would use them. So I'm probably going to look into building my own version this summer, which I expect to cost less than half of what the real deal costs. I'm sure mine won't be as good, but they will get the job done and I can live with having to fiddle a bit longer to get them set up properly. After all, it will not be used very often...
 
Tinker said:
I don't understand how one of above responders cuts angles by using the PG's.  Not being smart  here, I just would like to know. The brackets are such that the guides set up perpendicular to the guide rail.  Tinker

i have set one end to say 300mm and the other end to 325 mm. you  will have to move them farther apart to allow for the work piece to move out of square a bit.
the next time i have them on il take a pic. i find it handy if something is straigh but not parralel or plumb
 
I can see it would work for certain conditions.  At some point, depending on measurements, the corners of the board would not touch the clips on the guides.

When i first got involved in construction, i had a neighbor who was a plumber.  he had found out i was handy (15 years old at the time) and needed help on a job that he was too big (around the middle) to squeeze into.  We had to put in new piping into a very shallow crawlspace.  There were some angles we had to bend pipes around that were too fine an angle for any fittings to conform and the black pipe was too hard (brittle) to bend without causing splitting.  It was my first introduction to a thread die cutting tool and I suggested we try cutting the threads at a slight angle.  He had not tried that and told me it would not work as the dies were not made that way.  Well, we ended up trying it and the offset provided with those "wobble threads" turned out to be just what was needed to make the slight bend that was needed.  The plumber kidded me long years after.  he used to call me "wobbley" in memory of those wobble threads I had dreamed up. Of course, i could just as well have called him "wobbley" for a somewhat different reason.  Once i had my drivers license, his wife used to call me up at odd hours of the nite asking me to make the rounds and find her husband and bring him home. That was due to a different plumbing situation.

Yes, I can believe you can cut at an angle using the parallel guides.  Like bending those pipes with the threading dies, there are limitations.  But within certain boundaries, it works.  [scratch chin]
Tinker
 
Another hobbyist (the computer stuff pays for the wood stuff).

I love the parallel guides and have the extensions. 
You can do everything by placing the rail and measuring carefully, then clamping it, of course you can.
The parallel guides just make it quicker, easier and a bit more fool proof.
I make a lot of ply beehives - ripping up a sheet of 8x4 with the guides and a 3m rail is very quick and easy.
 
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