Parallel guides extension ?

[joiner1970]

Corwin,

How can you just bluntly say that the designs where the guides just attach to the edge wont bend the edge. If you look its pretty obvious that the Festool design puts way less stress on the rail if you were to lift the rail up in the air. As i say thats the only problem i have with the non festool designs other than that I like some of the homemade ones and I probably would have made my own but I just bought the Festool ones on offer here at the moment.

 

[ajones]

I think that the "system" is good, its whats been missing. but as any system evolves it is restrained by itself to the point where a new system is needed
make sense? [big grin] [big grin]

 

[honeydoman]

Corwin,

yes I agree with you on your comments on homemade jigs. heck I and most of us have watched Norm Abrams on New Yankee Workshop make tons of jigs to make things go easier and faster.  which is great as I have made many homemade jigs when needed some have worked and some have been more of a pain.

I just prefer is something is for sale and can do the job I tend to buy it. and yes I have to work to make the bucks to buy it also.

 

[Wonderwino]

If you work on old buildings, (read: not plumb, not square, not level  [scared]) and need to cut long, tapered shims, there is no better, repeatable way to do it than with the parallel guides with extensions.  I had to cut some for jamb extensions that were over 1300mm long and tapered from 4mm to 7mm wide for a perfect fit.

 

[Rob-GB]

and yes I have to work to make the bucks to buy it also.

That is what my earlier post refers too. If I add up the labour time and materials etc. to make my own, and look at the cost then the Festool ones will come out cheaper.
I can strip down car engines and rebuild them, but my friendly mechanic gets the work because he does it quicker than I would and has all the tooling required.
When I used to do it all myself, I would have to take time off work, buy pricey specialist tools, a Haynes manual and borrow a car to go fetch all the parts and tools.
Add it all up. If he can do the job in three hours and I have to work six to pay for it I am still in pocket on a job that may take me eight or more hours to do.

Making jigs that speeds up a process or makes a repetetive task more accurate, is part of my job as a carpenter & joiner, we are solution orientated people.
Though in business we also need to think about the bottom line, stay in business or fold. Sometimes it can be a fuzzy line between the two. [scratch chin]
Just my thoughts, gents.

Rob.

 

[mastercabman]

Corwin,

yes I agree with you on your comments on homemade jigs. heck I and most of us have watched Norm Abrams on New Yankee Workshop make tons of jigs to make things go easier and faster.  which is great as I have made many homemade jigs when needed some have worked and some have been more of a pain.

I just prefer is something is for sale and can do the job I tend to buy it. and yes I have to work to make the bucks to buy it also.

Exactly!  I don't have time to go out and buy parts and then spend all that time putting it together.Beside you might end up spending just as much as buying the real thing.
I made up my mind and going to get the parallel guide without the extension.For now.If i feel that i need the extension,then i will get it.Just like Tom said,I'm only saving about $30.00.

 

[Corwin]

Cabman,

I fully understand.  I just wanted to point out the issues and options to you.  RonWen will probably be offering a ready-made product like what he has shown -- a PM to him is a real possibility.  Any parallel guide you get will prove better than the old mark-a-V-where-you-want-to-cut method.

Best wishes,
Corwin

 

[Wonderwino]

After reading the circumstances that led to the injury in the now infamous "Ryobi tablesaw lawsuit," had the injured party been using the parallel guides on an MFT3 with a TS55 to cut a taper on a piece of flooring instead of free-handing it through an cheap, unguarded, benchtop tablesaw, there would have been no injury.

 

[harry_]

After reading the circumstances that led to the injury in the now infamous "Ryobi tablesaw lawsuit," had the injured party been using the parallel guides on an MFT3 with a TS55 to cut a taper on a piece of flooring instead of free-handing it through an cheap, unguarded, benchtop tablesaw, there would have been no injury.

I have to disagree. I am of the conviction the man is an idiot and would have just found some other tool to hurt himself with.

I have worked with people like this. Nicest people in the world. Would do anything for you. But on a job site they were a damage or workers comp claim just WAITING to happen. Many of these individuals were highly trainable. The unfortunate thing was there could be no variables. If you showed a guy how to drill a hole in a wall, he was unable to drill a hole in the floor. Somehow the concept changed because he had to bend over. Lunch? Forget it, re-training would then become necessary.

 

[Rob-GB]

After reading the circumstances that led to the injury in the now infamous "Ryobi tablesaw lawsuit," had the injured party been using the parallel guides on an MFT3 with a TS55 to cut a taper on a piece of flooring instead of free-handing it through an cheap, unguarded, benchtop tablesaw, there would have been no injury.

I have to disagree. I am of the conviction the man is an idiot and would have just found some other tool to hurt himself with.

I have worked with people like this. Nicest people in the world. Would do anything for you. But on a job site they were a damage or workers comp claim just WAITING to happen. Many of these individuals were highly trainable. The unfortunate thing was there could be no variables. If you showed a guy how to drill a hole in a wall, he was unable to drill a hole in the floor. Somehow the concept changed because he had to bend over. Lunch? Forget it, re-training would then become necessary.

I worked with that guys twin brother!!
On one occasion he was told to follow me in the delivery truck with the stuff we had to fit while I had the tools in mine and knew the way. Three phone calls and over 1hr later he rolled up "You went round a corner!" [huh]
Another time he installed some handrail cutters into a spindle moulder, they were grooved to fit the block to keep them at 90 ? to the table, there was a loud bang and a scream! I ran into the machine shop from a side room as he ran passed, spindle moulder still going, I did a classic baseball slide that I've only seen on t.v. and hit the stop button and kept my head down 'til it stopped.
When I got up I asked if he was bleeding, he said no, I said "you ****! Are you bleeding? the speed of that thing you won't feel it yet!"
After a moment of illumination he lifted his shirt to see.
He was fine but we had to order a new cutter block and cutter set and my mate spent several hours rubbing down the table that had been damaged. He'd managed to mis-align the grooves [eek] 
Trying to work with people like that is like [dead horse] they ought never do that job again.
Rob.

 

[fshanno]

My justification for the parallel guides was long narrow rips.  I cut long narrow strips from melamine for concrete countertop forms.  The parallel guide plus extensions makes this an easy task.  And I mean really easy.  I don't think that $100,000 automated panel processing could beat the simple little Festool system for this very specialized task.

Since I have them I go ahead and use them.  I go ahead and make make 8' rips now for nailers, stretchers and toe kicks.  I've integrated them into my work flow and now I do few rips of sheet goods on the table saw.  I modified my nesting patterns to accommodate 8' rips when I got my TS55 and when I got the parallel guides I further modified my methods to adapt in narrow 8' strips.

 

[mastercabman]

OK,I just got my parallel guides.Installed on my guide rail.No problem.I have not adjusted yet.I was surprised on how easy it was to slide the unit into the rail after watching a video with this old guy showing how to install and use the parallel guides.In the video,he was loosing up the little bolt and then as he was sliding it in the rail he was tighten it.  What was that all about? ???

 

[Brice Burrell]

OK,I just got my parallel guides.Installed on my guide rail.No problem.I have not adjusted yet.I was surprised on how easy it was to slide the unit into the rail after watching a video with this old guy showing how to install and use the parallel guides.In the video,he was loosing up the little bolt and then as he was sliding it in the rail he was tighten it.  What was that all about? ???

The guides can be a little tricky to get on the rail but I've never found the need to loosen the bolt as seen in video you mentioned.

 

[wood.werks]

hi
i bought the set about a year ago and found them to be a great addition the the whole festool system.If you go on to you - tube you will find they do alot more than cut parallel.

 

[Brice Burrell]

hi
i bought the set about a year ago and found them to be a great addition the the whole festool system.If you go on to you - tube you will find they do alot more than cut parallel.

Yeah, some one on there used his parallel guides with the LR32 hole drilling system. That's one clever guy. [tongue]

Welcome to the forum wood.werks.