ripping small strips on the Parallel guide set

[HowardH]

I must be missing something here.  I have my PGS set up on my MFT and the guide rail must hang off the end of the MFT in order to allow the curved extrusions the necessary clearance to not hit the MFT so the PGS can lay flat.  No problem if I'm cutting plywood.  However, if I want to rip small strips from a 1 x 6, there is no support for the wood since the guiderail hangs over the edge of the MFT instead of being directly on it.  It would appear I would need some support off the edge for the wood that is the same height as the table top of the MFT.  One answer may be to adjust the set wide enough to clear the depth of the MFT so the guiderail lies on the table but then the board I'm ripping must be long enough to be able to rest against the stops.  Any other ideas?

 

[Jesus Aleman]

You could get another MFT, but I guess you are looking for a more economical solution.  I've only had the guides for a weekend, but this is what I did to 'solve' this issue.  I use pink insulation sheets where ripping plywood sheets on the floor with the TS.  I clamped two plywood scraps (3'x3") to the mft top making sure that I got a good 12" of overhang.  Position the plywood so that it fits in between the guides.  I laid a pink insulation sheet, the piece to be cut and the parallel guides on top of the scraps.  I clamped the guides to the MFT (with very little clamping pressure) so that I don't change the plane between the rail and the wood).  This setup is not bombproof, but provides enough support and dust collection as long as you are cutting from a relatively narrow piece.

JGA.

 

[Brice Burrell]

Cheap solution, saw horses!

 

[HowardH]

Thanks, Jesus.  I believe I understand what you are saying.  That small piece of plywood is what my 1 x 6 would rest upon since it would overhang the edge by some measure.  It's times like these I missed my tablesaw.  It's sooooo much easier to rip small pieces rather than having to rig up things to overcome the deficiencies in using a system to try to get it to do something it wasn't really designed to do.  

Brice, Do you mean to lay the 1 x 6 across  a couple of saws horses with a sacrificial top? 

 

[Brice Burrell]

No, with horses you can set the width to anything you want to allow the U shaped part to hang below the horses. Then angle the horses to support the back end of the guides. This really only works with 3/4" stock, does this make sense? 

 

[HowardH]

I just came back from the garage to look at it again.  I have some saw horses somewhere.  I'm a visual person so I'm sure it would make sense once I see it for real.  I think you are saying the curved parts would hang inside the horses, parallel to them.  The guide rail would rest across the horses.  Correct?

 

[Brice Burrell]

I just came back from the garage to look at it again.  I have some saw horses somewhere.  I'm a visual person so I'm sure it would make sense once I see it for real.  I think you are saying the curved parts would hang inside the horses, parallel to them.  The guide rail would rest across the horses.  Correct?

Yes but I've put the curved pieces on the outsides of the horses that way the stock is resting on the horses.

 

[HowardH]

Ok. The fog is lifting a bit.  Getting used to a new way of thinking is difficult at times.   ;D  It may make sense to rip the stock slightly wider than needed (say 7/8ths instead of exactly 3/4) and then run it quickly through my planer one time set at 3/4" to make sure it is the same thickness across the piece.  I don't trust my eyesight to adjust each end stop exactly the same distance. I still say a table saw would make this easier...

 

[JeromeM]

 It may make sense to rip the stock slightly wider than needed (say 7/8ths instead of exactly 3/4) and then run it quickly through my planer one time set at 3/4" to make sure it is the same thickness across the piece.  I don't trust my eyesight to adjust each end stop exactly the same distance. I still say a table saw would make this easier...

No need at all for that.

step 1) Adjust one stop to the exact size and then lock it down.
Step 2) slide the guides together on the rail, the stops will touch, set the second stop to the same as the first by touch and lock it down. They will be exactly the same.
Step 3) slide the second guide to the width you need.
Step 4) cut.

You will get exact width strips with no need for further processing .

FWIW I have been cutting 70mm strips 1.3M ~ 1.7M wide from 2.44M sheets of 6mm MDF. This is a task that the guides rails and TS55 made this an easy task. To do the same on a table saw would be difficult to say the least, unless you have a very high end TS with a sliding table.

 

[HowardH]

Ok.  sounds good.  I suppose I could also use a square to line up the two stops as well.  Like anything else, it takes a while to figure out the in's and out's of how to use this stuff. 

 

[JeromeM]

Ok.  sounds good.  I suppose I could also use a square to line up the two stops as well.  Like anything else, it takes a while to figure out the in's and out's of how to use this stuff.   

You can. but unless you have adjusted the 2 to be exactly the same there is room for error using a square, for me even though I have adjusted them I still find the square method to be a little off sometimes .

With the method I outlined only one side needs to be perfect. Also I find it to be very fast, It takes much longer to read the method than to do it.

 

[HowardH]

I did some ripping of 1/4" strips today and it generally went well.  I learned that it is better to adjust the two profiles to be just wide enough to accept the length of the board between them or the stock can move on you as the saw is pushed down the rail.  It happened a couple of times and then I measure the cut width and it differed from one end to the other.  I cleaned it up with using just a rail and a mark to square it up.  However, if I adjusted the profiles to butt up against the ends, the board cannot move and there were no problems.  It does take a few minutes to get it all set up and I can see where it would be handy to have an extra MFT or Kapex to cut the boards to the proper length. 

 

[Wonderwino]

If you are working on sawhorses, why not just put another board of the same thickness behind the guide rail and under the long arms of the parallel guides for support?

 

[Brice Burrell]

If you are working on sawhorses, why not just put another board of the same thickness behind the guide rail and under the long arms of the parallel guides for support?

Because that would be too simple.  ;D Good advice.