I have two FS 1080's that I keep in my work trailer and get a lot of use. My guys tend to be slightly rough on them and the splinter guards tend to need replaced quite often. I am looking for an alternative to the $14.00 that I am spending every couple of months to keep my splinter guards new.
Track saw splinter guard alternatives
- Thread starter cfullen
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First, [welcome] to the FOG! Are your guide rail splinter strips getting damaged thru usage, or transportation. If transportation, why not knock together a flat box to protect them? If thru use, then they are making you money! YEAH! Have you tried repositioning them? Some have success. If the sacrificial strips are coming loose, there is a newly formulated strip with different adhesive that, at least for me, holds better. You might want to investigate that.
Peter
Peter
fist off [welcome] to the fog.
by the sounds of it i presume the problem is a transport or respect issue.
if it is a transport issue get a protective case for them .
if it is a respect issue , fist get the case then the next time they need replacing from being thrown around make them pay for the strips. or else get better employees
by the sounds of it i presume the problem is a transport or respect issue.
if it is a transport issue get a protective case for them .
if it is a respect issue , fist get the case then the next time they need replacing from being thrown around make them pay for the strips. or else get better employees
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Samo said:
Thanks for the Birthday wish! I can't tell you exactly when the change was made, but I got wind of the change in adhesives here somewhere and I inquired and ordered. In the past I have had strips start to peel after even a couple of days in my hot vehicle. I always order the largest roll ( 495209 ) so that I can do multiple rails. I try to keep some on hand for future needs.
So far no peeling. I personally am impressed. I don't think that you could tell from the part number if the new formulation is different from the previous. If you have ordered from a dealer who deals in volume, you will, i guess, be getting the new adhesive. Let me know via PM if you have an issue.
Peter
The rails get daily use. I cannot prevent them from getting nicked, moving around, etc. They travel very safely in a shop made case that has padded ends and a flat bottom. I have always used a 3m adhesive to attach them as I never did find much luck with the adhesives straight out of the box. I have begun turning them 90 degrees to get one more use out of them before trashing. I was wondering if anyone had used an alternative material. I'm sure that someone makes that rubber strip in a huge roll without any adhesive attached.
Thanks for all the welcome posts!
Thanks for all the welcome posts!
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Welcome to the forum.
You can consider buying the longer replacement splinterguard and cutting to length. It's cheaper if you're replacing them frequently.
http://www.festoolusa.com/products/guide-rails/splinterguards/197-clear-splinterguard-5000mm-495209.html
You could do nearly 5 of your 1080mm rails with one. $32.
Shane
You can consider buying the longer replacement splinterguard and cutting to length. It's cheaper if you're replacing them frequently.
http://www.festoolusa.com/products/guide-rails/splinterguards/197-clear-splinterguard-5000mm-495209.html
You could do nearly 5 of your 1080mm rails with one. $32.
Shane
I find I can move the strips over slightly and have a new edge several (8) times using thin double faced carpet tape before having to replace them with new ones. You have to remove the tape and apply another strip of tape each time but its quick, cheap, and effective. My rubber strips end up being about 5/16" wide by the time I replace them I replace them.
Shane is right on about buying the long replacement strips.
I have no idea why my 8 was magically replaced by a sunglassed smiley lol.
Shane is right on about buying the long replacement strips.
I have no idea why my 8 was magically replaced by a sunglassed smiley lol.
Kevin Stricker
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for most cutting the splinterguard is unnecessary except to reference your cut. I don't use one on my shorter 1080 jobsite rail and don't even notice a difference in cut quality unless crosscutting veneer with a less than sharp blade or working with prefinished or melamine.
You can also re-use the splinterguard by removing and reattaching.
You can also re-use the splinterguard by removing and reattaching.
Thanks for all the input. I am going to start making my local distributor carry the longer strips. I had seen them in the catalog but never paid any attention to them.
side note: I just looked into purchasing a 16 ft rail for a certain project. Looks like I will be getting more smaller rails and connectors!!!
side note: I just looked into purchasing a 16 ft rail for a certain project. Looks like I will be getting more smaller rails and connectors!!!
jmbfestool
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Dan Im confused to how thin MDF would help?
MDF cnt take any knocking what so ever a slight knock makes it turn into a paint brush especially thin piece of MDF.
Also MDF would hinder the friction of the rail between the rail and sheet material as you would have to make sure its as thick or thinner than the strips to for them to still have good contact this means it would be extremely thin. This would cause difficulty screwing it to the rail as you would want the screw flush and being so thin would not be possible. ALSO being that thin it would snap as soon as you look at it lol
If I have miss understood and your saying jst for a temporary protection solutions while transporting! Then maybe okay but still ply would be a better choice but also alot of hassle to fix a sheet material every time for transport. Would be better to create a area in your van or get a festool bag to protect the rail.
JMB
MDF cnt take any knocking what so ever a slight knock makes it turn into a paint brush especially thin piece of MDF.
Also MDF would hinder the friction of the rail between the rail and sheet material as you would have to make sure its as thick or thinner than the strips to for them to still have good contact this means it would be extremely thin. This would cause difficulty screwing it to the rail as you would want the screw flush and being so thin would not be possible. ALSO being that thin it would snap as soon as you look at it lol
If I have miss understood and your saying jst for a temporary protection solutions while transporting! Then maybe okay but still ply would be a better choice but also alot of hassle to fix a sheet material every time for transport. Would be better to create a area in your van or get a festool bag to protect the rail.
JMB
Dan1210
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Jmb, yes maybe mdf not the best example but what I meant was if the rail was mounted on a sacrificial piece of material ie ply and protruded by 10-15mm all the way round, when you use the rail for the first time on the material the saw would cut it making a splinterguard, yes the material would need to be thin and the screws would need to be flush, my response was maybe a way of making your own splinter guard, just an idea...
Edit, the track would sit completely on the material as wide and long as the rail, NOT as thick as the rubber strips (that would be nearly impossible)
Edit, the track would sit completely on the material as wide and long as the rail, NOT as thick as the rubber strips (that would be nearly impossible)
jmbfestool
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Yes but then you would loose depth of the TS as well as the grip?
Ply on Ply or MDF on MDF or ply on MDF will slide around so to over come that you would have to put the festool guide rail strips on your ply you mounted to your rail to stop it from sliding around this will then reduce the depth again you will end up loosing about 11mm of depth of your TS which is LOADS. If you used 9mm ply 2 mm for the strips.
JMB
Ply on Ply or MDF on MDF or ply on MDF will slide around so to over come that you would have to put the festool guide rail strips on your ply you mounted to your rail to stop it from sliding around this will then reduce the depth again you will end up loosing about 11mm of depth of your TS which is LOADS. If you used 9mm ply 2 mm for the strips.
JMB
Adding material will be good only if you do 90 degree cuts when you do a bevel it will cut away the material
in the past I have been on site and needed a new splinter guard but the nearest supply was 4 weeks away ( working in the Falkland Islands ) I hot melt glued hard board to the rail with the pitted side down it did the trick as all the cuts were 90's the grip was OK as long as the surface was not too dusty
Festastic
in the past I have been on site and needed a new splinter guard but the nearest supply was 4 weeks away ( working in the Falkland Islands ) I hot melt glued hard board to the rail with the pitted side down it did the trick as all the cuts were 90's the grip was OK as long as the surface was not too dusty
Festastic
I've been using these things for years now, and I have similar issues. I don't know of different alternative strips to use. I will say that if your crew has several saws, its a good idea to make all the saws adjusted the same distance from the guide or to keep some guides separate for finer applications. I find that i have issues with the strips drooping at the ends of the guides sometimes. I put clamps on them when I replace them, sometimes to no avail. Personally, in my experience, the problem is not bad employees, but something else.
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Ross,
Wow! First post. Welcome to posting on the FOG. I think that the next time you replace your strips you will be surprised - pleasantly.
Peter
Wow! First post. Welcome to posting on the FOG. I think that the next time you replace your strips you will be surprised - pleasantly.
Peter
ccarrolladams
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Ross, a big Welcome to FOG!
Over the years Festool has done very well adjusting TS55 at the factory. Less than a week after I purchased my first TS55 in January 2006, one of my best friends also bought one. By then I had followed the instructions and trimmed the splinter guard on all three of my original guide rails. My pal brought his new TS55 and rails to my place. It turned out his saw was adjusted to within 0.1mm as mine. Frankly that is as close as we can expect even with CNC machines.
Subsequently I have bought 4 more TS55, built in different years. One was different from my original TS55 by 0.3mm, so we did adjust it. The others are within the 0.1mm tolerance.
Way back when most of the alternative TS55 blades did not have a uniform 2.2mm kerf, as do all current Festool TS55 blades.
Several of my employees personally own TS55. Normally when working in my shop and using my guide rails they use one of my TS55.
Perhaps I have been very lucky that the only two guide rails I have purchased since Festool switched to the clear splinter guard are factory drilled for LR32. Those could be used with the TS55 but in my shop hole drilling happens in a different area, so my LR32 guide rails never had their splinter guards trimmed.
By the time I needed to replace older splinter guards Festool had started using the current adhesive. The nice service folk at Lebanon HQ suggested making sure all the old adhesive was removed and the place be cleaned with MEK or acetone. Just before applying the new splinter guard we gently warm the rail with a heat gun so it is just slightly more than room temperature. After applying the splinter guard we make sure the guide rail is resting on a smooth flat surface at the outer edge of a work table. We then place a 1x3" batten on the top side and use gentle spring clamps to maintain pressure for an hour.
I have not had a problem of splinter guards separating from guide rails. I must say my own guide rails do not leave my shop, where the temperature and humidity are controlled, since I opened my shop. From 2006 until mid 2010 most of my rails were transported to various sites and rented workshops frequently, without problems of the splinter guards separating.
Over the years Festool has done very well adjusting TS55 at the factory. Less than a week after I purchased my first TS55 in January 2006, one of my best friends also bought one. By then I had followed the instructions and trimmed the splinter guard on all three of my original guide rails. My pal brought his new TS55 and rails to my place. It turned out his saw was adjusted to within 0.1mm as mine. Frankly that is as close as we can expect even with CNC machines.
Subsequently I have bought 4 more TS55, built in different years. One was different from my original TS55 by 0.3mm, so we did adjust it. The others are within the 0.1mm tolerance.
Way back when most of the alternative TS55 blades did not have a uniform 2.2mm kerf, as do all current Festool TS55 blades.
Several of my employees personally own TS55. Normally when working in my shop and using my guide rails they use one of my TS55.
Perhaps I have been very lucky that the only two guide rails I have purchased since Festool switched to the clear splinter guard are factory drilled for LR32. Those could be used with the TS55 but in my shop hole drilling happens in a different area, so my LR32 guide rails never had their splinter guards trimmed.
By the time I needed to replace older splinter guards Festool had started using the current adhesive. The nice service folk at Lebanon HQ suggested making sure all the old adhesive was removed and the place be cleaned with MEK or acetone. Just before applying the new splinter guard we gently warm the rail with a heat gun so it is just slightly more than room temperature. After applying the splinter guard we make sure the guide rail is resting on a smooth flat surface at the outer edge of a work table. We then place a 1x3" batten on the top side and use gentle spring clamps to maintain pressure for an hour.
I have not had a problem of splinter guards separating from guide rails. I must say my own guide rails do not leave my shop, where the temperature and humidity are controlled, since I opened my shop. From 2006 until mid 2010 most of my rails were transported to various sites and rented workshops frequently, without problems of the splinter guards separating.
kylehalchin
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I wonder if there are any big roles or sheets of thin clear/flexible plastic/pvc that could be cut to size and adhered onto the track as a replacement...
Any ideas?
Any ideas?