TSO Square GRS 16 Fit in Festool Rails

vkumar

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Joined
Jan 22, 2007
Messages
567
I just got around to using the  GRS 16 TSO square that I purchased when they first introduced it 3 plus years ago (shame on me).  It does not fit my 1900 and 1400 rails but does fit my LR 32 rail.
I called up TSO products (Eric) who confirmed that this product does not it the older Festool  rails made 10 plus years ago. Seems really bizarre that Festool would make a design change in the width of the slot that accepts the tab from the TSO square.
Anyway I am stuck with the square that will not work in 2 of my 3 Festool rails. Has anyone else run into this? Will any other brand of square fit the older Festool rails. By older I do not mean the rails prior to FS/2.
TSO offered to refund me the money which is very nice of them, but does not solve my problem.

Anyone else run into this?  Any solutions?
 
vkumar said:
I just got around to using the  GRS 16 TSO square that I purchased when they first introduced it 3 plus years ago (shame on me).  It does not fit my 1900 and 1400 rails but does fit my LR 32 rail.
I called up TSO products (Eric) who confirmed that this product does not it the older Festool  rails made 10 plus years ago. Seems really bizarre that Festool would make a design change in the width of the slot that accepts the tab from the TSO square.
Anyway I am stuck with the square that will not work in 2 of my 3 Festool rails. Has anyone else run into this? Will any other brand of square fit the older Festool rails. By older I do not mean the rails prior to FS/2.
TSO offered to refund me the money which is very nice of them, but does not solve my problem.

Anyone else run into this?  Any solutions?
[/quote

[member=163]vkumar[/member] - I just saw your post. Eric and I had not discussed this earlier. There is a possibility that the refinements in dimensioning and tolerancing we have made over the years may provide a fit on your other rails.

Let me know if you would like to give it a try using a late model "open Box" GRS-16. email us with your complete updated contact information: info@tsoproducts.com
we might both learn something from this exercise.

Hans
 
Thank you Hans [member=59331]TSO Products[/member] . I just sent you my contact info.
 
Just checked the fit of my early GRS-16 in all my FS-2 rails. The fit is great on all but one rail which is snug, but it does go in. I’ll add a little lube to the T on the square and that should make it easy enough.

The T on my GRS-16 PE (and probably on later runs of the original form) is much smaller resulting in an easy fit even on the one snug rail so you’ll probably be good with the replacement.
 
Thank you Michael for checking it.  A little snug would be ok, right now it is impossible to get the square engaged . I forced it in, but got stuck so had to use a mallet to remove it. Mine is the older design with a full length tab.
 
[member=163]vkumar[/member] Can you update us with your findings with the newer rail square?

I think the change in the Festool rails happened closer to 2013.  I have two I acquired that year and one is tight as you describe, the other is perfect (first gen rail square).  So far I’ve deemed it unnecessary to get a replacement rail square (Hans offered), but knowing the newer ones would fit would be helpful...in case.
 
Ok. Here is the news.I received the current version of the GRS 16 and tested it extensively last weekend. Happy to say that there were no issues.
I see the issue with the fit is the size of the T Slot in the Festool rails (the 8.5 mm dimension) and the corresponding nub in the GRS that engages with it. The new nub besides being only an inch long (compared to the original version being 5 inches long) , the nub is also about 0.5 mm narrower. So in the previous version it is a line to line fit, and in the current version there is about a 0.5 mm clearance. hence much easier engagement.

I am very impressed with TSO customer service for reaching out to me and solving the problem. Thanks to this all my Festool rails can now be used. Big kudos to TSO.

p.s Did everyone see the new FS-WA rail introduced by Festool. It is a total copy of the TSO product. I hope TSO gets a licensing agreement. [member=59331]TSO Products[/member]  any comments?  Here is the link. FS-WA Rail
 
vkumar said:
p.s Did everyone see the new FS-WA rail introduced by Festool. It is a total copy of the TSO product. I hope TSO gets a licensing agreement. [member=59331]TSO Products[/member]  any comments?  Here is the link. FS-WA Rail

TSO has just posted about it being a licensed collaboration.

Seth
 
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