Uses for a short guide rail?

[Ken Nagrod]

Well, I used to have an FS1900/2 guide rail.  Now I have more like a salvageable FS920 and FS540 set of rails.  Anybody have any ideas of what you can use a 21 1/4" (540mm) guide rail for?  If you're wondering, TS55 did a dance all over it when a plastic Stanley sawhorse collapsed taking the 2 pieces of 3/8 ply with it enough to pinch the blade -  KICKBACK.  Weight definitely wasn't the issue and I was using 4 horses.  I've got to throw those things out.  Just too many incidents with them.

This is what I felt like doing, beating the sawhorse with the guide rail while it was on the ground.  [dead horse]

 

[justinmcf]

i have had one nasty experience with those bloody plastic horses.
they went straight in the bin!

i would keep the 500mm guide rail for cutting vents on solid core doors.
vent sizes can vary from 300mm, 400mm, 500mm and 600mm.
so it is still pretty useful to have a small guide rail.

hard luck mate, i hate it when the saw dances all over the rail.

theres a good forum name for you......."dances with rails"

justin.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

i have had one nasty experience with those bloody plastic horses.
they went straight in the bin!

i would keep the 500mm guide rail for cutting vents on solid core doors.
vent sizes can vary from 300mm, 400mm, 500mm and 600mm.
so it is still pretty useful to have a small guide rail.

hard luck mate, i hate it when the saw dances all over the rail.

theres a good forum name for you......."dances with rails"

justin.

Maybe if I were wearing a Blaklader kilt.  Definitely won't be setting myself up for another plastic, junky sawhorse, costly mistake.  How 'bout a sawhorse bonfire?

 

[PaulMarcel]

Seems like a rail that long would still be useful with the router and guide stops. Unlike the TS, the router doesn't need a lot of "geddy up" room before the cut.  It's still a good length for doing a straight cut with a Trion and the guide rail plate for it (I couldda used this for a recent stair job to cut the nosing off before refacing).

Or beat those sawhorses with it.  Take pictures

 

[Henning]

Couldn't you male a nifty crosscut jig with the short one? I have been contemplating doing that and got as far as buying a Metabo rail to do it before procrastination got in the way

 

[Dan Clermont]

Use it for crosscuts on narrow pieces

Dan Clermont

 

[Alan m]

have you the rail already cut. if not how bad is the bad bit. by the math there is 400-500ish mm of bad rail.
if you leave some bad rail on both pieces you could use them as the start or end of the cut out over the end of the piece. if the good short end is 540mm and you leave 200mm on the end it effectivly is 4-7 inchs longer but with no impact on cut quality.

have you a mft 800. could you put it on that with a bit left on it. the mft wastes a few inchs at the back for mounting it. you could move the fence forward a bit to use the best of the rail

 

[Ken Nagrod]

What's left of the "center" of the rail is destroyed (no saving it for any reason) and I never did find a nice sized piece of aluminum that used to be attached to the splinter guard strip.  Must be in the grass somewhere.

 

[Alan m]

come on ken
no pics or it didnt happen [wink]

 

[Ken Nagrod]

I wish it didn't happen!  Unfortunately I think I used up my third wish long ago.  Either that or the damn lamp doesn't work.  Stupid genie.

 

[fidelfs]

Ken,

I use the FS1080 and a single parallel guide to make crosscut, like a big "T" or "L" if you will for cross cut.  You can use it the same way, and find an use to the "small" ones

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Ken,

I use the FS1080 and a single parallel guide to make crosscut, like a big "T" or "L" if you will for cross cut.  You can use it the same way, and find an use to the "small" ones

I believe I read that you use a parallel guide along with a guide rail to make a square, in another one of your posts?  I don't know how you're accomplishing that since the paralled guides were never meant to give square cuts, just parallel cuts to the guide rail.  There doesn't seem to be built in adjustments to square them up or have them square as part of the design.

 

[fritter63]

I put a stack of 30 3/8" OSB on a pair of those while building our house.

Gravity won.

 

[fidelfs]

Ken,

I use the FS1080 and a single parallel guide to make crosscut, like a big "T" or "L" if you will for cross cut.  You can use it the same way, and find an use to the "small" ones

I believe I read that you use a parallel guide along with a guide rail to make a square, in another one of your posts?  I don't know how you're accomplishing that since the paralled guides were never meant to give square cuts, just parallel cuts to the guide rail.  There doesn't seem to be built in adjustments to square them up or have them square as part of the design.

I think I will save tome time and instead of taking a picture from mine, I will show the one from Brice Burrell (I hope he doesn't mind).  This is from his website (third picture from top).

The parallel guides are not meant to have perfect square cuts, you are correct, when they are used together.  Think about this, It will be near impossible to have both stops setup the same, it will be always some error (minimum, but it will ever exist), so when you put together both parallel guide, you get parallel but not square.  A single parallel guide doesn't have that problem and if you make some test cuts you will see.
This will work for small to small-medium cross cuts.  if you use it for big cuts, let's say a sheet of plywood, then a single parallel won't guarantee the 90 degrees either.

Give it a try, if you can see if it works for you or not.

Also the parallel guides are not meant to touch the piece you are cutting when they are together, hence the problem with square cuts, the single parallel you must square the piece against the parallel guide (single one).

Jerry Work also mention the same on his tutorial "The festool parallel guides take guided rail cutting and routing to a whole new level"

 

[Brice Burrell]

I think I will save tome time and instead of taking a picture from mine, I will show the one from Brice Burrell (I hope he doesn't mind).  This is from his website (third picture from top)......

Yeah, I got the idea from Jerry Work.  I was skeptical about how well it would work but one of guides works pretty well for square cuts.  If I tighten one of the screws down to skew the rail/guide connection ever so slightly it's pretty darn square.  More than square enough for construction grade work or even paint grade finish carpentry.  I wouldn't trust it for furniture grade work. 

This isn't how the guides are intended to be used and your mileage may vary, in other words test your setup before you trust........ 

 

[fidelfs]

Yes, that is correct, for a furniture grade test and see if it work.  I even use my hand plane for furniture work, so I don't mind, at the end it is square.

 

[jonny round boy]

have you the rail already cut.

When did you become Yoda, Alan? [poke]

[big grin]

 

[Alan m]

have you the rail already cut.

When did you become Yoda, Alan? [poke]

[big grin]

jrb i dont foolow you , thats a lord of the rings reference or something is it ???

 

[jmbfestool]

I have short rails!  Perfect for places you cant get into and for cutting smaller width timber/sheets less likely to knock or tip.    I attach my stop cut for plunge cutting only.    So basically using just for plunging as many of you know the TS aint safe to use with no rail and having the stop on a short rail you can lift the saw and the rail lifts with it.

JMB

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Thanks for all the input, everyone.  I would have thrown out the short part without the positive responses I got from a bunch of you.

When did you become Yoda, Alan? [poke]

[big grin]

jrb i dont foolow you , thats a lord of the rings reference or something is it ???

Alan, Star Wars, I believe.