Using Coupled Guiderails vs 8-foot Beastie

[Brice Burrell]

Good advice Rick, I agree with your tip on using the 55" and 75" rails. I travel with my two 55" rails in the Festool tote bag, I've found that is the easiest and safest way to transport the rails necessary to make an eight foot rip. I do take the 75" rail to most jobs too it's just less convenient although I much prefer using the 75" for cross cuts and it with the 55" for rips of 4x8 sheets goods. That said, I just splurged on a 32" and 118" rails.   

 

[JeromeM]

I hear of a lot of people buying multiple copies of the 55" rails for joining them together. In my opinion, it is a waste to have more than one of the same size rail (unless storage/transportation is the reason). If you can't have the 9' rail, then you are better off having a 55" and 75" pair instead. This gives you more flexibility than duplicate 55's when they are used separately.

There is now a reason to have more than one of the same size rail and that is the FS-PA. I find leaving one setup on rail for 90degree cuts helps me at the moment. But i agree that having them to join is a waste.

Aside from the storage and transportation issues, I personally prefer having the wide array of rail sizes at my disposal.  I even have the little 32" rail, which I love! For my tastes, I prefer having the ability to just grab the rail length I need, rather than messing around with joining them. On the other hand, if I was transporting them to project sites, I do at least have the joining kit so I can still use a combination of my shorter rails if necessary.

If you have the ability to store the 9' rail, then I believe it is well worth the investment.