What happened to my rails?!

Wuffles said:
Darren1972 said:
Pizza Steve said:
Impact driver lol!

When I tightened one screw, I was able to wiggle the connector.  I tightend the second screw to no wiggle, then tightened the first one up to pick up slack.  The second side of the connector I had to do by feeling.  It's an even result on both rails, so it appears I was at least consistent.  [unsure]

The other possibility- now that I think about it: I had to physically pick up the connected rail piece a few times and move it & flip it over to a side station, etc.  It's quite possible that during movement the weight of the rails caused it to bend, which provided additional moment arm pressure concentrated on the exact set screw locations, exacerbated the effect on the soft metal.

When I run my finger across the spider web-looking deformations I can only feel a noticeable lift on 1 or 2 of the 8 total screw locations.  The others really are cosmetic or miniscule.  There's no way I'm taking any more chances.  There are better idiot-proof solutions possible.
its totaly festools fault that YOU over tightened the screw same happened to me when i crashed my car at 150 mph it was ferraris fault for making it go that fast

Pizza Steve is taking your comments in a light-hearted way Darren, why not drop it eh?
sorry pizzaman the king has spoken
 
Pizza Steve said:
This connector is being ridiculously analyzed, but it does serve a purpose to see how it's not so hard to mess up when you connect one side of a rail at a time.

It's kind of amazing how over-analyzed the rails have been over the years; resulting in some incredibly elaborate non-solutions from all walks of woodworkers. In reality, the simplest is often the best, and that was the reason for showing what I did in the video.

Yes, I have installed the rods into one rail first, especially for joining 2 long rails. But all I do is snug the first screw just enough to stop the rod from sliding while I insert the second rail. Only after the 2 rails are aligned should the screws be tightened.
 
Darren1972 said:
Wuffles said:
Darren1972 said:
Pizza Steve said:
Impact driver lol!

When I tightened one screw, I was able to wiggle the connector.  I tightend the second screw to no wiggle, then tightened the first one up to pick up slack.  The second side of the connector I had to do by feeling.  It's an even result on both rails, so it appears I was at least consistent.  [unsure]

The other possibility- now that I think about it: I had to physically pick up the connected rail piece a few times and move it & flip it over to a side station, etc.  It's quite possible that during movement the weight of the rails caused it to bend, which provided additional moment arm pressure concentrated on the exact set screw locations, exacerbated the effect on the soft metal.

When I run my finger across the spider web-looking deformations I can only feel a noticeable lift on 1 or 2 of the 8 total screw locations.  The others really are cosmetic or miniscule.  There's no way I'm taking any more chances.  There are better idiot-proof solutions possible.
its totaly festools fault that YOU over tightened the screw same happened to me when i crashed my car at 150 mph it was ferraris fault for making it go that fast

Pizza Steve is taking your comments in a light-hearted way Darren, why not drop it eh?
sorry pizzaman the king has spoken

UPGRADE, BABY!

[attachimg=1]
 

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Pizza Steve said:
Darren1972 said:
Wuffles said:
Darren1972 said:
Pizza Steve said:
Impact driver lol!

When I tightened one screw, I was able to wiggle the connector.  I tightend the second screw to no wiggle, then tightened the first one up to pick up slack.  The second side of the connector I had to do by feeling.  It's an even result on both rails, so it appears I was at least consistent.  [unsure]

The other possibility- now that I think about it: I had to physically pick up the connected rail piece a few times and move it & flip it over to a side station, etc.  It's quite possible that during movement the weight of the rails caused it to bend, which provided additional moment arm pressure concentrated on the exact set screw locations, exacerbated the effect on the soft metal.

When I run my finger across the spider web-looking deformations I can only feel a noticeable lift on 1 or 2 of the 8 total screw locations.  The others really are cosmetic or miniscule.  There's no way I'm taking any more chances.  There are better idiot-proof solutions possible.
its totaly festools fault that YOU over tightened the screw same happened to me when i crashed my car at 150 mph it was ferraris fault for making it go that fast

Pizza Steve is taking your comments in a light-hearted way Darren, why not drop it eh?
sorry pizzaman the king has spoken

UPGRADE, BABY!

[attachimg=1]
lolol
 
Though I have only used festools for about 3 or 4 years and before I got the 3000 rail, I used rail connectors to connect my 1400 rails to rip ply.

I would use the smallest screw driver I had with a blade to fit the slot of the set screws. I would slide both connectors in place and tighten just enough to feel the screw bottom out against the rail. I would tighten all 4 screws on the bottom I connector then turn the rails over use a straight edge to align the rails and repeat tightening the connector screws.

Only enough torq to feel the screw bottom out. Nothing more nothing less. I still got the same rails with no issues what so ever. I use the same connector with my 2 1400 holy rails no issues what so ever.
In fact this is the first time since I've been come here to the FOG that I seen this sort of issue  brought up.
So the odds are it is operator error.

No biggie we all make mistakes, those kerf marks in my MFT fence and the kerf marks in the MFT side along with the saw marks on top of one my guides, definitely were not the saw or guide rail or MFTs fault.

It's all part of the learning curve.

It happens.... That's what experience is, making mistakes, learning from them and go on.
 
Rick Christopherson said:
By the way, here is kind of a video version of the Supplemental Manual. At around the 10 minute mark, I describe connecting the rails.



Good video Rick

At around 11:17 you say "tighten the guide rail until they are snug. Over tightening may cause damage to the guide rails."

 
There is a post somewhere on this board about making guide rail clamps with two pieces of flat stock and allen head screws. The screws don't contact the rails. The whole thing acts as a clamp. I built a set,it took a lot of filing but works really well. Kudos to whoever came up with the idea.    Chris
 
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