why doesn't festool make there tracks like this?

Benjamin

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Oct 25, 2013
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does any one agree with me that this 3rd non skid strip would be a improvement to the festool tracks for cutting thin stock?

as I find stock that is under 4" is risky to cut as theres no more non skid strip to hold the piece in place and I find my self all ways finding make shift ways of clamping the track down to the piece. so I don't screw my cuts up.

but just a fast note : Don't do what I did below as it rises the track up enough that the splinter guard is now up a 16th of a inch and make it unworkable .

does any more know if I can run a track like this through a router table and take off a 16th of a inch to place a non skid strip in?
if so what kind of bit should I use to go through aluminum ? Thanks
 

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The extra strip is a neat idea but routing a channel for is not going to work. The thickest places on the rail are only about 3/32" the thinner are probably about 1/16".  Definitely thin enough to break or go right through. I would advise against messing with that.

Seth
 
If you are talking about the rubberized strips on the underside of the rail, you can buy the extra rubber strips in a roll (I suppose for replacement.) A wise man told me in a class I took long before I bought any Festools that putting a couple extra on the bottom of the rail was a great idea. It not only helps with keeping the rail in place, it helps level off the rail when cutting narrow strips by filling in the space. It works. I bought the roll of strips with the saw and did it first thing. I never regretted it.
 
Really? I guess I put mine to close to the end as when I made a test cut and the wood was all splintered,

I'll go back and make another cut and get back on how it works farther out of the rail.
 
I don't understand, but I have never had any splintering by adding rubber strips. I put 2 more along the whole length of the two rails evenly space across the width, so now there are 3 rubber strips on the underside. The Festool rubber stripping shouldn't raise the rail off the wood any farther than it already is since they are approximately the same thickness as the splinter guard and the other rubber strip already on the rail. All it does is merely even out the rail on narrower pieces of wood and help keep it from slipping. Hope that helps. For me, it has worked well.
 
Benjamin said:
Really? I guess I put mine to close to the end as when I made a test cut and the wood was all splintered,

I'll go back and make another cut and get back on how it works farther out of the rail.

  Hmmmm, I just checked the space under a rail with a 1/16" gauge. It slipped under perfectly and didn't lift the rail. Did you get the strip you added so close to the anti-splinter strip that part of it is on top of the little ridge that keeps the anti-splinter strip from moving? That would raise it a bit.

Seth
 
"Update"

So I did some more tests and I think Seth was right , as I believe I had the non skid strip to close to the splinter guard so I was getting some splintering  , but when I backed it up 1/4" the splintering was gone.

I also tried putting the strip 1" from the splinter guard but the track started toppling back and forth , as it put it off balance.

any ways I'm going to give it a shot for the next month and I'll give a update on how I like it and if there is any negative
points to it.
 

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Try putting another strip between the others where the gap is. I did that and I have not had problems to this point. Because they are closer together you shouldn't get the rocking (if I understand your reported problem with that correctly). That should cover most widths of wood. I've trimmed off fairly narrow pieces, but I use my track mostly on the MFT which, admittedly is a different situation than using the track on its own. Hope that works.
 
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