Woodpecker’s new Clamp-N-Glide

[Michael Kellough]

This new system will be more interesting to people who don’t already use a guide rail system.

What I am wondering about is if they have solved the problem of extraneous movement of the rail after it has been clamped. All the similar clamping rails I’ve tried (where a plastic cleat slides in the rail and is puller tight again he work by a cam at the end of a rod) allow the rail to move a little since there is enough slop in the fit of the plastic cleat to allow it to slide.

Can the rail be positioned precisely without fear of it moving a bit even after clamping?

 

[smorgasbord]

I have one of the original "Tru-Grip" Clamp N Guide thingies, probably a couple decades old now. I don't use it much because:

1) It's really hard to clamp it down at exactly a 90 degree angle. The play the OP mentions is large before clamped. When clamped the play isn't really a factor, though.

2) Aligning the clamp at the exact distance you need is also difficult. Maybe the WP one has harder corners, but the slightly rounded corners on my original mean parallax is a problem if you're clamping to a line. And even then, #1 above factors in.

3) It mars the edges of the workpiece. The jaws have only the shallow thickness of the stock to clamp to, and the clamp itself isn't wide enough to provide enough clamping surface. So, you end up over tightening the thing and maring the edges. I put some softer plastic on the clamping surface, which is better but not perfect.

4) The WP idea for a locked router guide is interesting. But, you don't have that for circular sawing.

5) This is minor, but you don't have the cut-away splinter guide for alignment, so you have to know the cutting distance from the edge of the saw plate you're using, and factor that in.

 

[jeffinsgf]

I won't claim to have hundreds of hours on these yet, but the time I've spent with them, I've been impressed. The large clamping handle is a big improvement over my 35-year-old Tru-Grips. What creep I had in the clamping process I was able to correct with a light mallet tap without releasing the clamp. I did not experience any extra movement once using a tool, even when I tapped it into final position.

I've been a track saw fan as long or longer than anyone here. If my AT-65 was a car it would qualify for "vintage" tags and we have a new one at work. I do have hundresds (thousands, possibly) of hours using Festool track saws and have always marveled at what can be done with one. The saw cut in the video for the Clamp-N-Guide is me, using one of the other guy's well-worn Milwaukee cordless 5-3/8" circular saw. I did buy a brand new blade for it...a $15 Diablo. When I finished the cut and we shut off the camera I felt and stared at the cut for 2 or 3 minutes. Dunno if you can put it on the Diablo, the Milwaukee or the Clamp-N-Guide, but that was one nice cut on 3/4" Baltic Birch. No, it isn't locked in and no, there's not splinter guard. For what it is, it was very impressive.

I don't usually have a lot of influence on product design. A couple of the engineers spitball ideas with me, and the CNG engineer is one of those. I pushed for the router guide because I'm not a fan of the Festool arrangement where the router is on top of the rail and you have to use the shoe to support (kinda) the router. If I have a niggle with the design it is that the nylon runner in the track relies on gravity. You won't see it in the video, but the solution is one hand on the runner and one on the router...pretty much the way I do it with the Festool guide rail. But, I love having the router base flat on the workpiece. The runner design is tapered, so when it wears you just have to nudge it down a bit, and any slop is gone.