I have seen a couple of these threads since joining the forum, but Mavdog's really pushed me to make my own. (http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-jigs-tool-enhancements/homemade-parallel-guides).
Unfortunately, he got all his stuff from Rocker and since I am in Canada the shipping would have been as much as the parts. I also didn't like that the Rockler tracks had to be positioned right at the edges of the piece you are cutting. So I tried searching around and found that Incra has a product called T-Track plus so I decided to give it a try. Everything else is pretty standard stuff you can find at Lee Valley or Home Depot. I wanted a hairline indicator to be able to accurately see the tape measure. I just made the plastic out of an old CD case and cut it up to fit. Then put some painter's tape over it and scored it with a knife and then took a marker to the line. Once I took the tape off, it was a nice hairline. The only problem was the hairline was hard to get square to the sliding block so if I can find something a little better, I will probably swap it out but this works pretty good for now. The tape has 1/16" increments on one side and 1/32" increments on the other, so you definitely need a hairline indicator to read it.
The things I like the most about this jig:
1) Tracks can be moved across the entire length of the guide rail.
2) Cutting distances ranges from 10" up to 39.5". Extra length could be had by buying a bigger T-Track plus.
3) Festool quick clamps (491594) fit in the T-Track plus so they can be used to hold down the material you are cutting. Most often with my cutting table, I am only ever able to use one clamp at the edge...this eliminates that problem.
4) No more fussing around with lining up the guide rail to my pencil marks. The clear strip gets chewed up over time and becomes less reliable. I would spend as much time double checking my measurements as I did cutting, so this should really reduce the amount of time it will take me to cut out a bunch of parts for my next project.
For more info on all the parts used and some more pictures: http://mcameron.dyndns.org/album/gallery.asp?alno=49
Unfortunately, he got all his stuff from Rocker and since I am in Canada the shipping would have been as much as the parts. I also didn't like that the Rockler tracks had to be positioned right at the edges of the piece you are cutting. So I tried searching around and found that Incra has a product called T-Track plus so I decided to give it a try. Everything else is pretty standard stuff you can find at Lee Valley or Home Depot. I wanted a hairline indicator to be able to accurately see the tape measure. I just made the plastic out of an old CD case and cut it up to fit. Then put some painter's tape over it and scored it with a knife and then took a marker to the line. Once I took the tape off, it was a nice hairline. The only problem was the hairline was hard to get square to the sliding block so if I can find something a little better, I will probably swap it out but this works pretty good for now. The tape has 1/16" increments on one side and 1/32" increments on the other, so you definitely need a hairline indicator to read it.
The things I like the most about this jig:
1) Tracks can be moved across the entire length of the guide rail.
2) Cutting distances ranges from 10" up to 39.5". Extra length could be had by buying a bigger T-Track plus.
3) Festool quick clamps (491594) fit in the T-Track plus so they can be used to hold down the material you are cutting. Most often with my cutting table, I am only ever able to use one clamp at the edge...this eliminates that problem.
4) No more fussing around with lining up the guide rail to my pencil marks. The clear strip gets chewed up over time and becomes less reliable. I would spend as much time double checking my measurements as I did cutting, so this should really reduce the amount of time it will take me to cut out a bunch of parts for my next project.
For more info on all the parts used and some more pictures: http://mcameron.dyndns.org/album/gallery.asp?alno=49
