CS & Guide or Table Saw?

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Hi cumbrian
You have also missed that the repears can have two arms, one at each end.
So no trouble :wink:
You could do what you said but with a fillet piece to take up you width of the cut and that would work :)
 
Cumbrian,

I think the quickest way to get repeat cuts without using a jig will be to simply mark-out your cut lines on the sheet, and then line up the rail for each cut, only takes a couple of minutes more to mark it out, and you can work quickly by moving the rail to the next pencil mark.

Using a good sqaure and the rail itself for the straight-edge, you should get accurate cuts.
 
Colin

Using the duel-repeaters on the EZ system, how easy is it to align both repeaters to be at the exact same setting - could it be possible for one of them to be out, whether thats due to initial setup or human error in setting the measurements, or can you adjust the repeaters as a pair instead of each on seperatly?

Btw, my festool just arrived about 5mins ago - I havn't been this excited since I was about 8 years old and my dad bought me a Commodore 64 for christmas :)

*lurking around the house finding things to cut with his shiny new tool*
 
*lurking around the house finding things to cut with his shiny new tool*
:) :)

That is such a dangerous phase with a new toy... err, I mean essential tool...
 
engineer one":nvmwo8f6 said:
basically you have to allow for the width of the cut.
in practice, every time you line up the board, you seem to
add to the width. something about visual lining up i think.

to check this out, try it with a thinnish piece of cardboard.
you will be surprised by how quickly you go out of whack :oops:

paul :wink:

Ah yes - i didn't have brain properly engaged :roll: The rail needs to be sitting on the work side of the line, not the waste side doesn't it! So the template piece needs to be narrower than the required width by the width of the rail? Then align rail with template without having to remove template?? Coming to think of it, might just as well cut the template to final width minus width of saw base edge to blade tooth, use that as a guide and dispense with rail altogether - I think we've been there before...... something about true edges of MDF v ally....... clamps getting in the way........
 
ByronBlack":2lnozvqp said:
Colin

Using the duel-repeaters on the EZ system, how easy is it to align both repeaters to be at the exact same setting - could it be possible for one of them to be out, whether thats due to initial setup or human error in setting the measurements, or can you adjust the repeaters as a pair instead of each on seperatly?

Byron

They have to be adjusted seperatly but when it can to human error, you have the same problem with a rail on its own, unless I have missed some thing :wink: .

Adjusting them is straight forward and they have measurements on the side ( imperial ), I have used them with on problem :)
 
Imperial would be a big problem with me, as I only work in metric, although one could easily add a metric 'sticky' scale on top I suppose.

colin - yes, there is human error with just a rail itself, I was just wondering how exactly the duel repeaters worked thats all, I might be wrong here, but it sounds a little fussy to setup and start working with? Do you do any test custs first to ensure the fist cut is square, or do you have confidence that when set it's spot on?
 
Byron
What I will do is take a pic of that I need to do to set them up :)
Also tapered cuts are easy this way too :wink:
 
I don't want to revive the Festool vs home-brewed debate, but thought I'd share my experiences. I haven't used the EZ system, so I'm only going to write about Festool vs my jig.

I used a jig such as described by ALF and Scrit before buying a Festool circular saw and guide rails. On the whole I do get far better results now:

1) The saw's build quality is superb. It's very well balanced and smooth and chews through 18mm ply so effortlessly that it does feel like it's gliding along the rail. This is undoubtedly the biggest factor in the difference between the new setup and using my jig with my previous circular saw (a Hitachi - very robust but nowhere near as refined). However once you have the Festool saw, you might as well get the guide rails too. :)

2) Cleanliness of cut and chip free edges. Again, can be largely attributed to the saw itself. The rubber edging on the rail does seem to get "tighter" to the sheet than my home made jig did, but user error can possibly be blamed there!

3) Accuracy. I have not had problems with aligning two rails end on end - maybe my work is too low tolerance! I find I often stop and start the saw as I progress through an 8 foot cut - usually at least once, sometimes twice (working on my kitchen floor does not give my the room to walk around the sheet). I've generally not seen any inaccuracy or stepping resulting from this - again maybe more due to the saw's plunge action than the rail?

4) Angle attachment. The angle attachment is not so useful. I might need a bit more practice with it, but right now I am marking out the line and aligning by eye rather than using it.

5) Clamps. When working on a table, being able to clamp from underneath (and therefore having no obstruction to the saw's travel on top) is a handy feature.

In general, I think the Festool circular saw is an excellent product, with the guide rails just adding to its feature set. I do find the Festool setup more foolproof too (i.e. I make less stupid mistakes and get better results with the same amount of user ability).

Perhaps the best comparison is that I used to cut as close to the final size as I dared with the Hitachi and then run a router against a straight edge to get the finished cut. With the Festool I cut directly to the final line. I am sure the more experienced woodworkers here could have got good results with my previous kit - the Festool stuff flatters despite my lack of ability! :oops:

(off topic, I also bought the jig saw and CT-33 extractor, which I'd recommend too)

The EZ system looks very interesting - I like the horizontal movement of the router attachment, seems very useful. If I was to start from a tool-less shed, I think my decision would be driven by my choice of saw.

Ian
 
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