DeWalt T-Square Attachment for Guide Rails

[Teejay]

Hello there, I notice that there are no stocks for this product online as far as I can tell. I also notice comments stating that it is not square.

Can you please tell me of a suitable alternative which fits in the profile of the guide rail? I think it's the same as Makita and Festool, am I right? If so, and both sell such a product, could you please recommend your preference and give a reason?

Even the Triton TTSTS T Square 90 degree is slightly our of square: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Triton-TTSTS-S ... merReviews

Does anyone know anything about the https://www.amazon.co.uk/Triton-TTSAG-Angle-Guide-55°/dp/B00G5TP30M/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8?

 

[Eric The Viking]

I bought the Makita bevel for their rails (almost identical* to the Festool one):

.

It is horrible and almost unusable. This is for several reasons:

1. Design: The gauge/guide just sits in the back rail slot, located by a strip of nylon that's wedge-shaped vertically, so that it jams in the slot. It is staggeringly difficult to use it single-handed, because the bit that needs to slide--the rail--is designed to stay put and has sticky rubber strips underneath to ensure that happens.

2. Manufacture: it's cheaply made, and in particular the scale is silk-screened onto the aluminium. Precision relies on a tight joint between the two parts, and concentricity between the scale, the axis of the pointer, and the actual pivot. Needless to say mine is off by miles. I very much doubt the Festool one is any different.

3. Size: there simply isn't enough meat to it to make it precise. The bit that indexes on the edge of the workpiece is barely 6" long, and that's simply not enough, even if the board has a perfectly straight and smooth edge.

It looks like the Triton one would be much the same, as it has similar weaknesses.

So what's the alternative? I'm going to buy a worktable with 20mm dog holes, like the Festool MFT, but made by CNC design in Warrington. I'm taking my lead from Steve Maskery, who recently bought their router template, but I'm lazy and getting the whole thing rather than making it up. It also means I needn't worry about errors introduced by me!

There's a lot of stuff out there on YouTube, etc. on how to use such a system, and it's worth mentioning that the principle of a grid of dog holes probably goes back to Noah's carpentry (so no patents on that!). It was used extensively in shipbuilding, for example, on a huge scale, for bending the steel ribs of ship's frames to precise curves. the point being, if you apply simple geometry, you should be able to cut at any angle, with great precision, simply by packing out from one of the dogs, holding either the rail or the workpiece. It is far easier to get your cut bang-on in the right place, and can be easily set up single-handed.

For what it's worth, I doubt the Festool MFT system, specifically the rail and protractor arrangement, will be easy to use precisely, either. It has a similar issue as the thing I have, in that there's only a small sliding part clamping to the rail - it would be rather easy for this to become misaligned in use. Note that I don't have a Festool MFT, so it's an educated guess; your mileage, etc.

The dog hole system is still very good though, and the attachment system and hinge for the rail would all be wonderful, just too expensive for me.

Hope that helps,

E. (waiting for the flak to start!)

*I say "almost identical" but it looks like Festool have recently updated their design, addressing some of the issues. It's almost identical to the earlier version of the Festool one.

 

[Nelsun]

The only track square I've ever read good things about (i.e. it's as square as John Major) is an American jobby from TSO. It's only compatible with Festool, Makita and Triton tracks though. Oh, and it's a bit spendy so sit down, take a deep breath and click if you dare Their shipping looks quite reasonable,however. It's overkill for most uses other than breaking down lots of sheet goods quickly and accurately.

I have the Festool angle guide much like Eric's one. It currently performs the role of Chief Dust Collector as it's not reliable and a faff to use.

A holey worktop like the MFT and such along with some dogs is a pretty cheap, reliable and versatile setup like Eric said but, unless you have a YUGE tabletop it'll not be much use for full sized sheet goods if that's your thing.

A long rule with a rule-stop can help set up a track where the rule-stop acts as a reference fence to snag on a squared edge. Mark at the start of the cut and again at the end and you have some retro pencil marks to align the track to. See the Holy Grail of rulers thread as I think there's links to some good cheap ones in there somewhere or go throw pots of money at Wood Workers Workshop for the yummy Woodpeckers ones.

Then there's all sorts of parallel guides if you want repeatability. I only really know about the Festool compatible ones though but there's plenty stuff on YouTube about rolling your own.

 

[Eric The Viking]

A holey worktop like the MFT and such along with some dogs is a pretty cheap, reliable and versatile setup like Eric said but, unless you have a YUGE tabletop it'll not be much use for full sized sheet goods if that's your thing.

Yes, you're quite right.

I do have a plan though, if I ever have the need: cut a smaller triangle of scrap, with the wanted angle, and carefully fix a batten along one edge. Index that batten on a straight edge of the sheet, and the rail against whichever other side is needed. Assuming I cut the angle correctly to start with (on my yet-to-come perforated worktable, or simply set out with compasses), It'll be more accurate than anything adjustable. A while back I made an industrial-scale pair of compasses, so you can do things like bisect angles and get common ones (90, 60, 45, etc.) really easily and with theoretically dead-on accuracy

A long rule with a rule-stop can help set up a track where the rule-stop acts as a reference fence to snag on a squared edge. Mark at the start of the cut and again at the end and you have some retro pencil marks to align the track to. See the Holy Grail of rulers thread as I think there's links to some good cheap ones in there somewhere or go throw pots of money at Wood Workers Workshop for the yummy Woodpeckers ones.

Quite agree here, too. It's by far the easiest way I have found to set up my long rail (3m) for "ripping" down 8'x4' sheets, and you can work to whatever straightness the guide rail has as your limit of accuracy.

I got a cheap-ish rule-stop from Axminster a couple of years ago and it's been fine. Their current ones are better made than the earlier ones, I think. If you get one you'll wonder how you ever managed without it - simple idea, really simple to use, and very effective for all sorts of things.* But that's for parallel cuts, rather than specific angles.

E.

*e.g. for checking squareness on carcases during glue-ups (across the diagonals, which should be equal) - I can easily feel if one corner sticks out too far or too little, which is handy as I'm usually looking at the clamps!.