Festool parallel guides ?.

[TRITON]

Anyone got them ?. Useful/thank god they were invented/best bit of kit ever/utterly useless ?

Im thinking trenching, snipping off narrow strips, square to edge cuts and the like.
These things.

 

[scholar]

I bought a set years ago just after completing a job that required various narrow strips of plywood when I was out of the workshop (where I could have used the tablesaw) and the parallel guides would have made that job so much easier.

I think I have used them for a couple of things but cannot now remember what!

I made a nice box to keep them in as they are clunky to store otherwise:

…and that is probably exactly where they will stay!

TBF they do work well and definitely the most precise way of doing repeat cuts with a tracksaw (well without MFT etc but that is limited to smaller pieces).

Cheers

 

[Sideways]

Denis (H.O.W) did a good review of the Bangood ones on youtube. Lots of detail....

 

[TRITON]

I bought a set years ago just after completing a job that required various narrow strips of plywood when I was out of the workshop (where I could have used the tablesaw) and the parallel guides would have made that job so much easier.

I think I have used them for a couple of things but cannot now remember what!

I made a nice box to keep them in as they are clunky to store otherwise:

View attachment 139689

…and that is probably exactly where they will stay!

TBF they do work well and definitely the most precise way of doing repeat cuts with a tracksaw (well without MFT etc but that is limited to smaller pieces).

Cheers

Sell them to me then

I can use them a few times, then store to sell on to the next person.

 

[Nelsun]

They've always looked helluva clunky / unwieldly to me. I think (it's been a while since I was in the market) they have to hang off the ends of what you're cutting which ain't all that handy either. I have the Seneca ones which work off of whatever length on Incra track (an added expense) you want and can be positioned anywhere. I'd buy them again for sure.

 

[Distinterior]

I've got them, and by coincidence, I'm going to be using them today!
They are not something I use every day of my working life but for certain tasks, they are very handy.
If you have a lot of repetitive cuts to make in full length sheets ( 2400mm or 2800mm sheets), they are accurate and quick to use.
They only take a couple of minutes to set up and dismantle when you're done with them.
I wouldn't want to be without mine.....

 

[TRITON]

They've always looked helluva clunky / unwieldly to me. I think (it's been a while since I was in the market) they have to hang off the ends of what you're cutting which ain't all that handy either. I have the Seneca ones which work off of whatever length on Incra track (an added expense) you want and can be positioned anywhere. I'd buy them again for sure.

Theyre also 80 quid more expensive than the actual festool ones which will work with their own rail perfectly.
Inca - Think of a price, double it and add 50 quid

 

[TRITON]

I wouldn't want to be without mine.....

Recommendation enough, I'll add them to my next(i have spare funds) purchase.

 

[Nelsun]

Theyre also 80 quid more expensive than the actual festool ones which will work with their own rail perfectly.
Inca - Think of a price, double it and add 50 quid

Ah yes, they have gone up in price by quite a bit! I'd still buy them over the Festool ones as having to position them at the ends of whatever would annoy me no end. Benchdogs do some which may be cheaper and I think they can be positioned anywhere too. Not sure if they do narrow rips though which is what mine get used for the most often.

 

[TRITON]

Ah yes, they have gone up in price by quite a bit! I'd still buy them over the Festool ones as having to position them at the ends of whatever would annoy me no end. Benchdogs do some which may be cheaper and I think they can be positioned anywhere too. Not sure if they do narrow rips though which is what mine get used for the most often.

The Senca one appears to do things differently, if my understanding of it is correct.
The festool one mounts side to side on the board, so the cut is always square, whereas the Senca one mounts on the end of a board. If thats correct in how it works you're limited to how long the board is, and the festool is for an unlimited length. The senca is limited to the length of its rails.

 

[Nelsun]

Both mount to the accessory slot on a rail; with the Festool ones butting up against the ends of your material and the Seneca type going anywhere on top of said material. Take this with a pinch of salt (having never used the Festool ones) but I imagine it'd be a royal PITA to move the rail having them hanging at the very ends (they look decidedly bulkier IMO too) of what could be a 2.4m sheet versus just a normal PITA with the Seneca type being closer together. I'm sure they work well enough but, for repeated use, I could see me filling the swear jar a bit quicker.

 

[Distinterior]

Both mount to the accessory slot on a rail; with the Festool ones butting up against the ends of your material and the Seneca type going anywhere on top of said material. Take this with a pinch of salt (having never used the Festool ones) but I imagine it'd be a royal PITA to move the rail having them hanging at the very ends (they look decidedly bulkier IMO too) of what could be a 2.4m sheet versus just a normal PITA with the Seneca type being closer together. I'm sure they work well enough but, for repeated use, I could see me filling the swear jar a bit quicker.

I don't butt the parallel guides up tight to the ends of the sheet I'm cutting....I leave about 10mm play which allows you a bit of wiggle room to slide the rail back...once the rail is in postion initially, you make your first cut.... Then, there is no need to lift the rail with the parallel guides fitted.....You just slide the rail back until the stops at each end rest upon the front edge of your cut board......Then make your next rip cut,....and so on.
When you come to make your final cuts, if the width of your rips is narrower than the rail, just place some of your previous rips at the back edge and it will support the rail.

It's easier to do than to explain....!

Edit.
Here's a picture of them set up on a 3000mm rail on a 2800mm sheet to make a 100mm rip cut.

You can see the gap at the end of the board and the other end is the same, about 5mm each end.

PS. ....Those edges are Factory edges,...not my cuts! It's a full size 2800mm x 2070mm sheet....I'll cut 5mm off that sheet before making the 100mm rip cut....

 

[richard.selwyn]

I have a set and used to use them quite a lot. I did occasionally have problems with accuracy - if I was careless moving the rails for the next cut the clamped stop could move a mm or so. I think you could also use them for larger cuts by putting the stop behind the rail? My sliding table saw will not handle really big sheets of melamine etc so this was really the only solution I found for rapid repetitive cuts. If I had to do that sort of work again, I would purchase them again, but they have been gathering dust for a long time as I don't have a nice box like the above.

 

[Distinterior]

......I think you could also use them for larger cuts by putting the stop behind the rail?.....

Yes,.....By moving the stops to the rear of the parallel guides, you can set them up to cut up to about 680mm from memory.
Mounted at the front, you can cut up to about 200mm.

 

[Nelsun]

Here's a picture of them set up on a 3000mm rail on a 2800mm sheet to make a 100mm rip cut.View attachment 139790

It's those narrow rip do-da's that really put me off; with the way they arc under the rail. I saw that as a huge source of faffery (e.g. when what you want to cut is shorter than your worksurface) and having to work / walk around them projecting out the front. I can see where they'd be a time saver (as in ripping a full sheet into 100mm wide lengths like above) but that's also why I opted for the Seneca style where you can do similar - but swap in shorter, less obstructive, Incra tracks.

 

[Distinterior]

It's those narrow rip do-da's that really put me off; with the way they arc under the rail. I saw that as a huge source of faffery (e.g. when what you want to cut is shorter than your worksurface) and having to work / walk around them projecting out the front......

Those " narrow rip do-da's" can be removed.....They dont have to be there/fitted if you wish to reference your cut off the rear of the sheet.

Each to his own, but ,...as you can see from my pictures, the system works well when breaking down really large sheets.
Admittedly, with smaller components & smaller panels, the Parallel guides are not really necessary or much of a benefit....An MFT would then likely be more useful.

 

[Spectric]

Anyone using the repeat stop with a rail square?



This idea looks easier with just a single stop rather than two.

 

[Distinterior]

Anyone using the repeat stop with a rail square?



This idea looks easier with just a single stop rather than two.

Over a much shorter distance, something like that may be useful, but I certainly wouldn't trust it to be accurate enough over a 2400mm or 2800mm length.
The further the saw travels along the rail away from that front edge, I'd be inclined to think the rail could move and you'd end up with an un parallel cut.
Yes, you could clamp it down, but that partially defeats the object of just laying the track down and cutting away.

 

[Spectric]

Yes, you could clamp it down, but that partially defeats the object of just laying the track down and cutting away.

I tend to just clamp things down to ensure nothing moves, but you use them like @JobandKnock who also just lays them down and gets on with the cut.

But on the other hand if you just lay it down and use then is there much chance of anything moving, the guides are there for location / position and not holding the track in place.

 

[Distinterior]

I tend to just clamp things down to ensure nothing moves, but you use them like @JobandKnock who also just lays them down and gets on with the cut.

But on the other hand if you just lay it down and use then is there much chance of anything moving, the guides are there for location / position and not holding the track in place.

Dont misunderstand me,..I do indeed clamp rails in place when circumstances dictate it,whether that be with rail clamps or more often in my case, with the Gechko vacuum rail clamps ( a God send on sealed boards such as MFC ) but we are talking about the Parallel guides here and as I've shown in my picture, there is no need to clamp the rail in the circumstances I've shown there. There is more than enough friction between the rail and the surface of the board and all the potential leverage would likely be in towards the rest of the sheet, but it cant move inwards due to the locating tabs at EACH end.

The Benchdogs guide rail bracket & extension that's shown in the video, has the potential to move as you proceed with the cut due to the furthest end of the guide rail not being located by a second fixing of some sort......As I said earlier, you can of course clamp it down, but the whole point of a Parallel guide system is that its quick, accurate & repetitive.......If you have to release a clamp every time you want to make another parallel cut, it rathers defeats the object.