Quick Parallel Guides for your Track Saw - Simple & Accurate
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- čas přidán 30. 05. 2024
- Learn how to make a set of parallel guides for your track saw to increase speed and accuracy when doing rip cuts! These guides are quick, easy and inexpensive to make but provide a lot of accuracy.
Track saws are great tools for breaking down sheet goods into finished parts. To maximize speed and efficiency when making rip cuts it's best to use parallel guides. Parallel guides allow you to make repeatable cuts of exactly the same width and avoid having to measure and mark for each cut. I designed these guides to be quick, simple and inexpensive to make but be very accurate. They use a setting jig which guarantees that both guides are set exactly the same to give a parallel cut, which is the whole point. They only cost a couple of dollars to make and I've found them super useful. This video explains how to make and use these guides so you can build a set for your own track saw.
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Dan, your design's inclusion of the measurement bar renders your system better able to produce absolutely parallel cuts than the "slicker" commercially available models that rely on accurate independent reading of the scales on a pair of stop/rail assemblies. As with many woodworking tasks, the best measurement is no measurement.
These are the only parallel guides I've seen that are truly parallel. The stuff you can buy requires two readings. If you're off by a mm on many repeated cuts it really compounds the error.
I have watched like 10 videos today on DIY guides and this is easily my favorite because it's so simple yet so useful.
The setting jig approach is so smart! Thanks for this!
Fantastic simple jig! Will be making one this week. Great work.
Excellent, simple and effective, thanks for sharing.
Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best ones. Nicely done.
I love simplicity, and this is as simple as it gets. Bravo
Thanks for a great video Dan! Nice, easy and simple. Think I will make some for myself. Cheers. Louis
Love the simplicity of this jig! You earned a sub
This is great jig. I just order my tracksaw and this is absolutely a jig I’ll be making
genius idea! i'll just ordered a track saw and will be making this to help dial in cuts faster...thanks for posting!
I will be making these, and maybe get more use from my track saw. This is a great video, thank you for the wonderful design.
This is what I was searching for, thank you!
Thanks for the tip,you are so right,this is a cheap option in making it work well and fast.
Well done. I've been futzing around with my tracksaw today using vernier calipers and whatnot, but these look much more pleasant to use indeed, particularly when you've got the measuring scale dialled in.
Awesome design. Firstly I was puzzled why to have a further setup jig instead of putting scales on both pieces. But it makes perfect sense
Brilliant simplicity! Well done.
Well done I love it . It's simple but effective and affordable to make .
Thanks for making this vid! I just made a similar set yesterday and they work great!
This is exactly what I need at this time. Thank you.
Very smart. This might be the best homemade parallel guides I've seen yet, and I've been watching a lot of videos on CZcams lately.
I love this idea. Thank you for posting this.
Nicely simple and inexpensive!
Nice tip. Very simple answer. I like it.
A clever solution. Thank you.
Thanks! I just made two of these and used the ruler tape on one. Most accurate cuts yet with may track saw
Holy crap, awesome jig.
I'm making some tomorrow, thanks. Very cool
Beautiful ! .... surely my next project... thanks for posting .... SUBSCRIBED !
These are great. I encorparated these in my workflow many years ago. In th esimplest form possible: measured to each other, no scale.
this is the first reincarnation of those that I think might actually work! really simple but reliable (from what I can tell).
Made these a while ago. Worked simple and effective.
These look they would work great. I totally need to make these!!!
Great video, I made mine but rebated so that the ext pieces sit over the track central rib, but I do like the setting tape on yours going to modify mine to take a tape/steel rule.
GREAT project Dan. So many times we tend to overthink a task. When we step back and "get down to the basics" of what we are attempting accomplish, most always, simpler is better.
Keep the vids coming and thanks. They are always to the point and easy to follow.
+Sebastopolmark thanks for the feedback, it's very much appreciated! Glad to hear that you're enjoying the videos and finding them helpful.
excellently done my friend great video great idea thanks old man need more young people like you
+Theodore Bowers thanks!
Good Job; explaination. Have similar made jigs but use just two. One has scale other set by it. As you say scale the tape to a cut difference then forget looking at that mark and splinter strip.
brilliant work!
This is just what I needed! I am using the same Makita track guide which is long enough for cutting the short side of a full sheet of plywood in one go. For ripping the long side though I would have to reposition the guide half way through the cut. Now with these parallel guides I can make sure everything is alined perfectly. thanks a lot!
+funkyclubber thanks for the comment. That sounds like a perfect use for the guides. Glad that you found the video helpful.
Great idea for ripping the long side. I've got a 55" and 39" Makita track coming. I was wondering how I'd rip an 8' sheet since both tracks together would be short of 96". Now I can make these jigs and just use the 55" track repositioned.
@@Campos2011 I'm sure you've come up with another solution by now, but for anyone seeing this post, you can also buy makita guide rail connectors. This way you're able to cut down full sheets length-wise, by combining two separate makita guide rails.
wow, i like this very much. Your video is crisp and to the point. I need to make this for my track saw and when ready would share a picture of it with you. Thanks
+Bakthavathsal Kadambi thanks! I'd love to see a picture when you have yours made.
Awesome idea!
You, good sir, just earned a new sub. This is brilliant. I bought a Dewalt track saw system a couple of months ago, and I've used it so much I can't believe I ever went without it. But I was stumped on how to set up a parallel guide. This is super simple and absolutely brilliant. I'll be making it this week for sure.
How did it work out on the dewalt track? Little different with the double sided track
@@garradmiller5025 Pretty much perfect. I only ever use one side of my tracks, but the Dewalt *should* be the same on either side. Any minor differences are accounted for on the first cut through the rubber zero-clearance strip, so I don't think it would ever be an issue since these guides butt up to the track rather than ride in a channel like the woodpecker system. I have both the 59" and 102" tracks, but the real test was using the 102" to make some rips down 8' ply. Repeated cuts were dead nuts accurate down the full length, so I'd call it a huge success.
@@mkbcoolman good to hear. I was mainly curious about indeding againstbtubber rather than aluminium. 102" track seem long enough? Been eyeing one but have heard some think its too short.
Yea, I just ordered my Dewalt Track saw so this made my life a bit easier
simple clever! good job👍
Great idea and in my price range! I'm also going to use them to set my table saw fence, which is never parallel.
Great idea!
A great idea which deserved a like and a subscribe! 👏👍😀
great idea. couple of countersunk holes at each end of ech jig to allow guides to be screwed to worksurface? bit more secure than clamps. recognise only worth effort if making lots of cuts at same width ... say kitchen cabinets.
Dan Patterson, I asked about the price for Festool parallel guides, and could feel the beta blockers kicking in as my pulse rate and BP headed north, I love your design. Thanks.
I watched a number of videos for ideas for parallel guides and I feel your design is the most simple and the most accurate of all the other designs. I made mine last week for use with a DeWalt track saw. DeWalt's track has anti-splinter rubber edges on both sides of the track, so I needed to cut off the rubber on one side of the track so that the guide butted up to the aluminum track. I also make a couple of minor enhancements. I moved the scale to the top of the guide and added an adjustable plexiglass sight. This way I can fine tune the scale after I make my first cut. Another enhancement I made was to make removable 20” extensions giving me the ability to rip 26” without the extension and up to 46”with the extension. I considered making the guides longer, but I felt they would get in the way for narrow rips. And finally, to help keep which end of the guide is which, I painted the tips that touch the rail. I also painted a thin stripe on the rail itself to remind me which side of the rail to place the guide.
You could of just put a small rebate at the end, so you didn't have to cut the splinter guard off👍
BEN LATHAM I played with a few options before cutting the splinter guard, but in the end, I wanted to be sure my parallel guide was resting against the aluminum track without having to check or verify each one. Besides, DeWalt is the only rail I know of that has splinter guards on both sides of their track. Removing one hasn't been an issue.
Excellent! Thank you for this simple and very worthwhile idea. A great money saver compared with Festool prices.
Most of all, thank you for not ruining your video with music like so many CZcams video makers have started to do. Your audience is all ages and spread across the world. The chances of everyone sharing the same taste in music is zero. Let the tools sing!
Also, I do enjoy your sense of humour :-)
PS Watched the video then took the dogs out. Thinking about the video I thought "Why not just use two stops". Came back and read the comments. That's shop talk.
+Stephen Shipley thanks very much for the feedback and comments, I really appreciate it. It's always helpful to get feedback like that so I know what you guys like and don't like.
Getting ideas back from you guys is one of the things I love most about DP Shop Talk and using 2 guides instead of 3 is a great example of that. That never crossed my mind to be honest so it's great to get ideas and thoughts like that back from you guys, then we can learn from each other. Thanks again!
Hi Dan! Thanks for the tip. I was just looking for something like this. And with your ideas, I have built my own.
I would suggest doing the slidders of the same width of your ruler (mine is 185 mm width). So that I don't need to perform calculations. I just measure the whole distance from the top, to the end of the slidder, and done!
Great idea, thanks for sharing👍
Very good!
Thank you!
Exactly what I will have to make tomorrow (some time....!!) as my poverty track saw and guide has worked really well but repositioning the track halfway through the cut exposes the cut to much potential error. Tmrw I get another 1400mm track guide to connect to my existing 1400mm track and then I will really need that setting jig. Next week my new Carvex arrives and of course that will never fit these poverty pack track guides. I've ummed and aahed for about 5 years now about getting a Festool tracksaw but I'm so surprised that this cheap one works so well that I've put off going green on this... I'm off to rewatch yr MPT/MFT vid to get some more ideas on setting this tracksaw up on the Festool top.
Thanks for the great videos and the modern technical take on modern technology and techniques. Need a ton more of these on CZcams as so much fantastic stuff gets buried over on FOG. And, most of the magazines just avoid the whole genre and concentrate on birdhouses, router bits and block planes (apologies to those affficionadoes) Nothing like how to set up a square tracksaw cut or how to get the most out of a MFT top...or how to engineer a boom arm!! Thanks again and g'day from the south west of Australia....
+cognitor900 glad to hear you find the videos helpful
Very nice!
Great idea and dirt cheap!
Neat. I'm new to the Track saw word and immediately saw the need or something like this. I went to buy clamps, a second stop block and attachments for the router and found that festoll wanted $100+ or two small clamps and three pieces of plastic! Decided their had to be a better solution. This video starts me thinking.
Great home made solution!
+Jim Dockrell (Watertone) Thanks Jim. There are definitely more complex and expensive options out there that offer some different features but I've found these to be super simple and effective, but most of all accurate.
I like this idea; simple and effective. It reduces error possibilities. The only thing I’d probably do differently in the design is use T-bolts and recess the head of the T-bolt and epoxy it into the stop block. That way the bolt head won’t stick out of the bottom of the stop block and scratch stuff up. I’d also probably use some nice plastic knobs instead of wing nuts. But those are minor things; personal preference. Great stuff, Dan!
Those are some great ideas Rich, thanks for sharing. I think when I made these I was making them quickly and grabbed whatever I had for hardware in the shop at the time. The T-bolts and knobs would be great additions.
Another great shop made jig you got there. However, isn't the setting jig (SJ) unnecessary? Can't the parallel guides (PG) be used to set each other? For instance, you'd lock down the stop block on one PG, and essentially use that as the SJ for the other PG?
+Know How you're right it is unnecessary. A lot of people have pointed that out since I made the video and it's something that never occurred to me at the time. I do still use the setting jig though when I use the guides since I already have it and it keeps the setting jig as an accurate reference that doesn't get bumped around. Definitely isn't required though.
Great point!
nice jig .
Great idea. Good thing one of the festool add-on companies didn’t make those or the kit would cost $400.
you could put some snap clips on the guides that clip over the shoulder of the track to keep it completely secure
+Samuel Richardson great idea, thanks!
You Just saved me about £100 👍👍👍👍
Hi, Dan. Thanks for putting up the video of this simple jig. Wouldn''t rounding the non-reference end of the jig avoid confusing which end is which?
+Kam Leo that's a great idea and would definitely be a good way to avoid confusion. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Dan, My problem is lining up the plywood panel that I am cutting with the reference face (say the edge of the table) and the saw guide that is cutting a cross cut. So far I have made one from the Ron Paulk video in which the two jigs locate on either side of the bench with an edge guide fence to locate the wood being cut and each carries a stop to position the saw guide at right angles to the bench. Am I missing something in the way that you apply your parallel jigs on top of the plywood panel to be cut? Colin in Northern Ireland
+colin farrier I'm not sure I quite follow your question. The parallel guides work independent of the work table and will give you a rip cut. For making cross cuts I use the Parf dogs in my MPT which aligns the work piece and the track or for bigger cuts I now use the GRS-16 which I just reviewed. I'm not sure if that answers you question or not.
Did you calibrate the tape on the setting jig for the distance between the back of the track guide and the front where the cut is made? If not the pieces will always be too big by the width of the track? If you did what was the allowance and how did you determine this? Do you think this distance will change as and when the blade on the saw and the splinter guard on the track are replaced? Many thanks in advance for your thoughts.
+T Radford yes I did calibrate it. I did that by setting the guides to an arbitrary setting and making a cut. I could then calculate what the exact distance is from the splinter strip to the opposite side of the rail by subtracting the jig setting distance from the size of the cut work piece. I always use the same brand and model of blade so that the setting never changes. Replacing a splinter strip has no effect on the accuracy.
OK thanks for that Dan, most helpful. Keep up the good work with the videos, first class quality and you have a great presentation style.
+T Radford thanks very much. I appreciate the feedback!
Hi, thanks for sharing this video. I would like to try making these but I only have a hand held festool router (OF1010), track saw and MFT3 table. How would you recommend setting up to cut these slots? I know I can use the guide rail and stops to cut the internal slot but I don't really want to cut up my table and then also it might be challenging to secure the small pieces of wood. Thanks for your suggestions!
+Patrick Cox I would put a backer board under the piece that you're working on so that you can rout into that and not damage your MFT top. You could temporarily attach the piece you're routing to a bigger backer board with hot glue or double sided tape. Then you can easily clamp the backer board down on your MFT. Hope that helps.
Good suggestions! Thanks!
I’m curious how you made the parallel guides perfectly square? I imagine you glued the side pieces to create the groove, which makes it difficult to keep everything square. I don’t have much at my disposal other than a circular saw at the moment but want to build a diy track guide and your excellent parallel guides. Thanks!
+Ben S when I made the sliding stops for the parallel guides I made one blank with the side pieces glued and tacked in the correct position and then cross cut the blank into 3 pieces on my table saw cross cut sled to make sure they were perfectly square. If all you have is a circular saw you can use simple jigs to get accurate square cuts. My circular saw cross cut jig works very well for making accurate cuts like that.
Great simple design but surely the guides can be registered to each other rather than using the 3rd piece?
I would probably put a press foot clamp on the underside of your stop blocks, so that you do not need extra clamps for the guides, but that is a clever idea.
That's a good idea, it would definitely making the clamping process slicker.
Could inlayed t-track be used top and bottom? Then use the track connectors some how? Use the bottom to attach adjustable t-track clamps. I think I might try to figure that out. Hmmm. Thanks for the inspiration!
Sounds like a good idea 👍
Great idea, will save me money. But why not just use the setting guide as one of the parallel guides after setting only one of the guides?
+Maurice Calis you're right. A lot of people have commented about that. I do still like using the setting jig though since it doesn't get bumped around like the guides do so it stays more accurate. You can definitely just use two though.
Do you have a jig to make square cuts on large plywood with tracksaws?
+Luiz Borges Gomide I do have a big shop made square that I made for doing that but I use the GRS-16 now. You can see a pic of my shop made square on my instagram account.
Great guides! How did you measure the offset for the track ?
Just measured from the edge of the splinter strip to the opposite edge of the track.
Do you have to add the width of the rail itself to the 18 inches measurement exsmple you used in this video? The cut is on the other side right?
The width of the rail is factored in when the graduated tape is applied to the jig.
Have you built one of the DP Shop Talk projects? Submit your project at the link below and check out other projects that have been submitted by viewers! Also leave your comments, questions and ideas at the bottom of the page in the comments box.
www.danpattison.com/blog/viewerprojects
i like these low tech guides, must remember to add the saw kerf measurement to the guide though, or it will be 2mm narrower than what i want,
never mind, ive just seen your comment on here explaining how you allow for the width of the track ;0)
Great idea! What do the letters, R and T stand for?
The R is for the registration jig and the T is for the jigs that the track registers to.
DAN! Come back DAN!
Super
Would putting a pointed end on the "T" end allow for even more accuracy? A smaller registration point, so to speak.
Yes that should help increase accuracy if the guides happened to be skewed slightly. Great idea 👍
Maybe I am missing something but I think you could settle with only 2 jigs if you use one of them as setting jig as well with the bench tape attached. Not?
+Laszlo Horvath you're exactly right. The thought had never crossed my mind until I had some comments back like yours pointing that out. I still use all 3 jigs but you can certainly just use two if you want. That's one thing I like about DP Shop Talk and the comments that I get back, we can learn from each other. Thanks for bringing that up.
With the long groove in the center, does it flex along it's width?
No I've never noticed any flexing. The baltic birch is pretty rigid and strong so it hasn't been an issue.
Doubtless this has been mentioned. But you don't really need 3 jigs. Just set the measuring jig, and transfer that to one other jig, then they are both the same.
Where is it made?
Great idea, but how do you allow for the width of the track?
The width of the track is factored into the jigs and the measuring scale.
Dan (or anyone else), I'm fairly new to woodworking, I have a track saw and router. A couple of questions... 1) How do you accurately route the groove down the center of the bars? Is this where a router table is invaluable? Thanks for any thoughts.
You could use a router table or an edge guide on your hand held plunge router. If you don't have either of those you could also make a simple jig to hold the work piece and guide the router.
@@DPShopTalk ah of course, I didn't even think of the edge guide, and mine has a fine adjustment on it. 😳 If you're routing the slot in 0.5" Baltic birch, how many passes with the router would you take? I think I'm trying to do too much with each pass. Thanks for the feedback 👍
I would probably make about 3 passes.
@@DPShopTalk I did a quick trial last night (taking 3 passes) and ended up with a beautifully straight, clean routed channel. Thanks again Dan 👍
re: router - why use a router - could cut straight strips for sides, and make an end-block for each end, leave groove in middle, and fasten. just an alternative suggestion, i'm going to make a set, and try it that way (saves me all the router dust in the basement, in the winter :-) )
Great tip, why not just make two, one calibrated and one blank and use both to clamp saves making three.
+Neil Brackstone you're exactly right. The thought never crossed my mind to be honest. There have been lots of comments since I posted the video pointing that out. I still like using the two guides and the setting jig since I know the setting jig isn't going to get knocked around in use but you can certainly just make one setting jig and one guide jig.
+DP Shop Talk nice videos, thanks. I was going to make the same comment Neil did, but your reply to him made me rethink it. Thanks!
From watching the end of the video, it seems like these jigs assume you want to make a cut which is always greater than the width of your track. Is that correct? What if I want to repeatably cut 2" wide strips, is there a way to do that with these?
You're right, these don't work for cuts that are narrower than the tracks. You would need a different type of guide that would go underneath the rail for that.
@@DPShopTalk thanks! I watched another video where someone has a jig for repeatable narrow rip cuts but it wasn't something that stayed in place while cutting. it was more like something that you put in place temporarily on the cutting side of the track, which you line up the guide edge with, then you remove the jig once your track is in the right spot. Maybe that is good enough. Other videos involving expensive jigs with bars that go under the track assumed you were starting with a narrow piece and you were cutting it narrower. The task I am imagining is cutting a bunch of strips out of a big sheet of plywood to do french cleats. There was a video where they do the French cleats with a parallelogram profile and have a bunch of equal sized, equally spaced narrow strips on both your wall and your thing that you are hanging and they mesh nicely together. I was wondering if there's a good jig to use to do that with a track saw.
I've found that the table saw is still by far the fastest way to cut narrow strips, assuming that you have one. I do cut narrow strips with the track saw on job sites but I just measure and mark them.
I'm New to woodwork. You measured 18" but isn't the cutting edge of the track on the far side of your 18" measurement? What am I missing?
+Breal191 the built in tape on the setting jig is calibrated so that when it gets set to 18" that means that the parallel guides are set so that it's 18" from the stop blocks to the cutting edge of the track, giving a rip that's 18" wide. The width of the track is factored in to the calibration of the tape. Does that make sense?
Dan Pattison oh ok, that makes perfect sense. Thank you!
Do you set up your measuring gauge to account for your track width ?
Yes I did.
How did you make the grooves or dados?
If I remember right I think I just used the dado blade in the table saw.
3:56 You only need two including the setting jig. Set your setting jig, set the other as you just did.
Check out the parallel guides that one of the viewers has made based on the video! If you build one of the jigs from the channel and would like to share or any other idea make sure you post it on the DP Shop Talk facebook page.
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no hate here but wondering why not just use the under track clamp that comes with these track saws?
+WV591 I'm assuming you mean to clamp the parallel guides down with? The clamps that I have for my Makita track saw are screw type clamps so they aren't nearly as quick to use. If I had the Festool quick locking clamps for my track then I might use them to clamp the parallel guides down. I find that the vise grip style clamps that I use are super quick and easy so that's why I go with them. Great question.
some of those tracks have the special clamp that the top part is sort of flat and slides under the track so as not to interfere with the saw. oh well good job on guides either way.
Why can't we use the setting jig as a parallel guide? Then we just need 2 pieces. After you set up the first track at 3:45, use it with the setting jig.
You can definitely do that. Others have brought up that point in the comments as well. The thought had never occurred to me when I made the guides but that's one of the great things about CZcams is I learn from you guys too👍
Great idea. But why make (3) jigs. Make one setting jig, use it to set the other jig, then use both.
cool