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Makita guide rails work for a Festool track saw.
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I was unaware that any of the other tracks were identical to the Festool ones. I'll be interested to see if someone has an answer.
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Read through the FOG links that Cooler provided. Makita tracks have almost the same form as Festool. They have a rib that interferes with Festool's parallel guides. You can, however, grind, cut, or rout the rib away. Apparently, Festool's rails are anodized while Makita's are not and Festool's green glide strips are much smoother than Makita's. OTOH, Makita's price is 2/3s of Festool's and some folks on FOG rate Makita's black anti-splinter strip as being superior to Festool's clear strip.
Inasmuch as router operations are likely to be important to me (unless I can master molding planes) I guess I'll just stay with Festool. Am trying the black Makita strips though.
Thanks, Curt
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One thing annoys me about the Festool track. The indexing holes are oblong. If they were round I would use them with a vix bit and make my holes with a electric dirll. But since they are oblong that will not work. It seems that they did that intentionally so that the track would not have a dual purpose.
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04-08-2019, 11:05 AM
(This post was last modified: 04-08-2019, 11:07 AM by ajkoontz.)
(04-05-2019, 12:34 PM)cputnam Wrote: Somebody makes a guide rail that is an exact match for Festool's. Anyone know who it is?
The Shop Fox rail works with the Makita saw, so it should also match the Festool. I bought the 55" version on Amazon.
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(04-08-2019, 10:53 AM)Cooler Wrote: One thing annoys me about the Festool track. The indexing holes are oblong. If they were round I would use them with a vix bit and make my holes with a electric dirll. But since they are oblong that will not work. It seems that they did that intentionally so that the track would not have a dual purpose.
What indexing holes are you referring to? My tracks have none.
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(04-05-2019, 12:34 PM)cputnam Wrote: Somebody makes a guide rail that is an exact match for Festool's. Anyone know who it is?
I wonder if the new Kreg tracks will work?
Jason