DeWalt tracksaw parallel guides.

[Cary Falk]

I haven't seen one posted yet so I though I would post one. I looked pictures at of the Festool ones and they appear to ride the side of the plywood. I like the ones from Seneca Woodworking because thy ride on top of the plywood. The DeWalt track does not have the channel to make this happen. Attaching anything to the track eliminates the use of the 2nd cutting side. I decided to use 1/2" 80/20 because it is ridgid and I can't see cutting anything thinner than 1/2. You could probably use 1/4 " 80/20 if they make a wide piece. I didn't see any but didn't look too hard.
This is a pretty easy build. It took me Sat. morning to throw together. It is made with two pieces of 50mmx12.5 mm x36" 80/20.
Start with a piece of 5/8" thick aluminum about 7/8" wide and 2" long. Mill the groves to fit in the slot under the DeWalt track. I cut this on the table saw with a standard blade and a 7 1/4" circular saw blade for the thin grove since I don't have a mill. The cuts aren't perfect. The blade looks like it wandered a little bit. Dispite the flaws they work really good. I had to do some file work to get an acceptable fit.
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q297/caryincamas/DSC_1152_zps0f3af8a1.jpg
The 80/20 has 2 holes in the lower corners so I tapped them with a 10-24 tap and secured the block with two 1 1/4" bolts. I drilled and tapped a 1/4-20 hole through the top of the block to secure block to the track from the bottom of the block with a 1/2" set screw if needed. I used 1/4-20 because it used the same allen wrench as the track connector does.
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q297/caryincamas/DSC_1150_zps865e850d.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q297/caryincamas/DSC_1151_zps70401e61.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q297/caryincamas/DSC_1149_zps0277b34f.jpg

The stop blocks are made from a 3" square piece of hickory 1 1/2" thick. I cut dado's in the block to ride the 80/20 and another one slightly deeper then the 1/4" piece of acrylic. It is slightly deeper so it doesn't rub on the tape.
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q297/caryincamas/DSC_1147_zpsbbe6ee05.jpg
I scribed a line in the acrylic to for the cursor.
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q297/caryincamas/DSC_1148_zps0bb39cde.jpg
The cursor is adjustable to fine tune the tape. The stop block is attached to the 80/20 with a cam clamp.
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q297/caryincamas/DSC_1146_zps6d73eddd.jpg
The 80/20 is secured to the edge of the track with another clamp.
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q297/caryincamas/DSC_1145_zps1583795b.jpg
And there you have it.
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q297/caryincamas/DSC_1144_zps62b015a4.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q297/caryincamas/DSC_1143_zpsf655035e.jpg
I hope this is useful to somebody.

[Brian Kincaid]

Thats a nice design! It looks like a nice workable solution. I have the DW tracksaw too. Do you like it?

I have wanted to make a similar setup for a while. I keep going back and forth on these design issues, so I haven't put it together yet.
1) How to make sure both stops are set to the exact measurement (like an incra graduated stop)
2) Weight of the positioner system
3) rail even with workpiece or above?
4) How to cut narrow strips

-Brian

[Cary Falk]

1) How to make sure both stops are set to the exact measurement (like an incra graduated stop)
My cursors are adjustable to make sure they are the sameon mot ends. It does require a test cut though
2) Weight of the positioner system
Not sure what you are getting at here.
3) rail even with workpiece or above?
I figure I will rarely cut anything thinner than 1/2". 1/4" I can handle on a table saw. If I really needed I could fix the problem with a scrap of 1/4" plywood. I couldn't find a way to connect to the top of the trackthat wouldn't interfere with the saw movement or loose the double edge the DeWalt track has.
4) How to cut narrow strips
I don't do narrrow strips with my tracksaw. I have a table saw. A solution just came to me. If I were to drill a hole in the side of the block and put in a thumb screw. I could insert a rod parallel to the side of the 80/20 which would run under the track

[Jim Dwight]

I started one of these parallel guides today. Thanks Cary! You pictures are sufficient to allow me to duplicate your design but I thought I would add some observations in case it helps somebody else.

I haven't ordered the stick on rulers, cam clamp, or clamp to hold the parallel guide to the rip guide. I plan to get the rulers from Amazon and the other pieces from Rockler. I bought the 80/20 from Amazon and I bought several small things from McMaster Carr. I bought a piece of 1/2 by 1 x 6 aluminum, a piece of high tensle ABS 1/2 x 1x 12, some press in nuts for the cursor piece and a piece of 1/4 thick by 6 inch square clear plastic for the cursors.

My first task today was to make the piece that goes into the rip guide - shown in Cary's first picture above. I have a bunch of small pieces of hickory flooring from a home improvement project I just wrapped up. I planned down a couple pieces. First a piece 3/4 wide but that wasn't wide enough so I planned down a piece 7/8 wide. I tried planning it thicker than 1/2 but it wouldn't slide in the groove so I decided the plastic and aluminum I bought were the right thickness. I put a thin kerf rip blade in the table saw. The blade is about 1/64 thicker than the aluminum of the guide rail. I have a Ryobi circular saw with a thinner blade but decided 1/64 clearance was OK. I tried making the top part of my first piece slightly under 1/4 inch tall and made the cuts 1/8 deep. It worked but was a little wobbly. So I tried making the next hickory test piece 1/4 wide at the top. That was a snug fit but still slid easily. So I milled the plastic. It cut easily but I had to run it through the saw a couple times because it melted a little, I think. The top of the piece was rough so I sanded it before cutting the grooves. Next was the aluminum. I was nervous cutting this on my table saw but it went fine. So now I have a test piece of hickory, a piece of plastic and a piece of aluminum with grooves in them to fit the guide rail.

Next I tapped the 80/20 for the screws that will hole the pieces I'm making on. Cary evidently used 10x24 screws because you do not have to drill a hole, the existing hole is about right for a 10x24 tap. So I just ran it in about 7/8 inch.

That is as far as I got this afternoon.

I'm not sure I will bother but one way to rip narrow pieces with this parallel guide would be to put extension pieces on the stop blocks. I could imbed nuts into the blocks to screw the extensions to. If I made them extra long, I could rip to the edge of the saw guide on the first use. The other way to do it would be to attach a short piece of aluminum U channel to the end of the 80/20 and then attach more 80/20 to the other side of the U channel. That would be more like what Festool does.