Track saw guide rail alignment

[vince mastrosimone]

Greetings,
I just got a Makita track saw with two 55 inch guide tracks. I also bought the guide track joining part. I’m just wondering what the best way is to ensure the two tracks are in perfect alignment with each other. Can we assume that the edges of the guide are at 90° to each other?

I tried joining the two tracks and flipping them on edge on a flat surface to get them in alignment but not completely satisfied with the results doing that. I’ve also used a 3 foot straight edge to try to align it but I’m not sure which part of the track to place the straight edge against to verify the alignment. Any insight from you expert woodworkers would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[Patrick Varley]

I use a long straight edge against the non-cutting side of the track. I'll then check it like I might a large square by using one side of the track to mark a line on the plywood, then confirming it lines up to the opposite side.

That being said, I think some would tell you that while joining two tracks will work, it's not perfect. You can get it done, but there's time lost in the setup, etc. I only use it for rough cuts, so it doesn't bother me. But if efficiency and precision are important, I think thats when people buy a separate 118" track.

[Greg Quenneville]

I carefully squared the ends on my Festool tracks, verified using a machinist square, replaced the screws on the joiners with proper grub screws, carefully joined the sections, verified with a 4’ precision straightedge.

And proceeded to get sort of crap results-

So I bought the Makita 118” at less that half the Festool price. I also ended up buying the short Makita fence so that I didn’t have to keep adjusting the Festool saw. (Makita tracks are 0.5mm different to the Festool in the guide way)

[Kevin Jenness]

The ends are too narrow to rely on just butting them tight together. I have joined up sections successfully using a straightedge for alignment, but avoidiing joints is best.

[andy bessette]

I would not want to rely on joined short tracks. Get the 118" track.

[Dennis Jarchow]

I have the makita track saw and my two 55" tracks do not have square ends on them. I would love to get a 118" for when I need it but no one near me sells them. I ordered the Makita 118" track from Amazon twice. One came bent and the other one was way more crooked than my two tracks joined together so they both went back. I bought the Betterly Tools Straightline connector, and it does a great job of aligning the tracks but if you aren't careful the tracks still get out of alignment when you move them around. I was breaking down 20 sheets of plywood today and had to stop about every 3 or 4 sheets and check if the tracks were still straight.

[Michael Schuch]

I did a lot of research on track saws before I bought mine. I had read many posts about alignment problems with the Festool style tracks. This lead me to buy a Mafell track saw with a kit including two Bosch 63" guide rails, the straight edge track joining piece and a storage bag. Although I paid a premium for the Mafell track saw the setup was still less expensive than buying a Festool saw with separate short and long tracks. I have paired my 63" tracks with the unique to Bosch/Mafell joining piece many times and I have never had an alignment issue. I checked for straightness the first time I joined the two tracks then never bothered checking again as the joint was as straight as I could measure with the reference straight edge I have. Of course the down side of the Bosch/Mafell tracks is that pretty much everyone else has adopted the Festool track profile.

FSN_VEL.png

Probably not what you want to hear but recognizing the problem with the alignment system of the current products and fixing the problems is one advantage to not being the first to market.

P.S. I have cut aluminum extrusion on my radial arm saw many times with a fine tooth woodworking blade (Freud ultimate cut off blade). If you have an accurate miter saw it should also be able to cut a good 90 degree edge on your aluminum guide tracks ends.

[vince mastrosimone]

I thank all of you for your replies. What I hear is joining two short tracks together is not the best method. The preferred thing would be to get the 118 inch track to break down sheet goods. You folks provide adjusted information I was looking for. thank you again.

[Alan Lightstone]

While I own several Festool tracks for my track saw, I also later bought a Mafell. Much more expensive, but clearly superior track. Better joining method. They attach straight every time and stay that way.

[Jim Dwight]

My track saw is a DeWalt although I use an Evolution saw some when I am volunteering at church. I have DeWalts long track, it's 106 inches, and I like it for breaking down sheet goods. When I made my 10 foot long dining table I used the DeWalt track saw to prepare the edges for glueup and thus had to join tracks. The DeWalt track has sacrificial edges on both sides so I used a 6 foot level along the rib of the track. It worked great. I recut one or two but the track saw edges are nearly invisible in the glued up top - just as good as edges made on a long jointer, IMHO.

The work I do with the Evolution saw is not fine furniture but we just join two 50 inch Wen tracks for it. I tried it once without aligning the tracks with a long level and that did not work well. But when I align the tracks before tightening the grub screws it works fine. Two joining bars also seems to hold better than one but if I am only making a cut or two I just use one (which is all I can use on my DeWalt).

For my home shop I like having a long track but if I was traveling from jobsite to jobsite, I would use two 55 inch tracks. Much easier to transport and works fine IMHO as long as you are careful joining them.

[Jim Becker]

If I'm not mistaken, there are some third party track joiners that provide longer support at the joint for better alignment. But I personally bought a longer track long ago...pricy and doesn't get used much, although that might change with my new shop, but I like having the option of a short track, regular length track and a long track to choose from based on what I'm actually doing.

[andy bessette]

Besides cutting sheet goods the long way, the long track is extremely useful for straightening an edge on rough lumber.

[Dennis Jarchow]

I have the TSO Products GRC12 connectors and they are much better than the Makita ones. TSO claims the special keystone profile auto aligns the tracks so you don't need a straight edges but I found that while it does align them some, you still need a straight edge.

[Jim Becker]

I have the TSO Products GRC12 connectors and they are much better than the Makita ones. TSO claims the special keystone profile auto aligns the tracks so you don't need a straight edges but I found that while it does align them some, you still need a straight edge.

Yes, "trust but verify"...

[Alan Lightstone]

If I'm not mistaken, there are some third party track joiners that provide longer support at the joint for better alignment. But I personally bought a longer track long ago...pricy and doesn't get used much, although that might change with my new shop, but I like having the option of a short track, regular length track and a long track to choose from based on what I'm actually doing.

That's exactly what I did. I VERY rarely join the Festool tracks together. In fact, i can't remember the last time I did.

I only bought the Mafell to handle thicker wood, as it's a beast. But the pleasant surprise was the much superior track. IMHO.