Quick Parallel Guides for your Track Saw – Simple & Accurate
Quick Parallel Guides for your Track Saw – Simple & Accurate
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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These are great. I encorparated these in my workflow many years ago. In th esimplest form possible: measured to each other, no scale.
nice jig .
Great idea. Good thing one of the festool add-on companies didn’t make those or the kit would cost $400.
3:56 You only need two including the setting jig. Set your setting jig, set the other as you just did.
Great idea. But why make (3) jigs. Make one setting jig, use it to set the other jig, then use both.
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?
Great guides! How did you measure the offset for the track ?
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.
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
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?
This seems to be measuring off the wrong face to cut multiple parallel rips. Am I missing something?
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.
This is exactly what I need at this time. Thank you.
Made these a while ago. Worked simple and effective.
brilliant work!
What an annoying voice I had to switch off within writing this message
😁👍
Awesome idea!
Very good!
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.
Love the simplicity of this jig! You earned a sub
You Just saved me about £100 👍👍👍👍
Very smart. This might be the best homemade parallel guides I’ve seen yet, and I’ve been watching a lot of videos on YouTube lately.
Great idea and in my price range! I’m also going to use them to set my table saw fence, which is never parallel.
Thanks! I just made two of these and used the ruler tape on one. Most accurate cuts yet with may track saw
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 the first reincarnation of those that I think might actually work! really simple but reliable (from what I can tell).
Fantastic simple jig! Will be making one this week. Great work.
Its far the best way to cut with accurate big sheets of plywood,the line with pen it isn’t accurate
Is there some unwritten rule that woodworking video’s HAVE to have bad intros?
Great simple design but surely the guides can be registered to each other rather than using the 3rd piece?
genius idea! i’ll just ordered a track saw and will be making this to help dial in cuts faster…thanks for posting!
Do you set up your measuring gauge to account for your track width ?
I love this idea. Thank you for posting this.
Thanks for the tip,you are so right,this is a cheap option in making it work well and fast.
DAN! Come back DAN!
Great idea! However, as a minimalist I have to point out that you only need the parallel guides. The setting jig is redundant as you can set one parallel guide and set the other in the same way you set them from the setting jig. Either parallel guide can become the setting jig if that makes sense.
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.
A great idea which deserved a like and a subscribe! 👏👍😀
This is great jig. I just order my tracksaw and this is absolutely a jig I’ll be making
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!
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.
Another alternative would be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKJJXyRKBAU&lc=Ugy0bL6siKdxO-EjQ0N4AaABAg
With the long groove in the center, does it flex along it’s width?
Super
Would putting a pointed end on the "T" end allow for even more accuracy? A smaller registration point, so to speak.
These look they would work great. I totally need to make these!!!
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Beautiful ! …. surely my next project… thanks for posting …. SUBSCRIBED !