Plunge saw - battery or corded?

[sometimewoodworker]

I see that Festool are doing a guide rail with holes already in it. I think for the rail i need to buy, i should get that one.
Not saying I'll mess it up drilling holes in the rail later on But if its already done for you and its not that much a difference between the standard rail- £103, and the pre drilled rail - £123(ebay prices)

https://www.axminstertools.com/festool-guide-rail-fs-1400-2-lr-32-931572

Due to the small difference in price I always advise getting the holly rail, even if there is no current need

drilling a rail yourself is not a simple or easy task. The holly rail holes are not round they are oval to allow slight front to back miss alignment while maintaining side to side accuracy. IMHO the only way to drill your own rail would be on a CNC and even then it won’t be nearly as good as the pre drilled one. I have never heard of anyone drilling a rail themselves.

 

[Spectric]

I see that Festool are doing a guide rail with holes already in it. I think for the rail i need to buy, i should get that one.
Not saying I'll mess it up drilling holes in the rail later on But if its already done for you

But what if you want the holes in a Makita or Maefel rail, not everyone wants to pay Festool prices Festool 496939 FS1400/2-LR 32 1400mm Guide Rail with Locating Holes at £125, Makita 1500mm is £60 Makita 199141-8 1.5m Guide Rail for SP6000 or the Bosch with the holes for £109 Bosch FSN RA 32-1600 Guide Rail 1.6m with 32mm Hole Spacing

Once you have the holes then the FC tools jig can be used to put the 20mm holes into a worktop using a router, what I would like to see is a new Parf guide system that instead of using a drill allows the use of a trim router which I believe would be really great, please take note Mr Parfitt.

 

[Spectric]

I have never heard of anyone drilling a rail themselves.

Using that FC tools jig it is not difficult,

 

[TRITON]

But what if you want the holes in a Makita or Maefel rail, not everyone wants to pay Festool prices Festool 496939 FS1400/2-LR 32 1400mm Guide Rail with Locating Holes at £125, Makita 1500mm is £60 Makita 199141-8 1.5m Guide Rail for SP6000 or the Bosch with the holes for £109 Bosch FSN RA 32-1600 Guide Rail 1.6m with 32mm Hole Spacing

Sorry, you're first saying the pre drilled ones are expensive- or twice that of an undrilled on, but then proposing a jig to use on it that costs £165 and you are probably going to use it on a single rail. unless you reckon shelf cabinets are going to be over 1400mm of adjustable shelf space.

So instead of , taking the cheapest rail you've quoted - the £60, adding £165 - total £225, as opposed to an extra £49 for a predrilled.
£225 or £109.

 

[Spectric]

I can see the costings but I took a longer term view that you will need to replace a track at some point in the future and someone else may also want holes in their Makita track, plus I do like well engineered jigs

 

[TRITON]

plus I do like well engineered jigs

Thats fair comment. But for all it is, especially spread over years just buying the pre drillled track isnt going to break the bank really.

On the subject of rails. Do you know if the makita one you quoted fits the festool saw ?. I'l pick up the pri drilled festool rail, but from the previous posts concerning 1400mm maybe not being long enough, although for what its worth for the majority of the lengths ill usually be cutting, 1400 would be long enough. But for those odd jobs maybe the makita 1500mm one would be a better investment.

Cheaper than FFX -
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133894858044?epid=4034362558&hash=item1f2cc1653c:g:wUcAAOSwPSdismPv

 

[TRITON]

Actually from Peter Millards vid the festool saw wont fit snugly onto the makita rail, seems theres always going to be a bit of play, and for what we're buying this type of tool for and the cost of them, might as well be better going with the festool rail with the festool saw.
From about 5:40 on

 

[Spectric]

The only difference I know of is that the Makita has that anti tilt lip for when running bevels but not sure if it is really needed or not. The rail patterns are the same and I thought there were adjusters that allow you to make the saw a snug fit so cannot see why there should be any play.

 

[pgrbff]

I was hoping for more on the saws and less on the rails. I have two 3.1 batteries, can anyone tell me how well the TSC55 will work with them? Just for cutting up sheet material, I have a table saw.

 

[Doug71]

I was hoping for more on the saws and less on the rails. I have two 3.1 batteries, can anyone tell me how well the TSC55 will work with them? Just for cutting up sheet material, I have a table saw.

I remember reading on the Festool Owners Group that the 3.1ah batteries will NOT run the TSC55, don't know if this is still true with the newer models so definitely worth checking with Festool.

So much for "It's a system"

 

[sometimewoodworker]

The only difference I know of is that the Makita has that anti tilt lip for when running bevels but not sure if it is really needed or not. The rail patterns are the same and I thought there were adjusters that allow you to make the saw a snug fit so cannot see why there should be any play.

The overall pattern is nearly the same however the sizes are not exactly the same with the centre rib being narrower than the Festool so that while you can easily join a Festool rail there is not enough adjustment on the Festool saw for a tight fit and if you get a snug fit on the Marita rail it will not run on the Festool rail or snug on the Festool then sloppy on the Makita.

So all Makita rails or all Festool rails for accurate slop free glide