Festool tracksaw jig - Waste side parrallel guide

Things You've Made
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Kind of a specialty need here :smiley:
This is a jig for a Festool track for tracksaw, that lets you accurately and repeatedly cut thin strips

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Set your length on both jigs, install them on the track, bottom them up against your stock, and cut you strip…
Then you can rince and repeat this and cut any number of those strips you need, with a guaranteed repeatability…

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Cut out of 10mm plywood, single side operation
The stop-block is cut on a piece inside the jig to save on material just a tad bit…

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The little star knobs are also cut from 10mm plywood and will accomodate some M6 nuts and bolts with a bit of convincing

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Do you know what’s the best part about owning a CNC/3d printer for jigs?
Not every jig has to be adjustable, you can just make one for the exact size you need

I know I need to cut 60, 70, 90 and 140mm strips for my specific project
So here’s a minimal jig just for this, using 8mm dowels as stops

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Useful for setting the depth of the adjustable ones too

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For those of you who are curious, the jig worked wonders

Cut 1 and a half full sheet of mdf into 140/90/70/60mm thin strips and they’re all pretty much aligned and straight

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Now it just needs some paint…

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And it’s pretty much done …
I may cut some small “picture frame shelves” to go on top of the boards, but not sure about how I can attach them…

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I’ve got the Kreg track saw. I like it okay, but I kinda wish I had opted for the Makita or the Festool based solely on the availability of accessories. I REALLY want some parallel guides, but I can’t bring myself to fork out the money for the TSO product, and they’re about the only game around. So this is rather inspiring.

I’ve got some ideas involving some 3D printed parts and aluminum extrusion, but I just need to find the time to get on it.

Out of curiosity, do you have to remove the guides each time you make a cut? I’m having a hard time visualizing the workflow.

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For waste side jigs like this one, yes, you need to remove the jig before you cut
I have an idea about how I could avoid this in certain cases, but it’s probably not worth the effort…
I ended up removing the fastening bolt on the rail side, and just layed the jig on the track, pushed the stock against the stops, removed the jig, cut, and repeat…
Overall a very quick process

In my experience, using aluminium extrusions is nice but not really necessary unless you’re using the jig on a daily basis
Some simple MDF strips or tubing with a clamp can serve as a very nice parrallel guide, you just need to make some sort of attachement on the rail side
Something like this, but you’ll probably need to remix the track side
https://www.printables.com/fr/model/693104-track-saw-parallel-guide-16-mm-makita-festool-bosc

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These jigs are great, thanks for the idea and congrats on the build.

Responding to the commercial option and TSO price, this looks like a much cheaper alternative. I have the Bora guide system and have been very happy but not this piece, so no opinion on how well it works…

Have fun!