How to | Calibrate TSO parallel guides | Festool Makita Triton track saw | Dave Stanton tso products 

Thank you Mr. Stanton, your videos provide great information in the simplest form. This is pure gold.

I wish I had gone with the festool track saw over the makita. The quick change on the blade depth on the festool is nice

this is brilliant! this SHOULD be the video that TSO uses to reach how to calibrate their parallel guide system

Thanks David! Very informative, until I bought the TSO parallel guides for my track saw, I always thought referencing your cut line off the splinter guard strip was always the weakest link. Those TSO parallel guides are perfection, I love mine.

I found that keeping long sticks of plywood roughly 3/4x3/4 makes great story sticks. First I cut a length the exact width of the rail. Then I measure with that as the offset. I cut the story stick and use that to set the parallel by sandwiching it between the stop and the rail. The results were extremely consistent for perfectly parallel cuts.

Just checked my tracking number. My parallel guides will arrive tomorrow. Im so excited.

Simpler way. 1) Slide stops (both guides) against back of rail; 2) cut a piece; 3) measure the piece; 4) loosen calibration grub screws ;5) set cursors to measured numbers 6) slide up to back of rail and tighten grub screws. Because you measured your saw/track combination, write it down and you can calibrate your narrow cut guides before each use using the same numbers plus 200

I just got my TSO Guides. I may have thought of another way to calibrate which is quite similar to the TSO demonstration. Set both stop blocks on the same distance, could be 6 inches, doesnt matter. but move both guides close to each other so that the calibration rods are level with each other. Loosen the set screws and use a ruler, combination square to set both calibration rods at the same time, then tighten. I know this doesnt address the point of your video which is all about a chewed up splinter guard, however you could make a cut, then do the same procedure with the combination square against cut vice the splinter guard and it should be simple and accurate.

Thanks Dave I think this explains why my cuts were off ever so slightly on long rips.

these look way nicer than the Festool parallel guides I have.

great precision work, great David 💯👍

I'm investing in the entire system. Tired of cutting larger sheet goods on the floor using a guide and circular saw. The cordless track saw option will enable me to put off upgrading the power in my workshop a few years.

Just like in the old day, with the camera on the ear protection :o)

Tank’s Dave for all of your videos! They are very well made and no bla bla. I have one question regard tso rail adapter. I have the festool rails and there is 2 differents type of guide rail adaptor: one is a drop -on, the other is slide one. Wich one is best, more precise ? Sorry, my english is not very good and tank you for answering my question. Keep doing your videos.

Really wish the Festool tools here in the states used Metric as well.

I'm sold tso. Take my money

Thanks for the video David, I was struggling to set this up correctly and your video made perfect sense! Just subscribed as well.

Here was my procedure. Cut length of X (part A). Set the stop to 2X. Use A against the stop to make a cut at 2X - A (part B). Make that cut (B) and prepare for another. You don’t need to cut the third cut. Just clamp it in place. Swap A and B. Then zero out your stop. A was a bit off but B should have been exact.

Oh man when you took that cut in reverse it scared me. I tried that once, most likely with incorrect technique, and the saw lifted off the track completely and made a huge gouge in the track.

Great stuff Dave

If only Incra made parallel guides for the track saw - then we could use their incremental rack for positioning the cursor instead of squinting at those laser etched lines.

Well done

Thank you

Really like your method. It isn't so complicated that the explanation gets lost. I have a few questions. Do you need to recalibrate if you change to a different length rail? I have a mix and match setup. I have a Makita cordless track saw, 2 Makita 55 inch rails, Festool's version of the GRS-16PE and a Festool 115 inch guide rail (FS-3000 I think?) for long cuts on sheet goods. The Makita and Festool rails are compatible with the exception of Makita's anti tip slot built into the rail. I chose to change to Festool rails because of how they are packaged for shipping and seemingly better quality control for guide rails. I do however have to adjust the saw when changing between brands to snug up to the guide rail slot. I'm not sure they are so different as to require recalibrating but I overthink and nitpick my work. Your suggestions are appreciated. Thanks Dave!

I wish they would sell this as a single track package to use with the square. I don’t need two since the rail square is square. Similar to a tablesaw fence.

How do you set your cursor? The instruction video from Hans wasn't very clear to me

Hi. Thanks for the informative video. I recently purchased the Makita Track Saw system. My question: I'm looking into the TSO parallel guide system. They offer a 20" inch rail, a 30" rail, and a combo set of 30"/50" rail ($100 more than the 30" set). In my spare time, I enjoy building small furniture for family and friends (book cases, shelves, tables, etc. in my side-of-the-garage shop. In your opinion, which rail size would you recommend? Thanks again!

does the reverse cut wear down your blade quicker or give you less resharpens?

I have the same setup with both long and short guides except I don't have the PE parallel edge guide. Generally I'm getting good results but I've been struggling when ripping pieces thinner than the track, say 3 or 4 inch wide piece out of a 5" piece. I calibrate the long rods by simply putting a piece of stock wood next to the splinter guard and butting the long rail up to it and set the indicator to 10". I've tried various ways of clamping. I feel like I'm always an 1/16 or even 1/8 off and it's driving me nuts! I'm guessing either my piece is being dragged out a bit as I'm making my cut or after seeing your video I wonder if my splinter guard on the track is off. or bit of both.

I guess TSO finally upgraded the tracks to all be equal. My set I bought a year and half ago do not allow you to interchange stops. I would have been better off buying the new ones, than the amount of money I spent on having to buy dedicated stops for each track.

Good technique, but seems to depend on accuracy of tape measure. Who makes the most accurate tape measures, both metric & imperial? Any that can be calibrated post-sale to maintain accuracy? Maybe I need to get Woodpecker long flat rule?

I am shocked that such an expensive saw does not have a 2mm quick release button for lamanets. even my cheep saw has one. also can u use the guids if your doing a realy short piece than is narrower than the track? I belive the woodpecker one does. just wonderd if this did. 😊

Hey Dave. Thanks for the post on the parallel guides. I just purchased a track guide for cutting large sheets. Is there a reason to have the Jessem stock guides if you are using a track saw?

Dave What about the projection of the splinter guard from the edge of the track? Won’t it affect the accuracy of the cut because the blade is referencing the edge of the splinter guard as it rides on the track?

Great video Dave!! Thanks. How did you square up the ends? I wish TSO would get the stuff back in stock.

Nice video sir!, but at 5.55 , the collar/stops was loose even though it showed on the scale the same distance, so the collar/stops will of course only go as far as it butts against the edge,,, am I missing something?

Great video Dave. I've been trying to buy some of these from TSO, but they never seem to be available. Any tips on getting my hands on some of these?

Why the shallow reverse cut, to start?

I'm hesitating in getting a set of TSO parallel guides, but I wonder how equally precise you can set both the stops just by eye. Even if you try really hard, you will never get both the stops exactly the same. Or is that error negligible?

Do you reverse cut on all cuts or only on Formica? Not sure if you call it that.

The GRS16 makes a square cut across the board. If you have the guide rail connected to the GRS16 and the rail calibrated, why do you need the 2nd guide rail? Just curious?

Hi Dave Long time fan, I have a set of the TSO PGS, but no matter what I do I can’t get it to cut accurately, no matter how many times I calibrate it, adjust it & check for squareness, my cuts are always a few mm off Is there any help / tips or advice you can help with? Many thanks from the UK!

Dave, shouldn't you have measured before adjusting the second TSO parallel guide. The far cut might not have been parallel to the cut at the guide rail.

Hey Dave, any idea if anyone stocked the parallel guides in Australia? Ive been trying to find some.

I just bought one of these systems but only with the GRS 16 (not the PE). I am trying to figure out how to get this initial piece squared up with what I have. The GRS16PE can create perpendicular cuts on left and right sides using same reference side, but the 16 can not. Can one just work your way around cutting 90's?

where can we get tso products in australia please. carbatec no more it seems.

Why cut backwards? If it’s a scoring cut why not cut forward?

How did you ensure the sheet you started with had parallel sides? Before you calibrated.

..another thing, you may thinking both sides are correct but you can very easily be out by say 1/10 mm surely?,

I just got the my parallel guide system. But was very disappointed when I discovered that one of the rails had a different color of blue than the other 5. Has any one experinced the same?? I also got the MTR-18, GRS-16 PE og GRS-16, they are the same blue color as the one of the rails.

Why not just replace the splinter guard if it’s worn out? Way too many steps.

I have nowhere near your trust in tape measures. I would rather just use the original TSO calibration method with a combination ruler (or better yet, a fixed one with a known 12"/30cm stickout or so), but with the little twist that like you do, make a cut, and reference the actual cut wood, not the splinter guard.

I don't get it, all that work to make a cut. Seems like there should be a faster way to get a square cut.

Just buy a new rail!