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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Where is it made?
nice jig .
Great simple design but surely the guides can be registered to each other rather than using the 3rd piece?
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.
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.
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.
3:56 You only need two including the setting jig. Set your setting jig, set the other as you just did.
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?
Fantastic simple jig! Will be making one this week. Great work.
Great guides! How did you measure the offset for the track ?
genius idea! i'll just ordered a track saw and will be making this to help dial in cuts faster…thanks for posting!
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!
These are great. I encorparated these in my workflow many years ago. In th esimplest form possible: measured to each other, no scale.
I love this idea. Thank you for posting this.
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.
This is exactly what I need at this time. Thank you.
Awesome idea!
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!!!
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.
Made these a while ago. Worked simple and effective.
Great idea and in my price range! I'm also going to use them to set my table saw fence, which is never parallel.
Its far the best way to cut with accurate big sheets of plywood,the line with pen it isn't accurate
With the long groove in the center, does it flex along it's width?
Super
What an annoying voice I had to switch off within writing this message
brilliant work!