Thread: Glens Workshop, Gadgets, and Product Reviews.

Sitting it up in the rafters would put it nice and close to the heat radiating off the roof; moisture evaporates out of the hot side, shrinking that side.

I suspect you won't be able to straighten it mechanically, you'd need to get some moisture back in and let it return to where it was before. Try a light mist of water on the cupped side and leave it on the ground overnight, wet side down. I know this works on timber as we used to unbend table tops like this at my old work, so I suspect it will do the same thing here.

EDIT: It would appear that I have replied to a post before it was made. Either I have developed a means of travelling at a meaningful percentage of the speed of light, thus experiencing time dilation, I am a prophet, or the OP was making some edits while I was replying. I'll leave it up to you to decide what happened. No, I will not give you next week's lotto numbers and no, I have not signed any lucrative contracts with SpaceX. Yet.

Now to some of my Gadgets.

I recently made myself a 2500mm Saw Track to use for cutting (ripping) long sheet material such as white Melamine and Lamiwood used for kitchens, as well as for ripping big sheets of 2mm and 3mm thick Aluminium sheets.

It is made from 18mm MDF with a 75mm wide Aluminium straight edge screwed to one side as the saw guide, and under the bottom i routered in a 25x3mm flat aluminium strip to the cutting edge and screwed it in place, and i then applied 1 strip of Festool branded Hold Down Rubber to that aluminium strip, and another strip along the edge of the other side of the MDF, and it seems to work really well, so hopefully no more clamps needed (i have also just completed another 1350mm Saw Track as well, for cutting sheets up to 1200mm long (or wide)






I had this Saw Track sitting in a new pine storage rack that i built the other day, which i mounted about 450mm below the skillion roof, and this morning i went to the workshop to cut a 1400 x 450mm sheet of MDF for a fold up table top to hinge to the front of my laundry bench, and when i got the step ladder to get my Saw Track down, i found it had completely warped and buckled, and this was something that i have never seen happen to any kind of sheet material before, at least nothing compared to what happened to this Saw Track, nothing even comes close, and this really did take me by surprise.

I had the Saw Track sitting completely flat on top of a 2400mm long sheet of aluminium, with the underside (with the rubber strips) facing upwards, and the Track actually bowed upwards at both ends (see photo)

Storage Rack under roof


Bowed and Buckled Saw Track

I could not use this Saw Track it was so bad, so i put it on my cutting bench with the bow facing up and i sat some heavy weights on the centre to try and flatten it out, but after 10 hours it was still the same, so tonight i left it back up in the rack, but this time i had the underside facing down in the hope that it may straighten out again.

Over the years i have had all sorts of sheet material stored in similar storage racks mounted under colorbond skillion roofs, and never had any buckling or bows happen to them, so could this actually be something caused by having the Aluninium screwed to the MDF ?

I should also point out that i built that roof rack 4 days ago, and prior to that, the MDF Saw Track only had the 75mm wide aluminium saw guide section screwed to the MDF, and the track was stored standing up against a wall, and it never suffered any movement like this.

The following day after building the roof storage racks, i fitted the 25x3mm flat aluminium strip to the under side of the track and applied the 2 strips of hold down rubber, and it was after this that i placed it up in the roof rack for storage, so it had been there for at least 3 days.

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

EDIT: It would appear that I have replied to a post before it was made. Either I have developed a means of travelling at a meaningful percentage of the speed of light, thus experiencing time dilation, I am a prophet, or the OP was making some edits while I was replying. I'll leave it up to you to decide what happened. No, I will not give you next week's lotto numbers and no, I have not signed any lucrative contracts with SpaceX. Yet.

I WANT THOSE LOTTO NUMBERS, OR ELSE

Seriously, i was hoping that nobody would bother posting while i was revamping my Topic to the way it is now, but alas, some stranger was indeed lurking around and just happened to find my Topic while i was doing the edits.

I have a feeling you may be right about this saw track not going back to it's original state, but i don't understand the moisture side of this, given the MDF would have been dry, unless there is a means by which it can retain some minor moisture all the time.

As i mentioned in my 2nd post, i have had this type of storage rack in many sheds and workshops, and stored heaps of ply, MDF, pineboard etc and it never bent at all, that is why i was shocked when i saw this track like that.

May have to make myself a new one, made entirely of Aluminium, which is what i originally wanted to make but couldn't find the right aluminium section to use, so now i have to look at what i can find at Allrich Auliminium after the new year.

Hi again, following on from my Saw Track disaster, i thought i might post up some stuff about a cheap Craftright Saw Guide/Clamp that i bought the other day at Bunnings.

Craftright 50" Aluminium Clamp And Cutting Guide | Bunnings Warehouse

Yeah i know, you get what you get when you buy their stuff, but this item got my attention, so i spent the $26 just to see what it was like, and the news is both Bad (as it was after i got it) as well as Good (after i fixed it)

The initial problem with this clamp was to do with the 4mm thick soft rubber that was attached to both grips, so when you placed the device over your sheet and moved the holding clamp against the edge of the sheet, you had to press the lever on the clamp, which worked ok, but it would not hold properly because the rubber was too soft and the clamp just couldn't tighten up properly.

I cut the rubber off both grips and tried to clamp a sheet of MDF again, and this time it was a lot better without the rubber on the grips, but then i found another problem with the way the clamp actually grips and holds in place.


However, after fixing that issue, i then found that the 3 small metal discs inside the clamp were not gripping onto the round metal rod that runs along the full length of the bar, so as you tightened the clamp handle, the rod was moving with the handle and not gripping properly.

I turned it over and worked out that there was far too much play in those 3 metal discs, so i got a small piece of Aluminium and screwed it onth the back of the clamp to reduce the gap between the plastic body and the 3 discs, and as soon as i did this, i tested the clamp and it was fixed, i tried it dozens of times on various materials and it locked securely ever time, and today i used it several times to rip some MDF for a bench top i was making.

After i fixed the travel in those metal discs, i finished it off by sticking a strip of the thin Festool hold down rubber onto the face of the 2 grips, and this improved the grip immensely as it had a lot less compression over the original 4mm rubber.

Now i am happy to say that this thing is now working the way it was meant to work, but how these things got past their Quality Control people is anyones guess, maybe they were drunk, or maybe they don't have anyone checking these things, and this fix was easy to work out, even a child could design these clamps better than those idiots who did design it, and who probably also spent a fortune going to university for 6 years to get some paper to say they were qualified to do so.

Be watching for my next Product Review, and anyone who is an avid fan of Makita gear might like to read it..................but let's just say that now i know why i love DeWalt FTW

Originally Posted by glenpinn

Hi again, following on from my Saw Track disaster, i thought i might post up some stuff about a cheap Craftright Saw Guide/Clamp that i bought the other day at Bunnings.


However, after fixing that issue, i then found that the 3 small metal discs inside the clamp were not gripping onto the round metal rod that runs along the full length of the bar, so as you tightened the clamp handle, the rod was moving with the handle and not gripping properly.

I turned it over and worked out that there was far too much play in those 3 metal discs, so i got a small piece of Aluminium and screwed it onth the back of the clamp to reduce the gap between the plastic body and the 3 discs, and as soon as i did this, i tested the clamp and it was fixed, i tried it dozens of times on various materials and it locked securely ever time, and today i used it several times to rip some MDF for a bench top i was making.

After i fixed the travel in those metal discs, i finished it off by sticking a strip of the thin Festool hold down rubber onto the face of the 2 grips, and this improved the grip immensely as it had a lot less compression over the original 4mm rubber.

Well I am glad I am not the only one who bought one of these pieces of crap. I gave up and threw it under the Mulberry tree, I might have to find it and have a go at your mods to see if it will work.
Thanks for this.
Rgds,
Crocy.

Originally Posted by Old Croc

Well I am glad I am not the only one who bought one of these pieces of crap. I gave up and threw it under the Mulberry tree, I might have to find it and have a go at your mods to see if it will work.
Crocy.

I don't understand how the designers could have possibly believed that those 3 metal discs would actually grip the rod properly with the space as indicated in my photo, 8.5mm is double what it should be, and having the original soft rubber on the 2 grips didn't help.

The only thing is now i need to watch the clamp lever to see how long it takes before the plastic ridge starts wearing out, because if that wears out more than about 1mm then you kiss the clamp goodbye, or you would need to attach a thin piece of aluminium to stop it from wearing out, something i will do tomorrow and post a photo here.

I have one of these and after reading your comments I had to go and have a look at mine. I checked the gap for the plates and it is 9mm like yours was originally. I have never had a problem with mine as it seems to need the 9mm for the locking plates to lay over enough for them to slide along the bar without gripping, otherwise they would catch when trying to slide the head to a wider position.
It must be just a slight variation in the manufacturing process where some will grip okay and others won't.

At my old work we had the 2500 and 1300 versions of of the same thing (don't know what brand) and it would clamp so tight you could bend the board you're clamping. Pretty sure we used it as an actual clamp a few times too

Mine is over 3 years old and I have never had a problem with it slipping.
i took some photos (below) and a video of me shaking the s&$# out of it.
Looking at mine and yours it looks like there may have been a change in the clamping area (metal plates on the rod)- mine appears smaller than yours which may explain why, when you reduced yours, it worked?

See what you think.

Relaxed fully

CAD43A09-F001-4CE5-9392-BF18F2DFB59F.jpg

Clamped

61A244EC-1155-4A0B-8808-DDEC83C9D8B6.jpg


Video added
YouTube

I think they definitely have changed the travel distance in the area where the 3 discs are, yours does look to be a bit shorter.

When my clamp did initially hold in place i too could lift it up and shake it, however, i did notice an issue with the track moving ever so slightly sideways because of the rubber not being compressed properly, and i would never want to use mine like that with a power saw to cut a sheet of board off with.

Now mine has the much thinner black Festool hold down rubber on the jaws of the clamp, it is a lot more stable and has no slight sideways movement if you place a power saw against it.

The thing for me about all this is the fact that they have even used such a clamping mechanism (using 3 metal discs) and i think there are many other methods they could have employed to lock the clamp much better.

I have not had time today to place a strip of thin aluminium to the lever of the clamp to prevent it from possibly wearing out, but these images will basically show you what i was referring to, just another inprovement that i think they could have made to this device.

I am sure that when they are working ok they would make a decent addition to the workshop, possibly more so being used as a sash clamp rather than a sheet cutting guide.

Anyway, it appears that i may be the only person who has found this device to be what i call "faulty by design" and nothing i did would make it lock except on a few occasions where i had to hold the sliding clamp firmly for those metal discs to grip the rod properly.

Here is an update on my bent Saw Track from the other day.

I sat the track in the same roof rack, only up the other way hoping it may have reverted back to its original flat state, but it didn't seem to work, so last night i removed it from the rack and stood it upright against the wall, and today i found it had indeed straightened itself out, BUT i did a quick check of the leading edge (where the blade cuts) and it looks like there is a bit of distortion in 2 spots along the 25x3mm flat aluminium strip, as well as the 75mm wide saw base guide may have a slight bend in it as well.

I will be ordering a new 184mm DeWalt power saw next week to use with this Saw Track, which will replace the new Makita saw that i just bought last week (the one i will review shortly) so when i have bought that new saw, i will move the 75mm aluminium saw base guide on the MDF back 5mm making sure it is perfectly straight, and i will then re-cut the leading cutting edge with the new so that too is perfectly straight again.





I will need to make sure that i never store this Saw Track up in the rack under the roof again, and just leave it standing upright against the wall, but maybe what i should have done is made the Saw Track from 18mm Plywood rather than 18mm MDF, given it is a laminated board, and the Saw Track that i based mine off (found it in youtube) was actually made with 18mm ply, i just had plenty of MDF so i used that instead.

Oh, and Merry Xmas to everyone, hope you all have a wonderful day tomorrow

I have a track saw so I don’t use it for that task. I use in mainly with my router on jobs I can’t do on the router table. It’s been fine - runner pads compress nicely.

The method of clamping involving the metal pads and a rod are what every pipe clamp uses except the rod is obviously the pipe. You can get some incredible clamping forces with them! So in most practical applications it is a true and tried method of clamping but I guess like all mass produced items these days there are always those in a line that don’t perform as designed.

Had to pull the old saw track apart and make a new one, it seems like the MDF is not stable enough to use, as it is prone to movement when it gets hot, so i found out that 18mm plywood is a more stable material to use with the aluminium track that i was using before.

I am finishing the new saw track tomorrow i hope, and this time i have cut a length of 3mm thick Aluminium plate to 2.8m long, and i have riveted a 90mm wide Aluminium channel to that plate, and i have attached 2 strips of aluminium to my makita saw base that slides inside the channel keeping the saw stable so it cuts straight.

My previous MDF track had the aluminium channel on top and i had to hold the saw base against the channel while the blade was cutting, and i then realized that the aluminium base plate on my new makita saw (HS7600) was actually 2mm out of alignment to the blade, which caused the saw to wander off coarse every now and then, so that saw, even though i hate using it, will now be used strictly with the new saw track.

Will post photos soon.

Here are some photos of my 184mm Makita HS7600 saw that i recently bought to use with the saw track, showing the aluminium base plate being 2mm out of alignment with the blade when the blade is set to its full cutting depth.

I set the blade right down and locked it in place, i sat the saw on top of a 90mm wide aluminium channel section that i was going to use for my new saw track, and i used a set square to set the distance from the edge of the aluminium channel to the outer edge of the saw base on all 4 corners, and you can see below the 2mm alignment issue that i have.

Unfortunately this issue has now affected how this POS saw now works on my new saw track, so i am ordering a new 184mm DeWalt power saw tomorrow as hopefully that will have a properly aligned base plate.








Below is the new Saw Track that i made yesterday, this time i made it 3.0m long so that i have 300mm overhang at each end for the saw lead in at the start and lead out at the other end when cutting a 2400mm sheets.

After i screwed the 2 aluminium strips to the bottom of the saw base plate it seemed to slide very well from end to end, but with the alignment issue with my POS Makita saw i am not able to use it for cutting, have to wait for my new DeWalt saw to arrive and use that one instead.






This morning i went to the Carbatec website to look for some hold down clamps, and i found the following Kreg Accu-Cut saw track system guide that allows you to use your own power saw rather than have to buy a dedicated saw and track such as the Festool Saw Track, which is rather expensive for both the saw and the tracks you need to buy.

https://www.carbatec.com.au/kreg-acc...fd4ced4e5a847a

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...ature=emb_logo

I rang our local Carbatec store and the guy there told me that you get the 1350mm track and the saw mounting plate as part of this $149 kit, the 1350mm track comes in 2 shorter pieces that you join together using the 2 joiner strips supplies in the pack.

Unfortunately Kreg do not make any extension tracks like Festool do so you can make it 2700mm like you can do with Festool, so the sales guy told me that most people will actually buy 2 of these Accu-Cut systems (total cost of $298) and would use the 2 tracks from the the 2nd kit to make it longer, but you would still need an additional 2 joiner strips, which Kreg do not usually sell separately, however the guy did tell me that he can get additional joiner strips if i wanted them.

I also found this video of the Kreg Adaptive system (plunge saw, saw track and work table) and i like the way this setup works, and it would seem to be a much cheaper option to Festool, but Kreg are not releasing this system outside of America according to Carbatec as the saw is only available with 110 volts, and won't be making a 240v version for other countries, and they are not going to sell the table separately either.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am7GueDpI5I