Thread: Hare and Forbes has track saw and rail really cheap till the end of the month

Interested
As anyone here have any feedback on this ?
I have some projects coming up that I could definitely use this on(kitchen cupboards [emoji849])

Cheers Matt,


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Hi Matt,
I bought a saw kit, extra rail, and 48tooth blade about 5 years ago at the EOFY sale. It has done a bit of work but not a huge amount as all my gear gear has been in storage for nigh on four years due to moving house and not being able to replace my workshop till the new house is built. Two minor issues that I found was the track ends were not square to the guide, and the joiner supplied is very sloppy in the groove it fits into. This results in the guide being prone to flexing on long cuts where the tracks are joined. I expect that I can overcome this issue once I get my shop sorted and a mill going, as I will be able to square up the track ends and make a custom pair of joiners to replace the single undersized one. Otherwise I consider it a viable and useful tool. When I bought it, it was the only alternative to the Festool unit and I didn't have the regular use to justify buying one of those. However a number of the trade level tool manufacturers also supply track saws now, and there are some rebadged versions of this one around as well, so it be worthwhile to research them rather than just buy on spec.

Originally Posted by malb

Hi Matt,
I bought a saw kit, extra rail, and 48tooth blade about 5 years ago at the EOFY sale. It has done a bit of work but not a huge amount as all my gear gear has been in storage for nigh on four years due to moving house and not being able to replace my workshop till the new house is built. Two minor issues that I found was the track ends were not square to the guide, and the joiner supplied is very sloppy in the groove it fits into. This results in the guide being prone to flexing on long cuts where the tracks are joined. I expect that I can overcome this issue once I get my shop sorted and a mill going, as I will be able to square up the track ends and make a custom pair of joiners to replace the single undersized one. Otherwise I consider it a viable and useful tool. When I bought it, it was the only alternative to the Festool unit and I didn't have the regular use to justify buying one of those. However a number of the trade level tool manufacturers also supply track saws now, and there are some rebadged versions of this one around as well, so it be worthwhile to research them rather than just buy on spec.

Thanks Malb
Great to know especially the joiners that could be a no go for me.
I’ve had a very very quick glance at the Makita one in the pass.
Most of my other work tools are Makita.
There not Festool but there certainly not the bottom of the barrel either.

Cheers Matt,

Originally Posted by Simplicity

Thanks Malb
Great to know especially the joiners that could be a no go for me.
I’ve had a very very quick glance at the Makita one in the pass.
Most of my other work tools are Makita.
There not Festool but there certainly not the bottom of the barrel either.

Cheers Matt,

Just a bit of feedback FYI. My carpenter mate has had the Makita one but recently also bought the Festool one and said it is a much better unit.
i have the Festool unit myself but it comes at a price. For me I think it was worth it as it is very disappointing and frustrating when a tool doesn’t do what you want of it and that haunts you long after joy of the savings.

The 10 minute workshop on youtube reviews cheaper track saws regularly and his lidl/Parkside brand saw that appears similar to the ozito recently came up pretty well. From memory his Aldi saw which looks like the H and F version wasn’t as good. Some are 160mm blades and others 165mm - not sure if this helps narrow down which version is the same as which. Also appears to be two shapes in the cheaper ones as far as I can tell.

What’s the re-sale on the Festool like ? Might only cost the price of a cheap one in the end and you’ve had the use of a better saw ? Guess you have to put up the $1200 ? to start with...

edit - better than relying on my dodgey memory here’s a comparison video
https://youtu.be/FSY9EWsF_3w

I bought the Festool saw and track many, many years ago, in fact so long ago it's actually branded Festo, like my square 38L dusty! But the last couple years the controller has been playing up making the saw a pain to use, (dirty/faulty pot). I never got around to doing anything more than cleaning it so far, but i'm really curious on the H&F unit.

The resale on Festool if your selling is always fantastic, and the tools are generally awesome, but I think for the price you can't go wrong with the H&F. It doesn't seem to me all that long ago you paid not a lot less for just a crappy Chinese saw on it's own, and with the extra $50 coupon you get the good clamps for free, along with some other cheap tool to bring the total to $300 before the discount! ;-)

The clamps I'm also curious on as they look like they'll fit the Festool track, but very considerably cheaper.

cheers, Ian

Here are a couple of products to assist with aligning track saw rails. https://betterleytools.com/products/...saw-rails.html or https://tsoproducts.com/tso-products...il-connectors/
While these will work with Festool FS tracks, they may or may not work with other makes. Refer to the description.
I do have the Betterley product and am happy with it. I have not used the TSO joiners so am unable to comment.

If the product will produce a better out come then it can be a worthwhile investment. Or in my case it is more convenient moving short rails and joining them than buying a longer track and trying to find a place to store.

For those wondering, the clamps supplied with the kit while functional are pretty much garbage really, but the better quality clamp set for $30 is not only a perfect fit for the Festool tracks, but looks to be superior as the sliding casting appears much thicker than the Festool one!

cheers, Ian

I bought the H & F rails and saw years ago when they first came out for a very good price (Intro price and 10 % of as a alternative to the WWS - same weekend) and haven't used it much. I did not get the clamps and the joiners.

However during Nov 18/Jan 19 I used them at least daily for building my daughters mini caravan as they involved many long straight cuts. For joiners I cut some strips of plastic to size and I used some standard clamps.

I found it to be accurate and a great bit of kit when making long cuts on large sheets of ply.

Peter.

I've got a Woodstar which is rebadged Scheppach (or is it the other way around). For a hobbyist or for someone on a budget I'd say it is a genuinely good option. The dust collection isn't as good as pricier saws, the spring that needs to be pushed down to lower the saw may be really stiff, and there are no indents or 'snap to' spots for bevels or depths. But stick it on the rail and you'll get a nice straight cut. For ~$250 they're issues you could learn to live with. I've used it to cut down sheetgoods for making laundry cabinets and workshop cabinets. The included blade wasn't garbage either, surprisingly good cuts on melamine, MDF, and plywood.

I am looking to upgrade to a Festool (probably 2nd hand) or Bosch (despite my angst for Bosch Australia) as these have much better dust extraction. This is really my only gripe with the Woodstar.

I’ve found that I doubt even the best quality connection- shop dings and wear ‘adjust’ even festool quality. My solution has been to assemble the 2 tracks on the stuff to be cut, and then I lay my 2M spirit level against them on its side on the wood across the joint and just press them against it... cheap, quick, good enough for any work I do. (On the ‘back edge’, so its not against the sacrificial strip.) Then clamp and cut. If you are really worried, check the spirit level by flipping it against a pencil line first- and chuck it away if it isn’t straight...

I've seen a lot of comments about the ends of tracks not being square, while squareness seems to be something that should be effortless to achieve during the manufacturing phase, if anyone's concerned about the ends not being a perfect 90 degrees, why not just trim it with a mitre saw, it's only extruded aluminium, any mitre saw will easily cut it?

cheers, Ian