Refreshing a Guiderail Splinterguard and Dimple Marking Technique

A bit of a quickie video. I'm working on Angle Madness again and needing to cut the panels for the tapered octagonal drawer boxes. For that, I really need the splinterguard on the MFT to be dead accurate. It always has been, for years, until I needed to quickly cut something on the MFT during the Tim Burton Table build while I had the Panther blade in the TS-75. Unlike the TS-55 blades that all have the same kerf width, TS-75 blades sometimes differ.  Now, my splinterguard is about 0.5mm off.

The first part of the video, though, covers something I often do anyway with the saw: dimple marking (my own silly term :)  With the saw on the rail, it's easy to use the ATB blade to mark exactly where the cut will be. Great for verifying and occasional adjustments. For 12 panels, I want the splinterguard accurate...

Second half of the video shows how to bump the splinterguard over so you can recut it accurately. Seems easy enough, but it comes up on forums all the time. Usually people are trying to peel it off and reuse the aged adhesive. I'll show you a better way that works quickly and has no peel-off problems.

After posting this, some people asked about the turners' tape mentioned in the video. It is essentially a double-stick tape. A good one is this one from Lee Valley.  The one I used in the video is from InterTapePolymer.com, but I can't find the woodworking store that sells it now.

I used a different brand that I have handy. Many woodworking catalogs will call this type of double stick tape "turners' tape" since, I guess, turners use it (I don't turn yet!)

No Comment #2 - The Full Build

Finally!  There, thought I'd say it for you since I've been saying it all week :)

I had a lot of fun with No Comment #1.  Enough that I'd thought to continue the series with a small but fun build aptly named No Comment #2 (clever, no?).  Like No Comment #1, I won't tell you what I'm building.  This video is a full project build from start to finish in high-speed sections and multi-cams to keep you busy watching instead of snoozing!  Guess as you watch it what I'm making.  Some clues have appeared on this blog to, you know, build intrigue.  My version of foreshadowing!

Unlike No Comment #1, I'll be following up this initial build video with videos detailing different aspects of the build.  There were some interesting techniques used in this build that can be applied to many of your projects.

If you write a comment on this video here or on YouTube (which I'd appreciate!), please don't put a spoiler in there as to what the project was.  Latest comments appear on the homepage so someone not trying to see the comments may see "hey, nice grain elevator!" and it'll just ruin the effect :)

The video is an hour long although my test victims who previewed many early versions never thought it too long; hopefully it'll be as interesting for you.  Maybe go pee before you hit play!


There are two versions of the video!  It wasn't enough to drive myself batty with all this video editing that I mixed two soundtracks.  One uses the songs you've heard many times on previous podcasts.  The second uses new music!  It's all progressive guitar and rock instrumentals.  It is very much what you'd hear in my shop, especially the newly-found favorite Daniel Bautista.

Since the video is all music between a short introduction and final conclusion, you could always hit mute and play your favorite hair bands if you prefer.

I shook the dust off the walls listening to the guitar edition after rendering it tonight; the middle three songs might be a bit much if you're not into the guitar as much but fear not as the songs after those three are very melodic; modulate with the volume control!

Here's the version with the sounds you've often heard on this podcast:



Here's the guitar version: version 11.0!




While sometimes the scene is messy in the video, what's behind the camera is usually piles of whatever I wanted out of the scene.  Here's a panorama of the shop during some of the shooting (the project was in the house so no spoiler here):

A secondary goal of this video was to get better at video editing, lighting, etc.  The biggest thing I learned is that for the total time of this project, easily 9/10th (or more!) of it was video work, whether it was setting up cameras, correcting clips, editing clips, or figuring out some silly thing I wanted in the video for no other reason than I didn't know how (at the time!) to do it!  This really wasn't that long of a build if you don't have red record lights pointing at you :)

For the curious, here's the info for my dedicated video drives:

Crazy that two 4Tb drives are full of the raw and optimized footage for this thing.  As I render the build videos to follow this one, I'll get to delete some footage.  At one point, I found myself drooling over an 18Tb raid stack.  Someday... (no, Friday! :)

Angle Madness, my other project in process, will continue, too, while I put out detail videos for No Comment #2, as I've recorded a lot of the content for those videos already.  The slow pace of Angle Madness needed an intervention for myself and for you.  Now you know why I was in the dark for so long :)

Sculpted Mahogany Vanity - Panel Glue-Up

In this episode, we make up the large Mahogany panel to wrap the bottom segment. Some tips for using the Festool TS tracksaw for panel jointing are explained and shown.  This is really a great technique even if you have a jointer.

You'll also see a 7'x2' panel get jointed (surfaced) by hand with three hand planes.  I'm a fan of diagonal and perpendicular planing so that's what you get. :) (Remember, 'normal' is a synonym for 'perpendicular'...)

We'll go over why the panel gets wrapped so early before sculpting and how we'll anchor it there.


Next episode is marking, pre-sculpting, and sculpting... it's the one I've been waiting for :)   Co'mon Saturday!

Sculpted Mahogany Vanity - Stock Preparation and Top Segment

And we're off!  In this episode, we'll sort through the rough stock (ahem, in my neighborhood, 'rough' stock is regrettably S2S) then use a Festool TS-75 to straight-line the boards before using the table saw for the parallel cut.  The upper segment of the vanity's structural insides will be Dominoed (I love how in English you can verb anything).  We'll talk about a couple different Domino techniques that come up in this segment.

The underside of this top segment is in three sections.  The two outer sections will have drawers so we'll make part of the structure into drawer runners and resaw some Mahogany for two panels on the underside. You'll see a quickie tour of the KM-1 being used to exactly size the panel groove.  I'll be doing a video user's guide to the KM-1 soon.

While not on the video, the next step is to sand or scrape the panels and put finish on them before gluing up the upper segment.

In the next episode, we'll make the lower segment, the drawer webbing, and glue up the panels that will wrap this wireframe structure.  Then we'll get in touch with our inner-Rodin and sculpt! ...but hopefully it won't look like the Gates of Hell.   :)

Quilted Maple Picture Frame - Cutting and Gluing Miters and HVLP

The third and last installment for this picture frame I made my best friend.  (Here are links to part one and part deux.)  I'm really liking the color compliment of the frame to the painting and while the lighting was tough for filming the close-ups (needed daylight!) the curl in the maple is really well highlighted.

I talk a little about a Fuji Super 4 HVLP sprayer I purchased from a fellow forum member (thanks, Corwin!).  In a nutshell, it was a joy to use.  I also used the MFT table with Qwas dogs to cut the miters and have some hints on how to eliminate blow-out as that would be horrible on these pre-colored and partially finished pieces.  Lastly, a discussion of the Miter Stitch from Bridge City Toolworks.  It should be noted that the Miter Stitch is no longer available from Bridge City, but they do occasionally come up on eBay.  That said, though, creative types could make their own; you won't be disappointed with their utility.

Roll it...

Festool TS-75 Review

So, I have a backlog of videos I've posted to the FOG for their Festool review contest.  Here's another popular one on the TS-75.  I like it when these video reviews get replies on the FOG threads from experienced users stating they picked up something they didn't know about.
The review is a playlist of two videos though they total about 13 minutes (so, not as long as the OF-1400 review! nothing could be that long!)
My neighbor's puppy makes a cameo...

Guide Rail Storage

I recently got the Festool 3000mm guiderail during the "TS Promotion" as the TS-75 really requires that long rail to rip 8x4 sheet goods without connectors.  Now, I used two 1400s with connectors for a couple years and while it works, it actually still wasn't long enough for the TS-75 due to its larger base.  To note, if you have a TS-55, you can use the 2700 rail, but the TS-75 really needs the extra "mm"s.

So... where to store it?!  Not like an 8" wide by nearly 10' long piece of aluminum tucks away on a shelf plus dings and bends completely defeat the purpose.  My solution comes from a suggestion I read somewhere on the FOG: hang it on your garage door.

In my case, I have a 3000 and 1900 on the door with clips made of scrap.  This photo is of the one clip with just the 3000 in it.  You can see some scrap cork tile contact-cemented to the door's stile.  The vertical clips are beveled at top to make insertion easier as the fit is intentionally snug.  In both cases, the clip presses the rail into cork.

Due to the staggered heights of the clips, grabbing either rail is easy.

I chose to put the rails on the bottom segments of my door because I could easily get at them with the door closed and when the door is opened (90% of the time, I have the door open!), they are still easily accessed.  Other benefit is that the bottom-most segment angles upward even when the door is open so the rails never have a chance to slide out. With a winter like that, good thing I took the picture quickly and closed up...

Now, you'll think, "oh, 3000 rails, never exceed that!".  Well, you'd think.  First weekend with the new rails, I had to join the 3000 and 1900 to edge-joint a 12' piece of 8/4 Walnut destined to be handrailing for stairs.  Also ripped them that way since pushing that over the table saw is awkward and would require moving shop furniture to make room for the length!

D'uh!-Moment to Improve Dust Collection

Last night, I was edge jointing and ripping 8/4 Walnut to make several handrails; these are rough dimensioning cuts.
I know the TS-75 saw has better dust collection with the D-36 hose vs the usual D-27 "tool" hose due to better air flow, but I had a d'uh moment after the first pass.  That pass left a lot of dust behind and the saw seemed starved for power.
Normally I plug the TS-75 into the CT-22 dust extractor for the automatic turn-on function when starting a tool.  Works great.  Except in this situation, that saw was working much harder than usual with a 12' run of 8/4 Walnut.  With the saw plugged into the extractor, the extractor limits total amperes to 15A.  With the extractor on high and the saw working hard, I was needing 21-22A, but it was still limiting.
Easy solution was to plug the saw into its own source and manually turn on the extractor.  Night and day difference on these passes.  There was literally nothing to clean after ripping the 10" wide by 12' long Walnut into 3 rails.
So, moral is, if your saw (or router) is going to be working much harder than usual, give it its own source!

TS-75 Splinter Guard Enhancement

When I first got into woodworking, I pre-mortgaged my first three kids to buy some Festools.  As I was new, I opted for the TS-75 over the TS-55 not knowing if the more limited capacity of the 55 would make a difference.  Today, I can say... no.  Besides the extra unused capacity of the 75 over the 55 (20mm capacity difference), you get bigger biceps because the 75 weighs more, is more cumbersome, and has a splinter guard that only works at significantly deeper cuts.

The splinter guard is the green thingy off the side of the blade in the front.  The front of the blade rotates up as it cuts thus lifting unsupported fibers.  The fibers under the guide rail are supported by the rail, but the offcut fibers are not unless you lower the splinter guard to press on the fibers (you may not care about tearout on the offcut but many times I do).

The problem is this: the splinter guard is designed for the 55.  The TS-55 can engage the splinter guard at a relatively shallow cut depth.  The TS-75 uses the same guard and requires nearly 30mm of depth to engage the splinter guard.  On a 5mm guide rail, you are cutting 25mm (that's an inch for you 'merican readers).  This isn't acceptable when cutting 12mm or 18mm (1/2" and 3/4" respectively) material.

My solution was to attach a substrate to the splinter guard that made the whole considerably longer.

I simply cut a strip of wood 5mm thick by approximately 90mm long.  Two #6x1/2" screws countersunk through to the plastic hold it in place.  With the saw supported and the blade off the edge of the workspace, I plunged to full depth.  I cut off the wood on the other side of the kerf from the green guard with a flush saw then re-glued a portion of that above the wooded pad that isn't under the green plastic just to reinforce it.

Now, the blade is engaged with just a 12mm plunge depth.  Given that I always use it on a guide rail, that's a 7mm cut depth with support.