5 Advantages of Adding a Guide Rail Square to Your Track Saw

Woodworking is fun because there is often a wide variety of ways to accomplish the same result. That said, there are often easier or more accurate ways to get to that same result. While accuracy usually comes at the expense of speed, there are a few exceptions. One in particular is guide rail squares, which make it faster and more accurate to cut down sheet goods with your track saw. Review the advantages of adding a guide rail square to your track saw to understand their importance!

Square Cuts, No Fuss

We’ll get the obvious benefit out of the way first: guide rail squares deliver square cuts. There’s no need to use a secondary square or triangle to confirm squareness. A simple mark or two along your desired cut dimension, and you’re off to making sawdust.

Guide Rail Stop

Because a guide rail square provide a reference perpendicular edge and is usually placed at the front edge of your workpiece, it acts as a stop to keep your guide rail from sliding along the surface of your workpiece as you perform the cut. This helps to prevent movement of the guide rail during the cut, which is more likely to happen when the rubber pads underneath your guide rail lose grip (most likely to occur when covered in sawdust). Having a physical stop contacting the front edge of your workpiece reduces the chance of this slippage. For the best fixturing, it’s always best to use a clamp on one (or both) ends of the guide rail, so it’s important that the square doesn’t interfere with these clamps. The GRS-16 features clamping notches on both sides of the square, making it easy to use your favorite track clamps with the GRS-16 at the same time.

Single-Piece Design

Another advantage of adding a guide rail square to your track saw is the simple design. Screws, hex keys, and other hardware included with most tools have a habit of quickly disappearing in our shop. That’s why the GRS-16 is a one-piece design, with the custom stainless steel draw latch being the only moving part. Leonardo da Vinci once said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

Balance

A well-designed guide rail square should balance on the guide rail; that is, when you place the assembly on top of your workpiece, it shouldn’t tip to one side or the other. The GRS-16 is CNC machined from a single piece of 6061-T6 aluminum and carefully balanced to ensure that you won’t experience tipping issues.

Expandability

The best tools are the ones you can use for multiple purposes, with a system approach. The GRS-16 Guide Rail Square features accessory mounting holes, allowing it to connect to the TSO Parallel Guide System or additional useful accessories like the Angle Accessory.

Want to learn more about the GRS-16 Guide Rail Square? Check out our product pages and learn why it’s the fastest way to square cuts with your Festool, Makita, Milwaukee, DeWalt, Kreg, or Triton track saw.