StaySquare Guide Rail System

More than a hinge. A precision system for your guide rail.

StaySquare holds your guide rail at the just-right angle of 75°: out of the way, but still within easy reach.

A traditional guide rail hinge gives you two places to rest the rail: down on the workpiece, or swung fully upright between cuts — parked at the far side of the table, a long reach away. StaySquare™ adds the third position. A detent catches the rail at 75°, high enough to clear your work, yet close enough to bring back down without stretching. Fully upright is still there, held by a positive stop rather than gravity, so a bumped bench doesn’t send the guide rail slamming down.

Underneath are hard chrome-plated rods and bushings, the same motion hardware found in CNC machines. Dual rods on both Positioners allow vertical movement only, so the rail stays square through every change in material thickness. And the rail can’t wander side to side: the hinge plate is machined to draw it into alignment as you tighten it down.

StaySquare mounts to the extrusion on a Festool® MFT/3 or MFT 1080, Dash-Board® PWS, TrackTubes®, and 3090 or 4080-Lite profiles, or screws straight into a wooden bench. It works with Festool, Makita, Milwaukee, Triton, Evolution, WEN, Powertec, Eastvolt and Kreg^† guide rails. Made in the USA with domestic and global components, backed by TSO’s 5-year warranty.

Key Features

• Stays Square Through Every Change in Material Thickness: Dual hard chrome-plated rods and bushings support the rail on both sides, so raising or lowering it doesn’t move it off square.
• Stays Put Where You Want It: Many hinges rely on gravity alone. StaySquare holds the rail at 75°, clear of your work but still in reach, and at 95° against positive stops. Holding strength is adjustable to your guide rail.
• Four Inches of Clearance: Raise the guide rail up to 4″ (102 mm) above the worktop — room for a full-depth pass with a Festool TS 75, thick hardwoods, or a stack of panels.
• Fast Height Adjustment: A slight twist of the Lever locks both rods at once. The Lever sits beside the guide rail where you can see and reach it, and mounts on either side.
• Clear the Table in Seconds: Loosen the back Lever and the guide rail lifts out with the Hinge attached — one piece, no tools. Drop it back in and you are square again.
• Keeper Plate: Mounts in your rail’s underside T-track and seats into the Cradle as the rail comes down, centering the rail so it lands in the same place every time. No play, no wear.
• Set Your Position Once: Two Position Stops enter the extrusion channel and lock in place with a hex driver. Take the system off and everything goes back to the same spot. No measuring, no re-squaring.
• Fits Your Bench: The MFT/3, MFT 1080, Dash-Board PWS, TrackTubes, 3090 and 4080-Lite profiles, and wooden benches.
• Fits Your Guide Rail: Festool, Makita, Milwaukee, Triton, Evolution, WEN, Powertec, Eastvolt and Kreg^†. Optimized for a 42.5″ (1,080 mm) rail — see Compatibility for longer rails.

See It In Action

How It Works

Square It Once. Change Your Height. Still Square.

Squaring a table takes real time, and one weakness common to guide rail hinge designs can undo it: a slight shift, out of square, when you change height. StaySquare clamps two rods equally on either side, so there is no single pivot to drift. Square it once, change height, cut — still square.

The hard chrome finish won’t chip, peel, or wear a groove where the bushings ride, and low-friction bushings keep the action smooth through the full range.

Raise Your Guide Rail, and It Stays Out of the Way

The sweet spot is 75°, and we think it’s the position you’ll use most. Far enough up that the rail is clear of almost anything you do on the surface, close enough that bringing it down is a short reach, not a stretch.

Fully upright is for when the rail needs to be completely gone. On traditional designs, gravity holds it there until something bumps the bench. With StaySquare, the rail’s own weight settles into the detent, and positive stops hold it there. The positive stop plungers thread in and out, so you can set how much effort it takes to move between positions, matched to the weight and length of your rail.

A Lever You Can See and Reach

The clamping faces inside each Base are angled by a fraction of a degree. Tightening the Lever flexes them just enough to squeeze both rods at once, so a small turn locks the height and another frees it.

The adjustable clamping lever reverses to either side of the Base, to best fit your work style. It sits beside the guide rail rather than underneath, in sight and within reach. And if the Lever comes up tight at an awkward angle, pull the handle out, rotate it, and release. The splines re-index without changing clamp pressure.

Clearing the Table Quickly

You won’t always want the guide rail installed. Loosen the back Lever and lift it out with the Hinge attached — one move, a few seconds.

Dropping it back in is just as quick. The Bases never moved, so the guide rail returns square with nothing to reset.

When the whole system comes off — for example, folding the table away — the two Position Stops stay seated in the extrusion. The Bases go right back where you left them.

Three Ways to Mount StaySquare

On the Festool MFT/3 or MFT 1080
Replaces the factory guide rail supports; slides into the extrusion with the included hardware. No drilling.

On third-party aluminum extrusion benches
Dash-Board PWS, TrackTubes, and industry-standard 3090 and 4080-Lite profiles.

On the table you built
Three included wood screws per side mount it to any vertical face at least 3.5 inches (89 mm) tall — a Paulk-style top, a hardwood apron, or a 2x4.

What’s Included in the Box

• 2 qty. Positioner — front and back
• 1 qty. Keeper Plate
• 2 qty. Position Stop
• 1 qty. 3 mm hex key
• 6 qty. #8 × 1″ wood screws for direct mounting (three per side)
• 2 qty. Extra torpedo nut, 4 qty. Extra M5 socket head cap screw, 4 qty. Extra M5 washer — for mounting to an extrusion bench other than the MFT/3

A 5 mm hex key is required for installation and is not supplied. Reversing the hook for a non-MFT/3 table also calls for a 2.5 mm hex key, not supplied.

Specifications

• Maximum clearance under the guide rail: 4″ (102 mm) from the top of the worksurface. On worktops other than the MFT/3, clearance depends on where the Positioners mount relative to the top.
• Recommended guide rail: Festool FS 1080, 1,080 mm (42.5″) or equivalent, on a worktop 28–30″ (710–760 mm) deep.
• Rest positions: Positive stops at 75° and 95° from the worktop, user-adjustable for holding strength to suit the guide rail in use.
• Materials: Assemblies and plates, 6061-T6 aluminum. Sector plates, hardened stainless steel at the detent contact surface.
• Locking mechanism: Lever, offset from the guide rail and reversible to either side.
• Warranty: 5-year warranty
• Origin: Made in the USA with domestic and global components

Compatibility

• Commercial tables and extrusions: Festool MFT/3 and MFT 1080, Dash-Board PWS, TrackTubes, and 3090 and 4080-Lite profiles.
• Shop-built tables: Any vertical mounting surface at least 3.5″ (89 mm) tall. Included screws are for wood; other materials may require your own fasteners.
• Guide rails: Festool, Makita, Milwaukee, Triton, Evolution, WEN, Powertec, Eastvolt, and Kreg^†.
• Worktop size and guide rail length: Works on worktops of any size, but is optimized for 28–30″ (710–760 mm) deep tables with a 42.5″ (1,080 mm) rail. On a deeper table with a longer rail, park the guide rail fully upright rather than at 75°. See the user guide.

Documentation

• StaySquare Guide Rail System User Guide (PDF)

Optional Accessories

• StaySquare Systainer & Foam Inserts: A TSO Blue Systainer³ M 137, dual-layer foam inserts, a metal parts tin, and a Systainer Identification Card, sized for StaySquare. Add storage any time.
• MultiFunction Fence & Stop Set: Mounts in 20 mm dog holes. Laser-engraved dual-dimensioned scale and a dual-arm flip stop.
• TSO Bench Dogs: Index your workpieces in the 20 mm (0.79″) grid.
• TDS-13 Dog Stops: Adjustable, low-profile work stops.

Square it once — and keep it there. Add StaySquare to your bench.

Made in the USA with domestic and global components. Backed by our 5-year warranty.

† StaySquare is compatible with Kreg® guide rails, but has not been tested on their Adaptive Cutting Station table.