TSO PRODUCTS GRS-16 Guide Rail Square User Guide
- June 4, 2024
- TSO PRODUCTS
Table of Contents
TSO PRODUCTS GRS-16 Guide Rail Square
User Guide for GRS-16 Family
Thanks for purchasing this genuine TSO Product. Should you have any product questions or issues, please contact us toll-free at 800-727-0311 (U.S.), 239-236-5526 (international), email us at info@tsoproducts.com, or visit www.tsoproducts.com/support.
The Basics
The Plunge Saw is ideally suited not only for “breaking down” sheet goods:
plywood, MDF, Melamine coated par-ticle board as well as other materials but
also for making ready-for-glue-up parts free of splinters depending on your
make of saw and the type of saw blade.
Woodworking comes with risks, so protect yourself:
- Read and follow the Instructions provided by the saw’s manufacturer and especially the instructions relating to safety and injury prevention;
- Practice your set-up and technique on low-cost dis-posable material before attempting to cut your project material.
Sequence of Cuts
- Rip the longest edge of your material by trimming ap-prox. ¼” (6mm) off the “mill edge” with your saw, using a Guide Rail overhanging the workpiece by at least 7” inches at each end.
- Parallel Rip Cut opposite the first cut using a TSO Parallel Guide System designed to be compatible with FESTOOL, Makita and Kreg Plunge saws and other brands. If only one parallel cut is required, it can also be accomplished by using a hand-layout.
- Crosscuts to square required parts to size.
Check Guide Rail(s)
Guide Rails are a very critical component for successful precision cutting.
The GRS-16 family of Guide Rails Squares are designed to work with FESTOOL
Style extrusion profiles as well as KREG guide rails for use with the left
hand KREG Plunge Saw.
Don’t assume they are straight and flat. Check your Guide Rails carefully
anytime you encounter straightness- or squareness of cut problems. More on
that further on.
Using GRC-12 Guide Rail Connectors
If two guide rails are joined end-to-end with GRC-12, verify they are in
straight alignment immediately before starting the first cut. Until your
technique is developed through practice, use a 48” or longer straight edge to
verify guide rail straightness. A 4-foot STABILA® precision level will also
work well.
Use the raised Guide Rail profile which guides the saw, as the reference for
alignment check.
Compare two guide rails to verify rail straightness. The two rails, when
placed spine-to-spine, should not exhibit any daylight between them.
GRS-16 vs. GRS-16 PE (or PE K)
The GRS-16 PE (and GRS-16 PE K) models can do every-thing the GRS-16 version
can do – but not the other way around. The GRS-16 is completely capable of
performing all squaring operations from the starting edge of the cut but it
cannot be used for squaring from the far end of a sheet of material.
Plunge Cut Best Practices
- Be aware of your body position and stance while pushing the track saw to prevent any side loading of the saw or the guide rail.
- Ensure the dust collection hose and power cord follow you freely entire length of cut.
- Start the saw and plunge to selected depth before moving the blade into the material. Exit the cut completely before stopping the saw blade.
GRS-16 Troubleshooting Guide
GRS-16 Series Guide Rail Squares are literally “Born Square.” They are
machined from one solid piece of aluminum in one precision machining set-up.
Each tool is marked with a 3-digit lot code verifying conformity to
extraordinary accuracy to ensure it cannot detract from the accuracy of your
cut.
Everything else can and will contribute to expected dimensional variations –
which are normal in woodworking.
User technique and skill level with plunge saw cutting is the most common
cause of initial disappointment experienced by some users.
All other tools used in connection with plunge saw cuts can also contribute to
less than “perfect” accuracy.
Patience, practice and persistence will carry the day in your craft!
5-Cut Method for Accuracy Check
View and perform this detailed user test-cut demonstration:
https://youtu.be/AmNyPvsfSCo
- If your cut is not square, determine if your set-up is square BEFORE making a saw cut.
- Place the guide rail exactly where you intend to cut and mark the cut line with a marking knife. Make additional cut marks to create a triangle pattern result-ing in a three-sided layout.
- Measure the diagonal Hypotenuse of this triangle and determine its dimension.
- Compare to the calculated dimension using a Pythagoras Calculator found via Google search.
- If this Hypotenuse calculation is very close to the measured distance of your marking knife lay-out, then any observed out-of-square condition on earlier cuts implicates factor(s) other than the guide rail or guide rail square placement.
- If the hypotenuse calculation shows an unacceptable variation, then the guide rail straightness or square placement is questionable.
- Identify which of the above recommendations you did not follow exactly. This time follow all the instructions explicitly. If you are still not getting satisfactory results: Repeat and practice. Repeat and practice until your results consistently meet your realistic expectations.
- Most problems are technique related. Only a very small number have been traced to guide rail product defects or handling damage after leaving the factory.
For further assistance: email us
info@tsoproducts.com
This User Guide is available online for download with revision updates as they
occur.
We welcome your comments or suggestions.
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Read User Manual Online (PDF format) >>