Guide rails come in various shapes and sizes. They are usually made of aluminium and have an anti-slip profile. You can use guide rails with a hand-held circular saw, plunge saw, jigsaw, and router.
Three Types of Guide Rails
Based on the differences in shape and length, we can distinguish three types of guide rails: the width and length guide and the circle guide rail.
- The width guide, also known as the parallel guide, is usually included with a circular saw. Without a guide, a plunge saw is hardly usable. You use a width guide to cut planks in width. This guide is useful for narrower planks (up to 15 cm).
- When a width guide is too short, the length guide offers a solution. With a length guide, you make long straight cuts. As long as you want, in fact, because you can connect multiple guide rails with connectors.
- The circle guide rail is intended for use with a jigsaw. It is an aluminium plate with a center point on one side that comes in the middle of the circle you want to cut. On the other side is the attachment piece to connect the jigsaw. Using the numbers on the guide rail, you can determine the circle’s diameter.
How to Use a Guide Rail?
Plunge saws are made for use with a guide rail and, therefore, fit directly onto the rail. However, this is not always the case with hand-held circular saws. It is often not possible to use a guide rail of a particular brand for another brand of circular saw, and you usually need an adapter plate to attach the machine to the rail. Some machines are even completely incompatible with an adapter. So, keep this in mind when purchasing a circular saw and choose a guide rail of the same brand.
You click the adapter onto the baseplate of the machine. The extra thickness of the adapter plate does reduce the maximum cutting height slightly. Before starting work, check if the machine fits well in the rail by sliding it back and forth. To be sure that nothing shifts during sawing, you can secure the guide with a couple of clamps.
