Makita 194368-5 55" Guide Rail

Works incredibly well to extend another guide. You will need the Makita kit to join them together. This is an invaluable tool, especially if you are doing finish carpentry and need to do a mider fold. Be sure to that they are straight when you connect to together. To do this simply connect them draw a line with a pencil along the cutting edge , then flip the guide around backwards and do it again along the same line. If you have them lined up straight, you should see the Lions lineup. If not, repeat and make adjustments until they do Align. This is very accurate, and make sure work of cutting down large sheet goods. I already own two, and I think I might buy another so that I could cut even longer sheets. It’s perfectly on Makita saws and has a slit cut so that Makita saws can use their anti-tip feature. Super handy.

I love my Makita track saw and this guide rail. Love it so much I bought a second rail, bought the connector kit, and the carry bag. So now I can quickly join them together and make perfectly straight clean 8-foot cuts of 4x8 sheets, without any table saw. This track is precise and comes with the pre-applied zero clearance rubber edge, which overhangs, so you will trim it the first time you plunge your track saw into it.I messed it up the first time, because when the saw gets to the edge and one of the gliders on its foot slips out of the track, the saw will pivot slightly and cut the rubber under an angle.So, I ordered a new rubber strip, replaced the old one (it's a self adhesive peel-n-stick kind of affair) and redid my cut, but this time, put a second track at the end, so the saw continued going straight into the second track, cutting the rubber edge on the first one perfectly clean and straight.This is a 55" track, to you can cross cut 4x8 sheets on this, but for long cuts you will want a second rail and connect them into a 110" rail, in order to cut your sheets length wise.My track did not come with the clamps and I bought those separately, They are great, because they slide under the track and attach it securely to the table, completely hidden and out of the way. But to be honest the track has very grippy foam at the bottom, so it stays put, even if you don't use the clamps. Which ever brand you are endeared to, be it Bosch, Makita, Kreg, Mailwaukee of Festool, these tracksaws are a complete game changer for woodworking weekend warriors and allow us to make absolutely precise and super clean cuts, with not a hint of a splinter. This particular Makita rail is dead straight and even when I double two of them up in length using a connector kit, it still is perfectly straight.I upgraded my track with TSO Products GRS-16 Square (shown in pictures), which simply clips on and allows me to cut perfect 90 degree cross cuts every single time. If you see in the pictures, the bottom has two foam strips, which help hold the track to your work piece without sliding and prevent marring of your surface too (it's aluminum after all). Between the strips you see the bottom t-track where the clamps slide into and also the saw itself glides on top of. The big t-track on left side where my TSO square clipped into is also used to connect two of these tracks with a steel rod. That kit is sold separately.A nice touch on this track is that it has a hole on each end to hang it on the wall when not in use. Or do what I did and buy the official carrying case, which can store two of these 55" tracks, both clamps and the connector kit, and a spare rubber zero clearance edge, in case you need to replace it. If you are mobile, like me, you will appreciate keeping your track clean, safe and straight, in a properly padded case.And if you never used a track saw with a rail like this, all you need is some sawhorses a thick foam board to lay your plywood on top of and set the saw cutting depth to be just proud of your plywood thickness. It will cut clean through, the foam under will prevent bottom chipping and the guide rail with its rubber edge will prevent top chipping and you will get a dead straight cut just like the one in my pics. This thing is way more accurate than my jobsite table saw. I honestly use it more than my table saw these days. Building a kitchen with it as we speak.

The Makita guide rail arrived in a well packaged box from UPS without any indications that the guide rail had suffered any damage in transit. Upon opening the Makita box there was a secondary box with various configurations of cardboard padding and foam. The guide rail was absolutely perfect upon a visual inspection. One of my biggest concerns was that several reviews had mentioned that the main guide on their rail was different than this 55" guide rail requiring an adjustment to the saw when switching from one track to the other. This was not the case in my comparison to my 118" Makita guide. Using a straight edge I was delighted to see that all my concerns were for naught. This was as perfect as I could have hoped for.

I initially bought a couple Powertec tracks to accompany my Makita saw to save a penny. The tracks were straight and initially worked fine with clamps so it seemed like I’d made a shrewd purchase. However, after only a couple uses, all the adhesives used to hold the plastic glides and edge guide to the Powertecs started to give and they were peeling off the track. Even after super-gluing them back on, I found the glides still separating and determined it to be from expansion and contraction of the low quality plastic when exposed to the sun.I had a big cabinet project and was tired of fiddling with those tracks, so I decided to plunk down for the Makita name to see if it would hold up better. Not only did it do that, but I was immediately amazed at the level of grip on the pads of the Makita track. I always used clamps with the previous tracks, but the Makita track’s grip inspired enough confidence that I ran most cuts without, making quick work of breaking down the panels. I may have gotten a bit carried away as I did have one cut where I extended and leaned against the track so my cut drifted a bit, but luckily that was into the off-cut and a quick re-alignment was all that was needed. Every other cut was dead-on where I wanted it.