Festool Track Saw Rail Storage Solution

[R. Deschain]

I tipped over my 55” Festool track saw rail and bent it along the spine. There was no fixing it and I said DIRTY words! It has almost happened 20 times and I kept “meaning to do something about it…”

Like many of us here on GJ, I do not have any easily accessed extra wall space. I looked around, saw that both of my garage doors were empty and said, “Hmmm…” I decided to build a rack that would mount on the overhead door, allow it to move without any removal of the rails, and keep the rails secure during the entire transit up and down. I ended up with a tiered slot design and because I have 5 different sized tracks, I made two sets of holders.

It took some figuring and I tacked together 2 mock-ups, before I got it right, but the door moves up and down freely and the track rails don’t budge during the entire transit.

Really proud of how these worked out and believed I was the smartest wood-necromancer that hath ever cast a man-glitter incantation - right up until I went on the Festool Forum to post/brag about my giant bucket of smarts and saw four VERY similar designs that were years old…

I posted a video of the project here:

I did a quick drawing of my version of these and you can find it here:
http://mattofmanytrades.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Track-Saw-Bracket_Matt-Talley_2019.pdf

 

[poppakap]

Nice. I like it. I keep mine leaning against the wall and fear for the day I bend them

 

[rayra]

Clever.
How about the ceiling? I've put up some 'trapeze' frames to hold my 12' aluminum ladder.

 

[R. Deschain]

Nice. I like it. I keep mine leaning against the wall and fear for the day I bend them

Yep. When that day comes it hurts! The 55" track is $145.

 

[R. Deschain]

Clever.
How about the ceiling? I've put up some 'trapeze' frames to hold my 12' aluminum ladder.

I have lights, kayaks, bikes, snowboards, and ladders on the ceiling already. My garage doors are/were really under utilized. I am eyeballing the other one for another project.

 

[Kermit007]

I hope that you re-balanced the garage doors.
If not, you have the potential to break springs or garage door openers


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[Ej63090]

Great idea for tracksaw tracks. I've been considering this for my fishing poles as well.

 

[pattenp]

I hope that you re-balanced the garage doors.
If not, you have the potential to break springs or garage door openers


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Ditto.. springs are sized based on door weight. Be mindful of how much weight is being added.

 

[LeeG]

I had a little bit of ceiling space left, so I made these angled brackets from some 1/8" bar stock to hold my smaller rails.

View media item 94409
This isn't a great image, but it is a set of 'L' brackets for holding my 8' rail. Made from 1/2" x 1 1/2" rectangular tubing All of these brackets are lined with rubber to protect the aluminum rails.

View media item 94410

 

[scottydosnntkno]

I hope that you re-balanced the garage doors.
If not, you have the potential to break springs or garage door openers


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Pretty overkill imho.

Most openers are rated or doors up to 400lbs for example. If your door went from 290 to 305 I’m pretty sure your opener wouldn’t really care. Same for the springs, they don’t make springs in 10lb increments. You can have a spring with 8.5 winds for a 8’ door, and a 9’ door takes 10.5 winds to lift it up. The spring doesn’t really care as long as you don’t overwind it from its max winding limit.

 

[Stefan S]

Here’s my effort...

Dining room table

 

[blinn]

3 ceiling mounted ladder brackets from Lowe’s with foam hot water pipe insulation on the bracket to protect the tracks. Holds both 55” and 118” tracks. Cost me around 25.00


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[BlindViper]

Looks good hopefully you were able to cut the old one down.

 

[acer66]

I stack mine vertically perpendicular to the wall in some self made wood brackets to minimize the wall space they need between my clamps etc..

 

[R. Deschain]

Looks good hopefully you were able to cut the old one down.

I did. It was bent at about the 2/3 mark and now is attached to my super fancy/overpriced TSO GRS rail square (It was a gift). That way I have a ready square edge rail cutting down 2X materiel and panels less that 24" wide.
Now I need to figure out a mount for it... Making Lemon-aid out of lemons.

 

[R. Deschain]

Pretty overkill imho.

Most openers are rated or doors up to 400lbs for example. If your door went from 290 to 305 I’m pretty sure your opener wouldn’t really care. Same for the springs, they don’t make springs in 10lb increments. You can have a spring with 8.5 winds for a 8’ door, and a 9’ door takes 10.5 winds to lift it up. The spring doesn’t really care as long as you don’t overwind it from its max winding limit.

I actually hadn't thought about the additional load until after posting this. I have side mounted jack screw openers and I called the install company that put them and the doors in. Their service tech laughed at me a little and said that the openers, shaft, and spring I have will not even notice the weight. a little peace of mind.