Makita 194367-7 118" Guide Rail

I was worried because of the other reviews, but mine came fully packaged and the box was undamaged. The track itself is as straight as I can tell. I used an 8ft level and a laser from one end and then again from the middle out. As far as I can tell it is perfectly straight. After I make a test cut I can use calipers to see if the strip I cut is the same width along the length, but I think it should be fine. Better than having to join my festool tracks, they never go together straight no matter what and I mostly do lot of ripping of sheet goods so this will save so much time. And I can dedicate my festool tracks to cross cuts.

I had 2x 55 rails using the extension bar... things... This was fine, mostly. There was a lot of tweaking and wiggling and more tweaking to ensure my line was straight across the two. After a bunch of use and moving it around, I would find more black dust (indicative of the saw eating into the splinter guard) so I would have to re-adjust and get another rubber guard. This singular 118" rail has solved that for me. I am still cautious moving it around as it is just an aluminum extrusion so not SUPER robust. It may be stronger than I think it is, but I am not willing to chance it. My lines are straight and I am able to more quickly breakdown sheet goods without the endless measuring and tweaking and re-securing of an independent straight edge. Make sure you have room for it though, and download the free guide rail mounting STLs so you can get it on the wall and out of the way.

After using the Makita Track Saw and the included short guide, I went ahead and purchased the 118" guide. I am glad that I spent the money. The guide works excellent for the long side of 4' x 8' plywood sheets. The cuts are just as excellent as the short guide. No splinters, no clamps, no dust! The only con with the 118" guide is storing it when it is not in use. I created a rack near the ceiling of my workshop that holds all my long straight edges. The Makita 118" fits right in with the rest of them. I don't know if I would take this to a job site without some protective casing to keep it straight, but it works great in my workshop. I can't say enough about the dust port on the Makita Track Saw. If you need to be dustless, when you cut sheet goods, the Makita Track Saw used with the 118" guide, hooked up to a dust collection system works great for me. The combination just takes my wood shop environment to a higher level of "dust free". I am always amazed these days when the sales hype actually turns into reality. The Makita Track Saw and accessories are truly amazing. They have met and exceeded my expectations. Thank you Makita!!!

Phenomenal price for a precision tool. Frankly, other sellers charge more than the cost here for the shipping alone. I can now build cabinets and built-ins onsite accurately without a table saw.

I love and use my Makita track saw a lot professionally, cutting panels and anything else that is wide enough. I didn't want to join two 55" tracks for 8 ft cuts anymore so I ordered a 118" track (directly from Amazon). (It can't be shipped by UPS, only by truck freight). The first one was damaged in shipping, bummer. The second one was bowed, uniformly, over the entire length, doubly bummed. I really wanted it to be right. The extrusion seems not to be straight - it was about 1/32" out over the entire length. That means if you join two cut panels there will be 1/16" gap at one end - not acceptable. I can't walk in and check one here in SF, CA but I can, and will, walk in and check a German one for the same price. I have a short German track; the Makita saw works on German tracks.

I have a Grizzly Track Saw with a 55 inch guide rail, but wanted a longer length guide to rip 8 foot sheets. After reading several reviews of people joining the shorter guide rails together to get a long rail and the problems they've had keeping them straight, I finally pulled the trigger and bought the Makita 118 inch guide. Because of it's length, I was worried that it might be damaged during shipment, but it came extremely well packed with literally a wooden crate built around it. It arrived in perfect condition. In other reviews, a few people mentioned problems with the straightness of this guide, but mine was absolutely straight. Overall, I'm very pleased with the Makita 118" rail and would definitely buy it again. By the way, it works perfectly with the Grizzly Track Saw.

I think I've convinced several other folks to get these. It really makes it easy to reduce full sheets of plywood accurately. The extra length makes it possible to slice sheets of plywood at various angles. The Makita track saw that goes with it has great dust control through the vacuum port on it. I lay a sheet of 3/8" flake board on the floor and then sheet of plywood on top of that. Set the depth of cut to just barely reach through the plywood and I can keep reusing my flake board. Now if only my garage floor was more even. *sigh* The chip shield strip seems to have slipped some which is making it a little harder to align. I can get a new one and start over but money's a little tight right now.