A guide for a circular saw is a necessary device that expands the capabilities of the tool. DIY guide for a circular saw DIY guide for a plunge-cut saw

This idea was proposed to us by Vasily Art from Shchelkovo.

I would like to tell you about the guide for a circular saw. Not long ago I worked at (installation of sliding wardrobes, a tool for a former partner), and I really got into it. But I don’t have the money to buy one for myself, and I don’t expect to in the foreseeable future. The most budget Elitech with a guide costs about 12k. The guides themselves cost from 3,000 rubles separately. Which is also a bit expensive. Having rummaged around the Internet, I didn’t find anything intelligible and began to think.... And then do it

In general, I present the idea to your judgment. So, we will need

1. Aluminum strip 1200*300 - slightly less than 1k.
2. Aluminum corner 10*10*1000 - 51r - 2 pcs.
3. Beam 10*10*2000 - also about 100 rubles - 1 piece.
4. Plywood 10mm - I don’t know, 500*500 approximately))

In the photo, in my opinion, everything is clear. If you have any questions, I will try to explain.

First of all, we make a guide. We glue a glazing bead into the aluminum corner, which we then grind into a plane. We, in turn, fix it on an aluminum plate. For additional strength, it is advisable to strengthen the connection with self-tapping screws.

Leave more space on the tire on the left, I tried it, but it turned out that the rigidity is not enough, nothing can be screwed on. I'll be scratching my head on how to do it.

Ideally, leave 30 mm from the motor so that you can install clamps, but this is ideal. The guide is ready.

Let's move on to finalizing the sole of a simple circular saw. The essence of the modification is to make a triangular groove. To do this, take two pieces of plywood, saw them at an angle of 45 degrees and also glue/screw another piece of aluminum corner into this corner. It is advisable to do this on a tire, first with glue. so that there is a plane and the saw does not drive. Then we make a cut in the new sole for the disc. First, we simply immerse the disk in it while it is on until the riving knife rests.

Under the knife you will have to use a jigsaw. It is also advisable to extend the cut in front of the disk for dust removal, otherwise it simply will not exist. Tests have shown that the idea is quite workable. The cost of such a device was only 1,500 rubles.

A do-it-yourself guide for a circular saw is quite simple, but at the same time it greatly facilitates the process of sawing wood.

Experts who cut wood note that very often the cut must be perfectly accurate, and it is extremely difficult to achieve this without a special guide.

Of course, the guide rail is sold ready-made in various hardware stores, but its cost is quite high.

This is the main reason why craftsmen working with a circular saw prefer to use homemade options.

They are much cheaper, and their creation does not require significant time.

Why do you need a guide?

Craftsmen who often work with a circular saw know that in some cases the evenness of the cut does not matter.

However, there are situations when the cut must be very even. Even not very experienced specialists know that no matter how hard you try, it is almost impossible to guide a circular saw exactly along the markings.

As a result, you can ruin the material and redo the entire work, which is not only annoying and time-consuming, but also entails financial losses.

The solution can be a flat wooden strip attached to the product being cut using clamps, however, when using a hand-held circular saw, this method is not very effective.

This is due to the fact that sooner or later the saw will reach the clamps that protrude above and below the product, and it will be necessary to twist the fasteners so as not to damage the tool.

Even if you manage to set the bar perfectly level the second time, when making a new cut, in most cases a step appears.

Even a small one, it will still spoil the quality of the cut edge, and you will have to either grind it off using a special tool or redo the whole job. Therefore, craftsmen prefer not to even try to saw the product in two approaches.

A high-quality, even cut is obtained only when the saw moves along the markings from the beginning to the end of the wooden product without interruption.

In addition, when clamping a wooden plank with clamps, there is always a risk that the fasteners will not be good enough, and the guide will move to the side under the pressure of the circular saw. In this case, the workpiece will definitely be damaged, and you will have to start all over again.

Circular saws produced in the form of a machine are often free from this problem, since they already come with a guide bar and everything necessary for its smooth fastening.

Hand-held circular saws (with the exception of expensive industrial ones) do not have any guides, and therefore the problem of an even cut sooner or later faces every owner of such a tool.

To achieve a perfectly even cut, a special guide rail is used. However, a ready-made guide for a circular saw in a store is quite expensive, so craftsmen prefer to make it themselves using scrap materials.

Manufacturing a tire often does not take much time and requires an order of magnitude less financial investment.

In addition, to make a guide for a circular saw with your own hands, you do not need to have any special skills, and almost anyone can do this work.

DIY guide bars

One of the most common, cheap and simple options is an aluminum guide rail, which is used to level surfaces after applying putty or screed.

It is necessary to purchase a rule that has a groove for handles on its reverse side. In addition, you will need two clamps with a removable top part.

The handles from the rule will need to be removed, as well as the top part of the clamps. Then, runners resembling the letter T are made from polypropylene or fluoroplastic using a hacksaw and a file or a milling machine.

Experts explain their choice of this particular material by the fact that such runners will not slide in the groove and at the same time are quite durable.

The products must be inserted into the clamps instead of the removed upper part and inserted into the groove of the rule. After this, you can safely use the resulting product as a guide bar.

Due to the location of the clamps at a distance from the cut, there is no danger of the circular saw coming into contact with the metal.

Such a guide rail is several times cheaper than a ready-made one. Another advantage is that in the future the entire product can be disassembled and the rule and clamps can be used for their intended purpose.

A more expensive option would be a guide rail made using metal corners.

To make it, you need to attach a small U-shaped profile to the base of the saw using screws.

Then you need to build the guide itself using a larger U-shaped metal profile and chipboard sheets with plywood.

A large profile is attached to a plywood base (its dimensions are selected so that the small one on the base of a circular saw fits tightly into it) and is hugged on both sides with strips of chipboard.

Then, on the other side of the sole, a block or metal profile of the same height as the entire guide is installed (this is necessary so that the base of the tool, when cutting, is positioned strictly parallel to the wooden product).

The guide bar is secured at a sufficient distance from the saw with clamps, a small profile on the base of the circular is inserted into it, and work can begin.

This guide bar ensures an even cut and smooth running of the circular saw without dangling.

There is also a more expensive option for making a guide bar yourself, suitable for craftsmen who use a circular saw for work regularly and often.

A metal U-shaped profile is attached to the chipboard base with the base facing up. A corner with a carriage on bearings is attached to the sole of the circular saw.

The rollers run along a guide secured with clamps, thereby ensuring evenness of the cut and smooth movement of the tool.

A guide bar for a circular saw is often a necessary item for all those who frequently use this tool.

Making it yourself is quite simple; it does not require special skills or expensive materials.

However, you need to remember that a circular saw together with homemade devices can cause serious injuries, so you need to work carefully, following safety rules, and under no circumstances drink alcoholic beverages while working with such a dangerous tool.

A proprietary guide bar for a circular saw costs almost as much as the saw itself. However, the device is very important. Why? When it is used, is it possible to do without it, is it possible to replace it with something or make it yourself? The circular saw guide provides certain benefits during operation. This article describes these benefits and also answers various related questions. Here we also consider making a guide bar with your own hands.

Purpose

Anyone who has dealt with a circular saw knows how difficult it is to ensure an even cut. Even though you try to guide the tool along the markings, it still tries to swerve. If this happens, it turns out that time is wasted and the material is ruined.

Some people get out of this situation by attaching a strip along a ruler with a pair of clamps. But with a hand-held circular saw, this method is inconvenient because the clamps touch the tool.

Other reasons in favor of the guide:

Making at home

The main thing is to accurately maintain the geometry. The basis could be:

• channel;
• pipe with a rectangular cross-section;
• corner;
• laminate.

A serious disadvantage of wooden and pressed tires is their sensitivity to moisture.

Option 1. Laminate tire.

This will absorb the depth of the cut (approximately 1.5 cm), but such a device is convenient and easy to manufacture.

Option 2. The basis is the building rule. A model with handles that move along a groove is suitable.

Option 3. To obtain an accurate cut, it is necessary that the edge of the tool base adjacent to the guide be perfectly smooth. Professional tools with cast soles are distinguished by this, but inexpensive stamped bases do not have this property. Therefore, we offer the rail option. The tool moves along it without resting against the guide rail. At the same time, the force required to push the saw is significantly reduced. The rail can be made of aluminum U-shaped profile. You need two segments with different sections. The smaller profile is inserted into the larger profile without any gap, but free movement must be ensured.

Now the guide rail can be made by hand:

• A guide of larger diameter is attached to plywood No. 3 with screws. The heads of screws and self-tapping screws are ground down so that they can be hidden flush.
• We tightly place strips of plywood No. 10 on both sides of the guide and also fasten them with self-tapping screws. Plywood can be replaced with chipboard.

The excess width pieces are sawed off, and the rail is ready.

Preparing the hand saw:

For a perfect cut, the edge of the tire is placed on the marking and the guide is attached with clamps. With a guide rail, the saw moves smoothly and does not wobble, cuts accurately and feeds easily.

Conclusion

A guide for a “circular saw” is an extremely useful device, because every craftsman knows how important it is to ensure an even cut. Using a guide when working with a circular saw makes the process convenient and fast.

When working with a hand-held circular saw, the issue of straightness of the cut arises. There are two concepts for ensuring a straight line:

Fastening the circular saw itself to the sawing machine (workbench).

In this design, the hand tool is permanently attached to the table, and the workpiece moves along a guide. The cutting quality is excellent, but there are serious limitations on the size of the material being processed.

The workpiece is fixed permanently, and a guide ruler is installed for the hand-held circular saw.

In this design, the size of the workpiece to be cut can be any; the main thing is to ensure strong fastening of the device for the circular saw. Manufacturers of hand tools have taken care of users and offer various ready-made devices for sale.

Industrially manufactured guides are convenient and safe. As a rule, they are equipped with an accurate marking ruler; some allow you to set the cutting angle. The material is selected in such a way as to eliminate wedging and play during tool movement.

The pair, consisting of a groove and a runner, is protected from the penetration of cutting products and does not require lubrication.

However, all these kits have a high cost, and many home craftsmen make a rail for.

Let's consider options independently invented and created by home-grown “Kulibins”.

IMPORTANT! A hand-held circular saw is a source of increased injury, so when making homemade devices based on it, you should adhere to safety precautions.

The simplest option is a cutting stop

The device is actively used when cutting with a jigsaw.

It works quite effectively, but is limited in its suitability for a hand-held circular saw. The tire is pressed against the workpiece using a clamp. The bracket protrudes above the work surface both from below and from above.

As a result, we get restrictions on the length of the cut. The circular motor rests against the clamp, and you have to make the cut in two steps. In this case, the quality of the edge deteriorates and a step may form.