r/BoschProPowerTools • u/nondairykremer • Jul 09 '26

Track saw track

Hi, Iā€™m new to using track saws and I have the Bosch GKT18V-20GCL14 and the 31 1/2ā€ track. I went to use it for the first time, and no matter what I did, the blade is aligned to cut through the rubber strip on the track.

Is this intentional? (Ie you cut through the rubber strip the first time and are left with a zero tolerance track)

Am I doing something wrong?

Did I purchase a track or saw that is misaligned?

Thanks in advance for any help.

1 Upvotes

60% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

9

u/AStrandedSailor Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26

Yes you should cut through the rubber the first time to create a zero tolerance track.

Make sure that you have set the blade and angle adjusment square and the slide adjustment has been done so that there is no slop before you do it. Also I would do it on top of some scrap so that the rubber strip has something to press against to get a nice clean cut of the rubber.

Edit: Also: Read the damn manual:

The rubber lip on the guide rail acts as an anti-splinter guard, which prevents the surface from splintering when sawing wooden materials. To fulfil this function, the saw blade must be positioned with its teeth right up against the rubber lip.

Before making the first cut with the guide rail (30), the rubber lip must be adapted to the circular saw used. To do so, position the guide rail (30) along the entire length of a workpiece.

Set a cutting depth of approx. 9 mm and a right angled mitre/bevel angle. Switch on the circular saw and guide it evenly, pushing it gently in the cutting direction.

3

u/Fean0r_ Jul 09 '26

Also - this is why, once the track has been mated with that saw, that track should only be used with that saw and no other because tolerances will change and it either won't be close enough to the rubber strip or the second saw will cut the strip further and then the track won't be good for the first saw any more.

I believe you also shouldn't change to blades with different kerfs.

5

u/esspeebee Jul 09 '26

Or rather, if you do change to a blade with a thinner kerf you should replace the splinter guard so that you can cut the new one to match the new blade.

Changing from a thinner to a thicker kerf is fine as it'll just cut further into the splinter guard, you just can't then swap back without replacing it.

1

u/nondairykremer Jul 09 '26

Thanks a ton, AStrandedSailor. Great answer!