Thoughts on Bora track?

[Joe Broadway]

I was looking at the 50" Bora track/clamp/straight edge and corresponding saw guide but there doesn't seem to be much information on it. Has anybody here used these products before? If they are of decent quality it could be used as a poor-mans track saw.

[Mort Stevens]

I bought the 50" version from Sears kind of on a whim... it's was only $40 bucks... I know this style of straight edge clamp isn't new, a few years ago it seemed everybody carried them, then all of a sudden they became kind of hard to find, so when I saw them at Sears the other day I grabbed one... interesting enough it had a big sticker on it that says "Made in Israel" I don't know if that was to impress me or what!

Today was the first time that I had a chance to use it - for some reason I thought this design was kind of self squaring, but it's really not, you need to mark both edges and then set the clamp. The movable pad seems kind of moody at times, sometimes it will move freely and smoothly and other times it takes a bit of force to get it moving. Clamp pressure is good and tight, but you can flex the aluminum edge in the midspan a good 1/8" or so with only a moderate amount of pressure (maybe 5 pounds of force) using your fingers... however, I tried running the base of a circular saw and router along it and noticing the flex - it's pretty hard to get any flex that way because the sideways force is spreadout and you really don't need much force to keep it againt the straight edge anyway.

The 50" length becomes a little unwieldy clamping it to something with a short span - I tried it on some 18" wide boards, but the clamp projection cantilever was too heavy and the boards wanted to tip up in the air. I would find a 24" model pretty handy, but all they carried was a 40" (or maybe it was 30") and the 50" model.

Overall I find it handy, it's not something I will use all the time, but it clamps easily and it's a much better alternative to 2-clamps and a 1x4 used as a straight edge. I think I will pick up the shorter model once I get back in that area again.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I have a 50" Kobalt I bought @ Lowes three years ago.
Works so so.
To be honest, I prefer to use a 48" plastic level for a saw guide instead or toss together a shop made guide out of MDF or hardboard or pegboard.
As mentioned above, the clamps tend to walk when you tighten it down.
It (the Koblat) does work as a make shift clamp.
I've used it more on cutting drywall than anything else.


IIRC, I paid $30.00 for the Kobalt.
I doubt if I'd pay any more for anything similar.

[David Prince]

I have one of these and it works great. I would recommend it and would buy another one if I had to do it over again.

http://www.amazon.com/Clamp-50-Inch-...8230243&sr=1-9

[Logan William]

I have the same model as David just posted in the ~28 and 52" lengths(24 and 48" plus whatever length adder they put on). Personally I really like them both and will probably buy a 36" as well assuming they offer it. My main complaint is that the rod that the moveable jaw "bites" on and slides on isn't hardened, so at least on the 48" model the location where the moveable jaw bites for full sheet rips has developed several dings/nicks so it makes it harder to get the jaw up to the sheet edge to clamp. I will likely try and clean it up with a file and see if I can remove the raised edges, but the indentions will still be there to catch on.

[Lex Boegen]

I have a 50" Kobalt I bought @ Lowes three years ago.
Works so so.
To be honest, I prefer to use a 48" plastic level for a saw guide instead or toss together a shop made guide out of MDF or hardboard or pegboard.
As mentioned above, the clamps tend to walk when you tighten it down.
It (the Koblat) does work as a make shift clamp.
I've used it more on cutting drywall than anything else.


IIRC, I paid $30.00 for the Kobalt.
I doubt if I'd pay any more for anything similar.

I have that same Kobalt clamping guide. I double-check both ends of the guide with a tape measure after clamping, to ensure that it didn't shift on me. If the material I am cutting is stiff, such as 3/4" plywood, it works well as a circular saw guide. I have had some material flex on me enough that the edge of the circular saw slipped under the edge of the guide, causing my cut to wander. Now I support my material better so that doesn't happen. Is it as good as a track saw? No. Is it as good as can be expected for the price? Yes. I use it primarily for cutting sheet goods slightly oversize for final trimming on my table saw, so a slight drift from the cutting line isn't a problem. There's nothing to "lock" the saw to the guide, so it can wander away from the guide, so I make sure that the waste side of my cut is where the saw will travel, so if it does wander, I can pull it back and push it against the guide to trim off that "bump". I still want to get a real track saw (leaning towards the Makita), but I can't justify the expense because this system works well enough.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I have had some material flex on me enough that the edge of the circular saw slipped under the edge of the guide, causing my cut to wander.

Yep...that's why I like to clamp the 48" plastic level down and use it instead of the Kobalt.

To be perfectly honest though, since I bought the Festool track saw, that's pretty much all I've been using the past year.