BORA50” NGX Clamp Edge, Straight Cut Guide for Circular Saws, Easy to Use, Great for Cross-Cutting Plywood Sheets and Routing Dados, 544050

I got this with the saw guide, to make an "affordable track saw".Works pretty darn well for that purpose, once you get the edge guidealigned with your saw.BIG TIP:The clamp always seemed to be "sticking". Sometimes it would slide easily, butoften it would jam up and stop sliding at all. It took forever to figure out the trick.Now it slides easily all the time. The trick is this:* The orange part of the clamp has two little tabs sticking out at the back end.* I had no idea what they were for, and none of the instructions mentioned them.* You put the heel of you palm against the back of the gray handle (in the "open"position), and then pull back on those tabs with your fingers, as though pullingon a hypodermic needle.* Voila! The internals of the clamping mechanism (whatever they are) COMPLETELYdisengage, and the clamp slides freely in its track.Important Notes:1) In the pictures, the "edge guide" looks like thin tape that could go anywhere.It's not. It's a nice, thick piece of plastic, with adhesive on one edge so it is ready toapply, and there is cut-away on the bottom of the clamp to attach it to, so it works well.2) You NEED the edge guide. If you use the clamp for cutting sheet goods, you darnwell want that edge guide in place. It is the ONLY good way to align the clamp forcutting. (There are blade-markers on the saw guide, but they're not really useful forlining up the cut when the saw is on the guide. (If you take the saw off, they may work.I didn't.)3) To attach the edge guide, it's best to remove the clamping mechanism. (Easily doneby taking out two screws. The instructions don't say that (they could use improving),but it's pretty easy to figure out there is no way to attach the edge guide the fulllength of the clamp, until you do.4. The tape on the edge guide doesn't QUITE go to the end. It's maybe 1/4" short, butthere is an inch of extra tape, so do yourself a favor and cut off the end of the guidewhere there is no adhesive, before you start applying it to the clamp. That will removethe slight tendency of the edge to lift up--something I may have to trim off, eventually.5. Don't bother with the T-Square attachment! Total waste of money, if you're using theclamp as a track-saw. (For details, see my review of that attachment. It works fine whenit makes a "T", but it has to be in an "L" configuration to work with your saw. And in thatconfiguration, it fails miserably.)6. Now that you know you CAN'T depend on the T-Square for alignment, and you MUST havethe edge guide in place, do yourself a favor and mark BOTH sides of the panel you're cutting.Then put the clamp in place, and cut away. You'll save yourself the half-panel I ruinedbefore I figured out those steps.7. But there is still ONE MORE PROBLEM to solve, if your saw is like mine.The edge guard projects 1/2" beyond the edge of the clamp.The instructions for mounting the saw to the saw plate don't SAY to put the bladeas close as possible to the edge of the plate, but they should.What they DO say is to make sure the blade guard is free to move.That's a darn good idea. BUT...On my Ryobi saw, "reasonably close" puts the blade 3/4" from the plate.The blade guard is pretty thick where it is close to the plate, so I can get itthe saw MAYBE 1/8" closer, while still being able to move the guard.I KNOW I can move it 1/16" of inch closer. And I MAY be able to move it 1/8".But I NEED it to be a full 1/4" closer, for the edge-guide to be of any use.In "short" (pun intended), the edge-guide is 1/4" too short for use with myRyobi circular saw. Will it work with other saws? Don't know. But I wouldcheck the width of yours. If your blade guard is more than 1/8" from theedge of the blade, it won't work.There is a WORKAROUND, though. So check your saw before installingthe plastic strip that comes with the clamp. If it won't be wide enough,double-sided carpet tape and a strip of linoleum are the perfect size.Here's the procedure:a) Get a linoleum remnant from your nearest big box store, along withdouble-sided carpet tape.b) Cut a 2" strip of linoleum the length of your clamp.c) Put double-sided carpet tape in the groove under the clamp.d) Turn the clamp right-side-up and use your razor-knife to trim the excess tape.e) Turn the clamp over again, peel the backing from the tape, and put down thestrip of linoleum, shiny-side pressing into the tape.f) Find a nice long piece of wood you can cut the end off, and do it.Voila! You now have a perfectly-trimmed edge guide!

When combined with the Bora NGX saw plate (for mounting a circular saw) this becomes a viable alternative to a high end track saw, but at a relatively low price. A good track saw is more accurate, but they can cost 8 times as much.I recently used this (with the addition of a NGX saw plate) to cut full plywood sheets for a Murphy bed project and the results were great. Much better than my old method of clamping a straight board the full length of the plywood and running the circular saw along the edge. That said, be aware that the clamp is narrow, so when used at full length it tends to inflect slightly in the middle if you are not very careful and this can affect cut accuracy. Also, tear out on plywood is still an issue, particularly when cutting against the top ply’s grain.If you are cutting 8’x4’ plywood frequently and need high quality cuts, invest in a track saw. However, if you do this only occasionally, then the Bora NGX system is a nice alternative and you will probably be happy you saved several hundreds of dollars that you can use for other tools you may also need.

Overall, it’s a good tool and works as advertised. However I was a little disappointed in the build quality. The clamping mechanism feels a little cheap and not as durable as I’d hoped. Also, you really have pay attention when locking the clamp that the opposing end did not slip. Because the clamping edge is only a few inches wide, it’s kind of difficult to square up the far edge of the clamp. It’s not nearly as fast to get the track setup square for your cut line. It takes a little patience and a double checking of your measurements before locking the clamp in place. Once set, the straight edge is awesome and produces great cut results. No need for the track sled in my opinion. The fence edge is plenty high enough to keep good contact with your circular saw, router, or jig saw. Overall, I do like it and would recommend it, but it could be a little beefier and with a wider edge clamp to help keep it square when getting it set up.

Works great, very useful

Perfect if you don’t have a table saw. Just clamp and saw. Made a difficult project much easier. I can now cut down full sheets with my circular saw. I recommend a good battery circular saw to go with it.

This clamp is an awful product. My main issue with it is that the sliding locking mechanism jams all the time. This renders the clamp unfit for purpose. The last thing you want when you have lined up your work and are ready to set the clamp is for the sliding locking mechanism to jam. This means you have to remove the clamp and fiddle with the mechanism till it moves again, and then you can't be sure it will not re-jam before you can set it on your work piece.There has not been one occasion on which I have used the clamp that the sliding locking mechanism has not jammed. I deal with this by hitting the locking mechanism with a soft plastic mallet to move it. But obviously one shouldn't have to do this to when working with a clamp. It means that instead of lining up your work and then applying the clamp, you have to fiddle with it several times before you can get it to fit your work.Another problem is that, if you can get the mechanism to move, you have to be very careful when applying the clamp as it cannot be relied on to clamp the work accurately. It seems to me that the fixed end piece is too small and can easily move when you tighten the clamp--that is if you can tighten the thing!--so that the long edge of the clamp is not square to your work. If you do use the clamp be careful to check its position when you have tightened it.As soon as I can find a clamp that is easier to work with and less prone to movement I shall ditch this one.