2. After the drill is clamped on the rail properly, it is time to cut a hole. Make sure the coolant is hooked up and the bottle is pressurized. This can be checked by having the pilot contact the rail before the drill is turned on. If the pilot is depressed by the rail and coolant flows out, it is working. If no coolant is flowing out, check the valve at the end of the hose. If the valve is in line with the hose, it should be flowing. Turn the drill on. Position your hands on the handles a little ahead of where it feels comfortable. That way during the cut you will not have to change your grip and a smooth constant hole can be made. When approaching the rail with the cutter, go slow! Sometimes lettering or embossing is on the spot where a hole has to be made. The cutter can go through this easily, but it has to go through it slowly. Even if no lettering is present, treat it as if there was. All rail has a bit of a concave surface and most has a build up of rust. Baby the cutter into the rail at the beginning. Do this with a steady slow motion. When the cutter has made a grove and is cutting with all of it teeth, ease into the handles and apply more pressure into the cutter.

3. Many people think if they baby the cutter through the entire rail, they will get more life per cutter. This is very wrong! The cutters and the drills have a proper speed in which they will get the most life per cutter. If you try and push the cutter too fast, you risk breaking the tool. If you go to slow the cutter will not be able to make a thick shaving and the shaving will not extract itself out of the flutes. When this happens, the cutter will get jammed with shavings at the teeth, and can bind and break. Even if the cutter does not break, it will dull prematurely and have to be changed. The best way to tell if you are feeding the cutter properly is by inspecting the shavings coming out. If the shavings are wrapping around the cutter and creating a "birds nest" you are doing good. If they are just creating a little pile of chips on the base of the rail under the cutter, you are probably going too slow. A good rule of thumb is to have the cutter make a hole in about 15 to 20 seconds. This will change a little depending on the size of the hole and the type of rail, but only by a few seconds. Some people find it is best for a second person to time a few holes so the operator gets a good feeling for what 15 to 20 secs feels like.

4. On the exit of the hole don't back off. Feed it through just like the rest of the cut. The slug should pop out and be cool to the touch. Retract the handles and turn off the machine. Unclamp the unit and remove the chips from the cutter. The sharper the cutter is and the better it is fed through the rail, the more chips will be wrapped around the cutter. This is a good sign.

5. Inspect the slug. A slug should look as if it had a very fine thread around it. This is a sign the cutter is going through properly. If the slug is shiny, or has a shiny spot on it, that indicates a slow feed or a pause in the feed. If the slug looks marred up or rough, the cutter may be beginning to dull. Slugs sticking in the cutter may indicate the cutter is dull, and soon will have to be changed.

6. If a drill acts like it is under powered, check your hydraulic system with a flow meter and pressure gauge. It should pump at 5 GPM and no more than 2000 psi. Make sure hydraulic system has a 25 micron or better filter. If it is a gas drill, make sure the filters are clean and the gas is freash, clean, and unleaded. Electric drills can loose power if a very long extension cord is used or the power supply is wrong. See the owner's manual for the extension cord chart to ensure your drill gets the proper current.

7. Maintenance on the drills is minimal. The New RailBoss requires very little maintenance. Follow the above and maintain Honda motor as prescribed in your operator's manual. The other two models of drills have a brass gib slide system. This system is modeled after many machine shop lathes. It is a wear feature on the drill and is meant to be adjusted a few times a year. Along the slide system on one side of the drill, 5 set screws can be seen. Refer to the owner's manual for a complete procedure on adjusting the gibs. Basically the screws put pressure on the slide and keep the cutter running true. If the cutter can be seen wobbling while the drill is running, it is probably due to a loose slide system. Tighten the screws, so some resistance can be felt in the handles. Most everything on the drills can be sprayed with WD-40 or similar lubricant, especially the clamps. Keeping the drill clean and moving properly will make all the difference in the field. Common sense things like clean filters and good spark plugs should be kept in mind for the gas units. None of the drills have any grease zirks but some light grease can be applied to the moving parts of the drill. If proper cutting fluid is used with the drill the arbor system should stay clean and lubricated.

8. Trak-Star has full repair facilities. If your drill is in need of repair, contact us for details. In certain situations we know customers are unable to go without a drill while theirs is being repaired. For the week or two the drill is being repaired, we can provide a loaner drill, if we have one to lend at the time. Contact us for further details.

9. We have a team of technical support reps in the office to help answer any of your questions. If further service is needed we employ over 50 field agents who can go on-sight for further training. We also have a fleet of service vehicles, which travel the country training individual crews and checking on all of our products in service. Please do not hesitate to contact Trak-Star for any questions you may have. 866-245-3745