In a thread on the MFK700 awhile back someone asked about using it, with the horizontal base, to cut the tongue for sliding dovetails.
The answer at the time was that it would not work because the ball bearing guide would not keep the router at 90 degrees to the end of the piece being cut.
The tongue for sliding dovetails was always a pain for me to cut with a regular router. So the thought of using the MFK700 for this task looked like it had possibilities for me.   
My thought at the time was to come up with an edge guide that could be used with the horizontal base. I have been using Micro Fence products for many years & adapting one of their
edge guides to the MFK700 was a no brainer.  The major stumbling block was that I did not have an MFK700. I thought about it a few days & looked at several pictures of the MFK700 along side a Micro Fence
edge guide that I had.

 I had just about given up until one evening I was browsing the Talk Festool site & came across a post by Micro Fence. In the post was a link to a new guide they had just introduced. It is called the Micro Stop. As soon as I saw it I knew this would work. The next day I placed orders for the MFK700 & the Micro Stop. They both were delivered late Tuesday evening.
Wednesday in between all of the other pre thanksgiving things going on, I got a chance to work on mounting the Micro Stop to the MFK. It ended up being much simpler than I had expected.
All that was required was to drill holes in the MS base to line up with the mounting holes for the ball bearing guide on the MFK & make an extended face for the guide fence.

After I got it all mounted up, I discovered that the fence face was not 90 degrees to the horizontal base. To fix this I filed a little off the raised sides of the ball bearing guide mount. I did not have to remove much & it has no effect on
mounting the ball bearing guide.

Next I installed a 14 degree X 1/2" dovetail bit. It does require a short bit, because the opening in the horizontal base is not very large. After getting the bit installed I made a couple of test cuts. Cutting the dovetail was a breeze & totally
dust free.

Today I  got a chance to do a complete sliding dovetail. I used a 14 degree dovetail cutter in a router table to cut the socket. I had to do several trial & error cuts. I found that my first socket was too deep. The horizontal base
dose not not move high enough to allow the tongue to be the proper thickness on 3/4" wood with a socket deeper than 3/8". After cutting the socket 3/8" deep, it was a breeze to get the tongue dialed in. The micro adjust on the
base & edge guide made it very easy.















       
     
 

Nice work Chris. Now the question is what else can this setup do? I'm thinking Kreg would love this for routing his beads, using the MFK for making a bead on a 1x3. He wouldn't have to balance the MFK on the edge of the 1x3 anymore.

I'd like to see Festool come out with an attachment like this.

It could be but, I am embarassed enough just admitting that I don't use either one of my routers very much.

Most I use them for is flush cutting window and door openings.

This is certainly a good and workable technique for the sliding dovetails.  I usually make mine with my Leigh dovetail jig though....

Best,
Todd

Chris, so true, so true...

Best,
Todd

Hi all,

Chris' notion of using the fence to in effect create a horizontal router is a good one if you need to work by moving the cutter past the stationary work piece.  Many times it is easier to hold the router stationary and move the work piece past the stationary cutter.  With the 700 it is easy and fast to mount it to the side of a MFT (II or III) in a horizontal position and be able to use the full top plate of the MFT as the "table" to support your work.  It only take one 8mm bolt and a couple of simple to build shop made fences.  Best of all, no modifications are required either to the 700 or to the MFT.  It slides on and off in less than a minute.  Since the motor comes free of the base by simply loosening one thumb screw bit changes are a breeze.  There is a short tutorial on my web site that shows how to do it:

http://jerrywork.com and click on the "tutorials" button

With this set up and another home built "guide rail sled" you can use the 700 for cutting both the female DT grove and the male DT without changing the bit height on even the largest work pieces.  With this set up anyone can do the sophisticated interlocking sliding dovetail construction that adds so much perceived value to furniture projects.

My 700 lives in the horizontal position mounted on the side of a MFT most of the time.  Great for DTs, chamfering corners, chamfering both sides of a dado slot, cutting precisely centered short tenons, jointing thin panels for edge glueing, rebating and a whole host of other similar cutting actions.  Any time I need it hand held I loosen one nut and slide it right off the MFT.  One of these days I will get a second base so one base stays on the MFT and the other is available for hand held use.  Hope this helps.

Jerry