2nd hand Mft table set up

[adugas]

Hi, I recently bought a second hand mft/3 table. The guy I bought from was quite upset he couldn't get the fence to cut square once "alinged". I told him I wouldn't have a problem I just want the top as I have parf dogs for aligning my square cuts.
Yesterday, for humour, I decided to play with the parts and set it and as per the utube videos,  I even had to watch a few other.  And each time I would be off 3mm or 1/16". I aggrivated myself for 2 hours and was finally able to get cuts square base on using parf dogs to help with set up of both rail and fence.
After thinking about it I come to the conclusion that factory stops must not be aligned,  maybe buddy i bought it from adjusted them? I don't know.
Question I have I guess is where are the factory stops suppose to be?
I have aligned mine and reset based on the square of the parf dogs and it's perfect, but what was just curious to know.
Cheers

 

[sgt_rjp]

I'm a novice, but I'll weigh in on this.  If you are using dogs for alignment, you probably don't want to be up against the stop.  I think that could affect your ability to align on the dogs.  I think the stop is a general guideline, right?  Actually, the drawback with using the dogs directly for alignment is that you end up cutting on a line of holes.  I had planned on using a level or some shim to shift the kerf between the holes, but the RipDogs should do that for me.

 

[adugas]

Im a novice also,  I trust the the parf dogs as the results I get now are square cuts. I figure that out on my own , but that was quiet painful experience.
I was just curious what the factory set them at, I adjust one to the square setting.
Ive attaches pictures to how I aligned and the kerf cut before with the rail align now

 

[paulhtremblay]

I'm confused on your setup. If you used the dogs for guide rail and fence, you would not be relying on the factory default.

I just setup my table again. I aligned the guide rail with bench dogs, and then moved the keys against the front and back hinges. Next I aligned my fence with dogs also. A square showed a 90 degree angle. Note how I moved the keys, thus getting rid of the factory setup.

The factory setup may or may not be aligned with the bench dogs.

Before you make your cut, you should be able to check for squareness with the dogs. Put the dogs against your fence and move them up and down, and you should hear metal hitting metal. Do the same for the guide rail.

 

[adugas]

HI Paul,

You are correct, I set it up exactly as you have mention, and have adjusted the factor stop to their new position and are square.

As I bought this as a second hand unit and in very good shape I was just really frustrating for me to figure it out on my own. I made assumptions that with festool everything would be perfect.  [doh]

After I think about it now, this mis-alignment of the factory setting may have been the soul reason the individual was selling it, he couldn't get a square cut and didn't take the the time to figure it out?? i dont know?

Anyway,  his lose is my gain [big grin]

thx
Aaron

 

[paulhtremblay]

After I think about it now, this mis-alignment of the factory setting may have been the soul reason the individual was selling it, he couldn't get a square cut and didn't take the the time to figure it out?? i dont know?

Aaron

The factory doesn't use the holes for alignment. Festool suggests that you use a square to align the fence. So you could keep the factory settings, but adjust the angle unit to be square with the fence. That method should also work.

You just can't mix methods of using the holes for the fence, and the factory setting for the rail guide.

Glad your MFT3 worked out. It must be nice to have that extra space!