A Festool MFT/TS55 Retrospective

[johnsonri]

Hello FOG,

I will use this thread to provide a retrospective look at the MFT/TS55 setup and my techniques for using it along with a few other components. I am a very long time member of the FOG, but only began posting a short time ago. You can find my introduction here.

Coincidentally, the day after my introductory post and PayPal contribution, the FOG went away for a while. I wasn't feeling the love at all. I thought to myself, "Maybe it was something I said", or "Only if I had sent in a little more", etc. I say that 'tongue-in-cheek' and was extremely happy that a compromise was reached and the forum was brought back online.

Anyway, when I think of myself using the MFT/TS55 setup, I can generally put all of my cutting operations into 3 major categories:

>> Crosscutting and Working with Narrow Stock
      (Generally less than 7 1/2 inches wide)

>> Crosscutting and Working with Normal Stock
      (Generally between 7 1/2 inches and 43 inches wide)

>> Ripping Stock
      (Either narrow, wide or long)

My entire retrospection here focuses on the first category, 'Crosscutting and Working with Narrow Stock'.  I will plan to break this category into 8 parts. The first 5 parts will be posted today with the remaining parts to be posted at a later time.

- Introduction
- The Storyboard
- Narrow Cross Cuts
- Dadoes/Grooves/Rebates
- Coves
- Laps (half and cross)
- Tongues
- Closing Thoughts 

In many of the pictures to follow, you will notice that I have several MFTs. All techniques shown can really be completed with only one MFT. I find great benefit in having an extended layout area on either side of the MFT rail. Therefore, I have a smaller MFT 800 on the off-cut side of the rail and a full MFT on the other side. This results in an 'L' shape work space for me. But an extended workspace can be achieved in any number ways, including just a table or sawhorse that sits at the same height as the MFT.

Also, my MFTs sit higher than the stock tables. A higher table is a preference of mine and makes it easier on my back. The pictures below show my MFT work area and also the components that I will use throughout the rest of the posts here.

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[johnsonri]

After falling in love with everything Festool and getting my saw and MFT, I thought that my days of frustration with getting precise, parallel, square cuts were behind me forever. After all, I had a saw that rides along a straight rail on top of a straight perpendicular table. Indeed, I had gotten closer to the level of precision with the Festool setup than I had ever before. But, even with my Festool setup, I was "always close, but never quite exact".

As it turns out, the cause of my frustration was never with the Festool setup. The cause of my frustration was me and the method that I was using for my cuts. My method consisted of the common, 'measure, mark, cut'. Well, I simply cannot be trusted to 'measure, mark and cut' and obtain exact precision. I accept that fact now and am all the better for it.

The storyboard is a very critical piece to almost all of my narrow-cut work with the MFT. Working in tandem with some of the other Festool components, the storyboard allows me to consistently achieve the highlest level of precision that I am able to accurately measure in my shop, namely 1/64th of an inch.

My storyboard is merely a piece of melamine with a routed groove along the side to accomodate a Festool angle stop clamp. There is also a very slight groove along the top of the board so that a tape measure can fit inside. The slight groove was routed with a straight bit 1/32th of an inch into the top. The tape itself is 1/64th of an inch thick and sits almost flush with the top of the board. There is a strip of clear scotch tape holding measuring tape in place.

The board really earns its keep when it comes to cutting narrow cross-cuts, dadoes/grooves and cove cuts. That's right, I said dadoes and coves cuts. More on that later on.

Here are pictures of a storyboard that I created for this writing.

The first picture shows the side of the storyboard along with the bit that was used to route the side. The rounded groove of this bit fits the lip of the Festool angle stop clamp perfectly. You will see why that is beneficial in a moment.
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Pictures 2 through 4 show the storyboard along with the router bit used to create a very shallow groove to hold the measuring tape. This particular tape has 1/32nd increments and reads both right-to-left and left-to-right. The right-to-left side gets cuts at just past 7 inches and provides the 'zero' point for narrow cuts.
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The next three pictures show the storyboard getting 'zeroed out' to the rail. The back of the rail becomes the measurement indicator. As the tape and board are being trimmed, the back of the rail will sit exactly at zero on the tape. This will allow stock against the storyboard at exactly the measurement needed.
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After the storyboard is trimmed, it is perfectly matched with the rail and can be used for precise, quick, repeatable, narrow cuts. In addition to the narrow cuts, this setup allows for dadoes/grooves, coves and other cuts needed for common joinery. 

 

[johnsonri]

Now that the storyboard has been created, I can demonstrate how I make repeatable cross-cuts. I will shoot for a two inch cut and a 1/4 inch cut. The setup for these two cuts will also show how the angle stop clamps are used to make the storyboard pretty immobile.

The first picture shows the setup of the storyboard aligned with the rail. The angle stop clamp fits inside the routed groove on side of the storyboard and keeps the board from moving. The clamping is pretty strong. There are no worries of the board moving accidentally. I also use the fence stop for many operations. The stop can also help to stop the storyboard from moving, but is not really needed for this purpose. The stop is primarily used for repeatability of narrow cuts.
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Pictures 2 through 4 show the positioning of storybaord and the material to be cut. In these pictures, I am cutting a melamine board. The board to be cut is butted up against the storyboard and the rail sits on top of both pieces.
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Pictures 5 and 6 show that the back of the rail is indicating a cut of 2 inches on the storyboard.The only thing to do now is make the cut.
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In picture 7, you can see that the cut has been made and the caliper is showing exactly 2 inches on both sides of the cut. You may notice that I am propping up my rail with a small piece of wood. The ceiling of my garage is not high enough to accomodate the rail in its full upright position. With the storyboard in place, I can very quickly make as many of these pieces as I want.
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The final two pictures here show me going for 1/4 inch cuts from the melamine. I could cut much smaller than 1/4 with this setup. But, at some point, the very very narrow slices become nothing more than sawdust. But, I can make that sawdust consistently.
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[johnsonri]

One thing that I hear repeatedly is that the MFT/TS55 setup is unable to reliably cut dadoes and grooves. I could never really quite understand the assertion that this type of operation could not be done on the MFT. After all, the MFT/TS55 setup provides reliable X and Y planes. So, with a few cuts to complete the operation, grooves and dadoes are indeed possible with this setup and the results are probably as precise as any other tool, if not more so.

I am not debating the strengths of other tools with respect to dadoes and grooves, just that I do not believe this to be a weakness of the MFT/TS55 setup. The pictures below  will show the quick setup that I employ to cut dadoes and grooves using the MFT/TS55 setup and a storyboard.

The first picture shows the board that will receive a groove. A piece of masking tape was placed on the board to provide the specs needed for the groove.
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The second picture here, shows the board layed out, butted against the storyboard, ready for the cut layout to begin.
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The third picture shows the storyboard being registered against the back of the rail at 1 inch. The specs for the cut called for the groove to run at 1 inch from the edge of the board.
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This fourth picture shows the board ready for the cutting operation to begin. Notice that there is also a rubber mallet in this picture. The rubber mallet is used to incrementally push the board under the rail after each cut. The groove will be created by making a series of cuts along the path of the rail. Each cut, widens the groove by one kerf size of the saw blade. The operation goes, cut, tap, cut tap, etc. until the groove is as wide a needed. The fifth picture shows the end result, a groove.
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This method of creating a groove is very quick and precise for me. It takes only a matter of seconds to widen the groove to 3/4 inch using this method. The width of the groove is also repeatable by using the fence stop to indicate where the board should stop once the groove has been cut to its specified width. With two stops for the fence, it becomes possible to very quickly mark both, the beginning width and the ending width of the groove.

(Note: I didn't think to take a picture of the setup with two flip stops attached to the fence. I can add that at a later time, if there is interest)

The next few pictures show the caliper measurements of the groove and the distance of the groove from the edge of the board. The caliper matches the specs indicated on the masking tape, exactly.
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After taking the measurements for the groove, I decided to try filling the groove with a scrap piece of 3/4 inch wood. The next picture shows the scrap piece of wood in the groove. The scrap fit perfectly and created strong joint without glue or anything else holding it in place. Of course, if I wanted the scrap to be able to slide in the groove, I would have shaved another fraction of an inch into the width of the groove. Here is a picture of the scrap creating a joint in the groove.
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[johnsonri]

In addition to repeatedly hearing that the MFT/TS55 setup is not able to cut dadoes/grooves, I often hear that cove cuts are completely out of the question. I tend not to agree with the assertion that cove cuts are not possible using the MFT/TS55. Again, my technique for cutting coves with the MFT/TS55 is not for competition or debate with other tools. It is merely a technique that I have in my arsenal.

Much like cutting grooves with the MFT/TS55, cutting coves with this setup involves a series of incremental cuts. The method used is, 'plunge-cut, tap, plunge-cut' until the length of the cove has been achieved. Using this method, I am able to create a cove cut from the edge of a board, or from some point within the middle of a board. Since the primary cutting operation is a plunge cut, I have the flexibility of putting the cove anywhere on the material to be cut.

The first picture below shows the board onto which a cove cut will be made. There are also stops for the MFT rail to keep the TS55 from moving during the cutting operation.
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The next picture shows the TS55 positioned on the rail with stops at either side of the saw. Nothing should move in this cutting operation except for the plunge of the saw. (Well, the blade of the saw should be spinning). After each plunge cut, the board is tapped to set up for the next plunge. This operation continues until the length of the cove cut reaches its desired length.
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The following picture shows the operation after the first few plunge cuts have been made. There is not much to see here, but the operation goes pretty quickly after a little experience.
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The final two pictures show the board with the resulting cove cuts. In the first picture, I left a small edge on the board to show that the cove doesn't have to begin or end at the very edge of a board. Instead, the cut can begin or end anywhere along the cove. In the final picture, I removed that small piece of material at the beginning of the cove cut to end up with a cove beginning at the edge of the board.
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[Frank Pellow]

Thanks Rey.  This is a very good tutorial!   And, even as a very long time user of the Festool MFT and circular combination, I learned a few things. 

 

[poto]

Great posts, Rey. Thanks for the great explanations and graphics. Personally I'd use the router to make the dado (with the guide stop riding on the guide rail), but I'd never thought of doing a cove. Wouldn't want to do many feet of it that way, however. I suppose you could angle the piece of wood to get different profiles in your cove.

 

[EricL]

Hi, excellent tutorial.  Please keep it going.
Thanks,
Eric

 

[Per Swenson]

Nominate this for a contest entry on jigs

all in favor say aye.

Per

 

[Les]

I er aye ;D

 

[dltflt]

aye

 

[Warrior]

Rey,

You have opened my eyes regarding the mft. Awesome!

I really like the cove cutting operation. It would work great for making recessed pulls for sliding cabinet doors.

Eiji

 

[woodshopdemos]

As one who writes tutorials all the time, mucho kudos to you and yours. Some great original thoughts here. and aye.

 

[johnsonri]

Thanks for the support and replies!!! I have plenty more techniques to share...that I hope to be able to post shortly. If only there were a few more hours to each day. I think that 30 hours, instead of 24, would make everything perfect.  ???

I may just start a petition for that. After all, they managed to change daylight savings time. So, why not extend the entire day.  ;D

Anyway, for some reason, I included the operation of 'Sink Cutouts' under 'Crosscutting and Working with Narrow Stock'. Sink cutouts don't even come close to fitting the category. I guess technically, it could be argued that mortises would fit the bill. That sure would be a sight to see....a mortise with the MFT/TS55. 

I will move 'Sink Cutouts' to the yet to be created, 'Crosscutting and Working with Normal Stock'.

 

[Per Swenson]

Hi Rey,

Excuse me while I do myMichael Buffer imitation.

In this corner, from Pittsburgh Pennsylvaaaaanyaaaa!

I just wanted to make sure everyone knows you qualify in the location dept.

(hint)

Per

 

[CharlesWilson]

Most definitely, aye!

 

[webfarmer]

So well presented, even I could figure it out!  Boldface AYE

 

[John Langevin]

AYE! AYE! Sir!
Rey, excellent tutorial, well photographed and explained. Most importantly, to me it is an ENABLER! Please continue.
A couple of quick questions: How do you join the MFT1080 to the 800 since they are of differing widths? With the tap method you used for both the dado and the cove, you locate the starting edge of the cut and set the storyboard to the desired end of the cut and simply advance the cut piece with a tap without picking up the rail?

 

[Warrior]

Tis such an excellent tutorial. This and other tutorials are excellent resources for our members. So much so that I request that a new board under the title of "Tutorials" be started. What do you think, Matthew? I think that the "How to" board has alot of these but they are also mixed with many "how to" questions.

I think that it would be easier to reference these threads if they were all in the same location.

Some good examples of these would be:

Brice's LR32
Overtime's EuroCabinets 101
Mirko's LR32jig
Qwas MFT enhancements
Many more

Eiji Fuller

 

[dltflt]

Rey do think this could be put into a PDF format so that it can be down loaded and saved?