A SIMPLE JIG TO MICRO-ADJUST THE MFT FENCE TO THE GUIDE RAIL

[arso_bg]

Well, I'll keep it short.

Whatever method you use to square the MFT fence to the guide rail you might find it necessary to micro-adjust the position of your fence. If you are not lucky this can be difficult. I use a very simple jig to help me to accomplish this task. It is just a piece of wood with two 20 mm dowels. You need also a threaded insert a bolt and a nut. I think the picture is self-explanatory, so I will not explain here how to make the jig.

The distance between the centers of the dowels is 96 mm so they fit tightly into the table top of the MFT behind the fence. The final setup you can see on the second picture. When your fence is placed in position you can wind the bolt until it touches the back of the fence. Tightening the nut will prevent the bolt from moving.  Now if you find it necessary to adjust the position of your fence this will be an easy task.

Regards
A.G.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Thanks, Arso, for sharing a neat solution to aid in squaring the MFT Fence to the Guide Rail.  Re the wood dowels, did you find 20mm ones commercially available or did you turn them to size yourself?  Are the dowels a press fit in the holes in the MFT top?

Dave R.

 

[Notorious T.O.D.]

Dave,

Sort of giving up my little surprise but I am planning to bring you some 20mm dowel I made with my duplicator....

So, get some ideas working for it.....you are the old master compared to me...

Best,
Todd

 

[Dave Ronyak]

I am thinking, I am thinking.  Actually, I do have an idea to try together with Arso's idea and those wooden dowels.  Better to try it first, though, before posting it here.  It may not work.

Dave R.

 

[wnagle]

Dave,

Have you seen these? http://www.festooljunkie.com/catalo...ries/qwas-dogs-precision-20mm-bench-dogs.html

I have a coouple sets, they work reallu well...

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Thanks, Wayne.  I had not seen those, or maybe I saw them and forgot!!  They look great.  Are they overkill in terms of precision of diameter?

I have an MFT 1080 and two MFT 800s.  The holes in their tops are not the same size.  Those in the 1080 and one of 800s are nearly the same and noticeably smaller than those of the last MFT 800 I purchased (after the announcement of their being closed out and the MFT/3 soon coming).  The posts of my set of clamping elements has to be twisted and forced into the smaller holes on the older MFTs.  Those same posts are a loose drop in fit in my newest MFT 800.  That means a perfectly sized pair of aluminum stops from Qwas is going to fit well in one table, and likely either be tight or loose in the others.

Dave R.

 

[wnagle]

Dave,

I have two sets from the website and One set made a bit tighter for the MF/3.  They are so close, when you put the rail up against two spaced dogs, there is no lateral movement.  With minimal force against the dogs you still get perfect alignment.  Steve is also working on another project for me.  Dogs that are made to fit Kreg clapms from the Kreg clamping table.  They will go into the table from the bottom and screw up into the base of the clamps.  I think the are going to be pretty handy as well.  Everything he has made for me is very nice and spot on and inexpensive.  I also have a set of his rail dogs. 

Since I haven't done much in my shop the past few weeks, i haven't played much with them.  I have a new furnace in my shop and it has some design issues and isn't working tghe way I would like.  They are replacing the whole system soon, maybe this week... then I'll be back out there.  The current system, keeps it warm aand cool ok, but in the heat mode the blower is so loud I can't stand to work out there.  Hopefully the replacement will make things right.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Thanks, Wayne.  Have you confirmed that the array of holes in the top of an older model MFT are definitely accurate enough so that they can be used to place the fence square to the Guide Rail cross cut mechanism?  I believe they should be, but have not tried making any precision checks to confirm.

Sorry to hear of your new heater woes.  Hope it is soon fixed.  My overhead gas heater makes a little rattling noise if it has to run a considerable time, e.g. an hour when bringing up the temperature from ~45 to 65 degrees F.

Dave R.

 

[wnagle]

Dave,

As I understand it, the qwas dogs for sale at festool junkie are best fit on the 1080.  However they fit fine on my mft/3 but not quite as tight as the set I had custom fit.  The difference is so small I don't think it matters as long as I use them in matched pairs.    I suppose even if I didn't the difference would be inconsequential.  Also the shoulder is rolled and when seated in the hole it's snug.

In my main shop, I took out a gas radiant heater, 25,000 butu.  It worked effortlessly and very quiet.  The only thing I didn't like was it had an open flame,  (I never had a problem but Spraying made me nervous)  had to have an open vent through the ceiling, and you couldn't work long if you were directly under it.  But it did keep 22 X 22 toasty warm.  All the cast Iron was warm from the radiant heat and no blower creating dust. 

The new system heats and cools both garages.  The cool mode was quiet and very comfortable.  In heat mode, the blower is variable speed and runs on high non stop when its cold.  I understand its just a mismatch between the heat pump and the coil and blower software.  Partly due to the change in the new r4 refrigerant, things work a little different than anticipated.  So everything off the ceiling comes out to get a better match with the heat pum.  I'll be glad when it's done.

 

[arso_bg]

Thanks, Arso, for sharing a neat solution to aid in squaring the MFT Fence to the Guide Rail.   Re the wood dowels, did you find 20mm ones commercially available or did you turn them to size yourself?  Are the dowels a press fit in the holes in the MFT top?

Dave R.

Hi Dave,

The dowels I bought somewhere in a store long time ago. I even think they were not intended to be dowels but something else. They were sold as 1 M long round wooden sticks. Since the diameter was exactly 20 mm I thought they might be useful for my MFT, so I bought a couple since they were not expensive.

Regards

A.G.