Anderson Plywood MFT Square Review

[sancho57]

I just got it today in the mail. Its a nice 20mm thick.

Basically Its great. I checked its squareness with my woodpeckers 1281 square and it was dead nuts on.

Just used it to set up my MFT.

I have been using a Wood peckers 45 cm (18") OTT triangle square. Due the the WP OTT thickness being about a 3/16" thick I would have to take a piece of ply to set the square on to butt up against the rail and fence. The part of the fence the square used to square it was a raised portion and not the part where the stock actually registered against.

But this being 20mm thick I think its giving me a more accurate adj. as I can butt it up to the part of the fence the stock registers against and the rail (If that makes sense). So Im getting a accurate set up.

For the price with this sort of accuracy it can't beat beat. For anyone who is considering getting a MFT they will need a accurate square to set it up especially for the first time, this is yer square.

 

[clark_fork]

I had a similar experience after trying so many other suggestions like turning the fence around to be parallel to the guide. Nothing seemed to work as well as this square. The word "essential" comes to mind and the price is right.

 

[joeworker]

Where can I see or purchase this Square?

 

[joeworker]

I found it, looks like a nice tool for setup. I use the dogs for alignment, but with this square you could set your rail at any point instead of at a point against a dog.

www.andersonplywood.com  $24.95 plus shipping

 

[joeworker]

Shipping costs are ugly. Lowest is $18.95 for usps to Ohio..seems excessive.  Checking to see if it can be gotten locally.

 

[Norfolk Bean]

Jobsworth,

thank you for the review. I have been looking into getting a good square for some time now.
Noticed you are from the UK, if it is not being to nosey, how much for the square and shipping costs from the States please.

Mark.

 

[Tayler_mann]

I routed out a 700mm x 1400mm out of 3/4" Celtec on my CNC (the highest quality Pvc sheeting) and use that. It works like a charm and I always have a corner to corner square to the exact mm when cutting 4' x 8's. I tried the smaller squares but I found if you don't have a large span to register your square on there is a lot of room for error. I also use it to register a known square corner for clamping to on my MFT.

I thought about selling these for $45 a piece but no one will ship them for decent enough price and they would get damaged. However, I could send the G code to take to a machine shop and wave a setup fee for people.

 

[sancho57]

Jobsworth,

thank you for the review. I have been looking into getting a good square for some time now.
Noticed you are from the UK, if it is not being to nosey, how much for the square and shipping costs from the States please.

Mark.

Mark,

I sent you a PM but I thought it may be good info to just post it. I have a military Post Office Box. So it's the same shipping to me h as it would be in the states.

I'm sure Anderson ply could ship it but you would have to talk to them about cost.

But if your looking for a good square for general use then I would look at the wood peckers 1281. Peter Seftons shop had them for about 100 quid. It's a very accurate square and it's what I used to check the accuracy of the Anderson ply square.

It can be used to square up a MFT it's the square we used in the Festool end user class in Las Vegas.

I would shoot Anderson Ply a email and talk to them. I'm sure they would work something out for you.

 

[Bohdan]

Just a suggestion but if you spend the time to get your MFT absolutely square, using the 5 cut method, the piece of material that you are left with when cut diagonally will leave you with two perfect squares and your money in your pocket.

 

[HowardH]

I suppose you could also use this square to make sure a crosscut fence is square to a table saw blade, especially if you have a perfectly flat piece of aluminum or steel you can attach to your arbor. 

 

[sancho57]

I suppose you could also use this square to make sure a crosscut fence is square to a table saw blade, especially if you have a perfectly flat piece of aluminum or steel you can attach to your arbor.

Did that yesterday ? A mate bought a aldendorf and used it to square it up.

It's cutting dead nuts now

 

[sancho57]

I've had the Anderson square for 1-2 months. Mine is not quite square. It's 1/100" off. Measured with feeler gauges and a woodpecker 18" aluminum triangle and other methods with a Veritas straight edge. My table saw crosscut sled is now within a thousandth, so I'll just re-square the Anderson square on the sled. Oh well. Had a QC sticker but don't think the CNC nailed it quite like it should have.

Did you use a try square to check the triangle?

I don't see how you can accurately check the square of a triangle with another triangle feeler gauges or not.

1/100 off isn't bad. Condsidering the method you used inherently has error.

Woodpecker guarantees theirs to be with in .0001 so that's pretty darned good.

Both of Mine ( yes I got 2) I checked with my woodpecker 1281 square and it was dead nuts on.
I set up a Aldendorf saws fence and sliding table yesterday using the square , got it dead nuts on verified using the 5 cut method. It was dead nuts.

For $19 ya can't really complain considering the WP 1281 is $99 and the WP 45cm triangle OTT was over $200 so a triangle square that cost $19 gives accuracy to by your method .001 is pretty darned good. Well with in the limits of wood working. After all we are not Astro physicist working on absolutes theoretical design for NASA life support on the future space station or Mars colony

 

[icecactus]

I've had the Anderson square for 1-2 months. Mine is not quite square. It's 1/100" off. Measured with feeler gauges and a woodpecker 18" aluminum triangle and other methods with a Veritas straight edge. My table saw crosscut sled is now within a thousandth, so I'll just re-square the Anderson square on the sled. Oh well. Had a QC sticker but don't think the CNC nailed it quite like it should have.

Did you use a try square to check the triangle?

I don't see how you can accurately check the square of a triangle with another triangle feeler gauges or not.

1/100 off isn't bad. Condsidering the method you used inherently has error.

Woodpecker guarantees theirs to be with in .0001 so that's pretty darned good.

Both of Mine ( yes I got 2) I checked with my woodpecker 1281 square and it was dead nuts on.
I set up a Aldendorf saws fence and sliding table yesterday using the square , got it dead nuts on verified using the 5 cut method. It was dead nuts.

For $19 ya can't really complain considering the WP 1281 is $99 and the WP 45cm triangle OTT was over $200 so a triangle square that cost $19 gives accuracy to by your method .001 is pretty darned good. Well with in the limits of wood working. After all we are not Astro physicist working on absolutes theoretical design for NASA life support on the future space station or Mars colony

Its .01 not .001.

I ordered 2 of them, they should be here today. If mine are not dead nuts then they are going back.

.01 is unacceptable. This "Well with in the limits of wood working" mindset that a lot of people seem to have drives me nuts.  [eek] Its what allows manufacturers to have crappy quality control and not improve their product.

If my tools are off by more then a couple thousands it almost always show up in the end result. Sometimes it matter, sometimes it doesn't.  [smile]

 

[GregBradley]

There is no such thing as a square that is perfectly square. Different tools for different uses.

I've played with Anderson's square on a MFT at Anderson's. I'm impressed. Very good idea and a great execution for the intended use. Shipping is always a problem when something is large compared to its value. Price to ship 5 is probably the same as 1.

Everyone that does precision woodworking should buy a Woodpeckers 1281. I have a drawer full of precision machinist squares and it is my most used square for woodworking, followed by my PEC 4" and 6" Double Squares.

FWIW, I have all 5 sizes of Woodpeckers Squares along with a bunch of Starratt and PEC machinist squares including a Starrett 20-24, which is actually very accurate but currently is about $1700. Their specified accuracy on that is 0.0001" per 6" of length. I have more accurate "squares" at work, but they are either made out of granite or built onto a big chunk (many tons) of granite for stability.

It is just silly to say you need 0.001" accuracy over 24" for a MFT as there is more flex than that in the rail, more movement in that in the end pieces, and more variance than that according to temperature. With the 20-24 sitting in my toolbox, I used my Woodpeckers 26" square. If I didn't have that, I would certainly buy Anderson's.

 

[HowardH]

Everyone that does precision woodworking should buy a Woodpeckers 1281.

Ordered one yesterday!  ;D

 

[icecactus]

It is just silly to say you need 0.001" accuracy over 24" for a MFT as there is more flex than that in the rail, more movement in that in the end pieces, and more variance than that according to temperature. With the 20-24 sitting in my toolbox, I used my Woodpeckers 26" square. If I didn't have that, I would certainly buy Anderson's.

Thats where I disagree. Sorta.....i would be happy with .001 over 24". But the point is, you should be as close to perfect as possible for the exact reasons you listed. There is flex in the rail, so if your off .002 over that 24", and you flex the rail another .002, and the end pieces shifts just .001 your now and the wind blows and cools one end more then other, there another .001. Your now .006 off.  [tongue]

There is no such thing as perfect, i just try to be a close to as possible within reason.

I have all the woodpeckers squares and triangles. I bought the anderson because its cheap and i dont have to worry about damaging it as much.

 

[sancho57]

I've had the Anderson square for 1-2 months. Mine is not quite square. It's 1/100" off. Measured with feeler gauges and a woodpecker 18" aluminum triangle and other methods with a Veritas straight edge. My table saw crosscut sled is now within a thousandth, so I'll just re-square the Anderson square on the sled. Oh well. Had a QC sticker but don't think the CNC nailed it quite like it should have.

Did you use a try square to check the triangle?

I don't see how you can accurately check the square of a triangle with another triangle feeler gauges or not.

1/100 off isn't bad. Condsidering the method you used inherently has error.

Woodpecker guarantees theirs to be with in .0001 so that's pretty darned good.

Both of Mine ( yes I got 2) I checked with my woodpecker 1281 square and it was dead nuts on.
I set up a Aldendorf saws fence and sliding table yesterday using the square , got it dead nuts on verified using the 5 cut method. It was dead nuts.

For $19 ya can't really complain considering the WP 1281 is $99 and the WP 45cm triangle OTT was over $200 so a triangle square that cost $19 gives accuracy to by your method .001 is pretty darned good. Well with in the limits of wood working. After all we are not Astro physicist working on absolutes theoretical design for NASA life support on the future space station or Mars colony

Its .01 not .001.

I ordered 2 of them, they should be here today. If mine are not dead nuts then they are going back.

.01 is unacceptable. This "Well with in the limits of wood working" mindset that a lot of people seem to have drives me nuts.  [eek] Its what allows manufacturers to have crappy quality control and not improve their product.

If my tools are off by more then a couple thousands it almost always show up in the end result. Sometimes it matter, sometimes it doesn't.  [smile]

When you drill a hole in a piece of wood , do you take a hole gauge and measure it? If its not perfectly round do you toss the wood and start over?

When you put a drill in your drill press do you spend a hour or so setting up a dial indicator and adjusting its run out to insure its dead nut on with less then .0001 ?

When you joint a piece of lumber do you take a mic and measure the width a d make sure its with in .0001 tolerance. If it is and you leave it in a shop thats not climate controlled come back the next day and discover its not with in that .0001 tolerance?

Do you toss the lumber and start over?

If .01 is unacceptable to you then why waste your time with a $19 square or a WP square that cost a measly $99 and a tolerance of .001?

Why not go spend $500-$1500 or more and get one  specialy made for you from a precision shop that has +/- 00005  tolerance?

Even then you have to use it in a climate controlled shop to avoid any movement in the metal.

Im happy with the cuts I get, I realise Im not building the Mars explorer out of a material that has natural movement greater then the tolerances Im trying to maintain. Then try to keep the wood movement in those tolerances...

 

[Jbmccombe]

I don't think the MFT is as accurate as that. When Lee Valley started manufacturing Parf Dogs there was a lot of discussion on the accuracy of the dogs, hole slop etc.  They did a bunch of accurate measurements on a new MFT and their report is found here
http://www.leevalley.com/home/temprl/MFTtests.doc

 

[anthonyz]

I thought the Anderson square was a good deal. I met one of the guys from there when I was in Vegas, at the Festool Training center and they had one hanging on the wall.  However; Steve grabbed the woodpecker MFT triangle in his setup demo.  I was tempted to buy one (Anderson), but decided to make one of my own with MDF, I check it before going down on the Table, but it's dead on square with my woodpecker square. I sealed it to help prevent/reduce movement due to changes in moisture.

I think the Anderson square is a good option for those who don't have a quality square, since carpenter squares can be more than .01 out. It's always good policy to check your squares occasionally to make sure they have not gotten out of square.

 

[sancho57]

I thought the Anderson square was a good deal. I met one of the guys from there when I was in Vegas, at the Festool Training center and they had one hanging on the wall.  However; Steve grabbed the woodpecker MFT triangle in his setup demo.  I was tempted to buy one (Anderson), but decided to make one of my own with MDF, I check it before going down on the Table, but it's dead on square with my woodpecker square. I sealed it to help prevent/reduce movement due to changes in moisture.

I think the Anderson square is a good option for those who don't have a quality square, since carpenter squares can be more than .01 out. It's always good policy to check your squares occasionally to make sure they have not gotten out of square.

Anthony,

Good post. I don't have the WP MFT square, I do have the WP 1281 and the WP 1 time tool 45CM triangle. I was using that to set up my MFT.

Like you I check my squares for square. I used my WP 1281 square to check the accuracy of the Anderson square.

Mine was dead nuts on.

Now when I get up my MFT I use the anderson ply square, slop stop and 2 angle stops on my MFT fence, I set the fence by putting was dogs into the "cute little holes" on my MFT then adj the rail its pretty much dead on. I find now difference between the precision of the set up using the anderson square or the WP 45cm square.

I check square by using the 5 cut method checking corner to corner and all 8 corners with my 1281 square.