another use for mft

[John Beauchamp]

I have a 4x7 foot run out table on the back of my table saw which doubles as an assembly table. When I got my mft3 I decided to put matching holes in the run out table for clamping. I took the top off the mft and clamped it to my table then drilled down thru with a 20 mm bit. It gave the same pattern and I didn't have to move anything. Very handy. 

 

[waho6o9]

Good idea.

Which bit did you use?

 

[Greg M]

If all you're using it for is clamping then you can put any hole pattern or most any size hole in a table top.  However, if you want to use the holes for dogs and use them to line up perfect 90 and 45 cuts then this method is going to most likely fall short.  It would be extremely difficult to get holes perfectly lined up and drilled perfectly straight into the surface not to mention getting perfectly cut 20mm holes.  You will also risk damaging the holes on you MFT.  Any play in the dogs and you can't get accurate cuts using the hole pattern.

I decided to purchase 2 MFT/3 tops and build a table around them.  Much cheaper than buying 2 more tables but I still get the accuracy of an MFT.  Now my two standalone MFT/3's are available to be used in the field without loosing them in the shop.

 

[John Beauchamp]

Waho609  Wood river forstner bit from woodcraft. 
Greg  I will probably only use this for clamping as I have both a table saw and a mft/3. As for perfect holes we shall see, I don't have bench dogs yet. I did not damage the mft top as I used a forstner bit that has smooth sides There was no grabbing. If it turns out to not be  perfect its no loss as I won't use it for cuts anyway.  If you don't try something you never know whether it will work or not. Sometimes you win sometimes not.

 

[waho6o9]

" I did not damage the mft top as I used a forstner bit that has smooth sides There was no grabbing."

Good job and thanks for the info.