Basic How-To Needed

[specialkev]

I am a new Festool owner (TS55, MFT/3, CT22) and I am having trouble making parallel cuts, square cuts and repeatable cuts. I have been reading many posts on this board and feel very overwhelmed. So many of you are extremely knowledgeable and much of the excellent information is still above me.

I need some basic information on how to make the simple cuts I mentioned. It seems to me that a table saw can do this without much thought.

Please help me make the most of my new tool system.

Thanks

Kevin

 

[Brice Burrell]

First, welcome to the forum. There is a ton of good info on how to get the results you are looking for, try a search, I'm sure you'll get all the info you want and then some.

Another place to look is John's site, woodshopdemos. He's got a ton of Festool info there. While nothing can replace god technique there are some tools that can make the job of cutting panels parallel and square, the table saw, a MFT/3 or Festool's new parallel guides.

Take a look around and let us know if you have specific questions as you read through the site. Good luck.

 

[nickao]

Specialkev, I do know what you mean. We need a sticky with the basic instructions, not a million places to get this info and that to have to piece together. For a newbie using the Festool system for the first time can be overwhelming. Having to search threads to learn something that basic is not fun,. You tend to get a lot of info far beyond what you really want when you first start out.

If I used the mft and TS for those cuts I would write a quick tutorial using only the stuff Festool provides and as few extra jigs etc to make it happen. You should be able to read a sticky, then make the cuts an hour or two later. I am sure you read through these threads for many hours and still are scratching your head.

I think Woodshop has the idea, but something should be here on the forum. A really basic how to on cutting, skipping the fancy stuff people start using down the line. I would try to do it, but I know there are many more guys that can write something like that better than I . I do not ever use my tools that way. As the poster said I go over to the table saw.

 

[sw1211]

Check out Jerry Work's site, select Manuals, there's an extensive write up on the MFT, http://www.jerrywork.com/

 

[Les]

How did you trim the rubber edge? This is a critical first step.

 

[Notorious T.O.D.]

Where are you located.... perhaps someone would come by and help you out or invite you over for a learning session...

Best,
Todd

 

[MarkF]

Sorry to assume but I will assume you are just starting out like I was when I got my MFT, saw and guide rails.  If I'm wrong, hopefully someone else will benefit.  Here are a few "Pearls" I have picked up along the way:

Develop a system for squaring the guide rail to the fence on the MFT.  I use an 18" 45 degree drafting triangle from here: http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-triangles/  Best $10 I've spent on my WW'ing hobby. 

Check that the male part of the rear MFT guide rail support attached to the edge of the MFT (the non-pivot end) is registering in the channel underneath the guide rail.  I have misalligned it multiple times causing cock-eyed cuts.  (see page 6 of Jerry Work's guide for a photo)

Keep the MFT fence clean.  Sawdust and miscellaneous gradue collect and can skew the workpiece.

Try to schedule your cuts to use the length stops for all the pieces needing to be the same length.

On sheetgoods, reference square off of one edge only.  Don't assume each corner is 90 degrees.  I use a large drywall T-square to square the guide rail when cutting down large sheets.  Others have had good luck with a Dewalt Tracksaw T-Square attached to the Festool guide rails: http://www.dewalt.com/us/tracksaw/products/t_square.html  It's too short for me (and I already had the large T-Square)

Hope this helps!

 

[JJ Wavra]

Here is how I square up the mft3, it comes close but mine was off my a mm over 23". 

First take a large piece of plywood or anything really that is about 23" "square".  Make a cut and label that A.  Now put the side you just cut A on the fence and make a cut, call that B.  Now that you have two cuts you know what angle you are cutting at.  So,  now flip the board so that B is against the fence and A is under the guide rail.  Slide the sheet so that a portion of A is on the right side of the rail.  Take a steel rule and measure the distance that A is sticking out past the zero clearane strip at the top and bottom.  They should be equal.  If they are not make make adjustments accordingly.  Say that you had 3mm at the bottom and 1mm at the top.  You would then move the fence toward you until the piece was only sticking out 1mm all the way down that gives me a ninety degree cut that is accurate through the range of the table. once you have the table at ninety make yourself a nice big square so that you can set up quickly.

I hope I explained this ok it is clear in my head but my writing may not be.

JJ

 

[tbellemare]

Here's my reference for setting up an MFT/3.

It's easy, quick, and accurate.

When you follow it, you should be making repeatable, square, and parallel cuts on the MFT/3.

Tom

 

[tbellemare]

I just tried it on mine and don't have a problem keeping it in place. I first lock the fence in and then the table profile and it doesn't try to "walk" or anything.

If you're just shooting for square and you use the clamping element cleat method I showed, you can put in a cleat to hold the fence in place while you button down the fence stop, but you shouldn't have to.

The fence stop is designed to be used anywhere on any profile at any angle. That's why the "head" pivots.

Tom

 

[BC6738F5BCE98B4]

As a relatively new Festool user I have some idea of what you are going through.

One of the good/bad things about the MFT and guide rail is that it turns out there are a variety of ways for accomplishing the same task.  Think of it like teaching someone how to work within a software program on a computer--you can do a keyboard instruction or use the mouse (at a minimum). I think what you will find is that different people get the same job done in different ways.  Let me give you another example.

I have chosen to use the holes on the Festool MFT for lots of things.  They have all sorts of control procedures to make sure that the holes are properly spaced (from each other) and they form a nice grid pattern.  When I want my guide parallel (or perpendicular) to something i put two Qwas Dogs ( see http://www.festooljunkie.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/79_181/products_id/1369/mft-accessories/qwas-dogs-precision-20mm-bench-dogs.html ) which are designed to fit in the MFT holes.  I put two of them as far apart in a row as I can.  I then slide the Guide so that the rubber strip is just "kissing" both dogs.  I then slide the receiving side piece (which has a little bar sticking up to go in the back side of the guide) into place and raise the guide (both sides) to vertical .  I remove the two dogs and place them in appropriate holes on the other side of the guide.  This procedure assumes that have at least one straight edge.  I place that edge of the material up against the two dogs in their new position, and know that my guide will be parallel to the flat face (or at least as much so as Festool can make it) and lower the guide.  Sometimes when I lower the guide I find that the material is not properly positioned for cutting.  If that is the case I mark the outside edges of the piece at the rubber guide and draw a line across.  I remove the two dogs, line up my line with the rubber edge and cut. 

I am not saying this is better or easier than any other way, only that it works for me.  My experience is that before trying a new method I collect some suitably sized pieces of scrap (or go to the lumberyard's scrap collection) and make practice cuts about five or six times until I don't have to read every single line of the instructions each time.

Hope that helps more than it confuses.

 

[tbellemare]

Anything that can be secured relative to the holes should work as a reference. I tried some deep sockets and a few other things and then it hit me. Use what is sitting right in front of you, fits the holes perfectly, and highly likely is as accurate at the task as anything you can find or buy. Using a square, I can't detect error.

I'm planning to do another write up about the Parallel Guides and while I'm at it, I'll do a cutting style square test for both the Guides and the MFT.

Tom

 

[woodshopdemos]

Brice was nice to mention Woodshopdemos at the beginning of this thread. Most recently I summarized how to make square cabinets.
It starts here: http://www.woodshopdemos.com/Fes-Parallel-1.htm

And if you go to the Festool submenu you will find over 100 pages of how-to and the Festool Plunge Saw System.
http://www.woodshopdemos.com/men-fes.htm

 

[Les]

Nice tutorial Tom.

Wonder what it's going to take to get Festool to put out something with the quality you have?

 

[tbellemare]

Thanks for the kind words.

I don't know if the people at Festool feel the need to go any farther than they have. There are, after all, a lot of resources if somebody wants to find some information.

They strongly encourage the dealers to know the products so that they can help the customers. My personal opinion is that if you're dealing with people that don't know how to help you, go elsewhere and encourage others to do so also. Basically, vote with your wallet...

Tom

 

[Emer Construction]

have you watched this video?  It helped me with setup.

 

[specialkev]

Wow! Thanks everyone. I will read and re-read all these posts to digest this information and report back if I have any further questions on the basics. I did find John's place about this same time I found this group, so I have been reading much over the last three weeks.

I am very much a hands-on learner so it would be perfect if I could find someone close to home - Greater Detroit area. If anyone enjoys teaching and helping I'd be a great student.

Another thing: I do not own a table saw and have no intention on getting one soon, so the T55 is my tool of choice for all cuts.

Thanks again for all your posts.

Kevin

 

[BC6738F5BCE98B4]

Since I am in a very similar situation, I thought you might want to check out this other thread.

http://festoolownersgroup.com/index.php?topic=2757.msg33158#msg33158

 

[extiger]

I was missing a lot of not-so-fine points on the MFT3 and my OF 1400 Router. So I went to a Festool demonstration at local lumber dealer. Lucky for me, I was the only one there, so I could a thorough tutorial on both pieces of equipment including a procedural step-by-step for routing Dados on a board.

Some things are a challenge to present on a website. Festool offers these demonstrations at dealers throughout the country. Go to the Festool website. to find notices.

Gary Curtis

 

[Les]

You were fortunate to have someone with the equipment and the know how to demo. I went to my local Rockler, which is approximately 20 miles from Festools USA headquarters, to check out the new parallel guides. I couldn't believe they didn't have any. This was about 2-3 weeks ago. The guides had been available for some time.

I was glad to see a demo day anywhere near where I live even though it was a 32 mile one way trip for me. You would think with Festools headquarters being near Indianapolis there would be demo days at least on a monthly basis. Not here.
No new demos are scheduled here according to the Festool site.

All that beautiful equipment you've seen in pictures of the headquarters, was off limits to me when I took my Domino in for repair at the headquarters. I waited in my truck for an hour while it was repaired. No offer of tour.

I realize I'm a small duck in a big pond but as someone who has over $10k invested in Festools, it would have been nice to at least been treated as a somewhat full grown duck even if it was Daffy Duck.

rant over