CMS-OF unit

[pierreblonde]

So i finally got  the CMS kit, i wanted a good portable router table to use with my of2200 and of1400 routers , i bought the lot,,, as well as the base unit , router insert. also the sliding table , angle stop, extraction hoses and also so a side extension table ,,the wrong side of 1300 GBP [sad] [sad] later and a few weeks use, this is what i think
its easy to set up very solid for a unit that folds up and it doesn't wobble with side pressure like the MFT'S tend to ?
it all looks very solid and the height adjustment for the router is good too use above or below the table.
I screwed the fence assembly, on put a square on, and it was miles out of square to the table. there are nylon adjustment screws to adjust it square but that ended up lifting the front of the fence off the table by about 3mm on one side, i didn't like that at all !! i could have sent it back but how long was that going to take ?? so i put some 120 grit self adhesive disc's onto the bed of my 9" jointer and started rubbing 40mins later and it was nice and flat and bang on square to the table, the other thing with the fence is there is no fine adjustment of the fence itself ? the fine adjustment is only to offset the infeed fence? the fence fixes to the table with two 6mm thumb screw, there is nothing to keep it parallel with the edge of the table so its a pain in the ? if you want to use the sliding table and the fence together ! so to adjust the fence you just get it somewhere near and loosen one fixing and then the good old tap tap tap !!!!!. it is a very solid fence when in use, but i will be altering it to put a fine adjuster on and to keep it parallel to the table probably by making something that go's of the V grove on the edge of the base unit i am thinking?????
'
The sliding table is very good, solid ,runs well and is easy to put on and take off
The extension table is very solid to , its normally used with the saw module , but its great for the router too as there is only about 180mm from the cutter to edge of the table, and it gives more support on wider panels

The hold down is not very good at all and i tend not to use it much now and just use good old home made  feather boards

now the Man who makes the tea in the festool factory must also make the plastic table inserts, He must melt down the empty plastic milk cartons to make them, he"s obviously not German and sneaks them in when no one is looking just as the boxes leave the festool factory!!!!
they are total rubbish , they are just to flexible and bend with timber pressing down on them , i made some new ones out of 4mm aluminum and where easy enough to do (bandsaw,belt sander, router job)

some of the pictures are not that good . sorry!!

 

[jmbfestool]

All the points u mentioned I totally agree with.  Them rings sit low and bow down your home made metal one is much better.

I do like the cms but I think der are a lot of things which need to be addressed

Jmb

 

[ajones]

Its just plain BONKERS that it can cost that much and not be right,its not rocket science after all.

 

[jmbfestool]

Its just plain BONKERS that it can cost that much and not be right,its not rocket science after all.

Very true but unfortunatally I didn't know about these things until I bought it and used it did these things come to my attention. Same with the old kapex setup which is also a complete waist of time and money the ug setup is much better. I'll b annoyed if they bring out a completely new cms but  I hope they bring out an upgrade plate though.

Jmb

 

[james burns]

i also have this setup and i totally agree with what you have said i also have the cs70 saw and the long fence on that which clamps at both ends of the table is not square with the base of the table and that is over £2000 for the set Reguarding the cms router fence the micro adjustment it would be good if it was on both sides

 

[jonny round boy]

I don't have a CMS, so can neither agree nor disagree.

I do however have one question:

the fence fixes to the table with two 6mm thumb screw, there is nothing to keep it parallel with the edge of the table so its a pain in the ? if you want to use the sliding table and the fence together

Why does this matter? I can't envisage a situation where you would need to use both at the same time. In the past I've used a spindle moulder (shaper) with a sliding bed, and you have the same situation, ie the fence not being completely parallel. I just don't see how that's an issue.

I can see how you might want to use the fence as an end stop (ie for doing tenons or similar) but as long as you set the length at the same point on the fence, would it matter if the fence ran off slightly? In fact, would it not be benficial, in that it would stop the posibility of the timber binding?

I'm not trying to defend the product, as I said I don't have one, just curious as to why this particular issue exists.

 

[mosez]

my procedure for setting the fence square to the sliding table:

tighten one fence screw down
put one tongue of a square up to the sliding table´s fence
move the fence so that it touches the other tongue of the square
tighten the other fence screw

anyways: jrb is right. setting it square to each other is more of a cosmetical thing...the router bit is round  ^^

 

[jmbfestool]

True True!  Thinking about it it dont mater really does it!!

JMB

 

[pierreblonde]

I don't have a CMS, so can neither agree nor disagree.

I do however have one question:

the fence fixes to the table with two 6mm thumb screw, there is nothing to keep it parallel with the edge of the table so its a pain in the ? if you want to use the sliding table and the fence together

Why does this matter? I can't envisage a situation where you would need to use both at the same time. In the past I've used a spindle moulder (shaper) with a sliding bed, and you have the same situation, ie the fence not being completely parallel. I just don't see how that's an issue.

I can see how you might want to use the fence as an end stop (ie for doing tenons or similar) but as long as you set the length at the same point on the fence, would it matter if the fence ran off slightly? In fact, would it not be benficial, in that it would stop the posibility of the timber binding?

I'm not trying to defend the product, as I said I don't have one, just curious as to why this particular issue exists.

The reason is to use the fence as a stop ??? If your  doing something like  tenoning sash bars , you can quite easily use hand force to hold them up against the fence of the sliding table to do the cut and keep moving the work for a number of passes, as you cut if the fences are not square the cutter will pull the work up to the main fence, and the shoulder will not be square ! yes you can clamp it to the fence but it will take forever if your doing a lot, and some things you just cant get a clamp on, Of course you don't need the fence to be parallel to the table if you are running a mould or groove , but Festool have the perfect disgn in the base with the V groove around the edge to make a much much better way of fitting the fence, they probably have half the parts they need (like the clamp in the picture I've used to make a feather board)
it is easy to square them, But to square them and set the fence, spot on with the cutter, and no fine adjustment on the fence, Now thats a different story
even my old Wadkin spindle's fence is parallel to the table

 

[pierreblonde]

i made a fine adjuster for the fence,
I'm no engineer but it turned out not to bad , not the prettiest thing mind ??.. but a bit of turning and a bit welding and bobs your uncle!!!!!... I used the same  clamp that holds the fence to the V grove on the MFT/3 , it adjusts the same way with the side knob for the fast adjustment then lock it and then use the  knob on the back for fine adjustment,  about .17mm per turn , it also keeps the fence parallel as well and square to the sliding table [laughing]
the pictures are just off me phone so not the best, and the last picture is the job i am on with now and the type of stuff I'm making with it

 

[Les]

Pierre,

Exceptional work.  [big grin] Your design?

That's for heads up on CMS pros and cons.

 

[unityroad]

Hello, Nice work people [cool] Here in North America we are not allowed to have those dangerous cms accessories. Our ul (united labs) will not allow us to purchase them. How-eva we are allowed to buy cheap chinese drills that use recyled wire for the motor windings. Thanks for the wonderfull pics tho. Be well Pierre, Timothy [wink]

 

[jmbfestool]

Very nice job! Lovin it!

That bar you welded on looks very close to your extractor port I take it der is just enough room to still get ur hose on

Jmb

 

[pierreblonde]

Very nice job! Lovin it!

That bar you welded on looks very close to your extractor port I take it der is just enough room to still get ur hose on

Jmb

its not welded on there is 3 cap head bolts through the end of the bar. there is a rib cast on the inside of the fence so there is not a lot of room
but the 36mm hose goes on OK
i'll use it a bit and see how it goes ,,,  my normal design proses is make it up as you go along (organic as i like to call it) so it might need tweaked or made prettier
0

 

[hrrb]

Nice setup and nice modifications!

I have also chosen to make some modifications on my CMS-OF as you can see on the pictures below.

I don’t own the Base Unit for the CMS system and I’m not going to buy it. My plan is to make a “New fangled inspired” workbench with the CMS units placed in a square base (making me able to turn the unit in 4 directions!). I live in a very small house so I haven’t space for a table saw, a router table etc. I need something practical and flexible. Well you could ask me “why don’t you just by a MFT with a CMS extension?” Sorry…can’t give you a better answer than “I just want to make my own!”

For the time being I have to settle with the solution shown on the pics below. It’s by the way made of 2 old cupboard doors from my mother in law’s old kitchen! A base that can be hooked to any solid and heavy table. I’ll try to copy the solution with the hinged and tilting base to my “New-fangled bench”. I find It nice when changing bit.

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I agree on your opinion regarding the feather boards. They don’t show Festools best ingenuity! I prefer either some plastic feather boards like the ones in the photo or just clamping a homemade wooden fence to the board!

I know I know…I don’t follow the instruction book so I’m on my own now. No crying when I put my fingers into the bit! [crying]

My CMS-OF is the old version where height adjustment is done by twisting a knob under the table…awkward! So the after replacing feather boards my next modification was to drill a hole in the aluminum plate. This allows me to elevate the router with a 5mm hex bit. Either the fast way with a cordless drill or fine tuning by hand. I’ve put on a Velcro band to fixate the router in the spindle grip.

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On my next model I’ll try to find a way to copy your fine adjuster for the fence, I like the idea!
And maybe I'll try to integrate some better and hopefully smaller LED light.

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Kind regards
Henrik

 

[nachtwacht]

I have also chosen to make some modifications on my CMS-OF as you can see on the pictures below.

This looks very nice !

I bumped into your pictures while looking for exactly this solution. I also miss the T-slots so want to build my own table, simular like you did.

I am curious though... and hope you can give me some insight into what you did. If you don't mind, I am going to shoot some questions (and hope you still keep an eye on your old thread messages )

1) how did you make the CMS "fit" / "connect" into / to the "table" ? Did you buy any parts from Festool or did you just make room for the CMS plate and have it hanging in there ? I am curious how you connect it to the table and make sure it does not move...

2) did you buy the parts or the complete module ? I would be intrested to know wich parts you actualy bought.

Ofcourse, any more intresting things about this setup would be highly apreciated.

Thanks in advance !

 

[JohnPatrickTobin]

I looked at the CMS set-up but decided that I wanted to build my own table top with a mitre slot channel and more conventional fence. I ordered all the parts for the height adjustment assembly from Festool UK and sourced the spindle moulder style guard and a Bench Dog fence.

It took a bit of time to sort out where the mounting holes for everything went and get things working smoothly but the height adjustment works well; if anyone would like the list of parts required to duplicate the height adjustment assembly I'd be happy to pass it on.

I'm toying with the idea of making the top MFT sized so I can switch tops around when I convince myself I can afford an MFT!

 

[nachtwacht]

Thanks for the reply.

I am actualy thinking about doing the same thing with a TS55 or 75 (and finaly use it with an Incra fence) so am very curious what you did, if anything, with the baseplate. Is it just the baseplate or did you use parts from the table aswell ?

Thank in advance

 

[JohnPatrickTobin]

@ nachtwacht: I just ordered the height adjuster assembly including the crank handle which came as a box of parts from Festool UK and I sourced the spindle moulder guard which is available as a complete assembly from an online dealer. The photographs in the manual for the CMS were clear enough to put everything together.

I didn't buy the CMS insert plate; I was originally going to use a Bench Dog insert plate but this was too small to fit the height adjuster on so I'll use ply or MDF. I intend to make a full size template for the table top for all the mounting holes, etc. so I can make a new top any time provided I don't cut up the template and will mount it in an MFT or between two MFTs when funds allow.

 

[nachtwacht]

AHA !

Got it, thanks for the reply.

greetings