CMS sliding table to high

[Tayler_mann]

For some reason my CMS sliding table is higher than the base plate for my router. I've loosened the screws that bring the bracket connected to the table as low as they can go and I also lowered the brackets connecting the table to the frame that slides on the tables frame. Am I missing something here? I feel like there should be another adjustment to make to it but I am unsure. Also my router plate has an extremely concave plate probably by 1/16" - 1/8" higher in the middle of the plate than the edges of the plate. Is this normal? I have actually had a few problems with tools I have bought. My ts55 was bent on the bottom plate so it wobbled on the track and my first saw the riving knife was bent. Also, a few other problems here or there. I am starting to feel like either their is some qa/qc to do at factory or the local dealer has issues with rough handling. What are your thoughts. I always seem to have issues with tools I buy except my domino and OF1400 and those where the only two tools I bought where they had to bring it straight from their warehouse. All the other festool products I bought came from the front showroom of the store. I have a feeling festool can't be having this many issues in their factories. If they had this many problems no one would pay the premium price for their tools.

 

[peter halle]

Adjusting the table height is covered in the supplemental manual on pages 18 and 19 I believe.  Here is a link to the manual:

http://www.festoolusa.com/media/pdf/Festool-CMS-Router-Table-Supplemental-Manual.pdf

Peter

 

[charley1968]

There's a thread on ' CMS sliding table (attachment) problems' which might be of help ( or not).
Member [member=7493]Sparktrician[/member] appears to know about the CMS , he might have an idea.
Good luck!

 

[Jimmy FineCut]

Adjusting the table height is covered in the supplemental manual on pages 18 and 19 I believe.  Here is a link to the manual:

http://www.festoolusa.com/media/pdf/Festool-CMS-Router-Table-Supplemental-Manual.pdf

Peter

Well this is good timing as I had sliding table come in the post today and I had to adjust the height to my mft/3-vl.

Thanks Peter.

 

[tbellemare]

If you follow the sequence exactly in these web pages, getting the CMS fine tuned is pretty easy.

Tom

 

[Sparktrician]

Adjusting the height of the sliding table is a piece of cake.  Before you start the alignment process, use a square to ensure that the fence is perpendicular to the CMS' plate and lock the fence down to the CMS.  Mount the sliding table's rail to the frame of the CMS and LOOSELY tighten two of the three thumbscrews (one is unnecessary).  There are three hex screws on the top of the sliding table's rail.  They take a 4mm hex wrench.  Turn those screws as needed to raise or lower the rail.  Once the rail is at the desired height, tighten the thumbscrews fully.  Now mount the sliding table to the rail.  This procedure is also at the bottom of p. 19 in the Supplemental Owner's Manual that Peter Halle mentioned.  The whole thing should take you no more than five minutes.  Adjust the height of the rail to get the height of the sliding table dead-on.  Use the square to check that the height of the sliding table is dead on with the CMS's router plate and in the same horizontal plane.  The adjustments under the sliding table ensure that the sliding table is in the same plane as the CMS' router plate.  Refer to the bottom left photo to see the adjustments.  The more critical element here is to have the sliding table at the same height as the CMS' router plate and in the same plane.  If the rail is a bit lower, so what?  No big deal.  Just make sure that the sliding table is at the same height as the CMS' router plate.  Also be sure that the sliding table height is dead-on throughout the entire travel on the rail.  The three screws on top of the rail will provide this tilt adjustment.  [member=42383]Tayler_mann[/member], please feel free to ping me via PM with your direct email address if you need more info or have questions. 

 

[Tayler_mann]

I did do all of these adjustments already. All I needed was about a 1/64" lower and it wouldn't make it with the 4mm screws all the way out and at the lowest setting with the clamping screws. I talked to Brent and he had said that there is about that much play in the wheels the table rides on. I have one small problem with the manual as well. When it says to get the fence parallel with the plate it is hard to do that when the plates have a small amount of a convex shape. However, I am not complaining I could't imagine wood working without Festool and a lot of projects I have done would not have been as simple or doable until I had owned a few of there tools. I want to just quickly make that clear.

 

[Sparktrician]

I did do all of these adjustments already. All I needed was about a 1/64" lower and it wouldn't make it with the 4mm screws all the way out and at the lowest setting with the clamping screws. I talked to Brent and he had said that there is about that much play in the wheels the table rides on. I have one small problem with the manual as well. When it says to get the fence parallel with the plate it is hard to do that when the plates have a small amount of a convex shape. However, I am not complaining I could't imagine wood working without Festool and a lot of projects I have done would not have been as simple or doable until I had owned a few of there tools. I want to just quickly make that clear.

Here's another possibility for you to try - remove the router plate from the CMS' frame for a moment.  While it's out, take a piece of duct tape and apply it over each or the clear plastic pads on the CMS' frame.  You'll see them for sure.  You may need to use more than one layer.  Each layer should raise the router plate just a wee tad.  If you're off by only 1/64" right now, this should give the router plate enough of a lift to compensate.  Give it a try.