Does an MFT really need the side rails?

[Toller]

I just bought 4 of the side rails (table profiles...) and a hardware kit and am playing with them to design a MFT/TS outfeed table.

I realize that a MFT is capable of all kind of wonderful things, but right now I am mainly interested in using it for crosscuts; alligning the guide rail and clamps 12 times to make 12 cuts was really too much work; with the hardware kit I can allign it once and do a dozen cuts one after the other.

It seems to me that you could, if once were so inclinded, which I am sure no one here is, screw the guide rail supports to the side of a wood table and use a piece of T-track at one end to take the fence support.  Drill two holes in the table for the angle thing, and you are home free.  Obviously it would be difficult to move the guide rail supports along the table, but I am not sure why you would want to do that. (why would you want to do that?  There are several posts about alligning the supports, but once you do it, can't you just mark the rails and use those marks in the future?)

Is this wrong for some reason I am not understanding?  Yes, I know I would miss out on much of the functionality of the MFT, but only considering it for making crosscuts...  I have the side rails and will probably use at least the two for the guide rail supports, but just want to make sure I understand how it all works.

 

[Qwas]

If the new table is only going to be used for crosscuts, you are right. No need for the fancy MDF top. You can buy a solid MDF top or anything else you please.

But what if one day your main table is full and you need to glue something up? But now your new outfeed table doesn't have the holes to support clamps. But that decision is yours to make. My table is not dedicated to crosscuts or just cutting, so I consider the Festool MDF top important along with all the side rails. The holes and the side rails are important for clamping, sanding, drilling, routing, and for sawing. I just released a manual on the FOG about using the holes for aligning the rail and using bench dogs to support boards for cutting.

It sounds like most people never move their guide rail. It gets aligned and never moves again. I don't worry about it and move my guide rail regularly. I've removed the clamp stops in the side of the table so I am free to move the rail wherever I want it. It just seems to make sense. If I'm cutting a 4 foot board in half, doesn't it make sense to move the guide rail towards the center so I don't have to worry about the board falling after cutting it? If I have a 3 foot long cut, doesn't it make sense to move the guide rail lengthwise on the table?

 

[nickao]

Toller what you propose can be done and sounds like it is perfect for you, so go for it. If you are already aware of what you lose by doing this before you start that is fine. You can always make another little table with the holes or change yours when the time is right for you.

What you propose is a really simple way to achieve it! This will give you time in the meanwhile to think of what you can do with the profiles while still working.

If the point is to make all those cross cuts and make some saw dust as quick and simply as you can, I think you have a great idea for you!

Sometimes K.I.S.S is best.

Nickao

 

[John Stevens]

It seems to me that you could, if once were so inclinded, which I am sure no one here is, screw the guide rail supports to the side of a wood table

Actually, that's how I've built my latest "jumbo MFT."  I didn't use t-track to mount the guide rail, though.  I took a piece of MFT extrusion over to my local welder and had him cut two pieces 14" long (long enough so the rubber strip on the guide rail is inside the 200mm replaceable section in the middle where I do the cutting and routing).  Made some wooden thingies to bolt them to, then screwed them to the underside of the table.  I've been using a MFT 800 and a jumbo MFT for about three years, but I never had much use for the side rails.  I like this one a lot so far, but I haven't used it to make furniture yet.  That will be the real test, but I'm not too worried about whether it will pass.

Still have the 2m rail set from my old jumbo MFT...will put that up for sale here in a while.

Regards,

John

 

[Dave Rudy]

It seems to me that you could, if once were so inclinded, which I am sure no one here is, screw the guide rail supports to the side of a wood table

Actually, that's how I've built my latest "jumbo MFT."  I didn't use t-track to mount the guide rail, though.  I took a piece of MFT extrusion over to my local welder and had him cut two pieces 14" long (long enough so the rubber strip on the guide rail is inside the 200mm replaceable section in the middle where I do the cutting and routing).  Made some wooden thingies to bolt them to, then screwed them to the underside of the table.  I've been using a MFT 800 and a jumbo MFT for about three years, but I never had much use for the side rails.  I like this one a lot so far, but I haven't used it to make furniture yet.  That will be the real test, but I'm not too worried about whether it will pass.

Still have the 2m rail set from my old jumbo MFT...will put that up for sale here in a while.

Regards,

John

John,

Do you have pics?

 

[Mike_Chrest]

Pics please!!! ;D

 

[John Stevens]

Well, I managed to snap a few pics.  I hope you all won't be disappointed, because there's not really much to see.  I'm not a very good woodworker, and I'm not very mechanically inclined, so virtually any of you guys could have done a better job in less time with less thought.  After you see the pics, you'll certainly be able to do a better job.  I'm sure several of you will come up with more elegant solutions, and I hope you'll share them here.

The idea was to mill a rabbet (rebate) into a hardwood block to accept the "ledge" on the back of the MFT extrusion, then screw the block to the table.  I chose to screw through the top because I couldn't care less what the top looks like.  As you can see, I tried it a couple of ways before I ended up with the blocks placed where I liked them.  One of the reasons for this was that I made a removable section in the MFT top so I can flip it (or replace it) as it wears from sawing and routing.  So I used the "trial and error" method to figure out where to put the blocks and extrusions.

The blocks are made from two pieces because I'm a lousy engineer.  I wanted the block to be as long as practicable (front to back) so I could sink two screws in each and have it strong enough that it wouldn't work loose over time.  But I also wanted it  short enough to accept some t-bolts I had on hand, but I didn't want to counterbore for the head of the t-bolts.  So I rebated a bunch of stock, cut the back sides to two different lengths, and glued them in book-matched pairs consisting of one short and one long.

One odd thing that I noticed during my first trial run was that when I mounted the back ledge of the extrusion snug up on the underside of the MFT top, my guide rail could not go low enough to lay flat on the top of the MFT.  I'm not sure why, because I didn't have that problem back when I used to screw the extrusion directly to the underside of the MFT top.  But I don't worry about stuff like that.  I just took a 4mm shim (a Lamello biscuit, LOL) and shimmed the blocks a bit.  Works like a charm.

This is my third jumbo MFT, and this one has a few new features that I think will make it easier to use, reduce setup time and improve accuracy, but unfortunately I'm only just beginning to use it and won't have a chance to really test it for a couple months due to family and work obligations.  So if you see some stuff that strikes your curiosity, I'll be glad to answer questions to the best of my ability, but until I've been able to make a few pieces of furniture on it, I really won't be able to say whether all the features work as well as I hope they will.

So anyway, here's the first group of photos:

1.  Top view of installed extrusion showing mounting holes.
2.  Front-right view of installed extrusion showing Lamello biscuit used as shim.
3.  Front-left view of installed extrusion.

 

[John Stevens]

Second group of photos:

1.  top of blocks, fastened to extrusion
2.  back of blocks, fastened to extrusion
3.  bottom of blocks, fastened to extrusion

Hope this helps--sorry if it's not clear or not detailed enough, but I'm up way past my bed time and am already 3/4 asleep.

Regards,

John

 

[Fred West]

John, very nice job and what works for you is all that matters. What are the dimensions on your jumbo? Thank you for the pics as well.  Fred

 

[John Stevens]

What are the dimensions on your jumbo?

Hi, Fred.  This one is 1m x 1.5m, or about 39" x 60"  Still a little big for my new work area, but the last one was 1m x2m (about 40" x 79"), much too big for the new area.  I may yet end up cutting it down to about 35" x 60" or so, but it's nice to be able to do rips of almost 36", which you can do on a table that's 39" from front to back.

Regards,

John