Festool Systainer Feet Jig

[Bugsysiegals]

I’m building a 8020 mobile workbench for my shop which will store my systainers on pull out shelves.  I’ve purchased 1/4” MDF and laid out the feet locations for 2 systainers deep which I’ll cut out and use a bearing guided bit to route the feet into the plywood shelves.

I’m wondering what the most accurate method would be to cut the feet out of the jig. I have a cordless jigsaw but wonder if there’s a more accurate method I could use??

 

[safety1st]

i recently had to do this myself. i did rough cutout with a jig saw and used bearing guided template bit to clean up the hole.

i made the measurements a bit more oversized and the same on all corners so it slipped in easily. that was because the tray had edges to keep the systainer in roughly the same spot. if you are using the feet holes to keep the systainer exactly in place then you may need more exact dimensions on the holes.

keep in mind that if you are adjusting height based on slipping the feet into the holes, the classic systainer will need a bit more height i think.

 

[Cheese]

I’d use an MFS and some wooden gauge/spacer blocks. Once set up properly, the blocks and MFS will yield excellent, repeatable results.

 

[RKA]

I would probably build a new template using two long ~4"x30" strips of 3/4" material and between the strips glue in the 2" wide blocks to fill the voids between each row of 4 feet and on the outside of the two outermost feet.  So now it looks like a mini cabinet face frame with 4 square openings.  Hopefully there is enough support around each opening for the router base (that's why to 2 long strips need to be at least 4" wide).  The template would need to be positioned on each shelf twice to route the openings for the feet.

 

[cubevandude]

I’m building a 8020 mobile workbench for my shop which will store my systainers on pull out shelves.  I’ve purchased 1/4” MDF and laid out the feet locations for 2 systainers deep which I’ll cut out and use a bearing guided bit to route the feet into the plywood shelves.

I’m wondering what the most accurate method would be to cut the feet out of the jig. I have a cordless jigsaw but wonder if there’s a more accurate method I could use??

This video might help in your thought process:

I just finished routing a stair jig using this method and it is dead accurate.  He does not show how he routes the final jig, but I took my piece of plywood and placed it on top (cut rough hole with jig saw) and then used a bottom bearing flush trim jig to cut the final template.  To shape the nose I used Durabond 90.

I then used this plywood template with a top bearing flush trim bit and routed out the oak stringers for the stairs I am building.  My piece of plywood had to be made 1 1/8" think for a top bearing flush trim 1/2" bit (1/4" Shank) that is 1" long to work.  This is a very common size bit.  It was fairly slow going as the bit shank is small for this application, but it worked with light cuts.

I also want to make a template I can use a guide bushing.  A 3/4" flush bit with a 1/2" bottom bearing will enlarge the template by 1/8" allowing for use of a guide bushing.

I hope this helps.

 

[mwildt]

I wonder, does the hole have to be a square ? It's just holding the feet of the systainer right so it doesn't slide ?

If so then you could drill a hole big enough for the feet to slip into. Would be faster. If not use a small enough drill to get as much as waste as possible then route the rest using a template as proposed.

 

[TomGadwa1]

Use a Forstner bit of the appropriate size to remove most of the material. Then use a jigsaw upside down or if you have one a blade runner to remove the rest of the material to your marked lines! Simple, quick and safe!

 

[UncleJoe]

I did mine differently, maybe it will give you some ideas. I use 3/4 material for the sliding shelf and cut 2 shallow dado's that aligned with where the feet would go. Once you do your layout cutting multiple drawers is fast and easy. The dado's lock the Systainer from side to side movement and a small scrap block screwed in at the rear prevents the Systainer from sliding backwards. Properly placed Dominoes would also work.

This worked well for me but your needs may be different. With a table saw and Dado blade or a router on the Festool rail this makes for quick work, neat and accurate. Who could ask for more? If you are doing a lot of drawers this task will be finished in no time. Cutting 4 square holes that no one ever sees in multiple shelves takes some time.

 

[JZ Bowmannz]

Not my idea, I got this from here.

[attachimg=1]

 

[JZ Bowmannz]

Systainer drawer topic

Link of the topic where I got the ideas and measurements.