Homemade MFT Worktop

[Jerry Work]

Thanks Byron,

Glad you found the manual helpful and that the pics were successful.  Let us know how your kitchen turns out.  Enjoy!

Jerry

Hi Jerry,

Sorry about that, the pics have now been deleted. For what it's worth I thought your article is superb and it's what finally made me decide to buy the MFT. The reason why I had pics on the site was to show my partner - to try and convince her that I was justified spending my cash on it to build the new kitchen we are currently fitting. It worked and I have the table, so I have you to thank really!

 

[ByronBlack]

Ok, so now that I have the MFT. I'm starting to design a new base for it. Basically it's going to be a simple pine constructed traditional style workbench base with a few drawers and single cabinet on the other side. This is all well and dandy, but i'm having a tough time trying to work out how to actually mount the MFT top to this base.

I would like for the top to be clear of the base by about 6" to allow room for clamps, and some general storage. How should I go about this to connect the MFT to the new base securely. Do I have to drill into the sides, or are there some fixings that I can get that will allow me to do this in a better non-destructive manner? Any idea's gratefully welcomed.

 

[Dave Rudy]

Byron,

Check out Brian Gray's solution here (previously posted on this board): http://www.briangray.net/projectdetail.cfm?ProjectID=32

 

[ByronBlack]

hi Dave

Thanks for replying with the link - unfortunatly someone already posted the link earlier in the thread, and I think I saw it previously before posting here.

It's a great bench/MFT, however it's not suitable for me because I don't wish to create anything that large, and secondly, I won't be dismantling the leg suppors/corner brackets like the chap on that website has. He has attached the side rails directly to a torsion box design which is something I don't feel the need to do.

Basically, all I wish to do is remove the legs from my current MFT, and then mount it onto a heavier wooden constructed base, at the moment, the only way I can see to do it at the moment is to have a horizontal bearer running the from side to side across the long side with fixings going through the corner/leg brackets into the timber bearer.

 

[Dave Rudy]

Byron,

Sorry for the false start.  I was just thinking of how Brian mounted the MFT top off the base to allow clamping room.

Another thought -- will the MFT rail corners sit on posts at the corners of the cabinet?  If so, why isnt the problem solved by making the posts taller than the cabinet?  I made a jumbo MFT, but it still uses the same rail-to-corner connections.  It sits on top of 4 3x3 posts.  I am considering making a cabinet to fit inside the posts.  Its top surface would be about 8" below the mft top.  It would not connect to the top at all, but would be joined to the posts at each corner, by one of several frame-to-post joints. 

Dave

 

[John Stevens]

Hi, Byron.  For what it's worth, I'll share my experience after having built two large MFTs, each of which had its own drawbacks.

Basically it's going to be a simple pine constructed traditional style workbench base with a few drawers and single cabinet on the other side.  [snip]
I would like for the top to be clear of the base by about 6" to allow room for clamps, and some general storage.

In regard to storage under an MFT, the second of the two was mounted about 8" above a bank of cabinets.  I found that it was enough room for the clamps, but it was somewhat cumbersome to reach underneath.  More space would have been better in that regard, but of course that would have reduced the size of the cabinets, given that I'd have wanted to keep the height of the table top the same.  I also found that anything stored directly under the top will get coated with sawdust very quickly.  Cleaning the sawdust from under the top is tedious, and the wider the table and narrower the clearance between the top and the base, the more cumbersome it will be to clean it.  Finally, even though I had doors on the cabinets, I still would have dust fall inside them from time to time, which was a minor annoyance, but an annoyance nevertheless.

I'm going to be building my third large MFT in a few weeks, and that will have nothing stored underneath.  I might make a provision for a removable shelf for temporary uses like storing panels while they're being glued, but that would be it.

This is all well and dandy, but i'm having a tough time trying to work out how to actually mount the MFT top to this base.

Basically, all I wish to do is remove the legs from my current MFT, and then mount it onto a heavier wooden constructed base, at the moment, the only way I can see to do it at the moment is to have a horizontal bearer running the from side to side across the long side with fixings going through the corner/leg brackets into the timber bearer.

For what it's worth, for my first large MFT, I made a frame from scrap 2 x 4 lumber, about 1200mm long, so there was about 400mm overhanging each end.  The proportion was based on this idea:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showpost.php?p=123460&postcount=6

I ran horizontal bearers across the width, rather than the length, and bolted the 2m rails to the bearer by means of nuts inside the channels on the undersides of the rails.  The pics below show a view of the table from the end and a view of a bearer, bolt and rail.  Sorry that I can't get better pics, but I dismantled the table years ago.

I found that more support was needed, so in the second version I used four horizontal bearers, each of which had adjustable bolts to make the top as level as could be.  The bolts were mounted into the top edge of the sides of the cabinets that formed the base.  That is now dismantled, and unfortunately I have no pics, but I hope this description will at least give you some ideas.

Regards,

John

 

[Michael Kellough]

Sorry to veer off into Rigid territory but I've been pleasantly surprised with the few Rigid tools I've tried. When my Bosch laminate trimmed broke on the job I sent someone to HD to get another and the Rigid trimmer was the only viable option.

It is actually quite nice. Although the WW press has raved about the Bosch Colt I like the Rigid better. It is slightly more powerful and much more comfortable to use. Plus, it has a 12 foot power cord and the plug lights up to indicate an energized outlet. It is VS and has a very soft start. The downside is a crude depth adjustment mech and lack of traditional laminate trimming accessories. It does have rails and an edge guide and a robust bearing edge follower and it accepts PC guide bushings. I decided to keep it even though I have about a dozen other routers. Just like the Festool 1100 is sweet to use compared to a 1/2" router, the Rigid trimmer is nice and small compared to the 1100.

The Rigid narrow crown stapler is very nice too. I'm glad to see an American company taking design seriously. In this regard the large Dewalt TS ($1100 version) is very interesting. Has anyone here tried it?

By the way, I got a lot of use from my BT 3100. It needed to be carefully adjusted and maintained to get the most from it. While it worked well I let my old Walker Turner TS languish in need of restoration but when the arbor or bearing went bad and I learned what a pain it would be to fix I went back to the old school TS. However, the BT 3100 was the tool that convinced me that engineering is superior to mass (you can always add mass) and made me more receptive to the Festool philosophy.

 

[Brice Burrell]

  Michael, I have the Rigid laminate trimmer, and I really like it too, I picked it on a sale for $80. It's been a great tool......wait, wait...what dose this have to do with a Homemade MFT Worktop?  ???  ;D