How to rip 3/8 x 8' trim

[NEW2FES]

Ok I have Festool MFT and honestly it never gets used as for some reason it always slows me down rather then help. I see post after post of how great it is and I just get lost.

I have to rip a 2" x 8' piece of poplar into thin 3/8 strips to finish the edge of a plywood top. On my table saw this is a simple adjust to 3/8/lock down and rip away.

No matter which way I try to mount the wood onto the MFT it hits the bridge uprights. I can't get the piece of wood close enough without raising the track where it no longer is touching the wood. This causes the wood to move. It is too small to clamp onto the track on somehorses without 4 pieces moving in every direction.

100deg in the garage, I am frustrated and out $10 in wood. Someone please explain how to easily do this. I know most of my posts are neg but I do not make excuses for tools nor do I feel they shouldn't operate as is on their own. In this case I just want to cut the damn wood. LOL!

 

[mastercabman]

Table saw.That's all i can say.

 

[frodo]

Do a searchon this site. There is a great discussion on this topic. I believe it was called "parallel guides replacing a tablesaw"  Good luck

 

[Michael Kellough]

Ok I have Festool MFT and honestly it never gets used as for some reason it always slows me down rather then help. I see post after post of how great it is and I just get lost.

I have to rip a 2" x 8' piece of poplar into thin 3/8 strips to finish the edge of a plywood top. On my table saw this is a simple adjust to 3/8/lock down and rip away.

No matter which way I try to mount the wood onto the MFT it hits the bridge uprights. I can't get the piece of wood close enough without raising the track where it no longer is touching the wood. This causes the wood to move. It is too small to clamp onto the track on somehorses without 4 pieces moving in every direction.


100deg in the garage, I am frustrated and out $10 in wood. Someone please explain how to easily do this. I know most of my posts are neg but I do not make excuses for tools nor do I feel they shouldn't operate as is on their own. In this case I just want to cut the damn wood. LOL!

That must be the 100 degrees talking.  

I have no idea how that paragraph relates to ripping 8 foot stock on a 4 foot table.
The MFT is meant for cross cutting or ripping very short stuff.

A table saw is the tool you need but if you have to do it on-site without a table saw and without a work surface that can support 8 feet of stock then you're better off going ahead and gluing the stuff onto a piece of plywood and then cutting off the surplus after the glue dries.

Might as well go home and rip it on the TS.

If you had a piece of plywood or a plank long enough to support the strip you could nail or even tape down some scraps to capture the strip to keep it from moving while it is being cut.

 

[tjbnwi]

Your trying to cut in the wrong axis of the MFT. You don't need the table guide rail, only the fence.

It doesn't matter how long of a rip you need, it is limited by your guide rail length. It is very easy to accomplish what you want to do with the MFT. I recently did a lot of 1/8" by 8' with this method:

http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-jigs-tool-enhancements/how-i-rip-ff-and-door-pieces/

Tom

 

[peter halle]

Tom's method really works.  I am a convert.

Peter

 

[NEW2FES]

This is a table saw replacement system so it should do what a table saw does and more without making excuses.

Not sure why you do not think the paragraph applies? Look at your guide rail bridge and you will see if the extending bracket was not there you could easily cut any length down to just about any width by simply moving the piece forward into the cut.

Again, what Festool is seriously laking is taking complaints and customer problems and implementing them into products or corrections to older products. Instead we have pages upon pages you have to dig through to find a solution that kind of works. At the cost of these products there should be updates to help with common problems. Ripping anything narrower then a 3" stock longer then 46" is an issue.

You shouldn't be looking for cardboard and making all sorts of jury rigged items to make this set up work. The engineering should be done for you. I clearly understand the need for that one off project but read all the threads on doing simple common cuts. Should it really take you 20 minutes and 3 other pieces to make a simple cut? Carrying and setting up that table saw to a site is not looking that much more difficult.

Festool needs to make changes and stop making the consumer do all the fixes. This isn't a cheap system.

I do like some aspects

 

[mouppe]

Who said it was a table saw replacement system?

Take off the guide rail bridge if it is in your way.

For centuries, woodworkers have used jigs to enable their tools to do more. I don't see what's different with the tracksaw. There are plenty of ways to rip thin stock using the tracksaw and guide rail.

 

[windmill man]

I can cut 10 mm ,9mm,8mm, etc down to 1mm strips off 300mm >2500mm length of timber with no problem. With out jigs ,cardboard etc.I do it on site all the time.  Think you need to turn the air con on have a beer and chill and think about what you are doing. [smile]

 

[hockey_magnet]

I don't believe Festool have ever claimed the TS and MFT was a table saw replacement. If you search the forum there are many discussions on this topic already. Using a table saw, I use jigs all the time for specific tasks. The rail bridge is easily removed and you have already been shown a fairly easy way to get what you want. If you're going to be doing a LOT of those very thin  rips, get a table saw. if not, just follow the directions offered. I don't think any TS manufacturer including Festool has perfected a way of making long thin rips easily and consistently without setting up a jig or some other method that requires more than just the bare TS and rails and nothing else

This is a table saw replacement system so it should do what a table saw does and more without making excuses.

Not sure why you do not think the paragraph applies? Look at your guide rail bridge and you will see if the extending bracket was not there you could easily cut any length down to just about any width by simply moving the piece forward into the cut.

Again, what Festool is seriously laking is taking complaints and customer problems and implementing them into products or corrections to older products. Instead we have pages upon pages you have to dig through to find a solution that kind of works. At the cost of these products there should be updates to help with common problems. Ripping anything narrower then a 3" stock longer then 46" is an issue.

You shouldn't be looking for cardboard and making all sorts of jury rigged items to make this set up work. The engineering should be done for you. I clearly understand the need for that one off project but read all the threads on doing simple common cuts. Should it really take you 20 minutes and 3 other pieces to make a simple cut? Carrying and setting up that table saw to a site is not looking that much more difficult.

Festool needs to make changes and stop making the consumer do all the fixes. This isn't a cheap system.

I do like some aspects

 

[mastercabman]

This is a table saw replacement system so it should do what a table saw does and more without making excuses.

Not sure why you do not think the paragraph applies? Look at your guide rail bridge and you will see if the extending bracket was not there you could easily cut any length down to just about any width by simply moving the piece forward into the cut.

Again, what Festool is seriously laking is taking complaints and customer problems and implementing them into products or corrections to older products. Instead we have pages upon pages you have to dig through to find a solution that kind of works. At the cost of these products there should be updates to help with common problems. Ripping anything narrower then a 3" stock longer then 46" is an issue.

You shouldn't be looking for cardboard and making all sorts of jury rigged items to make this set up work. The engineering should be done for you. I clearly understand the need for that one off project but read all the threads on doing simple common cuts. Should it really take you 20 minutes and 3 other pieces to make a simple cut? Carrying and setting up that table saw to a site is not looking that much more difficult.

Festool needs to make changes and stop making the consumer do all the fixes. This isn't a cheap system.

I do like some aspects

Table saw.That's all i can say.

That's all i can say!

 

[tjbnwi]

If the cardboard statement was aimed at me, it is only there to protect the top from being cut. My MFT is 4 years old and that is the original top. Just one of those stupid things I do like washing and cleaning the interior of my work truck at least 4 times a week, no matter what the weather.

I like to keep things nice and clean, thats why I figured out how to replace my table saw with the guide rail and CT system.

I cut sheet goods with this set up also, some day I'll take some pics of that.

Tom

 

[JeromeM]

This is a table saw replacement system so it should do what a table saw does and more without making excuses.

It isn't sold as "a table saw replacement system"
Your complaint is along the lines of complaining that your new titanium hammet won't put in screws [big grin] [jawdrop] [jawdrop]

The MFT is not designed for the kind of job you want to do. There are ways to use it to help and with jigs they can, and do, work.

But even with those why would you think  4' support is good for 8'stock?

There are some who have found that with an MFT they no longer need a table saw.  But as always in woodworking YMMV  [wink]