Keyhole clamps for the MFT

[Cary Swoveland]

I've changed some of the holes of my MFT to keyholes, so I could use a variety of shop-made clamps, yet continue to use Festool clamps.  Here are two examples:

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Here's the jig I used to cut the keyholes:

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The jig is upside down.  It has two 20mm dowels (which I turned on my lathe) to position the jig and a 20mm hole with two 1/2" wide extensions, 180 degrees apart.   (The black areas on the bottom of the dowels are burns from my edge sander.)  I cut a 1/4" wide slot to form the keyhole using a 1/4" diameter spiral upcut bit and a guide bushing with a 1/2" outside diameter.

One additional advantage of the keyholes is that they make it a little easier to put in and take out the Festool clamps.

Cary

 

[Mirko]

Cary,
Your the man, once again!

Mirko

 

[woodshopdemos]

Cary,
  Elegant answer to a problem. Nice work. Ditto on Mirko's comment.

 

[CharlesWilson]

Every time you post one of these ideas of yours, I end up adding another thing to my to-do list.

Charles

 

[Scrap]

Thats an awesome idea Cary, you could probably make some dogs with the same shape on the bottom that you could twist to lock them down.

 

[Programmergeek]

Great idea! 

 

[John Stevens]

Elegant is the word.  Many thanks for sharing, Cary!

Regards,

John

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Cary,

It appears that you machined slots only in one direction in the top of your MFT.  So why do the slots of your jig extend in both directions from the central hole? 

Dave R.

 

[Cary Swoveland]

Cary,

It appears that you machined slots only in one direction in the top of your MFT.  So why do the slots of your jig extend in both directions from the central hole? 

Dave R.

Just so that I have the option of using either jig slot.  Cutting two slots was as easy as cutting one.  Cary

 

[John Stevens]

I cut a 1/4" wide slot to form the keyhole using a 1/4" diameter spiral upcut bit

That's interesting...I'd assumed you'd used the Domino with the 8mm bit.

Regards,

John