Like many of you, I own and really love the MFK 700. I like the fact that it is 85% tool free. But the one thing that always bugs me a little bit is adding the feeler gauge when I'm using the horizontal router attachment. I never like pulling the hex wrench out from the bottom of the Systainer, so I just store my hex wrench in the square piece of Styrofoam in the lid of the Systainer. Still it means grabbing a tool and screwing in a couple of 5mm screws that I know I am ultimately going to lose.
So I came up with a simple solution as you can see in the pictures. I bought a couple of threaded knobs from McMaster-Carr:
https://www.mcmaster.com
The McMaster-Carr part number for this knob is 62935K12 and the cost is $2.17 each.
The threaded bolt is M5 to match the existing holes. The threaded portion is 16mm long but I am thinking of cutting it down to 10 or 12 mm long as that's all it needs to grab and it makes installation and removal a little quicker. The head of the plastic knob is 20 mm in diameter. This causes (and I knew it would) a little binding just before you finish screwing the knob all the way in. I simply put each knob in my drillpress and used a small file at about 45° to trim off some of the bottom of the head of the knob. This allows that little portion of the head to clear the corner of the feeler gauge base. Hopefully you can see this in the pictures. The hub diameter of the knob is 12 mm and that's just a perfect diameter.
Oh, and one more bonus. Festool has provided a couple of 5mm threads in the feeler base, presumably to give an option to store the M5 screws that come with the MFK 700, when not in use. Well, they also fit the McMaster-Carr knobs perfectly so it gives a nice place to store the two knobs with the base. The knobs only screw in a couple of turns but that's plenty to hold them tightly or to quickly remove them when it's time to use the base.
I don't know if this tip is been offered by another member of the forum, but if not I hope some of you find it useful.
So I came up with a simple solution as you can see in the pictures. I bought a couple of threaded knobs from McMaster-Carr:
https://www.mcmaster.com
The McMaster-Carr part number for this knob is 62935K12 and the cost is $2.17 each.
The threaded bolt is M5 to match the existing holes. The threaded portion is 16mm long but I am thinking of cutting it down to 10 or 12 mm long as that's all it needs to grab and it makes installation and removal a little quicker. The head of the plastic knob is 20 mm in diameter. This causes (and I knew it would) a little binding just before you finish screwing the knob all the way in. I simply put each knob in my drillpress and used a small file at about 45° to trim off some of the bottom of the head of the knob. This allows that little portion of the head to clear the corner of the feeler gauge base. Hopefully you can see this in the pictures. The hub diameter of the knob is 12 mm and that's just a perfect diameter.
Oh, and one more bonus. Festool has provided a couple of 5mm threads in the feeler base, presumably to give an option to store the M5 screws that come with the MFK 700, when not in use. Well, they also fit the McMaster-Carr knobs perfectly so it gives a nice place to store the two knobs with the base. The knobs only screw in a couple of turns but that's plenty to hold them tightly or to quickly remove them when it's time to use the base.
I don't know if this tip is been offered by another member of the forum, but if not I hope some of you find it useful.
