Medium BF/MFT Workbench Build

[MikeGE]

Update for 19 November 2020.

I finally found the time to build the drawers for the end section.  Each drawer is 883mm wide and 500mm deep and made from 15m plywood.  The drawer fronts are made from 12mm plywood.  Three of the drawers are 100mm tall, and the fourth drawer is 150mm tall.  The drawer pulls are from the same vendor as the extrusion, and the drawers are recessed so the handles do not extend past the end of the frame.

Here are the contents of the first drawer.  I used Kaizen foam for the lining of each drawer, and cut around each of the tools.

Contents of the second drawer.  The Woodpeckers kit for the Domino came in a Systainer, and I didn't see any point in cutting Kazien for the contents, so I trimmed the Kaizen around the foam insert and declared victory.

Even with the shortcut of using the Woodpeckers insert, this drawer took the most time to prepare because of the angle clamps.

Contents of the third drawer.  The longest guide rails for the TSO parallel guide kit are too big for the drawer, so they are on the catch tray.

The fourth drawer waiting on me to decide what to put in it.

The fence, FS 1400/2, and the long TSO guide rails fit on the catch tray when not in use.

My next project was to make the sliding trays for the Systainer cases.  I am using 19mm plywood from scraps, and these will be mounted to the 400mm full extension slides along the sides of the workbench.  Since I don't have a CNC machine (yet), I will use an 8mm cutter and the 11mm copy ring on the OF 1010 router

This is the routing template I used to make the 8mm deep recesses for the Systainer feet.  The plywood cleats are glued to the 12mm MDF (more scrap) to ensure each of the 405x400mm trays are similar.  Since I didn't want to be bothered with chiseling out all of the corners, I extended the router bit to ensure the corner of the Systainer feet had clearance. 

The first test shelf is done, and the Systainer fits perfectly.

Twenty Systainer trays ready for sanding and painting.  I doubt I will ever use all twenty, but since I had the template and a rhythm going, I used up most of my 19mm offcuts that have been gathering dust for a year.  I made three trays for the VAC SYS Systainers.  These are the original version and have a different feet layout.

 

[MikeGE]

I forgot to add...

I was searching for methods to treat the surface of the Valchromat, since it won't absorb 15 coats of thinned wipe-on poly.  Most of the methods I found were using hard wax oil, so I bought a can to test it on a small piece.

I used this offcut to test the UJK Parf MK2 system, and thought it would be a good candidate to test the oil.  It has ten 20mm dog holes and one 18mm recess I made with a Forstner cutter to check the depth needed for the mounting screws and washers.  I made two shallow saw cuts across the board to divide it into three sections.  In addition to the oil, I wanted to try different sanding finishes.

The top section in this photo, with three dog holes and the Forstner recess, was not sanded.  The middle section, with four dog holes, was sanded with P150.  The bottom section, with three dog holes, was sanded with P150, P220, and P400.  I then applied a thin coat of the wax and let it soak in for about ten minutes.  After wiping off the excess, I let it dry overnight.  I then added a second thin coat and wiped off the excess after about ten minutes.  This is how the board looked about four hours after the second coat.

I can tell the difference between the three areas, and the P400 finish is the winner. 

 

[nclemmons]

You have done an admirable job on the design  and build.  Very clean and I really like the color choices.  Particularly like the electrical distribution!

I’m sure it will serve you well for many years ahead.

Thanks for the detailed walk through of the build and thinking.

 

[MikeGE]

Mike, this is a fantastic build! As a retired engineer, I realize all of the research and planning you put into this project. I did a similar build with 80-20 for my cnc router.

I'm designing a similar MFT and will also use the DashBoard Guide Rail Bracket Set. I have a question, if you could possible do some measuring for me. How much of the Festool Rail does the hinge side of the bracket and the opposite support bracket use. I'm plan on sizing the width of my table to take advantage of the 42" (FS 1080/2) rail.

@GigaWatt, Thank you, and I apologize for missing your question. All measurements are from the surface of the extrusion.

The hinge side requires 185mm and the pin side requires 75mm to ensure the guide rail is properly supported. If you want to just clear the pin, the rail needs 45mm of overhang. I think it would be an easy task to make a pin plate that attaches to the surface of the workbench and uses two or more dog holes as a reference. Maybe this is something @RightAngleDesign could offer.

 

[MikeGE]

You have done an admirable job on the design and build. Very clean and I really like the color choices. Particularly like the electrical distribution!

I’m sure it will serve you well for many years ahead.

Thanks for the detailed walk through of the build and thinking.

Thank you! I learned from watching the videos by @AtomicRyan and applying his lessons learned.

 

[GigaWatt]

Mike, this is a fantastic build! As a retired engineer, I realize all of the research and planning you put into this project. I did a similar build with 80-20 for my cnc router.

I'm designing a similar MFT and will also use the DashBoard Guide Rail Bracket Set. I have a question, if you could possible do some measuring for me. How much of the Festool Rail does the hinge side of the bracket and the opposite support bracket use. I'm plan on sizing the width of my table to take advantage of the 42" (FS 1080/2) rail.

[member=74226]GigaWatt[/member] , Thank you, and I apologize for missing your question.  All measurements are from the surface of the extrusion.

The hinge side requires 185mm and the pin side requires 75mm to ensure the guide rail is properly supported.  If you want to just clear the pin, the rail needs 45mm of overhang.  I think it would be an easy task to make a pin plate that attaches to the surface of the workbench and uses two or more dog holes as a reference.  Maybe this is something [member=70143]RightAngleDesign[/member] could offer.

Thanks for your reply. I have the equipment ordered awaiting shipment. Your measurements will allow me to go ahead with work on my MFT. I really like your drawers for the Woodpeckers & TSO tools. I need to build something similar to organize and protect mine.

 

[nicholam77]

This is such a beautiful bench build! The layout in that TSO drawer is divine.

A few of questions for you on your fence:

1) With the aluminum blade did you need to use any lubrication, and if so, what? I haven't cut metal much before but want to trim my extrusion in the same manner.

2) Any reason why you chose a 30x60 extrusion? I did the same but am now realizing 25x50 or 20x40 would fit some of the flag stops that are out there whereas 30x60 does not.

3) On that note... what are you plans for a stop block?

Thanks!

 

[MikeGE]

This is such a beautiful bench build! The layout in that TSO drawer is divine.

Thank you!

A few of questions for you on your fence:

1) With the aluminum blade did you need to use any lubrication, and if so, what? I haven't cut metal much before but want to trim my extrusion in the same manner.

I didn't use any lubricant.  I made the cut slowly and didn't force the material through the table saw, or the miter saw through the material.

2) Any reason why you chose a 30x60 extrusion? I did the same but am now realizing 25x50 or 20x40 would fit some of the flag stops that are out there whereas 30x60 does not.

In Germany, I can't find 25x50 or 20x40 extrusion.  These sizes appear to be common in North America, but the vendors I checked here didn't carry them.  The closest I could find was 30x60.

3) On that note... what are you plans for a stop block?

Thanks!

I bought the Fence Dogs for the fence from Benchdogs, and also bought the Flag Stop M6 that I thought would work...and it would if I had 20x40 extrusion.  The T-nut and the 3D-printed part of the flag stop fits the slot in the 30x60 extrusion, but the flag is too small.  I will either make a new flag or will use the 3D-printed part as the stop block.  I might also make a stop block from offcuts.

 

[hdv]

[member=70363]MikeGE[/member] : I realise it is a bit too late for it now, but motedis.de does have 2040 profiles. See for example this one.

 

[MikeGE]

[member=70363]MikeGE[/member] : I realise it is a bit too late for it now, but motedis.de does have 2040 profiles. See for example this one.

@hdv, thank you! It's not too late for the next project. I have a friend who is designing a table and wants to use aluminum extrusion for the frame. He prefers to machine his own lengths, so I'll pass this site to him.

 

[nicholam77]

Thanks for the responses! Makes sense... I ended up with 30x60 just to have a beefier fence, didn't really research the flag stops until after I bought it. Oh well. Nice to know the Benchdogs one fits, perhaps I will get one and make my own 'flag' as well. Thanks!

 

[hdv]

You're welcome. My experiences with them (Motedis) are good, but delivery often takes a longish time. And during the pandemic some products were not always in stock. Other than than no trouble whatsoever.

 

[BeGood]

Hi Mike,

Item, Valchromate, TSO, Dash-board Guide Rail, Kaizen foam, an Incra System - everything, not just your work bench, looks top notch.  Just a couple of questions:

1. fence system
what made you decide to go for the fence dog solution instead of, say, the solution of dash-board?

2. protection of the top
since you´ve invested a lot of time and money in your valchromate top I suppose you are not planning to have it replace soon due to wear and tear but instead to keep it as long as possible. I was therefore wondering how you will protect the top when making cuts?

3. stabilising the guide rail
when cutting thicker material how are you going to support your guide rail underneath to avoid any potential imbalances such as wobble?

 

[MikeGE]

Update for 28 November.

The end is in sight.  I made a lot of progress since the last update, and in the next couple of days, the workbench will be fully operational.

I made pull-out trays for the Festool Systainers that I wanted in the workbench.  The rest will stay in the main shop until needed.  The trays are made from 19mm plywood that was left over from previous projects, so I got a bit carried away and cut enough for 20 trays.  Three are for the original Systainer footprint, and the rest are for the Systainer I have.

Since I don't have a CNC machine (yet), I had to make all of the cutouts for the Systainer feet by hand using the OF 1010, copy ring, and 6mm cutter.  I didn't want to chisel out the corners, so I extended the corners with the routing template.  After all, no one is going to see them and it is a workbench.

I though I took a photo of the other template, but if I did, I can't find it.  Here are the finished trays ready to be sanded, sealed, and painted.

Some of the painted trays.  In the end, I only used two of the original Systainer trays and ten of the new Systainer trays.  Lesson learned is to layout the trays first, then cut the plywood.  It was nice to actually use the workbench to make the workbench.  The VAC SYS is such a great tool for holding pieces for sanding and painting.

I didn't take any photos of installing the drawer slides for the trays, but I determined how high I wanted the slides and cut a wide board for each of the different heights.  The bottom slides were already in place when I built the partitions, so I only needed to install six new trays.  I think there were four different heights for the six trays.  I also made and installed two drawers to fill in the gaps at the top of two bays.  I'll include photos of the bays and drawers in the final build post.

And now comes the part I have been dreading.  I need to cut a 5mm deep slot in the top of the Valchromat to hold the sacrificial HDPE strip.  I determined the location for the strip based on where the LS 1400/2 Guide Rail meets the top.  The edge is off center of a row of dog holes, so I measured the area to cut so it is symmetrical over the holes.  This way, I can reverse the strip when it is used up and have a fresh surface for cutting.

Here is a photo showing the 6mm plywood strips I used as guides for the OF 1010.  The blue painter's tape is an attempt to control breakout when I start cutting the Valchromat.  It worked great.  I only have two copy rings for the router, so the largest cutter I could use was 8mm.  I had to make several passes to remove the 61.5mm of material to a depth of 5mm.

And now the cutting starts.  After the first edge cuts, I removed the blue tape as it wasn't needed for the rest of the cutting.  I could not have done this in the basement with my previous Bosch GOF 1600 CE router.  I would have needed extraction fans to clear the room from the fine dust from the Valchromat, but the Festool system is the best!

Done!  The edges are crisp and the width is uniform along the length of the cut.  I had a small piece of the HDPE to check the progress of the cutting.

One happy 61.5mm wide HDPE strip.

Five happy replacements.

The final preparation of the top.  I sanded this with P150, P220, and P400 to prepare the top for the hard wax oil.

The first of two coats is on and drying.  I put blue tape around the perimeter of the aluminum extrusion and on the screws that hold the top to the extrusion.  I don't want the oil to get on the screws or extrusion.  It took 28 minutes from start to finish for the top and six minutes for the edge.  When I finished the last section of the top, I wiped off the excess oil on the first half of the table top.  Then I applied the oil to the edges.  When I finished the edges, I wiped off the excess from the other half of the top.  Tomorrow afternoon, I'll apply the second coat of hard wax oil.  When it is dry, I'll attach the guide rail brackets and the workbench will be complete.

 

[MikeGE]

Hi Mike,

Item, Valchromate, TSO, Dash-board Guide Rail, Kaizen foam, an Incra System - everything, not just your work bench, looks top notch.  Just a couple of questions:

1. fence system
what made you decide to go for the fence dog solution instead of, say, the solution of dash-board?

2. protection of the top
since you´ve invested a lot of time and money in your valchromate top I suppose you are not planning to have it replace soon due to wear and tear but instead to keep it as long as possible. I was therefore wondering how you will protect the top when making cuts?

3. stabilising the guide rail
when cutting thicker material how are you going to support your guide rail underneath to avoid any potential imbalances such as wobble?

Thank you for the kind words!!!

I was typing my latest update when you posted this. 

1.  I don't know anything about the Dash-Board fence, but I just checked his website, and there are no photos of it. 

2.  In today's update, you will see the HDPE sacrificial strips I made for the top.  I routed a slot in the top to accept the strip, and it fits perfectly.  The cutting path is off-center to the strip, so when it is chewed up, I can flip it around and use the section that was under the guide rail.  When that section is chewed up, I have five more spare strips.

3.  I'm not sure I understand this question.  However, if you are asking how the stable the guide rail will be for thick cuts, the Dash-Board guide rail bracket I have supports the guide rail securely on both ends.  It has more elevation than my TS-55 or TS-75 can cut.

If the board is too thick for the track saws on the workbench, I have a Minimax SC2 Classic slider saw in the other part of my shop for that.

 

[nclemmons]

Great looking bench!  Thanks for the detailed photos and process.

 

[MikeGE]

Great looking bench!  Thanks for the detailed photos and process.

Thank you!  My wife is especially eager for it to be completed so I can start on her bookshelves.

 

[BeGood]

great to see some bright colour being added as a perfect, complementary contrast to the greyish rest - very good taste ;-)

to be a bit more precise in terms of my previous questions:

1. fence system by dash-board
this is what i was thinking of:

2. protection of the top
the sacrificial strip is definitely a practical solution for 90 degree cuts. but how about angled cuts?

3. making thicker cuts
your bench has a width of 100cm. if you cut thick wood which is much narrower than 100cm i imagine that the guide rail will most likely bend while cutting due to the weight of the track saw and lack of support from underneath. therefore i was wondering how you are going to solve those situations.

ps.: as for ordering and getting stuff shipped from dash-board as an international client like you did - how did it work in your case?

 

[MikeGE]

great to see some bright colour being added as a perfect, complementary contrast to the greyish rest - very good taste ;-)

to be a bit more precise in terms of my previous questions:

1. fence system by dash-board
this is what i was thinking of:

2. protection of the top
the sacrificial strip is definitely a practical solution for 90 degree cuts. but how about angled cuts?

3. making thicker cuts
your bench has a width of 100cm. if you cut thick wood which is much narrower than 100cm i imagine that the guide rail will most likely bend while cutting due to the weight of the track saw and lack of support from underneath. therefore i was wondering how you are going to solve those situations.

ps.: as for ordering and getting stuff shipped from dash-board as an international client like you did - how did it work in your case?

Thanks for including the video!

1.  I didn't know about his fence, but think it would have been too large to mail through the USPS.  The fence flip stops look great, but I don't know if they will work on my 60x30mm fence.  I took a chance on the Benchdogs fence flip stop, but it didn't work out.  The metal flag that flips up and down was made to work with smaller extrusion.  However, the 3D-printed slide fits in the 6mm slot perfectly, so I can probably make a flag with some 3mm steel that will work with my fence.

2.  I have two half sheets (2500x625mm) and assorted sections of 12mm OSB I use for sacrificial backing board when I'm cutting on something I don't want to damage.  However, depending on how wide the piece being cut is, it might be easier to angle the wood and keep the guide rail perpendicular to the table.

3.  Thanks for explaining.  For narrow pieces, I bring the fence towards the center of the table.  I attached four slotted M6 Fence Dogs to the fence, so they go where the fence goes.  The Dash-Board rail brackets still support the guide rail at the ends, but the piece I'm cutting is now about mid-span of the guide rail.  I doubt it will sag even if I stand on it.  [smile]

Concerning the shipping, when I ordered all of my tools from U.S. vendors, I was still a U.S. Government employee with access to the USPS through the military postal system.  I recently retired and no longer have access, so now I am at the mercy of international shipping from U.S. vendors. 

 

[MikeGE]

Update for 30 November 2020.

Done!  The second coat of hard wax oil is dry and I started fitting the Dash-Board Guide Rail Brackets, fence, and tidying up the workbench.

I'm not sure why this photo has a yellow cast to it, but here is the finished top with the Dash-Board guides loosely placed.

The tour begins from the working side.  In the Systainer trays, I have the VAC-SYS, PS-300 Jigsaw, TS-55 Track Saw, ETS EC 150 Sander, and OF 1010 router.

In the 100mm high drawer above the sander, I have the bench dogs.

On the end, is the cable storage for the power cord.  I might use the open space to attach brackets for the clamps.

Continuing around to the far side, I have the DF-500 Domino and Domino bin, RO-150 Sander, ZS-OF-2200M Kit, RO-90 Sander, and OF-2200 Router.  The 150mm high drawer above the Domino is empty.

The first accessory fixture for the workbench.  What could it be?  The T-nuts in this photo have grub screws that allow them to be locked into position.  This will come in handy.

The bottom of the SE1 begged for modification, so I threaded the four holes in the corner for M10.

The plate is temporarily positioned, and in doing so I found I had misjudged the offset required for the Dash-Board bracket.  No problem...drill another hole for the bottom knob and we will not mention this.  Ever.

I also used an offcut of the 5mm HDPE to make a temporary stop block for the tray.  This really needs to be about 15mm thick, but will work for now until I can cut a piece of plywood to fit.

The SE1 is attached to the plate using the M10 countersunk screws.  The clips that hold the knobs captive are also installed.

The SE1 is in place and ready for use.  The quick disconnect hose fittings I ordered will arrive this week.  I will make shorter hoses for use in the shop and put the longer hoses back in the Systainer for use outside the shop.

Here is how the vacuum pump is powered.  I added a three-outlet to the partition behind the pump, so it remains plugged in all the time.  I unplug it from the front when not in use to prevent damage to the plug.

The end.  For now.