kfitzsimons said:
Good ideas fellows. Paul, so you have the MFT "bolted" to the wall, and it's stable enough to plane on? Do you have a vise on the bench to do edge planing or can you do that on the MFT using Festool clamps? I like the idea of having the MFT mounted on a base cabinet. More thoughts welcome...
Yes, I definitely plane on it often. For edge planing, I tend to use the Festool clamps on the side T-track (or the DeWalt clamps). The length of the MFT is more limiting in this case since I put a clamp on both sides and usually use a small box under the item to prevent the board from slipping downward.
The MFT sits on the top of that table and has beveled blocks that quickly position the feet when you put the MFT on the table. It positions it so the front of the MFT is coplanar to the front of the support table so edge planing is possible and better supported from tipping inward.
The support table isn't directly bolted to the wall; there's a board bolted to the wall that squeezes the vanity panel-style back to hold it in place (I didn't want bolt holes in the support table til I was convinced I liked this... but I haven't changed that yet
)
The MFT also has this kind of squeeze clamp holding it against the wall. It has 2 star knobs. Really, removing or replacing the table is an under-a-minute affair. I considered doing something that used the T-track, but getting a feather-key (or T-bolt) in that track back there while the MFT was positioned on the table seemed too awkward. The squeeze clamp is nicer, actually, because I used the levelers on the support table to make the top of the MFT coplanar with both of my workbenches on either side of the MFT (so I have a 18 ft flat surface).
Festoller has anchored support on both ends of the back of the MFT. That would add yet more stability in planing. In my case, the MFT is against the wall for just half of the table. Really aggressive planing on the side without a back wall can start to wiggle -a-bit-. I would have another anchor there if I could, but generally plane in front of the wall section anyway with absolutely no problems.
