MFT as Tablesaw Outfeed using 1400/2 rail

[mot]

I did a little podcast at my tool blog on how I used the MFT as my outfeed table.  You can watch it, if interested, athttp://kandt-tools.blogspot.com

Thanks!

Tom

 

[Brice Burrell]

  You could use a little oil on that hinge. ;D I now understand what you were talking about on the other thread, your setup dose seem to take away one of the best parts of the MFT, speed and ease of use. Maybe in the morning I can finish my thought on your setup, but now I'm off to bed.

 

[mot]

The speed part has been reduced due to the setup and breakdown issue of using it as an outfeed table, but ease of use?  It's still pretty easy.  The problem is not yet trusting it.  So far I've made 15 cuts on it that were all perfect, so I'll trust it pretty soon.  It's the mitre guage that really just has me unsure as it has a smidge of play in it.  Using the stop for it works great as well.  What I did last night, was to have the mitre guage line up with the mitre slot on the tablesaw.  With a quick I'll find a way of making sure the table and tablesaw don't come free of eachother, then my speed of setup should improve as well.  Any thoughts on the setup would be greatly appreciated because I make no claims that what I do is best, it's just what I thought of first.

Thanks,

Tom

 

[Brice Burrell]

  With the MFT and TS55/75, the need to use the table saw with an outfeed table is reduced. I would use the MFT far more than I would need as an outfeed table. My thought, I would move the MFT away from the back of the tablesaw a little so you can put the rail on the long side with the hinge on the tablesaw side. I would maybe lower the MFT 3/4" and put a scrap of 3/4 plywood on top of the MFT to meet the tablesaw when you need an outfeed table. The ply would allow you to keep the fence on the MFT, however, there would still be the issue of the miter slots, than the fence would need to come off.

  I'm with you I don't trust the angle unit on the MFT, and it is somewhat slow to setup. I almost never use the MFT to cut angle for this reason.

  Anyhow, that's my 2 cents.
Brice

 

[mot]

My first thought was to have the MFT about 6" away from the TS and have the hinge on the long side.  The problem I have is that my lathe is pretty close and in the small shop, if I move my tablesaw 6" towards the other wall, I run into serious infeed problems.  If I move the MFT back to use it as it's designed, then I can't get at the lathe.  If I have to keep moving it back and forth, then I run into alignment problems.  Where the MFT is currently, I maximize my TS infeed and outfeed, I can still swing my bowl gouge past the MFT, and with the 1400/2 I can make use of the MFT with the TS55.  I see your suggestions, but the 3/4 top for outfeed means I have to set something else up, though that may become a bigger part of the system after I find more uses for the TS55 MFT combo.  Remember, I'm a TS guy that now has a TS55.  Right now I just see certain things done with the TS55...that may increase as I use it more.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Tom

 

[Brice Burrell]

My first thought was to have the MFT about 6" away from the TS and have the hinge on the long side.  The problem I have is that my lathe is pretty close and in the small shop.....

OK, I couldn't see that in the video.

Remember, I'm a TS guy that now has a TS55.  Right now I just see certain things done with the TS55...that may increase as I use it more.

  I was more of a TS guy too, then I got into Festool. I was a little slow to take advantage of the MFT, but it really grows on you. It turns out that I use my routers with the rail on the MFT a lot more than I originally thought. And cross cutting larger panels, I got the Table Extension on my MFT now, and I'm never looking back. I just wish I had more space, I'd build a large MFT.

  Best of luck with the setup, and keep the videos coming.
Brice