Rutabagared
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MFT Bench Dogs
- Thread starter Rutabagared
- Start date
Frank Pellow
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I have thought about buy them but, so far, I am quite happy using the much less expensive Workmate bench dogs in my MFTs. Here is a link to the thread where I show how I use the Workmate bench dogs:http://festoolownersgroup.com/index.php?topic=5602.0
I grant you that the bench dogs that you asked about will be of much higher quality and maybe some day I will even spring for a pair of them.
I grant you that the bench dogs that you asked about will be of much higher quality and maybe some day I will even spring for a pair of them.
John auctioned one set of them a few months ago and I was the winner of that auction.
I also have a couple of sets of Festool clamping elements, a half dozen Workmate dogs and about a half dozen yellow dogs from a Craftsman table.
I use all of these things in different situations, but these dogs get used more than all the others combined. I bought some of the extruded aluminum rails from 8020 that he mentions in the auction. They attach perfectly to the dogs and bring a lot of options to the table. I picked up 4 4' rails for $54 shipped, not too bad.
I have a couple of MFT/3's and I haven't touched the angle unit since I picked up these dogs and the rails. I also haven't bothered with the brackets that attach the guide to the table.
I measued the holes in my table with a caliper and John machined them so they slip in perfectly, no wiggle and they don't have to be forced at all.
I do have one pic of them in action in my thread on the Oak Wenge spiral staircase. Kind of distant, but you'll get the idea.
If anybodies interested, i can take a few pictures of some setups I've used.
Jim
I also have a couple of sets of Festool clamping elements, a half dozen Workmate dogs and about a half dozen yellow dogs from a Craftsman table.
I use all of these things in different situations, but these dogs get used more than all the others combined. I bought some of the extruded aluminum rails from 8020 that he mentions in the auction. They attach perfectly to the dogs and bring a lot of options to the table. I picked up 4 4' rails for $54 shipped, not too bad.
I have a couple of MFT/3's and I haven't touched the angle unit since I picked up these dogs and the rails. I also haven't bothered with the brackets that attach the guide to the table.
I measued the holes in my table with a caliper and John machined them so they slip in perfectly, no wiggle and they don't have to be forced at all.
I do have one pic of them in action in my thread on the Oak Wenge spiral staircase. Kind of distant, but you'll get the idea.
If anybodies interested, i can take a few pictures of some setups I've used.
Jim
Rutabagared,
I have these and use thm for stops and fence and track alignment....
http://www.festooljunkie.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/79_181/products_id/1369/mft-accessories/qwas-dogs-precision-20mm-bench-dogs.html
I have these and use thm for stops and fence and track alignment....
http://www.festooljunkie.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/79_181/products_id/1369/mft-accessories/qwas-dogs-precision-20mm-bench-dogs.html
BC6738F5BCE98B4
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Among others I have tried, these work particularly well (and are much less expensive than some).
http://www.festooljunkie.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/79_181/products_id/1369/mft-accessories/qwas-dogs-precision-20mm-bench-dogs.html
http://www.festooljunkie.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/79_181/products_id/1369/mft-accessories/qwas-dogs-precision-20mm-bench-dogs.html
I am using some 20mm bolts that I got from McMasterCarr. They are extremely snug fitting on my MFT/3 and can be inserted removed by hand. The head is fairly large diameter and lower than a 3/4" board. The hardened steel would not be very kind to any cutting tools though! Work great for positioning for clamping.
Pete
Pete
Jesus Aleman
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Peter, do you have a part number?
McMaster-Carr -http://www.mcmaster.com/#92981a595/=biglq
92981A595 20mm metric shoulder screw with 30mm long shoulder - unthreaded part. Head height is 14mm or about 9/16 inch and 30mm diameter. Works well for me
. Might be cheaper options out there but this is what I found and use. I find that I use 5 or 6 at at a time when clamping longer items on the MFT/3.
Pete
92981A595 20mm metric shoulder screw with 30mm long shoulder - unthreaded part. Head height is 14mm or about 9/16 inch and 30mm diameter. Works well for me
. Might be cheaper options out there but this is what I found and use. I find that I use 5 or 6 at at a time when clamping longer items on the MFT/3.Pete
norwegian wood
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Anyone see or use the Qwas rail dogs yet? They are longer then the qwas dogs and bolt into the bottom channel of the guide rail and you them simply drop them down in the holes in the MTF table.
I bought the ebay dogs from John mentioned at the top of this thread. They are very well made and work well with t-track or wooden guides. I've used them for squaring up items on the table. As Jim mentioned, you can use them with 80/20 rails or the fence rail when removed from the MFT 1080 or MFT/3. Very simple idea that's well executed.
If you have a metal lathe, I suppose you could turn some from brass or aluminum stock. The metric bolt idea mentioned by will also work, but I liked the way you could easily attach a track or guide to those sold on eBay.
I believe it was Qwas that wrote the post on using the holes of the MFT table for angle cuts. With these or his dogs, that idea becomes an easy reality.
One other thing - John was great to deal with on the purchase. He actually custom makes the dogs to fit the holes in your table. So there's no play if you measure accurately with a digital caliper. John also makes the aluminum adapters for the domino to adjust by magnetically slipping over the retractable pins. Also available on ebay.
Neil
If you have a metal lathe, I suppose you could turn some from brass or aluminum stock. The metric bolt idea mentioned by will also work, but I liked the way you could easily attach a track or guide to those sold on eBay.
I believe it was Qwas that wrote the post on using the holes of the MFT table for angle cuts. With these or his dogs, that idea becomes an easy reality.
One other thing - John was great to deal with on the purchase. He actually custom makes the dogs to fit the holes in your table. So there's no play if you measure accurately with a digital caliper. John also makes the aluminum adapters for the domino to adjust by magnetically slipping over the retractable pins. Also available on ebay.
Neil
To you guys who bought bench dogs from John on Ebay, is there something better than the stock Festool fence that still allows use of the guide rail. All of the extrusions I saw from 8020 that seemed to accommodate the bench dogs were too tall to use with the guide rail. I just got a set of John's bench dogs, but I realized too late that the holes in them were at a height to match the fence on the MFT/3, whose T-track is twice as high off the table as the MFT1080's fence. I'll probably just send two dogs back to him to lengthen the holes, but before doing that I thought I'd see if someone had a better solution.
Not sure if this will work but looks like it might, http://woodhaven.com/Category.asp?Id=103
The McMaster shoulder bolts (20 mm diameter shoulder) work very well and are far less expensive than the alternatives. The 20 mm shoulder bolts are available in a range of lengths -- the least costly is 50 mm (2 inches) with a 30 mm round head. In another posting someone mentioned using the round head of a 20 mm plug (like the one on the shoulder bolt) to align the guide rail and fence rail with 1-2-3 blocks. The person mentioned using sound to align the complete system of guide rail, fence rail and bench holes. I first place a pair of rectangular blocks flat on the table with the 3" side (not 2" side) of the 1-2-3's against the fence rail and use an accurate 90-degree square to align the fence rail with respect to the bolt heads located in the table hole pattern. If the fence rail is not quite in alignment with the holes, you will hear a "rattle" of the 1-2-3's as you test their mating against the fence rail. The fence can be brought into good alignment with the holes by loosening the fence rail retaining knobs beneath the table and then nudging the rail tight against the 1-2-3's until neither block rattles against the fence. Repeat this procedure with the fence and smooth side of the guide rail extrusion. I find it best to always place the reference "sounding" blocks against the fence rail. It proves very convenient to have the holes and rails in square alignment.
nickao
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Hi thanks for the tip.
Could you please put up a link to where those can be purchased.
McMaster has like 480,000 items and I am finding it difficult to locate them.
Is this it:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#shoulder-bolts/=l7svc
These are the cheapest: 50 mm length(2")
http://www.mcmaster.com/#92981a607/=l7vck
Could you please put up a link to where those can be purchased.
McMaster has like 480,000 items and I am finding it difficult to locate them.
Is this it:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#shoulder-bolts/=l7svc
These are the cheapest: 50 mm length(2")
http://www.mcmaster.com/#92981a607/=l7vck
Check out the track option at http://www.woodpeck.com/supertrack.html - While I don't own it, their super track looks to be a robust option with a lot of flexibility.
I have John's dogs and use them with 8020 rails as well as with a 3' piece of T-track and it works well. I'm finding the T-track is really quite adequate and a lot cheaper (and lighter weight) than the 8020 rails. No reason you could not use them with a much longer piece of T-track. I use two pieces of it at a right-angle for a corner clamping brace with great success.
As an FYI, the toilet bolts that John shipped with the dogs have to be ground down slightly to accomodate the T-track since those are 3/8" bolts and most T-track is designed for 1/4" bolts.
I saw a lot of discussions in one of the threads about cutting square panels. With John's dogs and using the holes in the MFT, I have no issues at all with square panels.
neil
I have John's dogs and use them with 8020 rails as well as with a 3' piece of T-track and it works well. I'm finding the T-track is really quite adequate and a lot cheaper (and lighter weight) than the 8020 rails. No reason you could not use them with a much longer piece of T-track. I use two pieces of it at a right-angle for a corner clamping brace with great success.
As an FYI, the toilet bolts that John shipped with the dogs have to be ground down slightly to accomodate the T-track since those are 3/8" bolts and most T-track is designed for 1/4" bolts.
I saw a lot of discussions in one of the threads about cutting square panels. With John's dogs and using the holes in the MFT, I have no issues at all with square panels.
neil
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