MFT/CMS style folding bench

[euangray]

Hi all, just sharing my latest workshop creation - a diy copy of the MFT/CMS setup.

my current work setup usually means working in temporary build spaces, and i need a portable tablesaw/router table/assembly bench to take with me. As all my stuff generally gets moved around in an estate car, everything needs to earn its place, or do a whole bunch of jobs very well.

This was built using 80/40 aluminium profile tubing with 10mm slots - the festool clamps fit pretty well, if not perfectly, and various slider components allow loads of jigs/mitre sleds to be used on the sides. One thing i'm still waiting on arriving are the brackets to allow the legs to fold underneath, and a longer piece of alu for the rip fence unit. the benchtop is a piece of 22mm MDF, 1220 x 800mm - easily replaceable and sturdy enough to take abuse.

All in all, not a cheap project (£260 for the cms, and £250 for the alu), but pretty good value when you consider the range of things it can do, and ultimately it doesnt take up tons of room either.

Feedback/ideas welcome.

Cheers

Euan
[attachimg=1]

 

[Timtool]

That looks pretty neat Euan!
How do you attach-remove the legs? and wasn't it possible to put them flush with the table exterior for clamping?

 

[euangray]

Hey thanks,

The legs are bolted through and secured with two wingnuts on the inside, each at 90degree angles to each other (so one into the long edge, one into the short). The bolt on the short edge comes out, and the bolt on the long edge just gets loosened off so the legs can fold up underneath. I'm waiting on a couple of 90 brackets being delivered to allow the legs to fold up - at the moment only one set of legs fit into it. I'll take a photo of this once i've got the brackets through the post.

They are inboard of the edges for a few reasons - one is that they can fold inside the main table when stored, and secondly it creates a more solid joint between the table/leg clamping to the inside face, rather than the underside. Clamping vertically to the leg was a thought i'd had, so i've designed the rip fence/guide (still waiting on delivery for this) to easily come off the top and mount onto the leg as a height adjustable ledge/shelf for supporting vertical pieces. I'll probably add some stick on measuring tape around the top edges and down the legs to make quick setting easier.

No doubt i'll make a few more tweaks the more i use it - the beauty of the alu extrusion is its really easy to add bits on if you need to.

Cheers
Euan

 

[Corwin]

Nice looking bench!  [thumbs up]

It appears that your MDF top does not sit as proud of the surrounding aluminum framework as Festool's MFTs.  Will you be able to use a plunge saw on your bench without having to worry about cutting into your aluminum frame?    [doh]

 

[Davej]

Handy looking bench , did you get the profiles from KJN.? I was thinking of a similar sett up but with 60 x30 profiles.

 

[euangray]

Nice looking bench!   [thumbs up]

It appears that your MDF top does not sit as proud of the surrounding aluminum framework as Festool's MFTs.  Will you be able to use a plunge saw on your bench without having to worry about cutting into your aluminum frame?    [doh]

Cheers - the MDF is flush at the minute, but yeah, i think sitting a few mm proud would be a good idea - the brackets underneath that fix the top on could be shifted up a few mm with some thin MDF shims, which i may well do. The top only took about an hour to think about/router/cut, so its no big deal to make another one when it gets chewed up. I suppose i could also use a piece of 18mm with a sacrificial 4mm top sheet too.... will see how this works out and revise when it needs replaced.

Davej - yep, bought from KJN. I was also going to use 60/30 and 30/30, but wasnt sure it would have been sturdy enough for the legs so went a size up. I think in hindsight it would have been fine.

 

[Bob Gerritsen]

Wow, nice work man! But you have to post some more pics, this is just cruel.

 

[CarolinaNomad]

Can you post more close up pictures of the of the attachments, ie fences?