MFT Rail Guide Assembly Issue... its really wobbly.

[plaidma1]

Well, I just got my MFT/3 at 90%... thanks, Festool USA for selling me what appears to be a brand new MFT at 10% off!  I was going to be content with a table-top that had a few cuts in it, but this top is unblemished.

Anyway, I assembled the table last night, and I had just one problem:  the guide rail is very wobbly in its supports.  Let me see if I can describe the problem, and my hypothesis as to what's wrong.

The guide rail contacts the sides of the table at exactly three points: one side rests on a pin; the other side has a bar with two holes and two hex-head screws that tighten down and pull the guide rail from underneath down onto the support.

Well, on my table, the length of the screws is greater than the thickness of the bar that they travel through; this means that as I tighten the screws, they bear down upon the guide rail itself, from underneath... it seems that they should be shorter than the thickness of the bar, and as I tighten, they would cause the bar to bear down upon the support, bringing the guide rail with it.

Given my situation, there is a gap between the bar and the guide rail, since the tightened screws are pushing the guide rail away from the bar.

Is this right?  Was I given screws that are too long?  Or am I doing something wrong (sadly, this is probably the case).

If my explanation is not doing the trick, I can upload a photo.

Alternatively, I guess its possible that the guide rail is supposed to be really really wobbly on the table.  Is your guide rail really, really, really wobbly?

 

[mouppe]

I am not sure what you mean, but here is a fantastic link to a video showing the MFT setup.

Hope this helps.

Festool MFT/3 Setup Part I - Guide Rail

 

[plaidma1]

Thanks, Richard... I actually watched that last night as I was assembling.  From what I see of him sliding the rail onto the bar, then tightening, I'm not doing anything wrong.... Thanks for sharing that link.

 

[tbellemare]

The screws that you talk about should be M6 x 10.

Can you measure them?

I got that info' from EKAT, the electronic parts system on the Festool USA website. It's item 81, isn't it?

http://ekat.festool.com/EKAT_USA/jsp/main.jsp?doAction=catalogAssy&k_vari=&k_ver=&image=0&k_lfdnr=&nodeId=14&sig=2FAFA81230BE1FF9616D7C2AA93CD01C36571CC41BE5E8B31F5FC49C49691DE5ED3B9B71DDA6B014BFA47313A601CDEB764B3D34E22F85C2ACEF10FB2D54A84F

Tom

 

[BigHonu]

Nothing wobbly on my table.  

Maybe a picture of your rail would help?  

 

[plaidma1]

Tom:  Thanks for that link.  You are correct.  The screw is the part number you pointed out.  I'm measuring the screw... the total length of the screw is about 17.5 mm.  The length of the threaded portion of the screw is either 11 or 12.5 mm, depending on what is considered "thread".  I assume that the "10" in M6 x 10 refers to a 10mm thread length?

Pictures coming.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Sounds like you have the wrong size fasteners for some reason.  [blink]

Give the service department a buzz tomorrow, or shoot me a PM or email with your contact & shipping info and I'll get the correct ones sent to you pronto.

Shane

 

[plaidma1]

Thanks, Shane, for that quick reply.  Your dedication is amazing.  For completeness, here are some pictures.

Here are some pictures, because I'm an engineer, and we beat these things dead...

The first picture shows the two screws driven tight against the bar; it shows that the screws are much longer than the bar is thick.  This should be a dead giveaway, either this looks like everyone elses, or it doesn't.

The second picture is an up-close-and-personal.  You can see the threads of the screw, and above it, you can see a white space; that is the gap between the plate below and the guiderail.  In the picture, I'm pushing up on the guiderail to demonstrate the gap.

Hope these pics transfer well.  I'm new to this.

 

[tbellemare]

Tom:  Thanks for that link.  You are correct.  The screw is the part number you pointed out.  I'm measuring the screw... the total length of the screw is about 17.5 mm.  The length of the threaded portion of the screw is either 11 or 12.5 mm, depending on what is considered "thread".  I assume that the "10" in M6 x 10 refers to a 10mm thread length?

Pictures coming.

The 10 is the length of the screw as it engages (10mm), meaning from the flat surface of the head, (where it contacts the material to be secured), to the end of the screw's body. It isn't the overall length of the screw. I think these screws' have heads that are about 4mm thick.

Tom

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

I would go look at mine but, I can't seem to remember what I did with all the extra parts from my mft/3.

I think those look like the right screw, dang-it, now I must go dig around and find all those parts for my table.

 

[fdengel]

The 10 is the length of the screw as it engages (10mm), meaning from the flat surface of the head, (where it contacts the material to be secured), to the end of the screw's body. It isn't the overall length of the screw. I think these screws' have heads that are about 4mm thick.

And here I thought it was the thread density (10 threads per inch, or some metric variant in this case), but maybe that only applies to bolts?

???

 

[tbellemare]

A standard, coarse thread M6 screw has a thread pitch of 1, meaning one full pitch takes 1mm.

Tom

 

[vkumar]

This is the interpretation of an M6x10 screw.  The 6 is the outer diameter of the screw over the threads.  The  10 is the length of the screw under the head (useful length of the screw). What is not mentioned is the pitch of the thread.

If it is not specified then it is 1.0 mm (peak of one thread to peak of another thread) for the 6mm thread (this is the preferred series of coarse thread).  The exact designation would be  M6x1.0x10 (but usually the 1 is skipped).

Vijay

 

[plaidma1]

First of all, as the OP, allow me to apologize for my dyslexia, in posting about my "rail guide" problem.

Next, I'd like to post a followup, as a demonstration to ANYONE who's searching the internet for examples of excellent customer service.

*I had a problem with a Festool tool; namely, that I thought I had been given the wrong parts.
*At about 8pm, I logged onto a chat board and described my problem.
*Within a half hour, a Festool dealer had already provided me with the part number and the description of the parts at issue.
*Only fifteen minutes, an employee of Festool also responded, indicating that if I send him a message, he would send out parts first thing in the morning.
*The next morning, before I had even thought to send an email, the Festool employee (of course, we're talking about Shane here) had sent me and another member of the Festool team an email with a link to this page and a description of the problem, so that the parts could be mailed.
*Ten minutes after that (before I had even read the email), the other employee called me and indicated that the parts were in the mail.
*One day later, the parts are here.  (Okay, full disclosure; I only live fifteen minutes away, so it wasn't hard for them to get the parts here in a day.)

I work for a company that strives for excellent customer service, and we take it very serious, but we could learn from this.  I am amazed that a company values customer service enough that its employees are fielding questions in the evening, and caring enough to follow through first thing in the morning.

Thanks, Festool.

Next time, though, it would be really cool if you could drop the parts off same day...

 

[Les]

Did the new bolts fix the problem?

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Next time, though, it would be really cool if you could drop the parts off same day...

Honestly, I live closer to you than the office and I considered offering that. But, you didn't seem to express a sense of urgency. Next time I'll know... [smile]

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

Yeah, what the heck was the problem?

 

[plaidma1]

Did the new bolts fix the problem?

Yeah, what the heck was the problem?

Yep.  Sorry, I should have clearly stated that:  the new screws are about 2 mm shorter (didn't actually measure the diff), and that is the correct length, because these screws hold the rail down tight.

Honestly, I live closer to you than the office and I considered offering that. But, you didn't seem to express a sense of urgency. Next time I'll know... [smile]

As cool as that would be, that isn't necessary.  It seems unfair to everyone else.

I have thought it a waste of your money when I've bought a large tool and its delivered on a semi.  Seems like a lot of extra shipping money that I could save you by driving over and picking it up.  I'd get it quicker, too.