MFT rail stay

[Roseland]

I love the MFT except for one thing; when I park the rail ‘up’ and out of the way, as likely as not it comes crashing down again, usually when either my head or a critical glue-up is right underneath.

I don’t want to tighten the hinge, because I want it to be free to let the rail lie flat.  At the moment I use a small block of wood between the underside of the rail and the fence as a lock, but there has to be a better way.

Any suggestions?

Andrew

 

[Sparktrician]

Same issue here, exacerbated by having the CT 22's boom arm right behind the rail.  I screwed a hook eye into a beam above it and use a bungee cord to keep the rail up when I'm not using it. 

 

[Stone Message]

Hi Andrew

I have looked everywhere for a photo of what I used to use...

I made a quarter circle piece of ply about 150 mm in radius. I attached a piece of bent brass bar to is. I seem to remember that part of the brass bar went into the groove of the rail and then the whole thing rested on the surface of the MFT3. This kept the rail in place, even when moving the table.

I suspect mine has been thrown away as I never use the hinged rail arrangement because of the Parf Dogs.

Peter

 

[GarryMartin]

I think some people have been using childproof (yeah, alright then!) safety latches such as the following.

http://www.amazon.com/Dreambaby-Safety-Latches-12-Pack/dp/B003NSAY7U/

 

[TomGadwa1]

Check out how the rail is positioned on the hinge. If it extends too far from the hinge point the weight of it will cause it to topple over easily. Try move the rail position on the hinge it has some more rail past the pivot point. If it has too much length on the one side this will cause your problem. So reposition the rail on the hinge and your issue will go away!

 

[Roseland]

Thanks for your suggestions.  It seems:

  1) I'm not the only one, and
  2) There isn't an 'accepted' solution.

I'm thinking of a solution involving magnets...  Just haven't worked it out fully yet.

Andrew

 

[tjbnwi]

As Tom said, shift the rail back on the pivot. The rail should pivot over center preventing it from falling back down without you pulling it down.  Other thing is you may have it to close to a vertical obstruction not allowing the rail to move over center.

Tom

 

[es07Eric]

This just happened to me today…  I had the rail in the vertical position while plunging dominos; the boom arm/hose swung around and the rail came down  [mad]

Now I'm on a mission to resolve this nuisance! 

I recall a while back seeing someone using this but don't remember how it was affixed to the table/rail:

[attachimg=#]

 

[Qwas]

It doesn't need to be anything fancy. I used a 2 inch square block of wood, about ⅜" thick. Drill a hole for a T-slot bolt and slide it on the MFT side extrusion.

[attachimg=1]

 

[elfick]

I like the solution someone had (that I can't seem to find right now) that was a hook for the TS which caught the TS at the end of the rail and effectively used the weight of the TS as a counter-balance.

 

[copcarcollector]

I like the solution someone had (that I can't seem to find right now) that was a hook for the TS which caught the TS at the end of the rail and effectively used the weight of the TS as a counter-balance.

Shown in the video in this topic,

http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-tools-accessories/ts-75-on-vertical-rail/