MFT Station and Workshop

J

johnsonri

Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2007
Messages
390
Now that I am back in the shop and getting into the swing of things, I am beginning to build out my new MFT station. My MFT station will consist of two MFT3s with a bridge in the middle.

Under the MFT bridge will be a sanding station that consists of a oscillating spindle sander and disc sander. The sanding station is on top of a lift table that raises between the MFTs.

I am not done with my MFT station yet, but here are a few preliminary pics along with a few other shop pics. I was also playing with SketchUp a little for shop layout ideas.

SketchUp views of new MFT station and shop
[attachthumb=1]              [attachthumb=2]

New MFT Station (middle of shop)
[attachthumb=3]              [attachthumb=4]
 
Router table, planer and Kapex Station (left side of shop)

[attachthumb=1]               [attachthumb=2]          [attachthumb=3]

Shop Computer Station & Scrollsaw (back of shop)
[attachthumb=4]               [attachthumb=5]

Dust collector, drill press & bandsaw (right side of shop)
[attachthumb=6]

Needless to say, my wife's car has never seen the inside of the garage here.

Let me know what you think of my budding MFT station.

Thanks
Rey
 
That is a very nice, clean, well organized shop Ray. Looks very efficient.

I did the same thing with my Delta 22-580 planer as well by placing it on wheels close to the floor. When I needed it, I rolled it out into an open area.

Dan Clermont
 
Cool shop, Rey!

I thought about making a table span something like that years ago. I even bought the table profiles (1080 long) but didn't get to it before the MFT/3 series came out.

I could still do it but I have too much other stuff in the way right now.

Tom
 
Rey, very nice! You are inspiring me to get my act together and get my shop organized......
 
Nice setup! I've really got to get another MFT. I have a 1080, so another 1080 would be nice.

I've also thought about the Walko; but haven't seen one in person yet.
 
ray,

Is that a ovesized 1 car garage?  Or do you have dimensions?  If thats just a 1 car garage, your set up can inspire a lot of people.  I have a 1 car now but I'm moving into a oversized 2 car.
 
Rey,

I currently have my planer on a dolly until I get around to making a rolling base for it.  What did you use under your planer?  I can only see the wheels, and I like the very small footprint.
 
Thanks guys. Before I got things organized, I used to trip and stumble around things all the time. It was very frustrating. Working with limited space really brings out the imagination and creativity.

ForumMFG said:
Is that a oversized 1 car garage?
Click to expand...

ForumMFG, the garage is pretty standard for 1 car, it measures in at 20' x 11'...or in Festool speak, 6 meters x 3.35 meters  :D
I only know the measurements because I used my house as a model when I was first learning to use SketchUp. That has turned out to be very handy!!

Dan and Alan, the planer sits on top of a small hydraulic scissor lift, as does the sanding station between the MFTs. Here are two pics of them in their up position.

[attachthumb=1]      [attachthumb=2]

When I first got the lift for the planer, I was concerned about the possibility of tipping. But, the setup turns out to be pretty stable.

I do have one major remaining goal...I want to somehow fit in a jointer...but space is a major challenge there.

I have a bit more work to do on my MFT station before I am happy with it.
 
Rey, I'm impressed!  Good use of limited space.  Can you come organize my shop?!
 
Rey,
I looked at your mft write up.  you sate that you will write on your methods for crosscutting wider sheets, but you leave the crosscuts to 43"  what is your method for crosscutting sheets 49" wide?  I think you are on the right track with 2 mft's and a "bridge", and the setup you are proposing here would lend itself to add in an optional 55" bridge (in addition to the mft length one you show in your pics).
This bridge would be for crosscutting down Full sheets.   lay it out so you can get your max crosscut to the left side of your station. the key is  2 holes for QWAS rail dogs one in front of your fences and one at the far end they are drilled at a perfect 90) and using your methods as described in your first article extend your reach out to a full sheet, you could design it in such a way that you could drop it in only when you need to mess with full sheets the rest of the time it would not be protruding in your shop space.  

Over all your shop is a very good use of a small space. two thumbs up.
Craig

 
Rey,
just a question : are you a hobbyist or a pro?
(if you are a hobbyist I'm even more impressed)

Kr,
Nico
 
Steve, thanks for the lin.

Rey, there are a lot of good tips there. I too stumble around my shop. I have a slightly larger space; but a lot of it is filled with conventional floor tools. Perhaps if I were to narrow my stable down to only two bandsaws.....
 
Rutabagared said:
Rey,
Can you provide a source for the scissor lift?

Joe
Click to expand...

Joe, I got the scissor lift for the planer from a place called the PitPosse, they are a motor bike place. Here is a link to the lift
http://pitposse.com/poscli.html

As for the sanding station lift, it is a table lift that I got from Harbor Freight. Here is the link to the table
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=94822

Harbor Frieght used to have a (cheaper) scissor lift similar to the PitPosse version, but I no longer see it on their website.

I don't get many thing from HF, but the lift is working out fine. And they are constantly sending me 20% coupons so I got the lift at a discount.

Charimon said:
Rey,
I looked at your mft write up... 
Click to expand...

Craig, I had planned to write up more on larger stock. At the time, I had the MFT 1080s. Festool threw me for a loop when they came out with the MFT3 tables. I wanted to upgrade my MFT station so that caused me to retire the MFT 1080s. Then Festool went further and released those Parallel guides. With that, I never got around to that next write-up.

But, the way that you described it, would certainly work. I had built aux tables for the back end and front end of the MFT station. The aux tables basically amounted to fold-down tables that connected to the to the MFT side profiles with 8mm bolts. The tables could be mounted anywhere along the perimeter of the MT station to allow for wide cuts. Then removed when not needed.

Stoolman said:
Can you come organize my shop?!
Click to expand...

Sure, I get paid in beer.

nico said:
Rey,
just a question : are you a hobbyist or a pro?
(if you are a hobbyist I'm even more impressed)

Kr,
Nico
Click to expand...
I consider myself a pro at something  ;D. But woodworking is a hobby for me. I'm an IT guy by profession.

Steve, I would love to have two bandsaws and a slightly bigger space. For now, I'm just happy that I won the battle with the wife about parking in the garage. My compromise is that I scrape the snow off and warm up her car on demand...regardless of the time of day or night.

 
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