MFT Table Extension adapted to MFT3

[thewoodwhisperer]

I apologize ahead of time if anyone has posted something about this already. 

One of my favorite MFT accessories is the table extension.  It's a necessity when cutting long sheets of ply.  It seems that the extension was one of the unfortunate compatibility victims in the MFT3 changeover.  I was toying with the idea of getting some aluminum to create an extension that would allow me to raise the height of the extension.  Fortunately, I realized there was a much easier fix.  All it requires is some scrap 1/2" ply and a couple of new 1" long bolts with square nuts (FYI I had to lightly file one side of the square nut in order for it to fit in the track).

The problem:

A new bolt and an old bolt:

Insert 1/2" ply scraps after installing new bolts:

The result:

Works like a charm!  Enjoy!
----------------------------------
Marc J. Spagnuolo
Designer Craftsman
TheWoodWhisperer.com

 

[Brice Burrell]

Nice job Marc. And to think, some people said you weren't going to contribute/participate on this site. Well they were wrong. Thanks again Marc.

 

[Michael Kellough]

All it requires is some scrap 1/2" ply and a couple of new 1" long bolts with square nuts (FYI I had to lightly file one side of the square nut in order for it to fit in the track).

Marc J. Spagnuolo
Designer Craftsman
TheWoodWhisperer.com

Thanks Marc! I was going to say you should get M? bolts for that so you can use the metric allen wrench on them but once they are installed there is no reason to remove them is there.

So instead I'll ask you, what is the make of that nice vintage looking straight edge? It looks familiar.

 

[Dan Clark]

Mark,

If you change the link in your signature to www.thewoodwhisperer.com, it will show up as a link.

And if you wrap in the correct tags, it will look like this: TheWoodWhisperer.com.  The code looks like this:

[url=http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com]TheWoodWhisperer.com[/url]

Just cut and paste the code into your signature.

Regards,

Dan.

 

[thewoodwhisperer]

Ha!  I think I need to warm up to actually putting up outbound links. 

Oh and that's a Starrett straight edge. 

 

[monte]

Mark,

If you change the link in your signature to www.woodwhisperer.com, it will show up as a link.

And if you wrap in the correct tags, it will look like this: WoodWhisperer.com.  The code looks like this:

[url=http://www.woodwhisperer.com]WoodWhisperer.com[/url]

Just cut and paste the code into your signature.

Regards,

Dan.

Dan,

??? ??? ???    I'm a little confused by your post or I've been in the heat too long today.

I don't think Marc would want to use http://www.woodwhisperer.com/
http://www.woodwhisperer.com/  is not  http://thewoodwhisperer.com/

 

[JJ Wavra]

Hello

Nice modification marc!

I just recently baught an extension.  When I turned it over I realized that you can move the aluminum parts apart and add a wood spacer in between.  it adds another couple of inches to the width of the extension.  I also drilled some holes in the wood spacer to make it similar to the mft top.  So far it has worked like a charm.

JJ

 

[Michael Kellough]

Hello

Nice modification marc!

I just recently baught an extension.  When I turned it over I realized that you can move the aluminum parts apart and add a wood spacer in between.  it adds another couple of inches to the width of the extension.  I also drilled some holes in the wood spacer to make it similar to the mft top.  So far it has worked like a charm.

JJ

Another great tip! Thanks JJ. This will be even better if you can add T track in between sections. It has always bugged me that the Ts are on the bottom.

 

[Brice Burrell]

JJ, I agree, great idea, in fact, I'm going to steal it. 

 

[thewoodwhisperer]

You are correct Monte.  My site is indeed thewoodwhisperer.com and NOT woodwhisperer.com

 

[MichaelTurri]

Marc, thanks so much for this. I just got one of the few remaining extension tables and have been trying to figure out how to retrofit it for the MFT/3. You said you were using 1/2" ply, so are we talking about 15/32", 12mm or what? I'm probably going to machine a shim and it seems like you are pretty darn near flush there.

BTW, you can always order 25mm cheese head screws from Festool for $0.70 each (400477). Those come with the KAPEX extension tables.

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