MFT Vise

[Birdhunter]

This is my 3rd attempt to do a post with photos.

I wanted to add a vise to my dual MFTs. After a lot of planning and crafting, I'm happy with the results. IT's rock solid, the dog holes work with my Qwas dogs, and the vise is perfectly aligned with the extension top and right side.

[attachimg=#]

[attachimg=#]

 

[Theshipstore]

This is a great add on for the MFT. Did you use a MFT rail and the rail connectors to make this work. I would think if you used a rail you bought one from Festool to mount on both ends.
I do like this a lot and might try to duplicate this at my end if you have no objection.

Sal

 

[cgmojoco]

Nice job!

Any further details on how this was done appreciated

 

[Birdhunter]

I bought an MFT side rail and sawed it in half. The two halves are connected to the MFT with MFT connectors. The left side of the extension is bolted to the right side of the MFT. The legs were from Shop Fox and ordered through Amazon. I had to drill my own holes in the legs to allow them to fit under the extension. The extension is mostly hard maple.

I am extremely pleased with the results. The Shop Fox legs are an overkill, but add a great deal of rigidity.

Please feel free to use the design. If you have questions, fire away.

 

[rmwarren]

Great idea! I gave up my traditional workbench when the shop was downsized and switched to the MFT.  The thing I miss most is the old cast iron Morgan 12" rapid-action vise with bench dogs. Just didn't realize how much it was used until it was gone.

Thanks for posting.

RMW

 

[ericbuggeln]

I have seen a lot of stuff on here, but never that. Job well done, especially on the originality. I like the overkill on the legs. Looks like you could actually could do some handwork on there, Eric

 

[ScotF]

Very cool indeed!  Great use of existing parts and incorporating them into the design and functionality. 

Scot

 

[Birdhunter]

RMW,

If you are mounting a 12" vise, you would probably need two MFT side rails. My vise is only 9" so I just needed 1/2 the length of a side rail on each end of the extension.

The new legs were ordered through Amazon. The 1st set arrived damaged. I called Amazon and they overnighted a second set. This customer service wowed me!

 

[rmwarren]

RMW,

If you are mounting a 12" vise, you would probably need two MFT side rails. My vise is only 9" so I just needed 1/2 the length of a side rail on each end of the extension.

The new legs were ordered through Amazon. The 1st set arrived damaged. I called Amazon and they overnighted a second set. This customer service wowed me!

I won't be, the vise went to the new owner with the bench. I just miss it.

While your exact setup won't work in my situation, you do have me thinking about how I can add a good vise back into the arsenal. My current shop is best described as "10 #'s of stuff in a 5# sack"; everything new gets scrutinized.

Thanks,

RMW

 

[semenza]

Very nice!  What a great way to make MFT extensions. Would the connection be strong enough , assuming no vice,  without the legs? Just for general support ectensions?  Maybe with  a light weight top?

Seth

 

[Birdhunter]

The extension w/o the legs would easily handle most usages. I wanted to use the vise to hold wood for sawing. The MFT doesn't have enough rigidity front-to-back to handle sawing.

 

[RONWEN]

This is my 3rd attempt to do a post with photos.

I wanted to add a vise to my dual MFTs. After a lot of planning and crafting, I'm happy with the results. IT's rock solid, the dog holes work with my Qwas dogs, and the vise is perfectly aligned with the extension top and right side.

[attachimg=#]

[attachimg=#]

Outstanding.  More pictures please HOWEVER rotated 90 degree pictures drive me crazy so for my sanity please align them with gravity...  [eek]

 

[Birdhunter]

I was surprised to see the 1st picture was rotated. Not sure why one was right and one was rotated.

 

[tbellemare]

[attachimg=#]

Tom

 

[Birdhunter]

Thanks for uprighting the photo.

 

[tbellemare]

You're welcome!

Tom

 

[Zacharytanner]

Birdhunter,
GREAT job on an original design. Love it.

Frank

 

[cgmojoco]

Can you show more pictures of how you installed the vice to the table (into the V groove) and the parts invovled?

 

[Birdhunter]

The extension table is a 4-sided box with a top and no bottom. The top has the 19mm holes drilled in it The left side of the box has 3 bolt holes drilled in its side. The 3 holes are positioned to line up with 3 bolts. The heads of the bolts are slid into the slot in the lower side of the MFT side rail. The threaded end of the 3 bolts protrude from the MFT side rail. I lined up the three bolts with the 3 holes in the left side of the box, slid the box onto the bolts, and screwed on the washer, lock washer, and nut to each bolt.

The left to right location of the holes isn't critical as the bolts slide freely left to right in the MFT side rail slot. The vertical positioning is critical as I wanted the top of the extension table to be perfectly level with the top of the MFT. I used scrap boards to get the vertical positioning just right. Then transferred the vertical spacing from the scrap board to the extension table.

I bought an MFT side rail and 2 connectors from Festool. I used a hacksaw to cut the side rail into 2 equal length pieces. The 2 pieces are bolted onto the front and back of the extension table. Again, the vertical positioning of the holes is critical. One connector links the front MFT rail to the front Extension table rail. The other connector links the back MFT rail to the back extension table rail.

I didn't use the V-Slot in the top of the MFT side rail at all. I looked at using it and decided I didn't need it and using it was very complex.

The vise is mounted to a subframe under the extension table.

 

[PaulMarcel]

Really nice job on that.  Love the originality and certainly that would be useful.  I have a similar vise on a separate bench, but it would be great on the MFT.  I don't think you overkilled the legs if you plan on planing on that at all.  I secured my MFT to a all with some star knobs and can mostly plane on it (until I hit that resonant frequency!)

Thanks for posting!