alain.coste.3@orange.fr
Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2019
- Messages
- 3
Hello
I am designing my own pseudo MFT3 table.
This table is rather large : 2.40m x 1.20m (or 1.40m) ; I use aluminium profiles (80/20 or like) for the structure, and the parf guide system from UJK to create the top holes pattern.
The 96mm spacing between holes is perfect for geometrical aspects : parf superdogs to hold the guide rail, fence dogs + incra incremental flipfence to position the piece to cut at 90° or 45°, everything is fine, as I could experiment on my current old _authentic_ MFT1080 table.
The main issue is clamping : when cutting small pieces and when routing (rail guided) clamping is anavoidable if you want to be accurate.
Lateral clamping offers an important range, but tends to move the piece, so vertical (surface) clamping seems the only way to go. I use Festool FSZ 120 and FS-HZ 160, with 80mm throat depth.
So you position the rail (no problem with dogs), the piece of wood so that the router has the right trajectory, and now let's clamp the piece. Bing ! the edge is just on a hole : impossible to put the clamp in this hole, and adjacent holes are too far for the 80mm of Festool clamps. this situation happens for me more than often, and is really frustrating ...
The solutions I thought about :
- clamps with at least 110mm throat depth : the only models I found have a rail too big for the 20mm holes.
- lengthen the fix jaw of Festool clamps and make the two parts separable : not ideal as the mobile jaw will stay the same length so the clamp will position at an angle, possibly screwing the hole.
- use "long throw" clamps with a dog (the Kreg Bench Clamp I own reaches 110mm) but it's a sure way to screw the holes, unless you use also a plate with a knob under the table (clamping becomes really tedious, mostly with a large table).
- augment the density of holes : if I add a second set of holes, interspersed and staggered in the 96mm original grid, the distance between adjacent holes becomes 68mm, compatible with Festool clamps throat depth ; the new parf guide system (Mk II) allows this, but my fear is this could weaken the top (difficult to know when you are not a specialist in materials resistance...).
Here what are my thoughts, if you have ideas or advice I will be glad to hear them. Sorry for the length of the post, I'm even more verbose in English than in my native language !!!
Alain
I am designing my own pseudo MFT3 table.
This table is rather large : 2.40m x 1.20m (or 1.40m) ; I use aluminium profiles (80/20 or like) for the structure, and the parf guide system from UJK to create the top holes pattern.
The 96mm spacing between holes is perfect for geometrical aspects : parf superdogs to hold the guide rail, fence dogs + incra incremental flipfence to position the piece to cut at 90° or 45°, everything is fine, as I could experiment on my current old _authentic_ MFT1080 table.
The main issue is clamping : when cutting small pieces and when routing (rail guided) clamping is anavoidable if you want to be accurate.
Lateral clamping offers an important range, but tends to move the piece, so vertical (surface) clamping seems the only way to go. I use Festool FSZ 120 and FS-HZ 160, with 80mm throat depth.
So you position the rail (no problem with dogs), the piece of wood so that the router has the right trajectory, and now let's clamp the piece. Bing ! the edge is just on a hole : impossible to put the clamp in this hole, and adjacent holes are too far for the 80mm of Festool clamps. this situation happens for me more than often, and is really frustrating ...
The solutions I thought about :
- clamps with at least 110mm throat depth : the only models I found have a rail too big for the 20mm holes.
- lengthen the fix jaw of Festool clamps and make the two parts separable : not ideal as the mobile jaw will stay the same length so the clamp will position at an angle, possibly screwing the hole.
- use "long throw" clamps with a dog (the Kreg Bench Clamp I own reaches 110mm) but it's a sure way to screw the holes, unless you use also a plate with a knob under the table (clamping becomes really tedious, mostly with a large table).
- augment the density of holes : if I add a second set of holes, interspersed and staggered in the 96mm original grid, the distance between adjacent holes becomes 68mm, compatible with Festool clamps throat depth ; the new parf guide system (Mk II) allows this, but my fear is this could weaken the top (difficult to know when you are not a specialist in materials resistance...).
Here what are my thoughts, if you have ideas or advice I will be glad to hear them. Sorry for the length of the post, I'm even more verbose in English than in my native language !!!
Alain