MFT3 groove.

Joined
Sep 20, 2009
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145
Some of the YouTube videos I've looked at make it seem quite normal that you always set the blade to cut a few mm into the table top. I can't see that referenced in the manual. The idea is that the groove gives you splinter free cuts on the bottom surface of the material. I've put some scrap pieces under the material and cutting MDF is no problem but that's to be sort of expected. Do other MFT3 users deliberately cut into the table top? There is another YouTube video that shows how to refresh the groove by filling it in with some sort of resin and then scraping off the excess and then cut a new groove. I don't know if I'm reducing the quality of my cuts by not cutting into the top as a standard part of the cutting process. Any comments?
 
I cut a single groove in the MFT3.

Whenever I make a cut using the MFT that is not along the original groove, I use a sacrificial board.

Rey
 
Rey Johnson said:
I cut a single groove in the MFT3.

Whenever I make a cut using the MFT that is not along the original groove, I use a sacrificial board.

Rey

Thanks Rey. I was thinking I would have to cut a groove but was hesitant to do it as it almost seems to vandalise the table top! Now I can appreciate it's needed for all the right reasons.
 
Some treat their top as a consumable others keep it as pristine as the day they bought it and then there's everything in between.
 
Peter HS said:
Some of the YouTube videos I've looked at make it seem quite normal that you always set the blade to cut a few mm into the table top. I can't see that referenced in the manual. The idea is that the groove gives you splinter free cuts on the bottom surface of the material. I've put some scrap pieces under the material and cutting MDF is no problem but that's to be sort of expected. Do other MFT3 users deliberately cut into the table top? There is another YouTube video that shows how to refresh the groove by filling it in with some sort of resin and then scraping off the excess and then cut a new groove. I don't know if I'm reducing the quality of my cuts by not cutting into the top as a standard part of the cutting process. Any comments?

Peter,

Originally I was hesitant to cut into the table even though others did it.  I put some scrap underneath my primary material to keep it from doing this.  One of the things I found was that the rubber strip under the guide rail would secure the material it was contacting but not the scrap piece underneath.  As a result, the scrap piece was sliding around and interfering with the cut.

I eventually made up my mind that as long as the cut was in the same place and not so deep that it clipped the side rail, it was OK.  In another thread, it was figured that in most cases if you take the depth of your material and add 7-8mm you should be fine.  The guide rail plus the base of the saw is 5mm and a 2-3 mm cut into the table is how the 7-8mm was determined.

Neill
 
Steve-CO said:
Some treat their top as a consumable others keep it as pristine as the day they bought it and then there's everything in between.

Steve
You should be a writer for Cliff's notes ;D  Sumed up everything in one sentence.

I will admit that I had a HARD time cutting into my Walko the first time  even though I intentionally left out one side last winter just to see how the bamboo handled freze thaw :o :o....(it did great by the way, but it is not recommended)
Craig
 
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