MFT3 squaring best practices?
- Thread starter sansbury
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onocoffee
Member
Recently, I modified my workbench (that already had 20x96mm dog holes) with an MFT rail to fit the Festool Rail Hinge, Dash Board Track Stars, Dash Board F2 Fence, and a 3D printed Rail Support Bracket. Originally, I was concerned that because my dog hole grid was hand plotted, it isn't perfectly square. Over the past year, I've seen multiple comments about the "perfect square" not being 100% necessary and that FT doesn't guarantee that the grid is perfectly square. But I kept thinking that I need some kind of fence that's adjustable - like the fence and dogs that have lateral adjustment or the Festool MFT fence.
However, I've been discovering that it doesn't seem to matter - as long as the F2 Fence and Rail Hinge are in-line and the support can be adjusted to create a square angle, it works perfectly well. For this, I've been checking square with a very affordably priced Doyle 12" Rafters Square I picked up at Harbor Freight (after checking its "squareness").
I don't know if this is true for others but I've been pleasantly surprised and pleased with the resulting cuts.
However, I've been discovering that it doesn't seem to matter - as long as the F2 Fence and Rail Hinge are in-line and the support can be adjusted to create a square angle, it works perfectly well. For this, I've been checking square with a very affordably priced Doyle 12" Rafters Square I picked up at Harbor Freight (after checking its "squareness").
I don't know if this is true for others but I've been pleasantly surprised and pleased with the resulting cuts.
When I do a 2 cut test (flipping the board), I get roughly 1/16 out of square over a 24" cut. This is immediately after squaring it up using Woodpeckers MFT square.
Michael Kellough
Member
If you can’t make it perfect, make it adjustable.
The MFT is adjustable. All you need is a true square or the 4/5 cut method.
The MFT is adjustable. All you need is a true square or the 4/5 cut method.
Are you saying it's 1/16" off between the top and bottom edge, or is the diagonal measurement off by 1/16" in one direction versus the other?
My squaring experience with an MFT.
I have used the dog holes on the MFT with a big TSO PTR-18 square to align the fence with mixed success.
What I have been doing lately is using a t square to mark a line down my board from my square edge that sits against rgr MFT fence.
Then I adjust the track to align to that struck line. This has helped keep big wide panel crosscuts square for me. You can also strike a second line parallel with the splinter guard and check parallel with the struck t-square line.
I found this more accurate for my needs than other methods.
I have used the dog holes on the MFT with a big TSO PTR-18 square to align the fence with mixed success.
What I have been doing lately is using a t square to mark a line down my board from my square edge that sits against rgr MFT fence.
Then I adjust the track to align to that struck line. This has helped keep big wide panel crosscuts square for me. You can also strike a second line parallel with the splinter guard and check parallel with the struck t-square line.
I found this more accurate for my needs than other methods.
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