Modified MFT/3 table

[Sparktrician]

I'm curious why people aren't having a cnc shop do these?

Can one really achieve that kind of precision?

I'd have to ask, is that kind of precision that necessary in what amounts to a work table?  Yes, it's nice to have from the standpoint of knowing that it was done precisely.  Yes, it looks better and is in context with Festool's precisely made machinery.  If I looked, I could likely find a CNC shop to do the job, but aside from the aesthetics, why bother?  After all, it's a sacrificial top.  I, for one, have not encountered a situation that depended on the holes in my MFTs being cut dead nuts on the 96mm grid.  YMMV.

I don't use the fence on my MFT. I just use the holes to line up 90's and 45's. I like the speed of it. I would need my holes perfect to keep doing that. I am building a larger work center and have contemplated the CNC route vs. me using my lr32.

Depends on price and how close the CNC shop would be.

I understand that.  I do use the fence which is why I posed the question.  For my purposes, the LR 32 would do a splendid job and look great.  The bigger issue would be getting a 20mm bit that would cut the holes precisely so that my QWAS dogs would fit right. 

 

[rmwarren]

I'm curious why people aren't having a cnc shop do these?

Can one really achieve that kind of precision?

I'd have to ask, is that kind of precision that necessary in what amounts to a work table?  Yes, it's nice to have from the standpoint of knowing that it was done precisely.  Yes, it looks better and is in context with Festool's precisely made machinery.  If I looked, I could likely find a CNC shop to do the job, but aside from the aesthetics, why bother?  After all, it's a sacrificial top.  I, for one, have not encountered a situation that depended on the holes in my MFTs being cut dead nuts on the 96mm grid.  YMMV.

I don't use the fence on my MFT. I just use the holes to line up 90's and 45's. I like the speed of it. I would need my holes perfect to keep doing that. I am building a larger work center and have contemplated the CNC route vs. me using my lr32.

Depends on price and how close the CNC shop would be.

I understand that.  I do use the fence which is why I posed the question.  For my purposes, the LR 32 would do a splendid job and look great.  The bigger issue would be getting a 20mm bit that would cut the holes precisely so that my QWAS dogs would fit right. 

The Festool 20mm boring bit (491072) works for all the dogs I have, fit is a hair looser than my MFT but not enough to cause a problem.

RMW

 

[bkharman]

I'm curious why people aren't having a cnc shop do these?

Can one really achieve that kind of precision?

I'd have to ask, is that kind of precision that necessary in what amounts to a work table?  Yes, it's nice to have from the standpoint of knowing that it was done precisely.  Yes, it looks better and is in context with Festool's precisely made machinery.  If I looked, I could likely find a CNC shop to do the job, but aside from the aesthetics, why bother?  After all, it's a sacrificial top.  I, for one, have not encountered a situation that depended on the holes in my MFTs being cut dead nuts on the 96mm grid.  YMMV.

I don't use the fence on my MFT. I just use the holes to line up 90's and 45's. I like the speed of it. I would need my holes perfect to keep doing that. I am building a larger work center and have contemplated the CNC route vs. me using my lr32.

Depends on price and how close the CNC shop would be.

I understand that.  I do use the fence which is why I posed the question.  For my purposes, the LR 32 would do a splendid job and look great.  The bigger issue would be getting a 20mm bit that would cut the holes precisely so that my QWAS dogs would fit right. 

Yeah. I have the same concern on the bit. I have the 20mm bit and have made various tops and it all worked well with my Qwas, Precision, Rail and Parf dogs. I was thinking of getting a 1" hole drilled on 96mm and use a template ring in the future.

 

[Fin66]

I had a aluminium laser cut template made this week and used a 24mm copyring and aligned the template with 24mm home made "Qwas Dogs", the result is very good.

 

[rmwarren]

I had a aluminium laser cut template made this week and used a 24mm copyring and aligned the template with 24mm home made "Qwas Dogs", the result is very good.

Wow!  [eek]

That is an impressive chuck of AL. I had a similar, much smaller, plastic template made but I have not gone past testing it yet. I used 30MM holes in the field to match a 30MM router guide, and 24MM 1/2 circles at the edges to align it with my 24MM dogs. The idea was to cut the first pass of holes, insert dogs in the last row and move the template to match them, repeat.

[attachthumb=#]

I think I paid $80 for my template, I hate to think what that one cost...

RMW

 

[RC]

Nice template and welcome to FOG fellow Finlander 

[welcome]

Whereabouts are you from? Espoo here

 

[Fin66]

It's a small world, Espoo to!

 

[Kev]

I'd honestly think that pairing 2 MFT/3's together would be a more desirable option for me if I  needed a lot of width.

Can I ask what drove you down the "build custom" path?

 

[Julian Tracy]

I used my MFT3 top as a template to make a home brew version.  I simply traced the holes with a pencil, rough plunge cut them with a 1/2" router bit, then aligned the two tops together and used a pattern bit through the rough holes to a final perfect top.

No reason to believe there'd be any appreciable decline in accuracy to my mind in the method I use.

Why bother with high dollar 20mm bits if you already have an existing top to use as a template?

I sold my MFT/3 after making my own, had waited so I could use the top as my template.  Worked out great.

JT

 

[Ivanhoe]

Very nice JT! I will have to file that method away....

 

[mazmes]

I used my MFT3 top as a template to make a home brew version.  I simply traced the holes with a pencil, rough plunge cut them with a 1/2" router bit, then aligned the two tops together and used a pattern bit through the rough holes to a final perfect top.

No reason to believe there'd be any appreciable decline in accuracy to my mind in the method I use.

Why bother with high dollar 20mm bits if you already have an existing top to use as a template?

I sold my MFT/3 after making my own, had waited so I could use the top as my template.  Worked out great.

JT

Very nicely done. Good to see another Michigander here.