My rail/tab slop fix

[John2532]

Here is what I came up with to eliminate the rail/tab slop on my MFT.

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It is a machined out of delrin and slides into the bottom of the guide rail.

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The inside slot is tapered and the adjustment is made by sliding the piece fore or aft until the shim "wedges" against the tab.

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A setscrew holds the piece in position. So far it has not shown any signs of wear, but should it be a problem, I can just slide it in the opposite direction and use the other end.

I've been very happy with it so far.

John

 

[Theshipstore]

Nice idea, in the last photo you actually can see where the guide is hitting the post.
I have always applied slight pressue to the cut side when cutting but this seems like a valid idea

 

[John2532]

Hi Sal,

I was surprised myself at the wear marks on the rail. These occured before the shim was installed but should now be a thing of the past as now there will be no metal/metal contact.

I was also member of the "side pressure" gang also but thought there had to be an easier way.

John

 

[Brice Burrell]

Holy moley, you guys need to start resizing your pictures. [scared]

 

[John2532]

  **edit**
Pics now resized. Thanks Brice for pointing that out.
I grabbed them out of the wrong file.
John

 

[Brice Burrell]

   **edit**
Pics now resized. Thanks Brice for pointing that out.
I grabbed them out of the wrong file.
John

No thank you, it was like trying to look at an elephant with a microscope. [big grin]

 

[AlexThePalex]

Holy moley, you guys need to start resizing your pictures. [scared]

It's making me crazy. Now that Shane's resizing script doesn't work anymore it has become really tricky to view pictures here.

I always keep my pics at 800 pixels width. 1024 also works, but no bigger, unless you have a widescreen monitor.

 

[sl_1800]

I looked at the bottom side of my MFT 3 rail just last night and I was surprised at the amount of wear at the pin location.  I'm not a pro like many of you so my table sees less use.

 

[richk]

love what you've come up with but have never worked with Delrin. Where do you get it and how do you create the slot you made?

thnx

Rich

 

[John2532]

Hi Rich,

Delrin (also known as acetal) is available at most plastic suppliers and also at www.use-enco.com

One of my other hobbies is metal machining so I am fortunate enough have a CNC milling machine which I used to cut the slot and profile. Delrin does machine easily though and could be cut with a bandsaw or jigsaw. The shim could also be made just as a "V" which would make things easier.

When I get a chance I will make a few more copies and make them available if anyone is interested.

John

 

[richk]

Installed the piece yesterday, using the wider of the 2 pieces. It slid in place easily with a tiny amount of play in the slot. Once snugged down with the set screw the rail became rock solid.

As expected, had to re-align the rail brackets but that was much easier to do with the position of the rail fixed. There is less tension on the hinged bracket and bolts attaching the rail to the bracket, which should help long term too.

Given the substantial number of threads about rail slop, Festool should just incorporate this refinement into their standard product.

Thanks for your inventiveness and help!

Rich

 

[GPowers]

Here is what I came up with to eliminate the rail/tab slop on my MFT.

A setscrew holds the piece in position. So far it has not shown any signs of wear, but should it be a problem, I can just slide it in the opposite direction and use the other end.

I've been very happy with it so far.

John

So John are you going to Make and sell these?

 

[John2532]

I'm going to make a batch of these (tentatively named Slop-stop) so if anyone is interested please let me know. You can P.M. me here or at: toolimprovements@comcast.net

No money accepted before they are ready  but I would like to get an approximate head count so that I can order material.

Thanks,

John

 

[John2532]

Thanks for all of the interest guys.

I'll email all of you when I have some stock ready.

John

 

[John2532]

I have some "slop-stops" ready and all of you that were interested should be receiving an email. If I missed anyone I apologize, and please get back to me. I also have a few extras if anyone else wants to try it out.

Thanks,

John

 

[GPowers]

Paypal money sent [big grin]

 

[Theshipstore]

John  PayPal Sent

 

[nclemmons]

Paypal sent from me as well.

Thanks John!

 

[waho6o9]

+ 1 on the paypal as well. Thanks John. 

 

[tms0425]

Paypal sent. Thanks!

Tom