New & Improved "Tool Holster" for MFT

mr_hockey

Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2007
Messages
33
I built a "tool holster" to hold my saw & domino, similar to the others posted here. (where the shelves are parallel to the floor)

But the ergonomics of having the saw flat made it difficult to lift and place back into the holster.

So, I experimented with different angles and for me, I found that 30 degrees was perfect (YMMV).

So I rebuilt my holster with 30 degrees shelves. Below are a few pictures.

Now, when I reach for the saw, my hand and arm are in much more natural position. Lifting and returning the saw is very easy.

A few notes:

  • I left a small 1/2" gap between the back of the shelves and the back panel... so sawdust would fall through
  • I had to use a nut for the front  (instead of a knob) because the knob would get in the way of the saw
  • With the 30 degree angle, neither tool has a chance of falling out :-)

Comments welcome!

 
Very nice... of course I built mine flat a couple of weeks ago.

There is one danger in building it the way you did however... it requires you to go out and buy a Domino!

I'm wondering if making a shelf under the saw for an ETS 150 would make for a comfortable height, or if the top handle would make it a bit cramped to get into a lower shelf....
 
Alan,

I don't have a Festool Sander  >:(

But I guess you could put another holster on the other side...

Maybe you could use your "flat" holster for your sander and build a 30 degree holster for your saw???

-jj
 
Mr. Hockey,

That's a very nice double-decker "holster"!  Nicely finished edges, too.  Greatly outclasses and likely out performs my old parallel single decker made from plywood scraps. 

RE hanging up your sanders, if you have a Boom Arm, there is a HD wire accessory that enables hanging up two (disk) sanders on the Boom Arm.

Dave R.
 
Sweet!  Why didn't I think of that?? :o

This is the kind of thing I really like to see on the forum!  Thanks for posting.
 
Any thought to Jim's question?

Can the saw be removed easily (or at all) if there's a board above it at table level?

The reason I ask is that recently I've switched to using the fence at the near side of the table, so my cuts are done close to me, instead of near the hinged end of the guide rail.  Any longer boards will wind up over the tool holster.

Oh, and by the way, I milled the thick end of the MFT/3 fence to have a long notch to match the end with the factory notch, so the fence slides under the guide rail for thin stock when the fence is close to the operator.
 
Jim Metzger said:
Very nice. Is there an issue  removing the saw if a larger board is on top of the MFT?

Jim,

My current set-up allows for 19" cross cut... without the saw hitting the board.
see photo.

I guess I could lower the holster to get a full 24" capacity, but for me, I rarely cut anything that wide.

AND, if I do, I will just pull the saw out first.

Having the saw a little higher is very comfortable for me. Over the past few days, I've been using the new holster quite a bit and I really love it. THe saw just slides out perfectly in the correct angle. (YMMV)



[attachimg=#]

 
alanz said:
Any thought to Jim's question?

Can the saw be removed easily (or at all) if there's a board above it at table level?

The reason I ask is that recently I've switched to using the fence at the near side of the table, so my cuts are done close to me, instead of near the hinged end of the guide rail.  Any longer boards will wind up over the tool holster.

Oh, and by the way, I milled the thick end of the MFT/3 fence to have a long notch to match the end with the factory notch, so the fence slides under the guide rail for thin stock when the fence is close to the operator.

Alan,

See my post above...

ALSO, could you post a few pics or links to your set-up... sounds interesting :)

Thanks!!

-jj
 
Oh man, now you did it! :-) I made one of the run of the mill non-angled holsters a few weeks back for my TS75 and I have to say it has changed my life for the better. I swear I thought about an angle, but just wanted to get on with it (read lazy!). The saw is now always available and makes it and the MFT the central workstation along with my table saw.
 
Very nice.  It's amazing how the simple things just make so much sense.  I may have to surround my table with these :-)
 
Very nice,  when cutting I'm always at a loss where to put  the saw,  This seems to be a project for me thanks for the idea.
 
Can we repost these pics?

mr_hockey said:
I built a "tool holster" to hold my saw & domino, similar to the others posted here. (where the shelves are parallel to the floor)

But the ergonomics of having the saw flat made it difficult to lift and place back into the holster.

So, I experimented with different angles and for me, I found that 30 degrees was perfect (YMMV).

So I rebuilt my holster with 30 degrees shelves. Below are a few pictures.

Now, when I reach for the saw, my hand and arm are in much more natural position. Lifting and returning the saw is very easy.

A few notes:

  • I left a small 1/2" gap between the back of the shelves and the back panel... so sawdust would fall through
  • I had to use a nut for the front  (instead of a knob) because the knob would get in the way of the saw
  • With the 30 degree angle, neither tool has a chance of falling out :-)

Comments welcome!
 
JimmyB1775 said:
Can we repost these pics?

mr_hockey said:
I built a "tool holster" to hold my saw & domino, similar to the others posted here. (where the shelves are parallel to the floor)

But the ergonomics of having the saw flat made it difficult to lift and place back into the holster.

So, I experimented with different angles and for me, I found that 30 degrees was perfect (YMMV).

So I rebuilt my holster with 30 degrees shelves. Below are a few pictures.

Now, when I reach for the saw, my hand and arm are in much more natural position. Lifting and returning the saw is very easy.

A few notes:

  • I left a small 1/2" gap between the back of the shelves and the back panel... so sawdust would fall through
  • I had to use a nut for the front  (instead of a knob) because the knob would get in the way of the saw
  • With the 30 degree angle, neither tool has a chance of falling out :-)

Comments welcome!

The OP was last active on the forum on December 29, 2016 at 07:32 PM. If you aren't aware, there was a failure during a server transition several years back that wiped all but the thumbnails of uploaded images. Unless the people who posted the original images are still active on the forum and still have their original images (and are willing to re-upload them), there's no hope of them returning.
 
[member=11629]GarryMartin[/member] once again proving my point - Garry Martin for Man of the Year LOL
 
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