New MFT rail hinge and fence - Mk 2

[derekcohen]

A while back I decided to dip my toes in the MFT water, and built a table and rail hinge. The hinge was made from cutting boards, which likely sounds suspect, but worked very well ...

However, my OCD got the better of me, and I decided to build one in aluminium, inspired by both Benchdogs and Dashboard. I have dimensions for anyone who wants to copy it.

I had also built a fence from 8020, along with shopmade clamps ..

This turned out to be too high for the saw's motor to ride over. Back to the drawing board on this one.

The hinge rail first. It needs to be mentioned that everything was built over 2 weekends. The aluminium was purchased on eBay as 2 x 100 x 300mm (by 6mm thick) sheets, and 2 x 100 x 300mm (by 3mm thick) sheets. These were cut to side with a bandsaw (bimetal blade) - woodworking tools are fine with aluminium. Slotting was done with a router and straight bit. Holes were drilled on a drill press, and threaded tapped by hand. Just work carefully, and you will be rewarded with a great system.

Here is the bench ...

The rest for the rail (I am not sure if there is another name) ...

The rail has a height cutting capacity of a little over 50mm. The saw used is a Festool AT65E. The pin is UHMW, and slightly tapered, which allows the rail groove to fit without slop ...

The dimensions here: 115mm high x 100mm wide. The rest at the top is 145mm wide. All built from 6mm thick plate. The 90mm long slot is sized for an 8mm bolt.

The base is made from 3mm plate and is 195mm wide and 75mm high. The two guides are 10mm wide and 35mm in from each side ...

The hinge

Close up ...

From this angle you can see the stop against which the mechanism can be returned, if moved ...

Rather than a bar to clamp the rail from this end, I used the Benchdogs system. This is secured with stainless steel wheels on the underside. Why not use a bar? I found it more accurate to drill two holes, rather than two holes AND then drill the bar accurately ...

Here is a detailed picture ...

The top plate is 150mm wide x 100mm deep. The 100 x 75mm hinge is stainless steel and has nil movement. The riser is 100mm wide x 140mm high. The slot is 90mm long. All is built from 6mm plate and parts are joined with tapped holes and 5mm machine screws.

All the parts were sanded with a block with 180 grit to create a brushed appearance, and then finished with clear lacquer spray.

The Fence

The fence is made from 6020 extrusion, in the same design as the Benchdogs fence. The cut out was completed on the bandsaw ...

I ordered the Benchdogs Flagstop (flip stop), which can be seen here ...

The fence has a scale along its 900mm length ...

To add this to the aluminium extrusion, the centre section was routed to a depth of 1mm with a width of 1/2", and a Kreg tape attached ...

The rear of the fence reveal the Benchdogs "Fence Dogs", which replaced the shopmade versions previously used ...

So all is now complete, and I can get on with the next furniture build.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[derekcohen]

Added information for completion of fixture ... just in case there is actually someone here who is interested.

The MFT hinge I have build runs smoothly and is very solid. However, there was one element that bugged me, and it took me a while to recognise how to sort this out. This was that the rail would not lean back, as seen in the professionally made versions. My hinge/rail would lift, but then fall back on the table side.

It finally dawned on me that the rail needed to be held up by gravity. That is, the weight of the rail. And to do this, the rail needed to tip over the vertical point. Dumb of me not to see this earlier on!

So .. I made a spacer block out of a scrap of Oak. The was drilled to fit the existing hinge, and a bevel was cut at 15 degrees at the rear ....

This was then stained black, oiled and fitted ...

Working perfectly!

Inciodentally, this is just an 800mm long (Makita) rail. I was considering getting the Festool 1080, but am not seeing a reason.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[luvmytoolz]

As always nice work Derek!

 

[festal]

Very nicely done

 

[Mortiser]

Thanks Derek. Nicely done. Appreciate you sharing the details. I've been staring at my MFT and debating buying the hinge hardware or making it. I may just go the "making route" with your inspiration.

 

[peter halle]

As always, stunning work!

P.S.  I know that I don't always comment, but your posts are always read and appreciated on my end.  Thank you for taking the time and effort.

Peter

 

[nclemmons]

Great work, Derek!  Thanks for the detailed photos and process.

 

[framea]

Great work! Could you please explain benchdogs stainless wheels used on the hinged side? Maybe a photo of a rail clamped down, and information or link to the stainless knobs you used?

 

[derekcohen]

Great work! Could you please explain benchdogs stainless wheels used on the hinged side? Maybe a photo of a rail clamped down, and information or link to the stainless knobs you used?

Photo of the underside of the base showing the knobs ...

Now the underside showing the clasps ...

Line up the clasps with the slot ...

Incidentally, that photo show you how much support there is for the track.

Slide them together ...

... and tighten down.

Here is a view from the underside, facing the end ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[framea]

This looks good and effective. Thank you for sharing the detail photos. I'm considering a MFT build and this is one of the directions I would like to try. Other inspiration comes from the Dash-Board MFT system and their Universal StarTrack

 

[RJNeal]

Thank you for sharing your idea and for the write up.
We executed.
As Peter said. I enjoy reading about all your projects.
Much appreciated.
Rick

 

[afish]

I built something similar out of 1/2" Russian Birch years ago and it worked amazingly good.  It didn't look as nice but the function and accuracy was great.  I would have purchased the dashboard hinge at the time but was getting ready to start a big project and there was a long lead time.  I have since found send-cut-send and super happy with their service so far so your post got me thinking. 

It would be cool if the festool group here could come up with rail hinge collaboratively and someone draw up the plans that way anyone could simply send them over to send cut send and produce a hinge for themselves.

 

[derekcohen]

I built something similar out of 1/2" Russian Birch years ago and it worked amazingly good.  It didn't look as nice but the function and accuracy was great.  I would have purchased the dashboard hinge at the time but was getting ready to start a big project and there was a long lead time.  I have since found send-cut-send and super happy with their service so far so your post got me thinking. 

It would be cool if the festool group here could come up with rail hinge collaboratively and someone draw up the plans that way anyone could simply send them over to send cut send and produce a hinge for themselves.

I reckon it would be easy enough to build a plan from the photos and dimensions I have supplied. One reason for the design I used was that it was possible to cut the (all straight) pieces on a bandsaw and make the slots with a router. Working with 6mm aluminium is actually surprisingly easy using woodworking tools. Now someone with a CNC could easily turn this into a kit since it is all just bolted together with M5 screws. Don't look at me - I'm happy to derive a design and offer it to all to make their own. I'd rather build furniture than kits.

Now on my website in case the bookmark here is lost: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Powered Tools and Machinery/MFTRailHingeFenceMk2.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[afish]

I didnt notice that you were from AUS.  Here in the states send cut send has been great. you simply upload a dxf or similar cad drawing and a week later you have parts with laser cut accuracy. Im sure the shipping would kill it ror you, but I priced one of you plates 100x115 and it was 14-15 and that includes the material. It gets much cheaper buying in qty. Either way by the time I sourced and paid for the aluminum Im probably around half that at not to mention band saw blade etc.  Im sure some improvements could be made too such as break forming the tops to eliminate edge tapping and the wood spacer.  Also with some break forming some of the parts could probably be reduced from .25 to .125 My suggestion was less about you or your design being sold but more of a FOG brain trust design that anyone here could upload to send cut send and assemble their own track hinge for probably around half the cost and much quicker. I would have gone this way for sure had send cut send been around but most of what I do now is all cut on cnc so I have no use for a hinge it was just an idea for the rest of yall. If someone wanted they might even be able to reach out to send cut send for a group buy to take advantage of qty. discounts and lower the price further. 

 

[Michael Kellough]

That is a very interesting idea afish and very generous of Derek but if this proceeds to cad it should avoid infringing the existing Dashboard and TSO designs. Not an expert but my impression is that Derek’s design is “safe”.

 

[afish]

never suggested anyone directly rip off or copy dashboard, tso, benchdogs or even dereks. Thats kind of a given, but at the end of the day its a hinge that fits a rail and a bench. There is similarities between the dashboard and festool, dashboard just took it to a higher level and improved the design. The dashboard unit looks to be beyond send cut send cut send options anyways as it has some milling going on. Even if someone dosent want to spearhead the idea for the FOG and just wants to make their own and doesnt want to invest in the tools send cut send would be a great option. Im guessing you could have one laser cut and assembled for about 100 bucks.

 

[sebr023]

If ever there’s people wanting to make one, I can probably make the drawing or whatever files send cut send needs to cut one.

 

[sancho57]

really nice work well done,