newbie question

mikemcchesney

Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2016
Messages
4
bought an mft3 with a ts 55.  the festool video said to cut the the splinter guard at 7mm.  set the saw at that depth and after checking about 5 times made the cut.  what i ended up with was a depth of almost half the top, probably close to 8mm into the top not the 2mm i should have cut.  i used the saw setting for track depth of cut and checked that about 5 times as well.  any ideas about what happened? 
 
When you say "track depth of cut"  I think you got it a bit mixed up.  That cut indicator represents 7mm of cut below the track, as opposed to 7mm of cut including the track.

But, as the song goes, the first cut is the deepest.  It'll be easier to cut that pretty MFT top many more times from here on out.

[welcome] to the wonderful rabbit hall of the FOG and Festool!

Ken
 
Oh dear.

The track has a 5mm depth. Depending on the TS model and the gauge side you're using you could easily cut the wrong depth +/-5mm if you're not experienced with the saw.

You now have a cut ~5mm deeper than you ideally would have.

Familiarise yourself by always cutting something that you are happy to throw away as a first cut. First lessons can be the hardest [sad]

[welcome]

There's mountains of Festool how to YouTube vids, well works sitting down with a glass of vino or two and soaking in other peoples' learning.
 
If you have the newer TS55 REQ, note that the depth scale has two settings, one for on the rail, and one for off the rail depth of cut

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I had read the enhanced user guide and watched multiple videos before making the cut. 

The video from festool posted in the US site festoolproducts.com said to set blade depth to 7mm on the "on the rail" scale which is what i did- thought the rail would account for 5mm and then 2mm into the top?  Point is I set it according to what the video said to set it at.  Is it possible that an older version of the saw used a different depth of cut setting to trim the splinter guard?
 
It's done now but I would have made the first cut on a piece of wood.  You've have to line up the cut sighting along the blade but I don't see the advantage of cutting just the rubber piece of the rail. 

I use a Ron Paulk style workbench and do as he suggests and put scrap pieces on top while cutting.  That defeats some uses of the MFT (like use of dogs) or makes them more difficult but when you can, it can help you avoid unnecessarily cutting the top.  Some people use a sheet of foam for this.
 
Now, how to repair the table.

I repaired an unintentionally deep MFT cut. I mixed up some two-part epoxy wood filler. I used a tongue depressor to cram the epoxy deeply into the cut for its full length. After the epoxy fully dried (it's like rock), I sanded it flush with the MFT top.

I recut the groove in the MFT at the proper depth. Except that the epoxy filler isn't the same color as the MFT, one would never guess I had screwed up.

Fortunately, I didn't cut into the side extrusion. If I had, I would have ordered a replacement from Festool.
 
Thanks Birdhunter for the repair advice.  Fortunately I didn't cut through the extrusion either.  Just annoyed that I followed the instructions and the cut was wrong.
 
If you've only cut 5mm farther into the top (or 7mm as I couldn't tell exactly how far the cut was into the top), no need to worry. I have cuts deeper than that and there is no real harm done in terms of function of the MFT. It may hurt to have done that but, as others have said, you did not accidentally into the aluminum frame. If that is the extent of the depth of cuts you make into the top, be happy you learned the lesson so easily. I would say, don't worry about trying to repair it, just use it as there are likely to be many more cuts in the top before it gets retired for a new one.
 
i cut an extra 5mm in and it will be fine.  thanks for the reassuring advice and i did learn a few important lessons.  it did annoy me when i realized the error but live and learn and i'll be more careful (and less trusting of festool videos) going forward.  thanks to all the responders.
 
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