Now what do I do?

[HowardH]

I have a MFT 1080 and ordered a new top since the existing one was pretty beat up.  The new one came today so I took my MFT and laid it on it's top so I could unscrew it.  What a dope!  I never bothered to check the underside of the top and found it was still new!  I thought I had flipped once already but there I go, thinking again!  [sad] [sad] So now I have this brand new top still in the box and I don't want to return it.  I suppose I could build a table to put it in but I need some ideas.  Should I order a leg set and have two factory MFT's or built my own?  I don't have a lot of room but it would be nice at times to have a second work table. What else could I do with it?

 

[jacko9]

Wait and use it when the second side is beat up.

Jack

 

[HowardH]

Thought of that.  Could be many years from now, tho...I use it more for a work/assembly surface vs. a cutting surface. 

 

[jacko9]

It's always nice to have a spare when "stuff happens".

 

[HowardH]

[big grin]  i know all about that!

 

[SoonerFan]

If I had a spare top I would use it to build a Kapex table.  I built a cart for my Kapex over the holidays but no MFT like top.  I find I really miss the clamping ease the MFT provides. 

 

[Jesse Cloud]

There are lots of threads on custom mft style tables on the festool usa site.  The ones I envy most have the MDF floating above a rolling cabinet with systainers, or compressors, or whatever inside.  Just be sure to leave room under the mdf for attaching clamps.

By the way, I'm not sure you can even buy the leg set for the 1080 anymore.

 

[waho6o9]

Some times you need an assembly table and an extra mft table top is real handy.

Here's what I did. Get a couple of those Stanley horses with the 1.5" slots, make a couple

of 1.5" rails and then your top will come in handy to assemble and or finish your

projects.  HTH

[attachimg=1]

 

[Klamp]

Get some 80/20 aluminum extrusions and make an assembly table!  15 series (fractional) or 40 series (metric) will hold festool clamps in the t-tracks.  Use panel retainers (pn 2488) to hold the top.  There's a fog member here that makes ripdogs products and he has a pretty clever assembly table that disassembles and is modular.  Maybe someone can chime in with a link to it. 

 

[Greg M]

I've got 2 MFT/3's and decided to take the tops out and make 2 built-in tables in the shop.  I've got 2 new tops coming for the MFT/3's that are topless at the moment.  I'm going to sell at least one of them.

My point is, make a table in the shop.

 

[Birdhunter]

I have two MFTs linked together and find the extra length is extremely useful. After living with the dual MFT setup for a couple of years, I'd probably build my own dual MFT using the Festool drilled tops. I added an extension to one of the MFTs to mount a heavy vise. It was a fun but highly complicated project. If I was building my own MFT, I could include the vise mount into the original design.

I found the second MFT added much needed stability and the vise extension added even more.

So, if I was facing your situation, I'd flip the used top and build a second "MFT" using the new top while adding a vise.