OF 1400 Guide Stops not level with guide rail

[Lucky Dave]

OK, OK, another rank beginner question.

Just getting ready to use new OF 1400.  Noticed that both Guide Stops, when placed on guide rail hat, after adjustment of gibs, rock sideways.  Both are something north of .6mm out of level with the rail. 

1. Should I care?

2. If so, what do I do?

Dave

 

[tbellemare]

It sounds like you forgot to use the "foot", but I'm not sure I understand the problem...

Tom

[attachimg=#1]

 

[DavidCBaker]

This is what it should look like. Does that help any?

 

[Lucky Dave]

Tom,

Not sure if it is a problem.  But, more details.

Guide rail is sitting flat on MFT.  Then sat one guide stop on rail, adjusted gibs, and noticed it rocked, side to side.  Sat other stop on rail, adjusted gibs, and it also rocked side to side.  Neither stop is connected to anything, just sitting by itself on the hat of the rail. Measured amount one corner was high and it was greater than .6mm.

David,

Yes, thank you, I figured that out.  But the situation I am discussing is much simpler, neither stop is connected to each other or to the router.  They are both just sitting independently on the guide rail.

 

[tbellemare]

Dave:

Are you saying the plastic, router guide stops are rocking, as if they are somewhat "racked"?

Tom

 

[Bob Marino]

Dave,

So you adjusted the 2 screws in each stop and it's still loose? I am baffled, but if this isn't correct by tomorrow, give me a call.

Bob

 

[tbellemare]

I think that if you connect everything with the router and the rods, you will find that it all works nicely as a set.

If I understand the thread correctly, you are trying to measure some deviation in each component to determine if it should exist. I would recommend assembling the set and making the appropriate adjustments as a set, prior to trying to finding fault with each component. It should work out better for you.

Tom

 

[Corwin]

Tom,

Not sure if it is a problem.  But, more details.

Guide rail is sitting flat on MFT.  Then sat one guide stop on rail, adjusted gibs, and noticed it rocked, side to side.   Sat other stop on rail, adjusted gibs, and it also rocked side to side.  Neither stop is connected to anything, just sitting by itself on the hat of the rail. Measured amount one corner was high and it was greater than .6mm.

David,

Yes, thank you, I figured that out.  But the situation I am discussing is much simpler, neither stop is connected to each other or to the router.  They are both just sitting independently on the guide rail.

Dave,  It sounds like either your Guide Stops are deformed, or you have some foreign material on the Guide Rail or in both of the Guide Stops.  When a Guide Stop is sitting on the 'hat' (raised portion) of the Guide Rail and the remaining portion of the Guide Stop is over the green anti-friction strip (as the one is in the photo that DavidCBaker has in his hand), the Guide Stop should be sitting rather flat on the Guide Rail without any rocking motion.  Assembling the Guide Stops, Rods and Router will not correct any issue that you seem to have, since if they don't sit correctly on the Guide Rail now, they won't fit any better when all is assembled.  So, take a close look at the underside of your Guide Stops for any unwanted foreign matter or deformed part and also look at the area of the Guide Rail where you are placing the Guide Stops and see if there is any foreign matter. 

 

[Lucky Dave]

Tom,

I wasn't really trying to measure anything, just looking over the various parts trying to understand how they work and how they went together.

Bob,

Its not loose in the sense that it does, after adjustment of the gibs, slide along the rail hat nicely.  It is loose in that it rocks side to side since not all parts of bottom of the guide(s) sit flat on the rail.

Corwin,

Yes they are sitting on the rail "as the one is in the photo that DavidCBaker has in his hand".
No, there is no foreign material that I can see on the rail or either stop.
No deformed parts that are obvious to me.

If I just set either one of the stops on my fairly new and uncut MFT3 it is quite obvious that the bottom surface(s) is not flat.

All,

If you look at the bottom side of these stops there appear, at least to my uneducated eye, multiple surfaces which sit on the rail.  Clearly, at least on mine, not all of these surfaces are in the same plane.

I am not complaining, at least not yet, I was just a little surprised, as I would have thought the whole stop should rest uniformly on the guide as Corwin believes they should.

 

[Frank-Jan]

Dave,
I just briefly checked my guidestops, they are the same as you describe; I haven't experienced any trouble with them when using them. So I would answer "no" to your question 1.

 

[Brice Burrell]

Dave, have you put it all together and seen if it works?  That is the million dollar question.

 

[nickao]

There is nothing wrong with it. Just how its made. Put it together, use it and you will see it fine. Not near as good as a microfence set up, but good just the same.

 

[Waka]

It sounds like you forgot to use the "foot", but I'm not sure I understand the problem...

Tom

[attachimg=#1]

Tom

I'm going to ask the stupid question, where does this bit fit?

 

[Frank-Jan]

Here's a picture of an of1010 with the levelling foot installed, somehow all pictures of the 1400 I came across are taken from the other side:

/edit: typo

 

[Waka]

Frank-Jan

All becomes clear now, thanks.

 

[Gaucho Woodworking]

I noticed the same thing and invested on another mounting plate that gave me the extra 5mm thickness and at that point, the OF 1400 would run at t the same plane as the guide rail.
If you are doing edge work, then I would suggest using the Edge guide 492 636 $ 65 bucks.
Another alternative is using the Table Widener 493 233 $ 120 LAS OF 1400.
I prefer to have everything flat and perfect to have less things to focus on.

 

[Lucky Dave]

I decided to follow Brice's advice and to try using it.  Bear in mind that this is the first time I have ever used a router.

The two stops, when connected to each other and to the router, slid smoothly up and down the rail without any noticeable wobble.
I then cut a 1/4" slot about 10" long.  Seemed OK to me.

Thanks for your inputs guys and for your tolerance of my ignorance.  I am just getting started in woodworking.

Dave

 

[tbellemare]

Dave:

You can use this accessory more than one way. For instance, you can come off the splinter guard edge of the guide rail or the opposite side. You can switch the position of the two pieces relative to the router. If you play around with the configuration, you'll see what I mean.

Tom

 

[Rob-GB]

I decided to follow Brice's advice and to try using it.  Bear in mind that this is the first time I have ever used a router.

The two stops, when connected to each other and to the router, slid smoothly up and down the rail without any noticeable wobble.
I then cut a 1/4" slot about 10" long.  Seemed OK to me.

Thanks for your inputs guys and for your tolerance of my ignorance.  I am just getting started in woodworking.

Dave

Welcome to the world of playing with wood and Festool ease of playing. ( Some of us call it work!)  [big grin]
Bear in mind that 'ignorance' is defined by not asking a question or not paying attention to the answer, you have asked and taken notice.
A huge step in becoming a proficient woodworker in my estimation.
Rob.