OF1400 Must Have Accessories

[ADKMedic]

Hello FOG land...

I'm about to pull the trigger on an OF1400, because of the rebate sale.  Other than the guide stop (#492601), are there any "must have" accessories for the router?  It is going to be replacing a Ridgid router that I have and I am looking forward to the much better dust control.  I mostly use it for profiles, but want to use it to cut dados, and who-knows-what else.

Thoughts?

Thank you in advance,

Andy

 

[RustE]

Wait until you get the router to buy anything.  My OF1010 from FestoolProducts came with the guide stop and the chip catcher.

Aside from that, I would get the Festool table widener and the Leigh universal guide bushing adapter.

 

[Corwin]

Along with the Guide Stops, you will probably want to order the Edge Guide for the router.

 

[CADru]

FWIW I just found out that the OF 1400 universal guide bushing (and the accessory guide bushings) do not have a centering adjustment. The universal guide bushing ships with the router and can be used with PC style bushings. The guide bushing on my OF 1400 is NOT centered. Other then that my OF 1400 performs well in all other routing tasks

 

[Gregor]

FWIW I just found out that the OF 1400 universal guide bushing (and the accessory guide bushings) do not have a centering adjustment. The universal guide bushing ships with the router and can be used with PC style bushings. The guide bushing on my OF 1400 is NOT centered.

The guide bushings should snap in centered, if that dosn't happen it's time for a trip trough service.

 

[CADru]

FWIW I just found out that the OF 1400 universal guide bushing (and the accessory guide bushings) do not have a centering adjustment. The universal guide bushing ships with the router and can be used with PC style bushings. The guide bushing on my OF 1400 is NOT centered.

The guide bushings should snap in centered, if that dosn't happen it's time for a trip trough service.

That was my Ask Festool OP with no reply from Festool yet on the forum. Maybe I'll have to make a call and ask this question.http://festoolownersgroup.com/ask-festool/of-1400-universal-bushing-adapter/

 

[Grev]

FWIW I just found out that the OF 1400 universal guide bushing (and the accessory guide bushings) do not have a centering adjustment. The universal guide bushing ships with the router and can be used with PC style bushings. The guide bushing on my OF 1400 is NOT centered.

The guide bushings should snap in centered, if that dosn't happen it's time for a trip trough service.

That was my Ask Festool OP with no reply from Festool yet on the forum. Maybe I'll have to make a call and ask this question.http://festoolownersgroup.com/ask-festool/of-1400-universal-bushing-adapter/

There's a lengthy thread on this (link below), you can read the whole thing .. but jump to reply 106 to get my reply from the service dept.  UPDATE .. I attended FESTOOL Connect yesterday and brought this up to Greg Paolini, who was handling the router display/demos.  He seemed to understand my concerns and told me he would pass the issue along.  When I mentioned the fact that I discovered the issue by using the guide bushing with the Dominofix template and they need to be precise, he kind of hedged around the issue and said the 20mm holes are only intended to be used as clamping holes and shouldn't be relied upon for using as guide rail alignment or when using the Track Saw  .... hmmmm?  Anyhow, I made it clear I thought this was a critical fail on the part of the 1400 and should be addressed.  We'll see?

MFT Hole Jigs

 

[CADru]

There's a lengthy thread on this (link below), you can read the whole thing .. but jump to reply 106 to get my reply from the service dept.  UPDATE .. I attended FESTOOL Connect yesterday and brought this up to Greg Paolini, who was handling the router display/demos.  He seemed to understand my concerns and told me he would pass the issue along.  When I mentioned the fact that I discovered the issue by using the guide bushing with the Dominofix template and they need to be precise, he kind of hedged around the issue and said the 20mm holes are only intended to be used as clamping holes and shouldn't be relied upon for using as guide rail alignment or when using the Track Saw  .... hmmmm?  Anyhow, I made it clear I thought this was a critical fail on the part of the 1400 and should be addressed.  We'll see?

MFT Hole Jigs

I concur, it is a critical fail on Festool's part and should be addressed. Was reading that post couple days ago, just re-read your reply #106. >> Service guy said sometimes they can flip the removable mounting plate 180 degrees, and/or can bend the clip-in tabs slightly to make it center better.

 

[Cheese]

I attended FESTOOL Connect yesterday and brought this up to Greg Paolini, who was handling the router display/demos.  He seemed to understand my concerns and told me he would pass the issue along.  When I mentioned the fact that I discovered the issue by using the guide bushing with the Dominofix template and they need to be precise, he kind of hedged around the issue and said the 20mm holes are only intended to be used as clamping holes and shouldn't be relied upon for using as guide rail alignment or when using the Track Saw  .... hmmmm? 

Interestingly enough, that also happens to be Woodpeckers fallback position when I talked with them 6 months ago about the tolerance issues I was having when using their OTT Hole Boring Jig and a 1/2" diameter router bit. They said it wasn't really meant to be accurate but only to provide the ability to use clamps to hold down items for assembly purposes.

At that point I suggested to the gentleman at Woodpeckers that they should seriously think about changing their web description of the Hole Boring Jig, and I quote

"With this new OneTIME Tool you’ll be making dog hole patterns with near CNC precision..." [poke]

 

[jarbroen]

I'll echo the comment about the Edge Guide being essential.
I use it when routing dados near the edge on large panels.  The ones you don't want to the piece to the router table.
There are tons of other uses for it as well.

I also like the guide stop.  It doesn't come with the 1400, but you do get the rods for the guide stop when you buy the 1400.
The guide stop is another accessory that has a ton of uses and really makes the 1400 part of the 'system' approach.

The 30 mm template guide(492185) is also super handy.  I like using it with metric sized router bits - makes it super easy to calculate offset when using a template.  And it keeps me from dinging up my jig.

 

[CADru]

The 30 mm template guide(492185) is also super handy.  I like using it with metric sized router bits - makes it super easy to calculate offset when using a template.  And it keeps me from dinging up my jig.

[member=65755]jarbroen[/member] Off topic but, you mention using a template guide with your OF 1400. Do your template guides center correctly when simply snapped into the base of your OF 1400?

 

[jarbroen]

It's centered enough to give me spot on insets.
For me, it just snaps right in and I'm off routing.  My understanding is the template guide snapping into the base plate is all that's needed to center.

Bushings that were talked about earlier are a completely different ball game.  You have multiple bushings that can be inserted in a plate.  The plate is the part that snaps into the OF base and the bushings have to be centered within that plate.
The bushing style inserts come with a centering mandrel - at least the porter cable ones do.

 

[Farming_Sawyer]

There's been A lot of discussion about how the template guide isn't precisely centred on all OF1400s. Isn't it just the cases of chucking a centering mandrel in the router, loosening the base plate screws and pulling the base down onto the mandrel and tightening the screws like on any other router?

 

[CADru]

There's been A lot of discussion about how the template guide isn't precisely centred on all OF1400s. Isn't it just the cases of chucking a centering mandrel in the router, loosening the base plate screws and pulling the base down onto the mandrel and tightening the screws like on any other router?

No. There is no centering adjustment with the (snap-in) template guides on the OF 1400. The snap-in universal bushing adapter snaps into the router base with no movement after installed. The PC style busing rings fit very tight (as expected) into the universal adapter ring. Maybe the failure is with the universal bushing adapter on my end. Considering purchasing a snap-in template guide just to see if these are centered. The snap-in universal bushing adapter guide is simply not centered on the router motor shaft. Festool fail.

Photos showing universal adapter, sub base/removed, alignment pins...

 

[Corwin]

I was typing a reply when CADru beat me to the draw  [big grin]. And yes, Festool's template adaptor has a 1-3/16" hole with a 1-3/8" counterbore that the template bushings fit [snugly] into. No centering ability there.  [mad]

I was looking into aftermarket sub-bases that accept the PC-style template bushings, and I was wondering if anyone had tried one of MLCS Router Plates and Replacement Bases to see if it fit onto the OF1400? Looks like they offer one with slots, rather than holes, to mount to either a two or three screw base. Or, you could drill and counterbore holes in one of their [or similar] plates using the two 6mm mounting holes in the OF1400. Seems like the only answer for this router -- simply amazing that Festool has not addressed this issue.

 

[Grev]

I was typing a reply when CADru beat me to the draw  [big grin]. And yes, Festool's template adaptor has a 1-3/16" hole with a 1-3/8" counterbore that the template bushings fit [snugly] into. No centering ability there.  [mad]

I was looking into aftermarket sub-bases that accept the PC-style template bushings, and I was wondering if anyone had tried one of MLCS Router Plates and Replacement Bases to see if it fit onto the OF1400? Looks like they offer one with slots, rather than holes, to mount to either a two or three screw base. Or, you could drill and counterbore holes in one of their [or similar] plates using the two 6mm mounting holes in the OF1400. Seems like the only answer for this router -- simply amazing that Festool has not addressed this issue.

I ran into the same issue a couple weeks ago. I''ve contacted a plastics fabricator who has CNC'd some jigs for me in the past to see if he could make an adjustable base that takes a PC style guide bushing ... just waiting to hear back on price.  I'll update this post if I go forward with it and maybe could purchase several.

 

[butzla]

An MFS if you can find one!

 

[Svar]

he kind of hedged around the issue and said the 20mm holes are only intended to be used as clamping holes and shouldn't be relied upon for using as guide rail alignment or when using the Track Saw  .... hmmmm? 

Interestingly enough, that also happens to be Woodpeckers fallback position when I talked with them 6 months ago about the tolerance issues I was having when using their OTT Hole Boring Jig and a 1/2" diameter router bit. They said it wasn't really meant to be accurate but only to provide the ability to use clamps to hold down items for assembly purposes.

If I wanted clamping holes, I wouldn't be purchasing a $200 template. I can do those with a cheap Forstner bit on pencil marks.

 

[Cheese]

If I wanted clamping holes, I wouldn't be purchasing a $200 template. I can do those with a cheap Forstner bit on pencil marks.

Amen...

I took some more measurements involving the centering capabilities of the 1400 and they’re pretty interesting. I’ll post them later after I’ve cooked the lamb chops...nummy.  [big grin]

 

[Cheese]

Let me just preface this reply with a general statement. In the majority of instances when using a router, the lack of centering the router bit and guide bushing to each other, or the actual movement of the guide bushing while using the router, really does not affect the final outcome of the product. Only in those very critical uses of the router, say for inlaying inserts, machining dovetails or machining repetitive patterns that are sensitive to tolerance stackup is this an issue.

In previous threads, I've noted that the center line of the guide bushing and the center line of the router bit in my 1400 router have not been the same. There has always been a slight offset of the centerlines of these two items.  I first noticed this phenomenon when using the Woodpeckers MFT jig to bore 20 mm diameter holes while using a 1/2" diameter router bit.

It was the combination of the lack of concentricity of the router bit to the guide bushing, the movement of the guide bushing as it was being forced against the router jig and the necessity for basically zero tolerance stackup with the Woodpeckers jig that led to this investigation.

So, there can be 2 issues with the 1400 router if absolute perfection/registration are important to your project. The first is router bit to guide bushing concentricity and the 2nd is router bushing movement.

The first, the router bit to guide bushing concentricity, is pretty much a catch-as-catch-can proposition. You're either lucky or you're not. [sad] Festool service says they can "bend the tangs of the router bushing" to give you better concentricity values. That doesn't exactly instill confidence in the alignment process of a $500 router.  [eek]

The second element I've noticed, is actual router bushing movement when the router is forced against a router jig. It became apparent to me that there was significant movement of the router bushing when side ways forces were applied to it.

I previously stated that there was .010-.015" of router bushing movement in one direction and zero router bushing movement 90º to that direction.  Well sadly I was wrong with both of those statements.  [sad]  However I wasn't far off.  [cool]

So for the techies out there, this is the bottom line.

I decided to measure a Festool universal router bushing mounting a Porter Cable bushing and also a Festool 30 mm router bushing adapter just to observe if there were any internal Festool manufacturing variances.
So just the luck of the draw...that's what random is all about.  [smile]

My first set of measurements were taken at 90º to the axis created by the centerline of the bent router bushing tabs.
My second set of measurements were taken directly in line to the axis created by the two router bushing tabs.

Here are the photos...
and here are the results.
Photo 1&2: .008" movement of the bushing at 90º to the centerline axis. Festool bushing 493566
Photo 3&4: .004" movement of the bushing at 90º to the centerline axis. Festool 30 mm bushing
Photo 5: Just a photo of the two bushings involved in this discussion.
Photo 6&7: .003" movement of the bushing on axis to the centerline of the tabs. Festool bushing 493566
Photo 8&9: .002" movement of the bushing on axis to the centerline of the tabs. Festool 30 mm bushing

Conclusion: the router bushing moves in the router if some side ways pressure is applied and the amount of movement of the router bushings is dependent upon the bushing that's installed. It can be seen that even using genuine Festool bushings, the amount of bushing movement will vary between the bushings used. Like I said...catch as catch can.