OFK700 vs. MFK700

[stevep]

What's the difference? I want a tool primarily to flush solid lippings on mdf, veneered mdf and mfc boards - will either of these do what I want or is one better than the other?

 

[mouppe]

You may not get a lot of responses to this question since the majority of users on this site are in North America...the OFK is not available in North America.

 

[Captainwrinkles]

The only difference is the edging guide that you get with the tool. The router is exactly the same in either the MFK or OFK.

The edging guide that you get with the OFK700 has a "ski" foot. It's ideal if you are trimming veneer or laminate off of a particle board substrate. It wont dip in or follow any
hollow spots in the particle board. the MFK700 has a rolling bearing guide. This will follow any dips or hollow spots so your trimmed edge wont be as straight. however this type
of guide is ideal for any pre-edged products. i.e countertops, doors etc. the bearing will roll with the feed of the tool and not rub or scratch the edge surface.

I bought the MFK700 and picked up the OFK700 ski foot while on holiday

One other tool you could look up is the Lamello Cantex ergo. Its specifically designed for trimming up solid edging up to 45mm wide. We have one at work. It works
flawlessly everytime. Even on oak or cross grain maple there is no tearout. this may be the better tool if you only need it for trimming solid edging

Hope this helps
Benn

 

[stevep]

I have looked at the Llamello, and I agree with you. The problem is that it costs about £1280 in the UK, about 3 times the price of the Festool. I'm hoping the OFK or MFK will be accurate enough for what I want.
I have tried the OF1010 with the angle arm and edging plate extras, and to be honest it wasn't accurate enough for edge trimming - too much play in all those attachments and the 1010 is a bit too bulky.

 

[fshanno]

I have looked at the Llamello, and I agree with you. The problem is that it costs about £1280 in the UK, about 3 times the price of the Festool. I'm hoping the OFK or MFK will be accurate enough for what I want.
I have tried the OF1010 with the angle arm and edging plate extras, and to be honest it wasn't accurate enough for edge trimming - too much play in all those attachments and the 1010 is a bit too bulky.

Virutex has a lipping planer for half the cost of the Lamello.

There's the Hoffman but it's as much as the Llamello.

 

[richard.selwyn]

I've had the OFK for about 5 years. It is quite good, but occasionally marrs the edge for no apparent reason. Mainly use it for glued on edgebanding. Lamello make a nice small dedicated laminate trimmer as well - much cheaper than the cantex.
Richard

 

[festoolviking]

Hi!

I've got the OFK700 and to be a bit helpfull in your choice here's a few pictures of the OFK700.

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This is what's inside the SYS-2 (the wrench and the straight edge bit that's included is not in this picture).
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Horizontal mode with the adjustable guide bearing for horizontal routing.
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Vertical mode with the 2nd guide-bearing on the retractable sensor-arm.
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Sensor-arm locked in the up position.
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Sensor arm unlocked.
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Sensor-arm locked in the down position.

more pics in next post

festoolviking

 

[festoolviking]

Here's some more pics:

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Vertical routing with guide-bearing.
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Vertical routing with guide-bearing, closeup.
[attachthumb=3]
Vertical routing with ski-foot.

with regards

festoolviking

 

[richard.selwyn]

Funny, i've only ever used mine the othe way round - machine in the same plane as the workpiece

 

[James Watriss]

If you already have the OF1010, the edge trimming accessories will be cheaper than either option, and the guide base will also skim over any rough or hollow spots.

Personally, I use that setup (right now, as a matter of fact...) with a down spiral flush trimming bit. It lets me use a metal ruler to dial in the setup very quickly by referencing off of the bearing. So, it skims over hollows, but it does trace over bumps.

Back to work...

 

[Captainwrinkles]

I find it slightly humorous that you guys think Lamello tools are expensive, when your happy to invest so much cash into Festool tools  [big grin]

 

[stevep]

Ended up buying a basic mfk700, plus the 0 degree base (I can't see the point of a 1.5 degree base as it's obviously no good for solid lippings). I was expecting it to fit perfectly, but when attached there was a significant amount of play between the router body and the attachment, because the tool doesn't locate properly against the casting of the base - the face it locates against is not machined flat and being a die casting was far from flat out of the box. Rang Festool, who just suggested taking it back and exchanging it - not very helpful as that would be 3 days to change a part for something with the same problem, so I decided to stick it on the lathe and sort it out. Bolted it down onto the top slide, stuck a milling cutter in the chuck and faced it off properly, as Festool should have done in the first place.
It now locates correctly against the base plate of the router, no wobble at all.
End plate of router body, showing the locating pins:

Newly machined face of 0 degree base, the face now locates accurately against the arrowed face on the previous photo.
I removed about .010" total, around 0.25mm

Seeing as I've now butchered the base I might as well finish it by hacking out a bigger slot for the bit.http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-tools-accessories/usefulness-of-the-0-degree-base-unit-for-the-mfk700/msg155030/#msg155030

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Ended up buying a basic mfk700, plus the 0 degree base (I can't see the point of a 1.5 degree base as it's obviously no good for solid lippings). I was expecting it to fit perfectly, but when attached there was a significant amount of play between the router body and the attachment, because the tool doesn't locate properly against the casting of the base - the face it locates against is not machined flat and being a die casting was far from flat out of the box. Rang Festool, who just suggested taking it back and exchanging it - not very helpful as that would be 3 days to change a part for something with the same problem, so I decided to stick it on the lathe and sort it out. Bolted it down onto the top slide, stuck a milling cutter in the chuck and faced it off properly, as Festool should have done in the first place.
It now locates correctly against the base plate of the router, no wobble at all.
End plate of router body, showing the locating pins:

Newly machined face of 0 degree base, the face now locates accurately against the arrowed face on the previous photo.
I removed about .010" total, around 0.25mm

Seeing as I've now butchered the base I might as well finish it by http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-tools-accessories/usefulness-of-the-0-degree-base-unit-for-the-mfk700/msg155030/#msg155030hacking out a bigger slot for the bit.

Steve,

Why do you say that?  I think that's great you were able to do that modification, but that just seems completely unnecessary for a new tool.

 

[stevep]

Ken - in the second photo (the 0 degree attachment) the faces I've arrowed weren't flat. They had a raised bit across the centreline of the holes. These faces are supposed to butt up against the shoulders shown arrowed in the first photo, but because they didn't seat properly the body of the router flexed up and down in relation to the attachment - this would cause the router bit to either dig in or lift away from the work, depending on how it was held.
I wish I'd taken a photo of it before, but here's a partial sketch of one of the two faces which sort of shows an exaggerated form of what it was like:

It was definitely necessary, and it fits perfectly now with no movement at all. All the other mating faces on the tool and attachments are machined flat, why these aren't is a bit of a mystery.
As to the bit about the 3 days, that's how long it takes to order a non-stock part through my local dealer, and there wouldn't be any point swopping it for an identical part with the same manufacturing fault.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Steve,

I understand the problem and your solution.  What I didn't understand was why you did that to a new tool you just bought instead of having the store replace it AND why you feel all of the MFK 700's are like that, so there would be no point to ordering another?  How is this a consistent manufacturing problem, in your view?

Thanks

 

[richard.selwyn]

I have the OFK. Now I'm worried things dont align! Seems ok to me. Not quite sue how a mis alignment would be that critical tho?

 

[stevep]

Steve,

I understand the problem and your solution.  What I didn't understand was why you did that to a new tool you just bought instead of having the store replace it AND why you feel all of the MFK 700's are like that, so there would be no point to ordering another?  How is this a consistent manufacturing problem, in your view?

Thanks

The part is a die casting, so it's likely that they are all the same. Maybe someone else has a 0 degree base that they can post a picture of.  Yes, I could have taken it back, but I had work to do and couldn't wait 3 days. I haven't invalidated the warranty on the mfk700 as this only involved modifying the seperately purchased base.

Richard - the movement at the cutter before I did this fix was around 0.4 mm as best I could measure. That's clearly not good enough for flush trimming. Yours might well be fine. If you want to check, just assemble the base so the router is sticking out horizontally, hold the base down firmly on a flat horizontal board (ie in the normal working position) and watch the cutter while you gently try to move the back end of the router up and down.

 

[richard.selwyn]

Thanks, I'll try that tomorrow.
Richard