Retrofitting a dimension scale to a CMS TS miter/cross-cut fence?

[TinyShop]

Has anyone succeeded at somehow retrofitting a dimension scale to either the stock CMS TS miter fence (when used as a cross-cut fence in conjunction with the sliding table and a flag stop) or, similarly, to a cross-cut fence cannibalized, say, from another Festool tool (like the MTF/3)? Or, has anyone added a sacrificial fence to one of the above that likewise features a dimension scale and integrated flip stop? In comparison, competitor's products (like Mafell's ERIKA saws) at least offer the option of fitting a cross-cut fence that features a dimension scale and integrated flip stop.

Or is there something abut the design or accuracy of the Festool CMS TS/OF/MFT/3 miter guard / sliding table that somehow limits the usefulness of such a feature...?

 

[bertv]

The profile of the fence can be moved around, which makes the whole exercise of adding a scale moot. OTO you might get away with adding one if you calibrate it every time, referencing off the built in scale of the CMS. (I might try that…)

 

[TinyShop]

I like your idea of referencing the built-in scale to achieve the "zero" position, but why bother if there's no scale and flip stop fitted to the miter fence? Although, this would work when setting up to cut short pieces.

Any retrofitting of a scale to the short stock miter fence (or, ideally, a longer one borrowed from an MFT/3) would require that the scale be positioned on the top face of the miter fence to eliminate wear and tear (to the glorified sticker) and to make it easy to use. The problem, of course, is that the Festool flag stop isn't designed to float over a scale nor is the extrusion designed with this functionality in mind.

For posterity, here's an example of an after-market solution that might be made to work with a piece of Festool extrusion (easy to make it work with a sacrificial fence mounted to the vertical face of the extrusion):

[Source:http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=73516&cat=1,43455,61994&ap=1]

And, for comparison, the miter/crosscut fence extension (a.k.a. "longer miter/crosscut fence") and flip stop that are optional equipment for the Erika saw:

 

[Tom the Remodeler]

I have the Mafell Erika 70 and the 1m fence with flip stop. For indexing the fence, I simply use a block of a known dimension (for example 40mm), set the flip stop to that dimension, put the block against the flip stop, then slide the assembly towards the blade until the block juuuuust touches the teeth of the blade.

For fences and flip stops in general, you can quickly end up chasing diminishing returns trying to achieve "perfect" results. With that in mind, I generally revert to the mindset that "Consistency trumps Precision"...