Setup for Festool MFT/3

[swifty]

I am having some problems following instructions. I am not sure if the factory stops are off or did I slide in the Support unit and the Swivel unit incorrectly. Facing the front of the table, I slid in the support unit from the left side over to the factory installed stop. Facing the rear of the table, I slid the swivel unit in from the right over to the factory stop on the left. I attached the rail guide to the swivel unit.  Using the stated procedure,  the guide rail will not line up with the support unit. The support unit is off by about 1/4 inch. The distance from the factory stop to the end of the extruded  aluminum is 8 3/4 inch. The rear stop measures about 7 1/2 from the factory stop to the end of the extruded aluminum. On page 6 of the manual it states the measurement should be 7 2/3 inch. How many millimeters is 7 2/3 inch? Is the guide rail supposed to line up square to the table?
Before I move the factory installed stop, I wanted to make sure I am doing it correctly. Comments or suggestions? Is there a video that will show setting up the Festool MFT/3?

 

[GPowers]

It should be square. The most important square check is between the fence and the guide rail. The guide rail must be in the tab that stick up on the front guide rail support.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

The quality's not great, but here's a video showing the setup process.

Do NOT move the factory stops.  If something isn't square, I would check your set up first.

MFT 3 setup

 

[tenfingers]

oops

 

[tenfingers]

seriously, i've had the mft/3 about 1 year now and made the mistake of thinking it wasnt square but i dont think the tab was fully seated in the guide rail. I mucked around and loosened all the stops, etc..., etc... and to make a long story short took a ton of time to square it up again. Now I dont move a thing and am happy. Listen to Shane!

 

[GPowers]

Here is another thread about MFT/3 stops

http://festoolownersgroup.com/ask-festool/factory-stops-for-mft3/msg105863/?topicseen#new

 

[fshanno]

Factory stops?  Never to be relocated?  I thought they were just stops.  I've relocated mine a number of times, mainly to get a new clean kerf in the MDF.  I've never had any trouble getting things square.  Is there a safety issue?

 

[dltflt]

I did not have a problem with the stops or squaring the fence to the guide rail.  But my guide rail is not square to the holes.  I brought this up on here and on the Festool website and it appears no one has an answer to that problem.  So I just don't use the holes for anything other than clamping.

 

[Brice Burrell]

Factory stops?  Never to be relocated?  I thought they were just stops.  I've relocated mine a number of times, mainly to get a new clean kerf in the MDF.  I've never had any trouble getting things square.  Is there a safety issue?

I'm sure there is no safety concern here, it's a matter of re-squaring convenience.

 

[swifty]

I want to extend a grateful thanks to all your replies. I moved the stop over to line up the rail to my support unit and squared it to the edge of the MDF table and to the Profile setting rail.  In the future, I will make a cut off a board and the flip the cut off piece. Any error will be doubled . I plan to make adjustments in the stops to ensure a true and square cut. If you have any comments or suggestions, Please let me know.

 

[Corwin]

Hey Swifty,

There have been many threads here over the years from people with a new MFT that have questioned if these stops were positioned correctly at the factory or not.  Some had moved during shipment, some were placed incorrectly, but most were correct and just not understood by the new user.  No matter.  These stops simply provide a fast and easy way to reinstall your rail to its prior location after having been removed from the table.  Positioning these stops to make the rail square with the table and/or with the holes in the table is nice, but not a requirement --  however, they should never be placed so they locate your rail too far off from square with your table.  Having said all this, I should say that the important issue is to make sure your fence is square with your rail.  

On the older MFT-1080's you could locate your stops by mounting the guide rail onto the brackets and then slide the brackets and rail towards the right side of the table until the rail's splinter guard is flush with the right-hand edge of the table and tighten the brackets in place.  Then insert the stops from the left side of the table and slide up against the brackets and tighten them in place.  Finally, slide the guide rail brackets (with rail) off the right side and reinstall from the left side, slide up to the stops and tighten the brackets in place.  This would place the rail such that the kerf from your saw cut would be just about centered between the second and third row of holes -- just like the factory position.  This procedure may not work the same on your new MFT/3 table, as the table size has changed some.  In any event, placing the stops such that the rail is positioned so the kerf line is about centered between two rows of holes is best.

In the other thread that GPowers linked to above, I wrote that that, once installed correctly, you may elect to relocate your stops to the other side of the guide rail brackets so that you do not have to slide the brackets (and rail) so far when reinstalling them.  Another handy option is to purchase a second set of stops that you can install on the other sides of your MFT when using a 1400mm rail to span the longer direction.  Purchasing a second hinged bracket makes this even handier -- that is if you leave those brackets installed on your rails.

I hope all this information helps rather than just confuse you.  Enjoy your new table.

 

[tbellemare]

There is no right or wrong place on an MFT to locate the Guide Rail and its hardware. That's the beauty of the system. Though an MFT/3 comes with a 1080, the same hardware can also be used with an 800, 1400, or larger, especially if ganged with other tables.

The user can locate the Guide Rail gear anywhere and on any table profile that makes it useful for the task at hand. As Corwin pointed out in the previous post, the stops are just there to allow the user to easily return to their previous configuration. There's nothing magic about any given placement.

I would strongly encourage every user of the MFT's to think outside the box with how they can reconfigure them to best suit their current requirements.

Tom

 

[garnet_steen]

The quality's not great, but here's a video showing the setup process.

Do NOT move the factory stops.  If something isn't square, I would check your set up first.

MFT 3 setup

Shane, at 5:30 into the video he talks about installing the long fence onto the miter gauge and using the "cam lock" to tighten it. Regardless of which direction I turn the knob, the fence is never tight for me. There is a lot of slop at its tightest setting (with the knob in the direction of the arrows as he said in the video) and then it loosens up again if I keep turning it. How can I remove that slop?

 

[nickao]

I did not have a problem with the stops or squaring the fence to the guide rail.  But my guide rail is not square to the holes.  I brought this up on here and on the Festool website and it appears no one has an answer to that problem.  So I just don't use the holes for anything other than clamping.

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I don't get that at all. If my rail was not parallel to the holes I would go nuts. I use those holes to get instant squaring so I have no idea what up with your setup. I square the rail to the holes and make it work, never had an issue. I really don't care if the outer extrusions are shaped like a parallelogram as long as that rail ends up being parallel with the holes I am happy. I rarely ever use a fence anymore I guess that is the is the difference for me. When using the fence I just make sure  the the top(furthest from me) rail is perpendicular to the rail (when at 90) and the rail is parallel to the holes. The rest of the extrusion are irrelevant.