Shop reconfiguration/Breakdown MFT

[rmwarren]

I’ve spent a lot of the winter/spring decluttering and reconfiguring my small (120SF) shop. There is a lot of background & me babbling contained in two threads on the shop itself & a large MFT/SYS cart I’d built. Turns out that having space for materials and to be able to stand/move makes a shop much more functional…

After weeding out some of the less necessary tools, I replaced the big cart with what I’m calling my “Break-Down (BD) MFT” (modular-ish MFT tops and 80/20 frames) and relocated a lot of tools and shop supplies. The idea behind the BD MFT is to setup in minutes in whatever configuration the work requires yet knocks down for storage. Photos are from various stages while I was figuring this out.

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The setup is “modular” in the sense there are consistent sizes that can be configured differently (576mm increments & 768mm). Currently I have 3 sections of top and 4 or 5 sets of legs with several different lengths of 1515 extrusion to connect them together. 2 sets of legs + 4 extrusions make of a single unit that is sturdy yet very lightweight. adding one more leg + connectors extend for each additional top section, i.e. one top requires two leg units, two tops require three legs, etc. The system is workable but still a work in progress. It takes 5-10 minutes to set up depending on how many sections are used, and everything stores in about the same cubic footage as a single Festool MFT.

I have one semi-permanent (base) section attached to the underside of a wall mounted 16” deep worksurface, it is ~44” long and slides in/out as needed to save floor space. The base setup only needs one leg section and the connection to the worksurface makes it steadier than a free-standing MFT. One goal was to be able to totally knock this down when I switch over to welding larger projects, the base setup can be removed & a 24" by 48" welding cart rolled out and left until the project is finished.

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Lastly, I just finished up v1.0 of a precise setup on the MFT for track saw use. The setup relies on a TSO guide rail square, which is my go-to setup for anything related to the track saw. After a lot of fiddling around this is working perfectly. For the record, I (1) have zero interest in using an MFT-style hinge setup and (2) do not want to just roll out the table saw for simple cuts.

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This setup uses a height-adjustable fence on the front edge of the MFT to both square to the material and locate the guide rail repeatably. The fence prevents the guide rails from tipping on narrow stock & a rear support is available when needed. The Incra track provides accurate measurement & using the triangle handles rips when the material is too narrow for the front fence to give me an accurate 90 degree setup. Various stops/clamps round out the setup. There isn’t much I can’t cut accurately now, including things typically more suitable for a chop saw or table saw.

I’m interested in feedback or suggestions on improvements.

Thanks.

RMW

 

[Sbradley0911]

I don't see a spot for SO workstation or tapeboards  to be attached to that BD mft [scared] lol

 

[rmwarren]

I don't see a spot for SO workstation or tapeboards  to be attached to that BD mft [scared] lol

Ha! Workstation now has its own dedicated home.

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You'll have to trust me that there is a tape board with a 20/96mm grid sans photographic evidence.

I did forget to mention the LR-32-ish jig setup withs with this also...

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RMW

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I'll give you credit/praise again. You have a lot of stuff in a tiny space and it appears to work for you. I definitely get the cutting station thing though, for sure. Even though I am in a huge space, with damn near every way to cut something at my disposal, I still have the need for a TS cutting station, right next to my main assembly bench.

 

[festal]

Very interesting as I’ll trying to organize my garage as well. I have my landscaping equipment, snow blower and storage in there as well so it’s not a dedicated shop.

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[rmwarren]

Very interesting as I’ll trying to organize my garage as well. I have my landscaping equipment, snow blower and storage in there as well so it’s not a dedicated shop.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[member=71889]festal[/member] best change I ever made was the high work surfaces for stationary tools with mobile stuff underneath. I prefer fairly tall benches anyway, stationary stuff is 40" on top, 38" below and mobile stuff is ~37".

Maximizes a small space.

RMW

 

[festal]

Very interesting as I’ll trying to organize my garage as well. I have my landscaping equipment, snow blower and storage in there as well so it’s not a dedicated shop.

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[member=71889]festal[/member] best change I ever made was the high work surfaces for stationary tools with mobile stuff underneath. I prefer fairly tall benches anyway, stationary stuff is 40" on top, 38" below and mobile stuff is ~37".

Maximizes a small space.

RMW

Thats a good idea, but one slight problem - i'm short lol.  5'8"

 

[rmwarren]

Very interesting as I’ll trying to organize my garage as well. I have my landscaping equipment, snow blower and storage in there as well so it’s not a dedicated shop.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[member=71889]festal[/member] best change I ever made was the high work surfaces for stationary tools with mobile stuff underneath. I prefer fairly tall benches anyway, stationary stuff is 40" on top, 38" below and mobile stuff is ~37".

Maximizes a small space.

RMW

Thats a good idea, but one slight problem - i'm short lol.  5'8"

That's a factor. I'm no giant (6') so I think my preference is taller than usual, but I find it very comfortable.

The MFT/3 is 900mm (~35-1/2) which I always found uncomfortably low, I'd settled on 37" years before discovering Festool. What surprised me was how well 40" worked for bench tools and fiddly hand work. Definitely not suitable for something like assembling boxes or hand drilling, there lower is better.

RMW

RMW

 

[Vondawg]

At 6-2  I completely agree with you on the bench heights  and have mine very simular…and always like seeing your shop iterations

 

[Michael Kellough]

I’m two inches shorter than Richard but I prefer a 40” bench to a 36”er.

For very small work that requires the 3x reading glasses I often put a heavy wood box on top of the bench so 4 don’t have to bend over.

I think I might make a 1x2x3 foot box with a grid of holes on each side…

On second thought, maybe half that size.

 

[Bob D.]

"I think I might make a 1x2x3 foot box with a grid of holes on each side…"

I assume that grid will be 96mm, then you could easily pin the box to your
MFT or other work surface with some dogs to keep it from moving around.

 

[rmwarren]

Stumbled across this while numbing my mind.


Apparently my preferences would make me an outlier.

RMW

 

[rmwarren]

I've been following the thread on the Veritas Domino jig and wishing I had room for one, instead decided to take a stab at a BD-MFT variation. This is v1.0 and I still need to make the fences. It attaches to the 80/20 extrusions, the hole in use gives me a 9mm centerline (6mm domino):

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The other hole is 6mm CL. The slot provides adjustability all the way down to the table or up to a 25mm CL.

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The MFT tops have one row of holes at 48mm centers to the pattern, they are primarily so I can use dogs for ripping and not cut through another row of holes. Decided to center the jig on this row of holes & whacked out an alignment jig.

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I plan to use the other dog holes for securing fences, etc. but haven't totally figured that out yet. Also need to align the domino and set some stops so I can remove/replace it quickly.

70's and low humidity, great night to fiddle in the shop.

RMW

 

[Vondawg]

Can’t imagine the time it took, even over time, to figure out your BD-MFT but what an awesome tool! Shop definitely shows your decluttering work…looks great

 

[rmwarren]

Thanks [member=41086]Vondawg[/member] there was a fair amount of drool/maths put into it over the winter, but it's been worth it.

I'm settling into using it, case in point is I needed some precise shims and it only took a few minutes to cut them with the TS from a ~20" chunk of hard maple.

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This is really a testament to the awesome precision of the TSO GRS, it just works without any need to think about it. In this case I made test cut using the scale set to 5mm, measured it and then used some precise shim stock to dial in the next cut and it was spot on (within a few hundredths of a mm) over the length.

RMW

 

[Bob D.]

You've made optimum use of a small space. Very well organized Richard.

Your TS cutting station is brilliant. I like the front fence and your use of the GRS for cutting looks to be quick to setup and accurate.

 

[rmwarren]

Thanks Bob. I keep thinking a typical Dashboard type hinge would be so easy and nice to have but it just doesn't work for me to have the rail standing up on the back of the MFT.

Necessity, mama invention.

RMW

 

[Bob D.]

Yeah, the standing rail on the back of my MFT is a problem for me too.
I took a scrap of ply and cut it to fit in the hinge when the rail is raised.
That keeps it from swinging down and hitting my head or falling on my
hand which happened twice, but it's still not ideal and a very crude
workaround to the problem.

I have a couple ideas floating around in my head on how to overcome this,
but nothing that I've thought through far enough to make a prototype for
as yet. Not giving up though.

In the mean time I might copy your excellent idea and see how it works for me.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Richard, do you remove the aluminum square and replace with something the same thickness as the maple stock prior to cutting?

 

[rmwarren]

Richard, do you remove the aluminum square and replace with something the same thickness as the maple stock prior to cutting?

Nope. The adjustable fences at the front and rear support the rail. The table is only ~22" deep so there's no noticeable flex.

RMW