slop stop
- Thread starter eet
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Corwin
Member
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2007
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- 2,624
I've had MFTs for over a dozen years. Once the Slop Stop came around, I thought it was a great idea. But, I never got one. And, while I think the Slop Stop looks like a nice product, I just don't need one. First off, I never really had all that much slop between the guide rail and the pin on the front support bracket. And, even before there was a Slop Stop, I learned here to mount the guide rail such that it would lay with a slight skew so that when placed on the front support bracket it would have a bias to one side of the pin thus removing any slop. So, while a nice addition to your MFT, the Slop Stop is simply not a necessity in order to get accurate cuts.
Michael Kellough
Member
Corbin said
“I learned here to mount the guide rail such that it would lay with a slight skew so that when placed on the front support bracket it would have a bias to one side of the pin thus removing any slop.”
That is the key. Digest that and you’ll be a lot closer to knowing how to use the very usable MFT.
“I learned here to mount the guide rail such that it would lay with a slight skew so that when placed on the front support bracket it would have a bias to one side of the pin thus removing any slop.”
That is the key. Digest that and you’ll be a lot closer to knowing how to use the very usable MFT.
The mentioned slop is only part of the problem. Poor design. Registering pin should be made of plastic, just like on FT rail protractor. On the protractor even its width is adjustable.Michael Kellough said:
The biggest problem is that rail supports don't register well vertically. They allow side to side movement when the height is changed and can get clamped down in a skewed position. Again, just poor design. That's why so many people make their own contraptions or prefer to register from bench dogs to make square cuts.
Michael Kellough
Member
Svar said:
You’re right, after vertical adjustments the angle has to be confirmed.
Slop of most kinds is bad for those who aim for precision work. I don't own an MFT table or have a track saw now, but I firmly believe that anything a manufacturer can do to make its tool more user-friendly to set up or to use is to the manufacturer's advantage.
Festool should either make a design change to fix the slop problem (even if some owners know how to overcome it), or include something like that third-party slop accessory. That's how modern business should act (or react) when a product deficiency is reported by its users. A proactive business may even offer that accessory fix to all current owners who want one.
This discussion reminds me of the business practice of Lee Valley which mails out refund cheques to its previous customers when a certain product goes down in price after their purchase. All done proactively without the customers asking for it or filling out a form for the refund.
Festool should either make a design change to fix the slop problem (even if some owners know how to overcome it), or include something like that third-party slop accessory. That's how modern business should act (or react) when a product deficiency is reported by its users. A proactive business may even offer that accessory fix to all current owners who want one.
This discussion reminds me of the business practice of Lee Valley which mails out refund cheques to its previous customers when a certain product goes down in price after their purchase. All done proactively without the customers asking for it or filling out a form for the refund.
