Hello again, this starts up where my previous post left off. The guide rail is set. Now I need a fence. Since my MFT’s are turned sidewise, I decided to place the fence on the front of the table so I could reach it. My goal is to do this without using any templates. I looked at a number of ways of setting the fence perpendicular to the rail and can go over those if there is any interest. What I decided on was to center the extrusion I’m using for a fence directly on a row of holes. To make the connection as strong as possible, I wanted the track to run down the center of the extrusion. I tried a number of approaches using side mounts but couldn’t get one sturdy enough to suit me. I think they can be fine for use in assembly jigs however.
I’m using a 60mm by 60mm extrusion. I would have preferred a smaller one but was led to it by a combination of requirements including finding a flip stop that would work without modification.
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Here is an end view of the extrusion. It is massive. I could use it to hang the MFT from the rafters.
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Here are the parts I will use with it. A couple Festool knobs with longer bolts, two dogs, two extrusion fasteners, a Rockler mini clamp and a Rockler flip stop.
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Set up the fasteners using the knobs and dogs from below and slide the extrusion on them.
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There is about .2mm slop between the grooves of the fastener and the dimension of the track in the extrusion. I found the easiest way for me to square things up was to push up on the extrusion about center way between the two fasteners and lock the knobs.
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I also found that using the mini clamp removed any chance of it being knocked out of alignment.
About this time I realized that I would have to back the extrusion off the rail a little so the saw wouldn’t hit it and repeat the squaring process. I also needed to consider how I was going to handle setting up a way to measure my cuts. I looked at the groove of my kerf and decided to see if I could use it to measure from.
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Here is the most Rube Goldberg part of my process. I am using the short blade from and old adjustable square and the small level because of the magnets on the side of it.
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I set the blade in the kerf held vertical by the level, push it against the near edge of the kerf and measure from there.
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After eyeballing how far I needed to move the extrusion I decided for simplicity that I would set it 200mm from the cut line and put the tape ruler on the extrusion to indicate that. I have been using this mylar tape for all my experiments and will save my Starrett until I’m finished experimenting. One thing I’ve learned using it is that originally it measured short and needed to be stretched. Later on I needed to check when I moved it to make sure it wasn’t over stretched.
That is the process. Everything used either the precise square nature of the tabletop holes or direct measurements.
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Now I needed to see how accurate a cut I could make with it. I selected a 450mm cut because my steel ruler was long enough to help me verify that the mylar tape was accurate and to help me set the flip stop the first few times I used it.
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Here are details of the cut setup. Note that I am using a clamp to keep the board firmly in place since the cutting motion will try to move the piece away from the fence. I’ll probably make that my routine.
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Another reason for choosing 450mm for my test cut was that I could measure it with my handy dandy and cheap Harbor Freight micrometer. After I adjusted it for zero which is possible by loosening screws on the fixed head, I have found it very useful and very accurate comparing well with my digital over its much smaller range. Also these old eyes couldn’t do much of this without the help of this magnifier.
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Here is what I got. While there is usually no need for this type of accuracy, it’s nice to know it is possible.
I hope some of you find this useful and look forward to questions, comments and improvements. I consider this a work in progress and see the need for an addition or two.
This method will work on either of the MFT’s. I have another that only works on the 1080 but that is for another day.
Dick
I’m using a 60mm by 60mm extrusion. I would have preferred a smaller one but was led to it by a combination of requirements including finding a flip stop that would work without modification.
[attachthumb=#]
Here is an end view of the extrusion. It is massive. I could use it to hang the MFT from the rafters.
[attachthumb=#]
Here are the parts I will use with it. A couple Festool knobs with longer bolts, two dogs, two extrusion fasteners, a Rockler mini clamp and a Rockler flip stop.
[attachthumb=#]
Set up the fasteners using the knobs and dogs from below and slide the extrusion on them.
[attachthumb=#]
There is about .2mm slop between the grooves of the fastener and the dimension of the track in the extrusion. I found the easiest way for me to square things up was to push up on the extrusion about center way between the two fasteners and lock the knobs.
[attachthumb=#]
I also found that using the mini clamp removed any chance of it being knocked out of alignment.
About this time I realized that I would have to back the extrusion off the rail a little so the saw wouldn’t hit it and repeat the squaring process. I also needed to consider how I was going to handle setting up a way to measure my cuts. I looked at the groove of my kerf and decided to see if I could use it to measure from.
[attachthumb=#]
Here is the most Rube Goldberg part of my process. I am using the short blade from and old adjustable square and the small level because of the magnets on the side of it.
[attachthumb=#]
I set the blade in the kerf held vertical by the level, push it against the near edge of the kerf and measure from there.
[attachthumb=#]
After eyeballing how far I needed to move the extrusion I decided for simplicity that I would set it 200mm from the cut line and put the tape ruler on the extrusion to indicate that. I have been using this mylar tape for all my experiments and will save my Starrett until I’m finished experimenting. One thing I’ve learned using it is that originally it measured short and needed to be stretched. Later on I needed to check when I moved it to make sure it wasn’t over stretched.
That is the process. Everything used either the precise square nature of the tabletop holes or direct measurements.
[attachthumb=#]
Now I needed to see how accurate a cut I could make with it. I selected a 450mm cut because my steel ruler was long enough to help me verify that the mylar tape was accurate and to help me set the flip stop the first few times I used it.
[attachthumb=#]
Here are details of the cut setup. Note that I am using a clamp to keep the board firmly in place since the cutting motion will try to move the piece away from the fence. I’ll probably make that my routine.
[attachthumb=#]
Another reason for choosing 450mm for my test cut was that I could measure it with my handy dandy and cheap Harbor Freight micrometer. After I adjusted it for zero which is possible by loosening screws on the fixed head, I have found it very useful and very accurate comparing well with my digital over its much smaller range. Also these old eyes couldn’t do much of this without the help of this magnifier.
[attachthumb=#]
Here is what I got. While there is usually no need for this type of accuracy, it’s nice to know it is possible.
I hope some of you find this useful and look forward to questions, comments and improvements. I consider this a work in progress and see the need for an addition or two.
This method will work on either of the MFT’s. I have another that only works on the 1080 but that is for another day.
Dick
