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Post by GhostFist on Feb 7, 2014 5:54:57 GMT -5
Essentially the saw needs to pull in 1 mm on festool tracks when making a beveled cut, correct? I'm still thinking of a way to fix this...
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Post by wrightwoodwork on Feb 7, 2014 8:13:34 GMT -5
If the festool tracks are 5mm and the mafell tracks are 6mm essentially, you need to gain 1mm. I would very simply get something like formica or similar at a constant 1mm or what the difference is. Then using a contact adhesive and stick it to the rails. If you lift up the saw an extra millimeter the 0 point on the blade has to be at edge of the splinter guard. Before sticking it would be best to do a trial run. As the base of the saw is lifted up the cut of the saw blade will come closer to the splinter guard which us what you are trying to achieve. The only thing is you would not be able to use the festool on the tracks. Certainly try something along those lines and see how it goes
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Post by GhostFist on Feb 7, 2014 10:27:07 GMT -5
Or have the 1 mm tacked to the saw base.
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Post by ivanhoe on May 20, 2014 14:51:04 GMT -5
Just a "Thanks to Jonathan!!" for the write up. I recently finished a version of this with my "Franken Table" and Mafell rail. I like the way it allowed me to use my current aluminum extrusion table with an MFT/3 top.
Rod
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Post by pharding on Jun 24, 2014 22:48:11 GMT -5
I am going to order the Festool MFT 3 and the Mafell MT 55 Plunge Saw. Should I get Festool Integrated Guide Rail System with the MFT/3 AND the Mafell Guide Rail
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Post by GhostFist on Jun 25, 2014 9:18:08 GMT -5
I do not own the MFT/3 or any festool rails so I'm not the best to comment. One of the reasons I went for the Mafell rails is that I prefer the way they join. Dead straight and dead easy. I hate lugging a 10' rail around. I believe the MFT/3 comes with a rail, and the MT55 is compatible with it. As I understand, however, the blade will pull away from the splinter strip at a larger error than with the mafell rails when cutting a bevel, due to the difference in thickness of the two different rail types. This should be a constant and can be accounted for. If you already have festool rails, and want to minimize your initial costs I'd stick with them for the time being. At least with the MFT. If you are buying other Mafell saws you'll more than likely want to get mafell, or Bosch's f-tracks as the MT55 is the only saw compatible with festool's tracks
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Post by thedude306 on Nov 17, 2014 11:32:19 GMT -5
For those of you with the MFT and rail, do you like it attached to your table or is it a PITA? Looking at doing a similar thing to my bench but was wondering your thoughts on the rail always being there and then flipping up??
Thanks
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Post by jonathan on Nov 17, 2014 13:24:07 GMT -5
Depends I guess. How much space do you have? Do you have multiple benches and or enough room to break down sheet goods separate from a single bench? In my case, I only have a small shed/worskhop at my current house so I need to make do with a single MFT/3. Which is far from ideal for obvious reasons. When I need to break down sheet goods the rail often gets in the way, when maneuvering the materials. So much so that I usually have to remove it when I break down sheet goods. The constant de-mounting and re-mounting is getting old fast. Having the rail constantly attached on the bench "ready-to-go" is a nice comfort, more so if you have enough space to maneuver around it. Other than that, I'm not one of the many that prasie the MFT/3 as the best bench ever. In fact I've been planning to replace it with a custom design for months now. I've just not gotten around to it so far. I regularly encounter the rail falls over / down. The biggest problem I found is that the MFT goes out of square a lot because of the bracket with a little tab, at the front of the table, used to index the rail. It wears wears the t-track in the rail out. You also have to make sure the bracket is all the way up so that it indexes 100% with the t-track or there's play. A custom solution can be much better built than what Festool offers. For Festool brackets the solution woodie displays in his video looks to be a very good one, I think! In conclusion, I think it's a great idea, but it's not practical for a small shop like mine (20m2 or 215 sq ft for the backwards people  ) |
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Post by thedude306 on Nov 17, 2014 14:18:08 GMT -5
Thanks Jonathan. That's some great insight. I have am currently in a 2 car garage that shares space with one long term vehicle project and the other space is for occasional parking in the cold months. Everything has a space and gets put away frequently but I hope that will change with a new house and shop in the works. I'm new to this track saw game (just ordered today) and haven't figured out the best use of space etc. These are my two benches. A bench with dog holes and break down table for sheet goods. I typically set up/pull out both for any projects. I was thinking of adding a hinged rail to the back of this bench.  This will be used to break down sheet goods.  |
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Post by 7 on Nov 17, 2014 21:40:36 GMT -5
Haha Jonathan- I like the backwards people comment. Your metric system is better than our dumb one.
I have a hard time seeing any advantage to the rail being attached to the table. Only adavantage I can see is for repeat cuts in the short direction for sheets. It does seem to me that it would get in the way more often than being useful. There are a lot of people that love that feature on the MFT table so I might be missing something.
The dude- I like that knock down table. It would be great for taking to the job site and setting up fast and looks like it would hold full sheets nicely.
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Post by thedude306 on Nov 17, 2014 21:44:55 GMT -5
I guess I don't know until I try. I've got a 1.1 rail coming and I think it would be the perfect length. I have a T track on the back side edge similar to the front side that the hinge mechanism could attach to. I don't think it would be that difficult to rig something up and see if I like it/use it.
I'm kinda with you 7. It seems like it would get in the way unless I was doing a LOT of the same cuts in row.
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Post by 7 on Nov 17, 2014 23:27:16 GMT -5
Not a bad idea if you can create a sort of quick release system. I like the idea if it can be taken off and put back on quickly. Like you said it doesn't hurt to give it a go and see what you think. Plus having the two tables would help a lot, I picture it only really getting in the way on the sheet ripping table but don't see it getting in the way much on the assembly table.
I would love to build something similar to your table with the L box setup integrated into it on drawer glides. That's a nice setup.
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Post by thedude306 on Nov 18, 2014 10:36:11 GMT -5
Thanks 7 on the tables. I can't take credit for the knock down table. I bought the plans off of overanalyze on Be The Pro bethepro.com/forums/topic/knockdown-cutting-table/ (I think he hangs out on the FOG as well) It's an absolutely fabulous table. I made mine with a set of removable feet so that I can have it at two levels. Down low for assembly and up higher for cutting/work table. It packs flat and is a joy to take onsite. He did a shelf for a table saw as well. Mine just needs a tool shelf. With the adj feet I think you could almost get away with putting a Ron Paulk style top on it. Not as easy to store, but it would give you lots of storage options on sight. Any who, I'll wait for my tracks to show up and then proceed with the flip up if a project warrants the repeatable cut. |
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Post by ivanhoe on Nov 19, 2014 17:12:33 GMT -5
You can also use "rail dogs" as a substitute for the fore and aft rail brackets. I use the 110 rail on my table and I get varying results. I can get the rail set perfectly at 90 degrees while it is at rest flat on the mft/3 top, but as Jonathan mentioned, as you raise the rail via the brackets in conjunction with the small tab that must seat in the rail it is easy to get out a tiny bit of alignment. The only drawback to the rail dogs is you are limited to the furthest two holes on your table. Unless you fab up some brackets with dog holes that would attach to the rails on the outside of your table. I also use a separate table to break down sheet goods and in another thread I show where I use precision parallel guides attached to a festool rail for very consistent cutting. I am very pleased that Mafell allowed the usage of Festool's rails...
Nice table BTW!!
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Post by MrToolJunkie on Nov 19, 2014 18:15:31 GMT -5
I have MFT/3s and use them with and without the rail. I find I can get perfect 90 degree cuts with it and the fence - it is all about the set-up. Part of the issue people have with the MFT rail is they tend to tighten it just a little too much on the bracket and that causes the entire rail to skew off in one direction or the other - that causes more wear on the rail bottom where the little tab sits. If you tighten it just right you should be able to lift up and set down your rail and have it perfectly centered on the tab. It takes a minute to do that, but once set you should be good to go.
Brad - on your set up I would opt for the Parf Dogs or some other dog set-up. You can use the holes in your table to guide rips and to help with cross-cuts to hold material. Since you are getting a KSS400, you have no need for the Festool rail as you will get perfect 90's or accurate angles with that set-up. If you are getting the angle fence for the F rails, then you will get perfect 90's using that with your MT. So, in my opinion you would be covered. The Festool system works great on the MFT, but it seems like it would be clunky and cumbersome to adjust to another table. Just my .02.
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