Mafell Track Saw flip up guide rail

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jonw1664

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I am about to buy a track saw and after lots of research I have decided on the Mafell, BUT, I really want to create a set up similar to the Festoool MFT with a shortish guide ral permannetly fitted to a hinge that fips down into postion over the MFT. I can't find anyone that sells a suitable hinge and receiver mechanism unless I but the whole Festool MFT with accessories st circa £700, just so I can throw away the festool guide rail! What I would really like to do is make my own 2.4m x 1.2m MFT table and fit a hinged guide rail, but the accuracy of the hinge is absolutely crucila to being able to get accurate, repeateable cuts. I can't imagine I am the first persoj to think about how to achieve this with a Mafell so I am hooing someone out there has aklready balzed a trail I can follow? All good ideas gratefully received.
 
You and me both @jonw1664 - The drop down rail is a key feature. Front edge clamp slots are a nice to have but not worth the Festool price.
That would be an excellent product to be sold (patents allowing). One for @benchdogs perhaps
 
Has this forum ever done a collaborative design?
I've seen some cracking ideas here, surely this isn't beyond the group?
Major issues:
* The sliding adjustment for different thicknesses - call it a riser.
* Fastening some form of hinge to the track (different track designs)
* A front 'lock? Again adjustable height wise, to set a true 90 for the track when lowered.
* Fastening the riser to 'my' MFT, since we're likely to have various designed MFTs.

Just a thought.
 
I think I would struggle to make a short hinge that held perfect registration on the end of a lever 1.2m long, in fact I wouldn’t try.

If it’s out by, say 1mm it’s no use? That’s an angular accuracy of less than 1/20 of a degree. Yet you’d be sitting it on an array of holes that should give that accuracy no problem. So maybe design the problem away by having a hinge that’s loose enough to accommodate whatever you use to pull the rail to the dogs that provide the alignment. Though don’t the rail dogs and collars available negate the need for it at all?

Aidan
 
I think I would struggle to make a short hinge that held perfect registration on the end of a lever 1.2m long, in fact I wouldn’t try.

If it’s out by, say 1mm it’s no use? That’s an angular accuracy of less than 1/20 of a degree. Yet you’d be sitting it on an array of holes that should give that accuracy no problem. So maybe design the problem away by having a hinge that’s loose enough to accommodate whatever you use to pull the rail to the dogs that provide the alignment. Though don’t the rail dogs and collars available negate the need for it at all?

Aidan

The hinge presumably needs to fairly accurate, but locks into a locating pin on the opposite side of the worktop. That needs to be set accurately.
It means you can use the entire width of the table, make repeatable cuts to a known length (Using a fence with flag stop)
I'd like one, but can't justify hundreds of pounds.
 
Just posted this in the other thread, worth repeating here I guess??

Festool MFT hinged rail/ rail support reference numbers are :-

497022 Support - this is the locating pin unit at the front of the MFT

497023 Support unit - this is the hinge part at the back of the MFT for the rail

472862 Profile - this is the MFT/3 aluminium profile

If you do a google search for those reference numbers, the spare parts links will pop up at the top of the list. I bought the hinge part to see what needs doing to adapt it to regular t-track; made the purchase through NB tools as I’ve dealt with them happily before. The parts come from Germany, so it’s not a fast process. 👍
 
A certain Peter Millard of this site has a video showing a sacrificial piece if mft in his workbench, underneath a hinged piece of said track.
He maybe kind enough to do a short video showing how he mounted it/what type of hinge he used????
 
I am about to buy a track saw and after lots of research I have decided on the Mafell, BUT, I really want to create a set up similar to the Festoool MFT with a shortish guide ral permannetly fitted to a hinge that fips down into postion over the MFT. I can't find anyone that sells a suitable hinge and receiver mechanism unless I but the whole Festool MFT with accessories st circa £700, just so I can throw away the festool guide rail! What I would really like to do is make my own 2.4m x 1.2m MFT table and fit a hinged guide rail, but the accuracy of the hinge is absolutely crucila to being able to get accurate, repeateable cuts. I can't imagine I am the first persoj to think about how to achieve this with a Mafell so I am hooing someone out there has aklready balzed a trail I can follow? All good ideas gratefully received.

Interesting video on YouTube (link below) by Conkcat.

He uses two easily available hardware hinges to form a automatic rising hinge for his track saw rail.

 
I would say that, first HDC83 has done an amazing job there. It looks very well made.

I have the mft version and I don't set up the hinged thingy all that often. My main issue with it is not the fact that the hinge is quite flexible, but it's more the other end that is the design weakness, the small peg that sits in the rail just isn't good enough and it all feels a bit flexible in general.

I will use it if doing a flooring job or something with many similar cuts thay make the setup worthwhile, but day to day just use some dogs in the holes.

I think there is certainly room for a better design here.

Ollie
 
I've got the MFT and have given up on using the hinged rail in favour of using dogs because there is too much slop on the pin on the nearside end of the system. There are aftermarket solutions to this slop but it seems like when you've spent all that money it should just work.

I've been thinking about a hinged with the rail loosely attached so the back can be butted 2 fixed points on the table. That way you get the convenience of being able to flip the rail out of the way without having to rely on a steel pin forever fitting tight into an aluminium slot.
 
I think I would struggle to make a short hinge that held perfect registration on the end of a lever 1.2m long, in fact I wouldn’t try.


Aidan

No need? Alignment is done by catching the rail at the front of the MFT (See Peter M's videos). Once calibrated, no need to check?
The front catch needs to be carefully positioned (e.g. wrt a bench dog rail) then locked. The guide rail then locks to that each time
it is dropped.
 
Here’s one I made i had some aluminium plates cnc cut short length of extrusion and pivot. I turned a m5 cap head bolt to fit snugly in the rail grove. Like Festool mft/3
View attachment 103092View attachment 103093View attachment 103094View attachment 103095View attachment 103096
Damn , that imho knocks the fessie system out the park , wel done there. Just outta curiossity, how long did it take you to make the rail hinge and capture plate ? What would you ask for a set €/$ 150 ? and would you be interested in making more ? Karl
 
I've been thinking about a hinged with the rail loosely attached so the back can be butted 2 fixed points on the table. That way you get the convenience of being able to flip the rail out of the way without having to rely on a steel pin forever fitting tight into an aluminium slot.

Have a look at Dave Stanton's solution; he uses the standard Festool MFT hinge but locates it against a quad-dog in the front of the MFT using a tapered bracket. Very neat. This was the original plywood experimental version, he's done another in acrylic:-



Re the MFT front pin wearing the rail, I don't disagree that it should better than it is - especially given the price - but this has been a long known issue, with 3rd party solutions like the 'slop stop' available to put it right for pocket-money. The alternative is to move the rail along on its hinge 5mm at a time, whenever the wear gets significant enough to cause issues.
 
Here’s one I made i had some aluminium plates cnc cut short length of extrusion and pivot. I turned a m5 cap head bolt to fit snugly in the rail grove. Like Festool mft/3...
That looks solid! 💪 Where was the pivot/angle bracket(s) from? And presumably it locates on the t-track under the rail rib? Thanks! P 👍
 


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