When did the world go mad for Festool?

[pcb1962]

Regarding comments on the MFT, I don't recall anyone mentioning the guide rail and fence with which it comes. I find this feature most useful and if bought separately would certainly bump up the cost of a home made table.

Many people will already have the guide rail, bought with their TS55. All that's needed to make a home-made MFT top useful is a set of parf dogs.

 

[chippy1970]

I'd imagine it did take 5 to 6 hours by the time I'd made the jig for the holes . Thing is I didn't want an mft even if I had a spare £500 sitting round. I had the spare time so not worried what it cost me time wise.

On the first job I used it ,a kitchen, it saved me so much time.

Also with my version the legs are separate so can be used for other jobs . I might get a set of dewalt brackets then I can fit my old makita chopsaw to the stand too, for when I'm not using my kapex

Oh and as I mentioned before my one is rock solid which the mft isnt

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk

 

[Ed Bray]

The best thing I got for my MFT top was a set of Rail Dogs. For me these are even more useful than the Parf Dogs and Parf Pups(1 do have 2 sets of each).

The reason I find the Rail Dogs are so good is they actually lock the rail into the MFT with no movement at all, I did find on occasions the rails could move away from the Parf Dogs if you were not careful.

 

[petermillard]

Whilst I don't disagree with what most people say here about the MFT3, I do have the older MFT 1080 and wouldn't want to be without it, personally. It's workshop-based (too heavy and clunky to move around conveniently, and too big for most of the houses I work in - like Chippy above and many other's I'm sure, I have my own home-made solution for job-sites) and built into a run of workbench so very solid.

Not sure if I mentioned it in this thread or another, but mine replaced an old RAS that was 90% of the time just taking up space in the middle of the bench; being able to simply lift the rail up out of the way and have a clear run of workbench is a delight in a small workspace - as is being able to drop it down again and instantly have a dead square cut to the fence. Yes, you can do this with bench dogs and rail dogs, but it really isn't as convenient IMHO.

There's a couple of other tricks it can do - using the back of the rail as a guide for e.g. putting dominos for a centre shelf in a carcass is one of my most-used, and the long fence with flag stops makes this and other repeat actions very easy; plenty of clamping opportunities around the extrusion as well. All of which could be done by other means of course, but again, convenience.

That convenience comes at a price; I didn't pay anything like £500 for mine (bought second-hand and many years ago) and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't do so if it was lost/nicked/irreparably damaged; but it would be a tougher decision than you might think. Just saying...

Pete

 

[Zeddedhed]

Whilst I don't disagree with what most people say here about the MFT3, I do have the older MFT 1080 and wouldn't want to be without it, personally. It's workshop-based (too heavy and clunky to move around conveniently, and too big for most of the houses I work in - like Chippy above and many other's I'm sure, I have my own home-made solution for job-sites) and built into a run of workbench so very solid.

Not sure if I mentioned it in this thread or another, but mine replaced an old RAS that was 90% of the time just taking up space in the middle of the bench; being able to simply lift the rail up out of the way and have a clear run of workbench is a delight in a small workspace - as is being able to drop it down again and instantly have a dead square cut to the fence. Yes, you can do this with bench dogs and rail dogs, but it really isn't as convenient IMHO.

There's a couple of other tricks it can do - using the back of the rail as a guide for e.g. putting dominos for a centre shelf in a carcass is one of my most-used, and the long fence with flag stops makes this and other repeat actions very easy; plenty of clamping opportunities around the extrusion as well. All of which could be done by other means of course, but again, convenience.

That convenience comes at a price; I didn't pay anything like £500 for mine (bought second-hand and many years ago) and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't do so if it was lost/nicked/irreparably damaged; but it would be a tougher decision than you might think. Just saying...

Pete

+1

With a max crosscut of over 640mm it's invaluable for kitchen work.

Like Pete says there are other ways of doing this but IMHO there's nothing that is this quick, accurate or portable. The stability has never been an issue for me as I mainly use it for crosscutting and holding work for sanding or routing.

I would love to find a way however to achieve the same functionality on my 1220 x 2440 bench, with a fixed fence and fold up rail that didn't get in the way when doing other jobs.

 

[Wizard9999]

A very helpful post Pete, many thanks. I am in the process of deciding how I want to convert the MFT style top I bought into a usable feature for my workshop, so the comments you make provide food for thought. I hadn't heard of rail dogs before, as far as I can find they only seem to be available in the US, is this the case or did you get yours from a UK supplier?

Thanks again,
Terry.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

It's interesting to note that once again it's the professionals that value the Festool kit, even the bits that get most of the price objections (ie the MFT). And again, it's ostensibly the same reasons which is that its a time saver, a space saver and it works. The "apparent" objections of instability don't seem to affect it's performance when measured in the context of a job site. I can also really see the value myself in Kitchen fits because of the need to do 600mm + cuts.
But I also really like the home improvised improvements. I use those Dewalt chopsaw stands myself so can really see how useful they would be from a stability and portability standpoint.

For industrial use, once again I can easily write the business case in my mind. For domestic use it's down to personal choice, what feels right, budget etc. If I didn't have a tablesaw and a chopsaw and was mobile I would seriously consider something along those lines. The chippy's that 2nd fixed my current home used a half sheet of mdf ripped in half long (ie 2440 x 600 ish) balanced on 3 tressles as their makeshift workbench. The kitchen fitters kept running in and out to do odd cuts (shelves, end boards etc) on a Dewalt DW745. When they were doing the skirting and architrave (pre-primed mdf) they had this makeshift bench setup in the only room that wasn't yet painted. The dust was literally like a fog sometimes and in fact the chap who owned the company contracted pleurisy around Xmas time and was off for two weeks. Apparently it wasn't the first time and mdf dust was implicated as the cause. I guess if they'd had decent extraction and a more professional setup, he may well have avoided it! Nothing wrong with the quality of their work, far from it, but I'm simply saying the mft + tracksaw + DX is a pretty compelling solution for a mobile working environment like that.

 

[Ed Bray]

I mentioned the rail dogs, I had them sent from the US, I don't think there is a UK supplier of them anymore.

 

[Wizard9999]

I mentioned the rail dogs, I had them sent from the US, I don't think there is a UK supplier of them anymore.

Ed apologies, yes it was your mention of rail dogs that sparked my interest, many thanks for both the initial mention and the follow up re availability.

Terry.

 

[Nelsun]

There's someone (not me) selling their own rail dogs on ebay UK: I can't post links but search ebay UK for "Festool Guide Rail Dogs / Dawgs" and they should come out top for £20. I've no idea if they're any use though as I'm currently waiting on a couple of pairs, a TS55 + track. Hopefully they'll be great as I've a few cases where they could come in really handy for holding things in place.

 

[Ed Bray]

There's someone (not me) selling their own rail dogs on ebay UK: I can't post links but search ebay UK for "Festool Guide Rail Dogs / Dawgs" and they should come out top for £20. I've no idea if they're any use though as I'm currently waiting on a couple of pairs, a TS55 + track. Hopefully they'll be great as I've a few cases where they could come in really handy for holding things in place.

Can you post the item number?

 

[Ed Bray]

Found it: eBay item number: 301668426677

 

[Wizard9999]

Found it: eBay item number: 301668426677

Thanks Ed. I see he does rail dogs, normal dogs and tops, how long until he starts selling rails as well?

Terry.

 

[Ed Bray]

You know you can get cheap rails from youtool in Germany? Their 2650mm rail works out about £80 including delivery, whilst the Festool 2700mm costs £163 from N&B including delivery.

 

[wcndave]

Googling youtool and youtool germany does not furnish one with any likely candidates for this supplier, you have a URI?

 

[pcb1962]

http://youtool.de

 

[wcndave]

Thanks, how can that not come up on a search on google.de for youtool.... oh well... and now it does!

 

[gasman]

Wow they have a 5 metre track for only €140!

 

[wcndave]

Wow they have a 5 metre track for only €140!

I wonder how they deliver that...

You could get one and chop it down, and sell 5 x 1m tracks for £50 each ;-)

 

[wcndave]

Ah, found it