Which bench dog / MFT system?

[mikej460]

@mikej460 I have the same saw horses... can you share a quick pic or a doodle of how the frame is attached to the saw horses?

Looking at the 1st pic in my op above 2 lengths of 4x2 set into the side jaws then 2 noggins screwed into these on the inner side of the saw horses. Then removed the part built frame to screw in one length of 4x2 down the centre. I also added 2 blocks to screw the middle corners of the mft's into. Photo taken from underneath.
Hope that helps

 

[BucksDad]

Brilliant, thank you

 

[accipiter]

Thank you so much for posting this, I had no idea this existed, I was just about to invest in a load of T Track, as far as I can see from that vid I no longer need to

Very impressive

Yes... I agree. Thanks to @Spectric () I have "invested" in these - and also spent more than I should have by getting one of the Grrripper things & dado bits... thankfully the missus doesn't know *yet*

 

[martin.pearson]

I had never heard of a mft top until I decided to buy a track saw about a year ago, looked at how people used a track saw & came across them. Built my own & then started making bits to go with it, I can't believe just how much it has been used but that might be down to the fact that I don't have a woodworking bench lol

 

[Raymien]

I have the benchdogs fence system and think it’s great for repeated cuts and braking down sheet goods into component parts. My only issue is the restricted cut size being around 900mm in ‘height’ which is the distance between the fence and my rail dog. I was looking to purchase their rail square to assist me in breaking the sheets down into <900mm sections, so it’s interesting to read the suggestion it isn’t accurate over the full length of a sheet? Anyone else found this? I may need to reconsider if this is true

 

[DBT85]

I have the benchdogs fence system and think it’s great for repeated cuts and braking down sheet goods into component parts. My only issue is the restricted cut size being around 900mm in ‘height’ which is the distance between the fence and my rail dog. I was looking to purchase their rail square to assist me in breaking the sheets down into <900mm sections, so it’s interesting to read the suggestion it isn’t accurate over the full length of a sheet? Anyone else found this? I may need to reconsider if this is true

It's not something I noticed once you are referencing off of a cut edge and I think I'm quite picky. If you reference from the factory edge then you will likely have issues as its often not that clean and not always entirely straight. if I get a moment I'll have a quick test today but the list fo to do's is quite long.

I too have the issue of my MFT not being deep enough to do anything much more than about 600mm I think, so the rail square was used for that on this massive cabinet I'm going to finish applying finish to today. At last.

 

[Muler]

I have the Benchdogs fence, rail dogs and rail square. I’ve found all three invaluable and between them I can deal with pretty much anything. @petermillard may have mentioned some of this already but my observations are:
1) The width between fence and rail dog isn’t huge, maybe 600mm on my setup, but it’s fine for most cuts. If I need to make a wider cross cut then i
2) The rail square. This is a wonderful piece of kit that makes long rips and cross cuts wider than I can accommodate with the fence and rail dog setup easy. I didn’t think I’d use it much but I find I use it more and more over time.
3) I keep a track section permanently setup with the shorter bench dogs. I found that as mostly I’m working with 22mm or less the shorter dogs made removing the rail easier. Also the tip about keeping one dog loose is key. I keep the dog that sits behind the fence tightened (the one furthest away as you stand at the bench) and the other loose. It’s easy to tighten after the rail is down and then loosen to take off again.

I like this setup as it’s very portable. I keep a fixed bench in the workshop and an MDF sheet with MFT holes that I can Chuck over saw horses for work elsewhere. The fence can be easily moved between the two.

 

[city17]

Thanks for the advice everyone, really helpful.

For now I went with the cheapest option of the short and long standard bench dogs, and I'll 3D Print some clips to attach them to the rail. I could order these from BenchDogs.co.uk through Amazon here in NL, which was a lot cheaper. If I find out I'm using the setup often, I'll probably upgrade to the Rail fence and small rail dogs.

Now the classic remaining question of going with Makita or Festool (just sold my Parkside track saw), but that's a whole different topic!

 

[DBT85]

I went with the festool after using my titan a lot just because I knew I was going to get other festool kit which I now duly have.

Once you use them for awhile you forget what yhe old one was like until you use it again. My titan didn't have soft start so she was a little violent on startup

 

[Muler]

The Makita and the Festool are bothe great saws. You wouldn’t regret buying either. I loved the scoring function on the Makita and I found it a smoother saw than the festool for some reason. But the festool has the depth scale that has graduations for both on and off the rail. Honestly, not having to think about rail depth when setting the depth is a godsend.
One caution on the festool - the dust extraction port is just the worst. It’s always falling off on mine. Drives me mad. I don’t know if it’s a fault with my unit or a design issue, either way it’s super annoying. But I wouldn’t let that put you off buying it, you may not have the same issue and it can always be solved with tape

 

[petermillard]

One caution on the festool - the dust extraction port is just the worst. It’s always falling off on mine. Drives me mad. I don’t know if it’s a fault with my unit or a design issue, either way it’s super annoying. But I wouldn’t let that put you off buying it, you may not have the same issue and it can always be solved with tape

I did a video about a cheap fix for that here

 

[Raymien]

Or you could consider the Mafell. I went with it after reading the dust extraction was excellent and the rail joining method was superior to the Festool. Having lived with it for a year and used 2x 1600 rails to rip full sheets often I wouldn’t hesitate to make the same choice again. I’ve not tried the Festool to compare, only a cheap Erbauer but they use the same rail type, and for me, the design of the Mafell/Bosch rail is better. Just my opinion though. The dust extraction from my Mafell is stunning.

 

[city17]

Or you could consider the Mafell. I went with it after reading the dust extraction was excellent and the rail joining method was superior to the Festool. Having lived with it for a year and used 2x 1600 rails to rip full sheets often I wouldn’t hesitate to make the same choice again. I’ve not tried the Festool to compare, only a cheap Erbauer but they use the same rail type, and for me, the design of the Mafell/Bosch rail is better. Just my opinion though. The dust extraction from my Mafell is stunning.

The Mafell seems like a great machine. But I don't think I'd be using it enough to warrant the extra spend. Only reason I'm looking at the Festool is that it would fit nicely with my Domino with the plug-it cord, but I think the Makita would already do the job well enough for considerably less money. Might look out for a used TS 55, and otherwise go with the Makita.

 

[pe2dave]

I did a video about a cheap fix for that here

This shows the part. Peters link was 404 this morning. £3.50

 

[Muler]

This shows the part. Peters link was 404 this morning. £3.50

Thanks - I’ll get on that ASAP

 

[petermillard]

This shows the part. Peters link was 404 this morning. £3.50

Thanks for the reminder Dave. Dennis from TritonToolsUK retired recently and the spare parts company was brought within Triton Tools ‘proper’.

 

[DBT85]

One caution on the festool - the dust extraction port is just the worst. It’s always falling off on mine. Drives me mad. I don’t know if it’s a fault with my unit or a design issue, either way it’s super annoying. But I wouldn’t let that put you off buying it, you may not have the same issue and it can always be solved with tape

The odd thing is I've seen this mentioned and I saw Peters video about his fix, but mines never come off. It does always want to hang in exactly the wrong place though, or snag on the end of the work, or the rail, or the power cable will catch on the parallel guide screws

 

[hugov]

Just wanted to give a shout out to the TSO rail square (I have this one: TSO Products GRS-16 Guide Rail Square – was £89 at the time, possibly on sale). I've never tried the benchdogs one, but I got the TSO for what I consider to be a superior and much faster attachment to the rail with the latch clamp (also it is cheaper).

 

[ElectronicFur]

My current setup is on a frame held on Toughbuilt saw horses. I use it to make stuff for my new workshop (on ice until timber prices normalise). I also built our green house timber frame on it this year using the dogs and clamps to hold pieces as I cut and glued joints. It's main task will be to help me dimension the sheeting for the new workshop, after that I will reduce it to two sheets with the other two on a fold down frame.

I bought my tops from CNC Design (excellent service and incredibly well packaged to avoid damage). I use Benchdogs Quad Dogs which are excellent and have recently bought a Fence System Mk11 for repeatable cuts. I have a Triton Tracksaw with a 1500mm track and also an Evolution 2800 system which is ok but not as well made as the Triton which gives a more useful extra 100mm on cross cuts can be used with UJK dog rail clips from Axminster which hold the fence hard against the dogs.

It all works very well and is very accurate. I echo the advice to watch all of Peter Millard's Youtube vids to garner some very useful advice. I don't have the rail square but the newer model looks good. The challenge is that mfts are a rabbit hole that can become expensive, so my advice would be to watch as many Youtube videos on the subject and decide what will best suit you. Bear in mind that the parf system requires chamfered holes but you can buy a very good and cheap chamfer tool from Axminster if you prefer the parf system.

I hope this helps but shout up if you have any questions

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With your setup, I notice from the photos that you use your 4 MFT tops on the frame in different configurations. How do attach them in the various configurations, and ensure the holes on each top line up? I ask because I've ordered some similar saw horses yesterday and was just searching how to attach MFT tops to the timbers.