Festool MFT1080 as a drying/holding rack for shelves

[Chris Padilla]

I recently had the dilemma of figuring out how to dye/stain and finish a bunch of small shelves on all 6 sides in one go.

Below is what I came up with.

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A bunch of 3/4" dowels with a machine screw inserted into them and then inserted into the MFT.

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Most of the posts are wood dowel but those green guys are from the Qwas brand of products designed to fit the MFT holes. The 3/4" wood dowels fit good enough to hold up my small shelves. I used 1/4-20 threaded rod and drilled 17/64" holes into the 1/2" plywood shelves. In hindsight, I should have used a 9/32" drill as it would have held the shelves tighter...some wanted to spin too much IMO. Perhaps one of the lettered drill bits, H, I, J, or K might've worked better, too. YMMV.

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To keep the dowels from dropping through the MFT, I bolted up a large sheet of 3/4" MDF to the underside of the top. That was actually a bit tricky to do and I ended up turning the whole thing legs-up to get the MDF secured. I only need to secured the MDF at two diagonal points.

Anyway, this worked out great and I was able to quickly and cleanly spray dye and clear on all sides of the shelves in one shot.

[Chris Padilla]

If anyone is curious, I'm using these wire shelf supports from Lee Valley.

[Chris Padilla]

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Some shots of bathroom cabinets I've been working on. They are all maple and maple plywood. I dyed some of the maple with Behlen Solar Lux NGR Hickory colored dye. I sanded everything to 180 and sprayed the dye. Everything was then clear coated EM6000. I am quite please with how cleanly the maple dyed. The 180 grit coupled with spraying was key, I think. My wife is absolutely thrilled with the color.

This is part of a large master bathroom gut and full remodel. I still have a fair amount of work to do for doors and drawers and innards but the bathroom is back to functional again. The mirror reflects the all new and freshly tiled shower stall. The shower glass will be isntalled Monday so it'll then be a fully-functioning bathroom.

[Jamie Buxton]

Why did you need to finish six faces on the shelves? From your overall pics, the ends and the back are against a wall, so you only really need finish on the top, bottom, and front -- or three faces total.

[John TenEyck]

Chris, the finish looks really nice, from what I can see. I'm happy someone else takes pictures at least as poor as mine! Just kidding. About the Solar Lux dye, did you just spray it straight on the raw wood? And did you spray no wipe? I just finished a bathroom upgrade, too, and know how much stress there is to get back a functional bathroom as quickly as possible. I installed a temporary vanity top while I waited the 6 weeks for the granite top to be fabricated.

John

[Chris Padilla]

Why did you need to finish six faces on the shelves? From your overall pics, the ends and the back are against a wall, so you only really need finish on the top, bottom, and front -- or three faces total.

True but being in a wet environment, I decided to finish as many sides as possible and sometimes the sides can be seen a little bit depending on fit and angle. Besides, finishing the 'unseen' sides was minor so might as well. It was exposed and available and simple enough. Are you accusing me of doing extra work, Jamie?!

[Chris Padilla]

Chris, the finish looks really nice, from what I can see. I'm happy someone else takes pictures at least as poor as mine! Just kidding. About the Solar Lux dye, did you just spray it straight on the raw wood? And did you spray no wipe? I just finished a bathroom upgrade, too, and know how much stress there is to get back a functional bathroom as quickly as possible. I installed a temporary vanity top while I waited the 6 weeks for the granite top to be fabricated.

John

LOL! It was my camera phone as that is as good as it gets!

I sprayed it straight on the raw wood and let it dry. In some cases, there were shiny spots that seemed to not want to dry here and there and I lightly wiped those but that only showed up on the maple plywood. None of the solid maple exhibited such things. All in all, spraying worked out VERY nicely and I had good control over the depth of color. I am amazed how well the maple turned out and zero blotching. Thanks so much for your advice, John!