Festool MFT

[William Nimmo]

Of all my high priced festool products..the mft is probably the best of the bunch. Use it on every single project , amazing convienience for cross cutting, repeat cuts exact every time, clamping is great. It is a major part of their system. But without the saw, the router or the domino, it is probably just an overpriced table. With them it is a well thought out Tool, and I would buy it again in a heart beat.

[Doug Mason]

I have Festoll tools and ordered the large MFT table. In my opinion, save your money and build one. It's just MDF with holes.

[Jim Becker]

Gregg....suggestion: For an assembly table, having height alternatives is a very good idea. Consider building a nice, flat torsion box (lightweight but very strong) and then build four rectangular "boxes". That gives you three different height possibilities with those boxes as support. And the whole schmegeggie (technical term... )can be stored away quite easily when it's not needed.

[Paul Comi]

... BUT the table is MUCH lighter than a bench and I find it starts to move around the concrete floor when doing this type of work. So, my two cents- A+ for using with Festool Tools, A+ for sanding and assembly, C- as a hand tool workbench...
Mike

I very recently made my version of an mft table and was concerned about the legs for that very reason. I made the top out of a lamination of 2 layers of 3/4" mdf with a grid of 20mm holes in the same configuration as an mft. But, for the legs, I used a (uh hum...) hefty converted dining room table. I used the legs and apron assembly without the top. The legs were cut down and the assembly was mounted to a solid core door with casters to make it mobile. It definately can take a pounding but is still mobile. Also, at 3 ft x 5 ft, its larger than the largest mft I believe.

The only festool tool I own is the Domino. I made the table so I could clamp 8 ways til Sunday for both assembly, panel glue-ups, sanding, and to roll it outside and do finishing on it with a clamped on lazy susan fixture.

In lieu of the Festool T square system, I made my own starting with a Drywall square. It doesn't slide in a track like the mft, but that's a small price to pay for me considering I just need to break down a sheet until its manageable to start cutting parts on the table saw. I am just finishing my first project with it and its been really nice to be able to clamp in so many ways that I couldn't do before.

[Jim Kountz]

Hey Jim not a bad idea. Are you talking like a box in a box in a box kinda thing? Kinda like nested boxes? That would be an awesome thing to have!
Cool.

[Rob Blaustein]

I have Festoll tools and ordered the large MFT table. In my opinion, save your money and build one. It's just MDF with holes.

Now you're getting into the old build vs buy debate. Building your own MFT has been discussed often on the Festool Owners Group site and if I recall the consensus is that you can certainly do it (as you can with the systainer carts) but those who have done it well have not saved a whole lot of money. The MDF part isn't pricey, but the extrusions, which endow it with much of the functionality, are. Then there's the time...

I have one and love it. I use it with the Festool circ saw and guides, particularly for crosscutting, but also as a general setup table, clamping station, etc. Yes, it's portable, but the larger one is a bit heavy to transport without a helper.

[Bob Sanders]

If you want to see the Kreg Klamp Table in action... they just put a new video out on you tube

See here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrJXjpidqfw

[Gary Keedwell]

Thanks for the link...I just watched it.
Gary K

[Dan Clark]

I have Festoll tools and ordered the large MFT table. In my opinion, save your money and build one. It's just MDF with holes.

Doug,

Suggestion - After you get your new MFT, use it for a week and then post your impressions. I'd be curious if you still think it's "...just MDF with holes."

Hmmm... If you think it's "...just MDF with holes" and that the OP should build one to save money, why did you buy one?

Dan.

[Dave Falkenstein]

I have several Festool tools. I liked the MFT so well that I bought a second "Basic" one and have the two bolted together to form a larger work surface. I find the dual MFT to be the center of my home shop, and I use it for all sorts of cutting, routing, clamping, assembly and finishing tasks. I'd be hard pressed to put out the money for the MFT if I did not have the Festool tools to use with it, however.

Festool does offer the side extrusions as seperatly available items, if you want to build your own table.

[Jack Clark]

Tom Clark submitted this simple, easy design a short while back. I'm very impressed by it. Even a dunderhead like me can build one. I nicknamed it the KISS Table.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=64672

[Greg Pavlov]

Now you're getting into the old build vs buy debate. Building your own MFT has been discussed often on the Festool Owners Group site and if I recall the consensus is that you can certainly do it (as you can with the systainer carts) but those who have done it well have not saved a whole lot of money.......

I went through the exercise of what I thought it would cost me to build one large one instead of buying three 1080's, two in the "basic" configuration, and the difference was less than I thought, though that was using some of Festool's (expensive) components, like the rails. There are tradeoffs, too: with several individual tables you can, if you want, rearrange them for some projects. On the other hand, if you don't need portability, a solid homebuilt is likely to move less. My 1080 has a much more solid feeling than I expected from what I saw in photos, and the feet grip my concrete floor pretty well, but it definitely doesn't have the gravitas of the traditional workbench. I don't think that I'd want to manually plane a large board on it, for example.

One of the things that I've been thinking about - and maybe this simply shows how much of a Festool newbie I am - is whether a setup with two MFTs and one or two plain extension tables wouldn't work just as well: do I really need all that surface area with the holes, rails, etc, or is it that I need enough to clamp/arrange/jig up my work and some extra surface area to support large pieces?

[Dan Clark]

I went through the exercise of what I thought it would cost me to build one large one instead of buying three 1080's, two in the "basic" configuration, and the difference was less than I thought, though that was using some of Festool's (expensive) components, like the rails. There are tradeoffs, too: with several individual tables you can, if you want, rearrange them for some projects. On the other hand, if you don't need portability, a solid homebuilt is likely to move less. My 1080 has a much more solid feeling than I expected from what I saw in photos, and the feet grip my concrete floor pretty well, but it definitely doesn't have the gravitas of the traditional workbench. I don't think that I'd want to manually plane a large board on it, for example.

One of the things that I've been thinking about - and maybe this simply shows how much of a Festool newbie I am - is whether a setup with two MFTs and one or two plain extension tables wouldn't work just as well: do I really need all that surface area with the holes, rails, etc, or is it that I need enough to clamp/arrange/jig up my work and some extra surface area to support large pieces?

Greg,

Jerry Work (amongt others) created a huge custom MFT. He documented that MFT and included a lot of good tips in a document called
"Getting the Most out of the Festool Multifunction Table". You can find in on the Festool USA site under "Application and Tips -> Woodworking". It's a good read with useful information. That said...

I've read that Jerry now believes that multiple standard MFTs hooked together is a better, more flexible alternative than one big one.

When I needed some infeed and outfeed tables for my DW735 planer and my MFT, I got two "Ridgid Flip Top Portable Work Support Stand". I believe the part number is "AC9933". Fine Working magazine did a review of these types of stands and rated the Ridgid Flip Top as Best Value AND Best Overall. They are about $30 are Home Despot. (You have to look around; the HD clerks haven't got a clue what they are or where they are located.)

If you need more worksurface, that's one issue. Then, another MFT or table is probably a better option. If it's just for temporary support of longer pieces, take a look at the Ridgid Flip Top.

Regards,

Dan.

[Greg Pavlov]

Greg,

Jerry Work (amongt others) created a huge custom MFT. He documented that MFT and included a lot of good tips in a document called
"Getting the Most out of the Festool Multifunction Table". You can find in on the Festool USA site under "Application and Tips -> Woodworking". It's a good read with useful information. That said...
I've read that Jerry now believes that multiple standard MFTs hooked together is a better, more flexible alternative than one big one. ............

Reading Jerry's article is what caused me to try to figure out the costs of building vs buying. But then, when I thought about how I would use, say, 3 MFT tables' worth, I began to think that maybe I should look at two and one or two "plain" tables, also stable, etc, same h x w X l, that I could use with the two MFTs as needed, and then with other tools as needed. I'll take a look at the Ridgid tables too, tho, just to get things better set in my mind. I also like Jim's idea, as opposed to having the separate dedicated & space-wasting lower platform for some projects that I was considering.

[Dan Clark]

Reading Jerry's article is what caused me to try to figure out the costs of building vs buying. But then, when I thought about how I would use, say, 3 MFT tables' worth, I began to think that maybe I should look at two and one or two "plain" tables, also stable, etc, same h x w X l, that I could use with the two MFTs as needed, and then with other tools as needed. I'll take a look at the Ridgid tables too, tho, just to get things better set in my mind. I also like Jim's idea, as opposed to having the separate dedicated & space-wasting lower platform for some projects that I was considering.

Greg,

One point of clarification... It appears that Ridgid makes both outfeed tables AND the Flip Top stands. I have the Flip Top stands. I noticed the tables while looking up the part number for my post above.

I think the Ridgid Flip Top work stands are great, at least for my uses. My comments relate only to them. I have no knowledge of Ridgid work tables other than their existance.

Regards,

Dan.