My version of the MFT

[Greg Mann]

A while back I was fooling around with some aluminum extrusions I had collected with the hopes of making a worktable with flat, square with co-planer rails around it that I could use for clamping purposes or as a 'milling platform' for large surfaces with a gantry mounted router. I had started to build a frame at about the same time I was reading all these marvelous reviews of Festool products. I started searching out info on them, and to my utter amazement, they had a table that was exactly what I was looking for. After reading reviews and studying the features of their table I have shamelessly borrowed as many as I could incorporate. What was an even greater surprise was that many of Festool's accessories worked in the extrusions that I had. These T-slotted extrusions are a commercial product called 8020 and they are billed as the 'industrial erector set'. As you can see I was able to construct a framed table with MDF for the surface, the holes are Festool's idea. The legs fold up card table style and would allow the table to be used about 6 inches off the floor. The miter fence is a Festool clamp rail and can be set at angles using a swivel just like the legs use. No protracter, but if need be I can set very accurate miters with a framing square and trigonometry. I use trig all the time so it is second nature to me. I have stops preset in the t-slots so that I can set the Festool guiderail at 90 degrees in an instant. One picture shows an outboard support which consists of one extrusion temporarily extended as though I might need to support a sheet for cutting. I stuck a clamp in the end to show that it could be clamped out there if necessary. I also show a block of wood clamped to the face of the front rail with Festool clamps such as could be used for planing, drilling, etc. I have been contemplating a mortise and tenon fixture design using the front rail as a clamping element. I have found this table to be very useful for cutting in the Festool style although it is not as elegant as theirs. With the limitations inherent in my table I have come to appreciate their design even more.

I also need to point out that had I been forced to buy all the components it would have cost far more than the Festool MFT, and while I feel I have some neat wrinkles of my own, I have probably learned enough to convince myself to buy theirs sometime in the future.

Greg

[Bruce Page]

Very nice setup Greg. I have drooled over those beautiful extrusions where I work. I sure would like to get my hands on about 50’ or so…

[Greg Mann]

Very nice setup Greg. I have drooled over those beautiful extrusions where I work. I sure would like to get my hands on about 50’ or so…
Yes, you are only limited by your imagination: I have built a workbench for my DP, a very nice router table fence, clamping squares, you name it. I also built a killer roof rack for our kayaks. My wife is embarrassed by it sometimes, but some WW type walks by and says "Great rack, looks perfect for plywood." :D
The stuff can get pricey though. I was fortunate to collect some that was no longer being used.

Greg

[Wes Bischel]

Greg,

The table looks well executed and thought out. If you didn't tell me otherwise, I would have thought the whole table came from Festool. Gee now that I look closer, I'd hate to use it for fear of messing it up.

Wes

[Greg Mann]

Greg,

The table looks well executed and thought out. If you didn't tell me otherwise, I would have thought the whole table came from Festool. Gee now that I look closer, I'd hate to use it for fear of messing it up.

WesYeah, that first scratch. But it ain't furniture. I understand that people who travel the Dempster Highway (gravel) in Northern Canada often put a chip in their windshield as soon as they get a new car 'cause its going to happen anyway.' Might as well get it over.:D

Greg

[Jay Knoll]

Greg,

Great job! You did your homework! Thanks for the look

Jay

[Frank Pellow]

Very nice design and very nice exececution Greg.

You sure do good work! (I remember the kayak picture)

I am sure that, from your pictures, I can get some ideas to "borrow".

[Tyler Howell]

Wow Greg Very Nice.

Are the corner pieces your handy work as well (folding leg assembly)? How did you cut your extrusions so professionally. Are you one of those machinist /WW types too:cool:??
Very Nice indeed.;)

[Kurt Aebi]

Tyler,

Those look like the readily available one's from 8020. There are more fancy doo-dad's available from 8020 to build just about anything in any manner you could possibly dream up - Sturdy as HECK! as well.

You can make just about anything from this stuff and machine builder's use it or it's counterparts (Item, Bosch, etc) to make all sorts of material handlers, pallet conveyors clear up to the packaging or assembly machine itself. This stuff is just plain amazing and it comes in "dimensional" sizes as well, much like lumber, 2x4, 2x2, 2x3 and also in shapes and sizes too numerous to mention.
Check out 8020's web site www.8020.net to see all the goodies they have. Fun to see what all you can do with this pricy stuff. I would love to make a ladder rack for the pickup with it!

I am not associated with any of the above mentioned suppliers in any way. I have just seen and used this stuff at my job. Cool stuff - extremely pricy - but Cool :cool:

[Frank Pellow]

Tyler,

...

Check out 8020's web site

...: cool:

Kurt, you are right, its cool. Thanks for the pointer. I knew nothing about this stuff.

[Tyler Howell]

No NO NO Kurt How could you!!!:(
Another place to dump loads of $$$$
My own fault. I asked.:o
Thanks for the info and the web site. I could hurt my self at this place. :rolleyes:

You Folks are a bad influence (in a good sense):D on me. I have stimulated the economy more in the past year of membership on toyls and acc. than on all my other vices put together.;)

[Kurt Aebi]

Tyler,

If any of your friends work for a machine integrator or automation house, you may really want to buddy up some with them as a lot of time the scrap pieces are up for grabs as the customer has already paid for it and the integrator doesn't lose anything by just throwing it away. I used to work for a machine tool company and got a lot of wire, cable and parts that were just going to be thrown away because it was bought for a specific job and wouldn't be used on anything else, so the customer had to pay for ALL the material - used or not.

Good luck holding on to that Moohla!!! Buddy!

[Bruce Page]

I have stimulated the economy more in the past year of membership on toyls and acc. than on all my other vices put together.;)

I think that goes for most of us!

[Chris Padilla]

My garage gut is just a way to give money away...and I surely didn't need to see that 8020 site...I'll just go ahead and draw up the divorce papers now and save her the trouble! :D

[Greg Mann]

Wow Greg Very Nice.

Are the corner pieces your handy work as well (folding leg assembly)? How did you cut your extrusions so professionally. Are you one of those machinist /WW types too:cool:??
Very Nice indeed.;)
Tyler,

Kurt spilled the beans on me so I can't tell you I made them.;) I am a machinist type though, so I can appreciate how well these things are thought out. The 8020 components point out challenges we face all the time as hobbiests and small business enterprenours. We can often craft solutions, but sometimes we can buy the solutions, very well crafted and refined, thus saving the time and effort to be used elsewhere. "Should I make this or should I just buy a good tool? Sometimes we cobble something up and it works great and sometimes we re-make it over and over and...:( As much as I like my table and am still finding new ways to use it, it is not nearly as refined or versatile as Festool's. I can keep working at making it do everything I envision, or bite the bullet, and buy theirs. The nice thing about the 8020 is that even if I dismantle the table at some future date, I can use the extrusions for another project. The stuff is like clamps, you can never have too much of it.

Greg

[Jack Young]

Greg-

I have the larger Festool table and it is NICE. I'm using it now to glue up a small piece I made for someone else, and will use it to clamp that work for sawing off the dowel protrusions, sanding, etc. But what you have made so beautifully looks to me as if it incorporates the most of the array of possible features. Good work. Guys like you stretch me more than I can sometimes bear. Keep it up, please.

Jack

[Christian Aufreiter]

Excellent job, Greg. I was thinking about building a very simple cutting table but yours looks equal to Festool's for sure.


Regards,

Christian

[John Petsche]

awesome build, thanks for the great pictures.

[Bob Elliott]

They throw that stuff away buy the 40 yard dumpster where I work. I should start grabbing it when I can.

[Jeff Monson]

Greg, thats a really cool substitute for the MFT, very well done. That 8020 is some pretty impressive stuff! What is an average price for what you have, say in a 8' length?