Very small MFT, sort of...

[Pete Staehling]

I have been building travel sized dulcimers for a number of years They are smaller than the typical instrument ranging from about 14" long to 30" long overall, with the majority sized to fit in a 22" airline carry on bag. Any way I have been building on a flat bench with some operations on various jigs and boards. Operations include a variety of assembly and gluing operations including things like glueing up book matched sound boards and assembling instruments.

It occurred to me right from the start that a little dedicated surface sized for the instruments might be nice and I have been using a couple different pieces of now well shop worn stuff to accomplish that. The clamping operations could be easier and smoother than the myriad of clamps and I figured that something like an MFT and some dog type cam clamps could be adapted only sized to the task. I figure that this "MFT" could be made from inexpensive materials (MDF and 2x4 studs milled into framing), if framed. I also figured that the size would be about 12"x32" for the MDF and that I could make several to have different operations going on at the same time or have different instruments in progress.

The plan is to make shop built dogs, cam clamps, and other fixtures, but first I am making a prototype "table".

I am not sure how multi-function the table will be. Initially it will be just flat surface with dog holes and clamping fixture for gluing, but I may or may not expand from there to do other operations once it is built. Who knows I may become an MFT convert. I sometimes think that in my shop I'd be better served with an MFT than a table saw if I were starting from scratch.
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[Jim Becker]

I think you'll find that setup will come in handy. The beautiful of the regular grid of holes is that they can be used for alignment, work support, clamping, registration of specialized jigs, etc. One suggestion I'll make, and it's based on viewing your photo, is that you stick with a regular grid. The MFT uses a regular grid of 20mm holes that are on 96mm centers. By sticking with that "standard", as it were, you keep your options open for non-shop-made accessories that are designed to work with the Festool MFT system. There are a number of vendors who have some really nice products designed for the system. It's also compatible with almost any size surface which is very nice. Festool themselves even has a tiny little MFT type top that fits on top of a Systainer, as well as the smaller, portable workstation. Flexibility is valuable.

As I mentioned in another thread recently, I'm migrating in this direction for my worksurfaces, too. My dedicated guitar bench accommodates that while still having provisions for my "beloved" hold-fasts that require .75" holes in stout solid wood. My main bench will be getting a new top that will have similar provisions and a new auxiliary bench will have the grid incorporated into the top that will support both downdraft and extra assembly surface. Consistency with a system can be a very good thing.

[Pete Staehling]

One suggestion I'll make, and it's based on viewing your photo, is that you stick with a regular grid. The MFT uses a regular grid of 20mm holes that are on 96mm centers. By sticking with that "standard", as it were, you keep your options open for non-shop-made accessories that are designed to work with the Festool MFT system.
Yeah, I considered that and then still went with what I thought best matched the application instead. I may regret it, but I have very little invested other than time though so I may yet go with the standard spacing. Well by standard spacing, I mean standard spacing with some half spaced holes, so I guess I'd probably be at 96mm and 48 mm spacing unless I decide I really don't want/need the half spacing.

This first iteration will likely be a learning experience. I am going in with the expectation that it could possibly be completely rethought next iteration, used as is long term, or less likely abandoned entirely.