Kreg Clamp Table

[Dave Novak]

I'm planning to build a cabinet using face frame pocket hole joinery. Partly because LOML asked for the cabinet and mostly because I want to try out my new K3 master system. Has anyone used or evaluated the clamp table Kreg makes? Here's a link to a page where from you can view a video or look at pictures:

http://www.kregtool.com/products/pht/product.php?PRODUCT_ID=84

Seems like a simple and usefull assistant, but I'm concerned that the table isn't big enough. The face of the cabinet LOML wants is roughly 60" wide by 30" high, which would appear to be pushing the limits. A cheaper and maybe more practical solution would be to simply buy the blue track and build my own clamp table and make it a little bigger, but you have to store the thing when not in use, and smaller is better from that perspective. Sorry for my rambling - is the 21-3/4” x 33-3/4”, clamping surface they offer already adequate?

[James Phillips]

Talking to the guys at my local Woodcraft, they said spend the extra $$ (Only $60 more) and get the MFT. Heavier and allows clamps in more positions, not just around the edge. The MFT also includes the integral straight edge and the miter stop. These are designed for work with the Festool saws , but can work with any. By the way I do not have one, just got this from talking to the store owners

[Dave Novak]

Good idea! I wouldn't have bought the leg assembly offered by Kreg, but it appears the legs collaps on the MFT which my homemade one wouldn't have done. And more importantly, I'll own my first Festool product :)

I'm travelling to Chicago today (LOML birthday shopping and a Sammy Hagar concert :D ) and every trip to Chicago requires a stop at Woodcraft. I'll let the knowledgable gentlemen of Woodcraft show me the the pros/cons.

On a related noet, does anyone know of a place in Chicagoland I could actually lay hands on a Jointer/Planer combo? I've been told Felder/Hammer has a showroom, but I can't find it, and I'd love to see offerings from Griz, Jet, and Minimax.

[Doug Rogers]

Enclosed find the link to the post on my version of the Kreg Table. Note that the Kreg traks have the center lines etched in order to help with exact placement.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=675322#post675322

Doug Rogers

[Jim Becker]

I was thinking just this morning in "the library" while browsing a catalog that had the Kreg table featured that I should consider making a similar accommodation on my MFT to at least handle the smaller face frames. (The one I did last weekend was nearly 8' tall and 37" wide, so that wouldn't be the target for the MFT or the Kreg table!) I think the Kreg setup an excellent idea, but given I already have the other table, it wouldn't make sense for me to buy another one, both for the cost and for the space considerations.

[Sue Wise]

I have also been considering the Klamp table. But I think I have decided to make one using the MFT top only. I would try to make the MFT top, but I don't think I could drill the holes as precisely as buying it.(http://www.festoolusa.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=0&prodid=489396)

This way, I can use the Kreg Klamps and the Festool clamps. At this point the only Festool tool I have is the domino, so I don't need the guide rails for the circular saw.

I have an idea in my mind about how I want to make it, but I need to go down to Tool King or Woodcraft and look at both tables first to see if my idea will work.

[Roland Chung]

Years ago, I got to make up a set of FF's using a large Castle Table and pocket cutter machine - it was wonderful. The Kreg table seems useable, but tiny. I wish that Kreg made the extrusions larger than 33.75".

Does anyone know if 8020 makes a similar extrusion? It would be so easy to install the extrusions on two edges of the MFT (with threaded inserts?) and then drop in a square of melamine.

Roland

[mike wacker]

Kreg's series of video's (at least so far) never use the table. Some very large face frames and assembly's are put together in those DVD's. The most common clamp (that I remember) is the large Table Clamp. The 8x8 (or 10x10 I don't remember) 1/4 steel plate is plenty heavy enough to hold large/long pieces of Face frame in alignment.

I certainly see the potential for the Clamp bars to aid in squaring rails to stiles but I'd try the Large Table clamp if I were you first. I like mine. If I'm nervious about how squsre some thing is aligned I'll check it with a Frsaming square before I drive my first screw. Even then the cuts better be dead on or the screws will pull it out of square anyway.

By the way do the two bench clamps that you need come with the table?

[Eric DeSilva]

Having just researched the MFT, the Festool site has a link to "maximizing use of your MFT" that includes a section on creating much larger working areas--the pictures showed some rather huge assemblies. Apparently if you get a 1080 MFT and some other parts (guess Festool sells the top w/holes) you can disassembled the 1080 and glom together something much larger.

[Jim Callaghan]

I built one into my work / set up table from t track from 80-20 off of ebay, it works great. I was lucky that the tables (that I picked up free) had a large enough frame to router the track level with the top.
Jim

[Dave Novak]

OK, I finally got to lay hands on the Kreg Clamp Table at a Woodcraft in the Chicagoland area. I was very impressed with the build quality, so much so that I'd go ahead and buy the legs/stand for it as I couldn't improve on it at all, just mayby save some money/loose some time. What concerned me most, however, even more than the fact that it's small, is the fact that the clamps only reach about 2 1/2" into the table. If I wanted to attach a cross piece (whatever their called) to a frame piece 3" wide the table is useless. Am I missing something? Is it just that unusual to use face frame pieces wider than 2 1/2" ? Is my inexperience just overwhelming me here? Seems like there would be plenty of applications where one might want to pocket crew something into the center of a board wider than 2 1/2".