DIY MFT Top

[KLaz]

Saw a guy on YouTube do this, but he was using a narrow piece of pegboard and moving it over each time. I decided to use a full piece of pegboard and I'll save it for whenever I need to to do another top one of these days.

First up was to make a base for my Fein 1800 out of 3/8" baltic birch. I epoxied in 1/4" steel pins to match up to the pegboard grid. By using the centering pin it was a cinch to get this right.

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Here is the peg board ready to go on top of a sheet of 3/4" MDF. I have a 1/8" spoil board below that so I don't cut into the bench top. I also put lines on the pegboard where the holes were to be drilled. As long as my base plate (which was 8" x 8") fell into a square, I couldn't mis-drill a hole. After 212 holes, would be easy to get complacent and screw one up. I found the grid to be helpful

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Here we go. Plunge, plunge and plunge some more.....

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And here it is. 212 holes later, my finished MFT top. So $30 for the sheet of MDF, $30 for the Bosch 20mm bit and $15 for the pegboard. $75 for the first go around and now if I ever need to replace, $30 for each sheet of MDF.

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Testing square cuts with PARF dogs and I couldn't be more pleased with how square it was.

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To elevate my MFT top to be able to use clamps through the holes, I simply used Rockler's cookies with posts. The posts sit in the 3/4" dog holes one my work benches. Pretty simple.

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[fredhargis]

I have no idea what all an MFT does, but I still think your approach is a clever one, well done.

[AHill]

Clever and really useful. Any reason you went with the 20mm holes vs. just making them 3/4"? Are you needing compatibility with other Festool MFT accessories?

[KLaz]

I really like the way the parf dogs work with the track. So simple to use. They only come in 20mm diameter that I'm aware of.

And yes, if I do ever get any other Festool accessories, I know they will fit that way.

Lee Valley has work stops also available with 20mm posts that will come in handy too

I think I'm going to get a lot of use out of this work top.

[Latech15]

I did the exact same thing a few weeks ago. I screwed up with mine though and changed the orientation of my router as I went around the edge. My bit hole wasn't exactly centered between the indexing pegs so every time I rotated, I lost square. Had I kept the same orientation relative to the mdf, the small amount that it was off would have been consistent and my pattern would have remained square. Off, but square. Hope that makes sense.

[KLaz]

Yes, that is one thing I made sure of was that router stayed consistent in orientation.

Sorry you learned the hard way!

[JDuke]

fredhargis said:

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I have no idea what all an MFT does, but I still think your approach is a clever one, well done.

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I'm with Fred, I'm not sure what the utility of such a top is, but it's a neat way to make it.

Duke

[mrd]

There are a couple of benefits of this type of top that I'm aware of. First you can use the holes to secure work, either through clamping through the top or using it more like dog holes on a bench. Here's a picture with a couple of clamping examples:

https://www.festoolusa.com/images/work-t...amping.jpg

The other big benefit is since the holes are all in alignment, you can use dogs inserted into them to create precise 90º and 45º angles. Place your work against 2 dogs and your track against 2 more that are perpendicular to the first 2 and you have a way to make a perfect right angle cross cut.

You can also make removable jigs (say a fence with a movable stop for repeat cuts) with 20mm posts on them and they will always retain their alignment when you remove and reinstall them.

[Phil Thien]

JDuke said:

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[blockquote]fredhargis said:

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I have no idea what all an MFT does, but I still think your approach is a clever one, well done.

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I'm with Fred, I'm not sure what the utility of such a top is, but it's a neat way to make it.

Duke

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I sorta know what they're for and will add this is an excellent tutorial.

Very well done.

[Robert Adams]

Nice job. Every time I see those I think of it as the woodworking equivelant of a metal working stake table. They are very handy for metal workong. Even craftsman has a small portable one now with some decent designed hold downs.