A while back I decided to dip my toes in the MFT water, and built a table and rail hinge. The hinge was made from cutting boards, which likely sounds suspect, but worked very well ...



However, my OCD got the better of me, and I decided to build one in aluminium, inspired by both Benchdogs and Dashboard. I have dimensions for anyone who wants to copy it.

I had also built a fence from 8020, along with shopmade clamps ..



This turned out to be too high for the saw's motor to ride over. Back to the drawing board on this one.

The hinge rail first. It needs to be mentioned that everything was built over 2 weekends. The aluminium was purchased on eBay as 2 x 100 x 300mm (by 6mm thick) sheets, and 2 x 100 x 300mm (by 3mm thick) sheets. These were cut to side with a bandsaw (bimetal blade) - woodworking tools are fine with aluminium. Slotting was done with a router and straight bit. Holes were drilled on a drill press, and threaded tapped by hand. Just work carefully, and you will be rewarded with a great system.

Here is the bench ...



The rest for the rail (I am not sure if there is another name) ...



The rail has a height cutting capacity of a little over 50mm. The saw used is a Festool AT65E. The pin is UHMW, and slightly tapered, which allows the rail groove to fit without slop ...



The dimensions here: 115mm high x 100mm wide. The rest at the top is 145mm wide. All built from 6mm thick plate. The 90mm long slot is sized for an 8mm bolt.

The base is made from 3mm plate and is 195mm wide and 75mm high. The two guides are 10mm wide and 35mm in from each side ...



The hinge



Close up ...



From this angle you can see the stop against which the mechanism can be returned, if moved ...



Rather than a bar to clamp the rail from this end, I used the Benchdogs system. This is secured with stainless steel wheels on the underside. Why not use a bar? I found it more accurate to drill two holes, rather than two holes AND then drill the bar accurately ...



Here is a detailed picture ...



The top plate is 150mm wide x 100mm deep. The 100 x 75mm hinge is stainless steel and has nil movement. The riser is 100mm wide x 140mm high. The slot is 90mm long. All is built from 6mm plate and parts are joined with tapped holes and 5mm machine screws.

All the parts were sanded with a block with 180 grit to create a brushed appearance, and then finished with clear lacquer spray.

The Fence

The fence is made from 6020 extrusion, in the same design as the Benchdogs fence. The cut out was completed on the bandsaw ...



I ordered the Benchdogs Flagstop (flip stop), which can be seen here ...



The fence has a scale along its 900mm length ...



To add this to the aluminium extrusion, the centre section was routed to a depth of 1mm with a width of 1/2", and a Kreg tape attached ...



The rear of the fence reveal the Benchdogs "Fence Dogs", which replaced the shopmade versions previously used ...



So all is now complete, and I can get on with the next furniture build.

Regards from Perth

Derek

As always nice work Derek!

Thanks Derek. Nicely done. Appreciate you sharing the details. I've been staring at my MFT and debating buying the hinge hardware or making it. I may just go the "making route" with your inspiration.

Great work, Derek!  Thanks for the detailed photos and process.

Great work! Could you please explain benchdogs stainless wheels used on the hinged side? Maybe a photo of a rail clamped down, and information or link to the stainless knobs you used?

Photo of the underside of the base showing the knobs ...



Now the underside showing the clasps ...



Line up the clasps with the slot ...



Incidentally, that photo show you how much support there is for the track.

Slide them together ...



... and tighten down.

Here is a view from the underside, facing the end ...



Regards from Perth

Derek

Thank you for sharing your idea and for the write up.
We executed.
As Peter said. I enjoy reading about all your projects.
Much appreciated.
Rick

I built something similar out of 1/2" Russian Birch years ago and it worked amazingly good.  It didn't look as nice but the function and accuracy was great.  I would have purchased the dashboard hinge at the time but was getting ready to start a big project and there was a long lead time.  I have since found send-cut-send and super happy with their service so far so your post got me thinking. 

It would be cool if the festool group here could come up with rail hinge collaboratively and someone draw up the plans that way anyone could simply send them over to send cut send and produce a hinge for themselves.

I reckon it would be easy enough to build a plan from the photos and dimensions I have supplied. One reason for the design I used was that it was possible to cut the (all straight) pieces on a bandsaw and make the slots with a router. Working with 6mm aluminium is actually surprisingly easy using woodworking tools. Now someone with a CNC could easily turn this into a kit since it is all just bolted together with M5 screws. Don't look at me - I'm happy to derive a design and offer it to all to make their own. I'd rather build furniture than kits.

Now on my website in case the bookmark here is lost:  http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Powered%20Tools%20and%20Machinery/MFTRailHingeFenceMk2.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

That is a very interesting idea afish and very generous of Derek but if this proceeds to cad it should avoid infringing the existing Dashboard and TSO designs. Not an expert but my impression is that Derek’s design is “safe”.