I’ve spent a lot of the winter/spring decluttering and reconfiguring my small (120SF) shop. There is a lot of background & me babbling contained in two threads on the shop itself & a large MFT/SYS cart I’d built. Turns out that having space for materials and to be able to stand/move makes a shop much more functional…

After weeding out some of the less necessary tools, I replaced the big cart with what I’m calling my “Break-Down (BD) MFT” (modular-ish MFT tops and 80/20 frames) and relocated a lot of tools and shop supplies. The idea behind the BD MFT is to setup in minutes in whatever configuration the work requires yet knocks down for storage. Photos are from various stages while I was figuring this out.







The setup is “modular” in the sense there are consistent sizes that can be configured differently (576mm increments & 768mm). Currently I have 3 sections of top and 4 or 5 sets of legs with several different lengths of 1515 extrusion to connect them together. 2 sets of legs + 4 extrusions make of a single unit that is sturdy yet very lightweight. adding one more leg + connectors extend for each additional top section, i.e. one top requires two leg units, two tops require three legs, etc. The system is workable but still a work in progress. It takes 5-10 minutes to set up depending on how many sections are used, and everything stores in about the same cubic footage as a single Festool MFT.

I have one semi-permanent (base) section attached to the underside of a wall mounted 16” deep worksurface, it is ~44” long and slides in/out as needed to save floor space. The base setup only needs one leg section and the connection to the worksurface makes it steadier than a free-standing MFT. One goal was to be able to totally knock this down when I switch over to welding larger projects, the base setup can be removed & a 24" by 48" welding cart rolled out and left until the project is finished.





Lastly, I just finished up v1.0 of a precise setup on the MFT for track saw use. The setup relies on a TSO guide rail square, which is my go-to setup for anything related to the track saw. After a lot of fiddling around this is working perfectly. For the record, I (1) have zero interest in using an MFT-style hinge setup and (2) do not want to just roll out the table saw for simple cuts.















This setup uses a height-adjustable fence on the front edge of the MFT to both square to the material and locate the guide rail repeatably. The fence prevents the guide rails from tipping on narrow stock & a rear support is available when needed. The Incra track provides accurate measurement & using the triangle handles rips when the material is too narrow for the front fence to give me an accurate 90 degree setup. Various stops/clamps round out the setup. There isn’t much I can’t cut accurately now, including things typically more suitable for a chop saw or table saw.

I’m interested in feedback or suggestions on improvements.

Thanks.

RMW

I don't see a spot for SO workstation or tapeboards  to be attached to that BD mft lol

Ha! Workstation now has its own dedicated home.



You'll have to trust me that there is a tape board with a 20/96mm grid sans photographic evidence.

I did forget to mention the LR-32-ish jig setup withs with this also...



RMW

Very interesting as I’ll trying to organize my garage as well. I have my landscaping equipment, snow blower and storage in there as well so it’s not a dedicated shop.


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Quote from: festal on July 11, 2022, 09:17 AM

Very interesting as I’ll trying to organize my garage as well. I have my landscaping equipment, snow blower and storage in there as well so it’s not a dedicated shop.


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@festal best change I ever made was the high work surfaces for stationary tools with mobile stuff underneath. I prefer fairly tall benches anyway, stationary stuff is 40" on top, 38" below and mobile stuff is ~37".

Maximizes a small space.

RMW

Thats a good idea, but one slight problem - i'm short lol.  5'8"

At 6-2  I completely agree with you on the bench heights  and have mine very simular…and always like seeing your shop iterations

"I think I might make a 1x2x3 foot box with a grid of holes on each side…"

I assume that grid will be 96mm, then you could easily pin the box to your
MFT or other work surface with some dogs to keep it from moving around.

I've been following the thread on the Veritas Domino jig and wishing I had room for one, instead decided to take a stab at a BD-MFT variation. This is v1.0 and I still need to make the fences. It attaches to the 80/20 extrusions, the hole in use gives me a 9mm centerline (6mm domino):







The other hole is 6mm CL. The slot provides adjustability all the way down to the table or up to a 25mm CL.







The MFT tops have one row of holes at 48mm centers to the pattern, they are primarily so I can use dogs for ripping and not cut through another row of holes. Decided to center the jig on this row of holes & whacked out an alignment jig.





I plan to use the other dog holes for securing fences, etc. but haven't totally figured that out yet. Also need to align the domino and set some stops so I can remove/replace it quickly.

70's and low humidity, great night to fiddle in the shop.

RMW

Thanks @Vondawg there was a fair amount of drool/maths put into it over the winter, but it's been worth it.

I'm settling into using it, case in point is I needed some precise shims and it only took a few minutes to cut them with the TS from a ~20" chunk of hard maple.







This is really a testament to the awesome precision of the TSO GRS, it just works without any need to think about it. In this case I made test cut using the scale set to 5mm, measured it and then used some precise shim stock to dial in the next cut and it was spot on (within a few hundredths of a mm) over the length.

RMW
 

Thanks Bob. I keep thinking a typical Dashboard type hinge would be so easy and nice to have but it just doesn't work for me to have the rail standing up on the back of the MFT.

Necessity, mama invention.

RMW

Richard, do you remove the aluminum square and replace with something the same thickness as the maple stock prior to cutting?

Another beautiful summer day, more time to play. Completed the Domino jig with an adjustable 90/45 fence (ala Carmonius/Veritas), a 25mm offset spacer, and aligned the Domino to the jig.



Aligned the domino to the fence



25mm spacer for use when moving the fence from side to side



Fence attaches with 2 Axminster headless dogs



Added some hold down tabs



Tested the alignment



Locked the domino location



Now I just need to find a place to store it all...



And see if anything in the house needs any doors added.

RMW

The spring is a good add. I have a couple hold-downs like that and they are a pain to keep aligned.

Nothing earth shattering, but a proof-of-concept for me. Starting with some salvaged plywood from cabinets I pulled from the old shop, I was able to move through the steps to a finished wall cabinet smoothly and with easy access to the tools/supplies needed.

The latter is the big deal for me, having everything within arm's reach and readily available.

Sizing material:







32mm boring:







Assembly:





Total elapsed time ~1 hour (started with the material ripped to final depth) while learning some nuances (i.e. cut the sides 0.5mm short of N X 32mm):



A totally unimpressive result I know, but it's a turning point on the end goal of finally completing our closet project after living here for ~12 years.

RMW

Thats an interesting LR32 system.  Can you explain?

@festal there is more detail here however it boils down to a simple way to make balanced (unhanded) panels in increments of 32mm. I loved the LR32 rail/router plate but hated the offset arm thingies, this was my solution.

The 2 sets of 20mm holes are 32mm on center side to side so by shifting one or both they will handle any 32mm panel increment using the MFT 96mm pattern. The 6mm pin holes are spaced 16mm apart so I can shift the pins for either a 16mm or 32mm start. First row of holes is 37mm back from the front edge, the other holes are spaced for standard drawer slides.

Hope this makes sense. Probably easier to explain with a video, but setup takes a couple minutes and the panel stays in place until complete.

RMW

Working on V2 of the guide rail cutting fence dingus. This one is meant to be movable with the calibration built into it. V1.1 needs to be recalibrated whenever the fence is removed from the MFT, and the Incra track messes up the MFT surface for other uses.









Any suggestions on how to attach the Incra track to the other extrusions? Double sided tape is not secure enough (tried/failed) and I'm reluctant to make a permanent connection with epoxy.



Incra track reversed:



For once the slots/features simply don't line up, & I'm reluctant to introduce another extrusion to marry these up. The ends of the Incra slot on top needs to be open otherwise I'd print an end cap with a fastener hole for the 80/20.

I think I can sneak in M3/M4 tapped holes but the slot holes line up close to the edge of the 1020 extrusion @ the mating line of the 1/4" flat stock. Unless someone has a better idea I'll probably take this route.

Suggestions are appreciated.

RMW