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So I guess that technique is quicker than using your parallel guide?

sehast wrote:So I guess that technique is quicker than using your parallel guide?

The guides would have been another option. Not sure which would have been quicker as the number of cuts was low.

The plan was to also cut some dado's with the router which I ran out of time to do but setting up the MFT as I did would have been the way I would have and will cut them. With the router attached to the rail those sorts of cuts can go pretty fast especially if it is a single pass as it will be in this case.

Having to get out the other guides would have been yet another operation but I'm sure that would have work just as well..... time wise I'm not sure for just the cutting operation but had the routing occurred then the savings would have been in the initial setup. But as it was the parallel guides might have been faster??

The more tools you have the more options and I love it.

Ed

The weather was good to me today. Not only did I get the dado's cut I also assembled the unit.

Let's start with me showing how I did the dado's and some of the tools involved.

The MFT allows the work piece to be up against the back stop and have the guide rail squared to it. It is then just a matter of making a bunch of repetitive cuts indexing to some reference.

In this picture you can see my progress making the dado's and the same reference idea that I showed when I was using the saw.
The reference pieces is double sided taped to the MFT. It is the same thickness of the work piece. Once the router is set up and on the rails the first cut then makes the reference for aligning.
I had taken the time to pre-mark the workpiece to work from, and by now you will notice that I changed my mind yet again and went with a 2" space between the dividers. There are many ways of doing this but this is the way I went today.

I used my festool router since it is designed to work with the rails and MFT. I'll take a few moments to discuss a few features that are worth noting.
Since the router sits on the rail it is now above the work piece surface. And yes the cutter is away for the rail and the cut strip. So the router has a "foot" that you can adjust to have the router supported at the correct level. Note the reference piece is also useful for providing support before the actual cut starts.
From the other side you can see how the the router attaches to the guide rail. There is no slop once adjusted to the rail.
One thing I have read that bugs me is criticism of the plug it cord system. I personally love the idea. Here you can see my cord and hose system that I put together some time ago. I can chose to use it or not but the option remains that I can use this with the router, the saw, and well any of the festool tools. I should point out that there are two cords, one for lighter duty tools and then another for those that draw more current. The cords are keyed such that the light duty can not be used on those high draw tools but the heavier cord can be used on all the tools. So I went with the heavier cord for my build.
On the other end of the cord/hose is the vac. Today I decided to use the switch outlet on the vac so that when ever the router was running the vac would too. I'm set up top use Bluetooth as well. And you always have the option of turning the vac to manual mode.
I didn't shoot any pictures during assembly but it is glued and screwed together. I did shoot one picture after assembly when I wanted to see how the tools would work in the pigeon holes. Now it set aside for the glue to dry and that will be an overnight thing.
So next I have to clear off a shelf to put this on. That is not going to be an easy task but none the less it has to be done now that I have this ready.

Ed

That's an efficient-looking storage solution, Ed. I can see come cubbies like that hanging from cleats in my workroom someday. Lord knows I need something that's more wall-space efficient than my various pegboard hooks & holders.

Question: Are you going to glue in all of the dividers, or leave some of them as adjustable partitions?

BuckeyeDennis wrote:That's an efficient-looking storage solution, Ed. I can see come cubbies like that hanging from cleats in my workroom someday. Lord knows I need something that's more wall-space efficient than my various pegboard hooks & holders.

Question: Are you going to glue in all of the dividers, or leave some of them as adjustable partitions?

The end dividers are fixed as part of the joint. The rest are a tight sliding fit, no glue.

Ed

Nice job, Ed, and as usual very well documented and explained!

Well this went in and I have filled it up already. Right now I could see having maybe 4 more of these at least. To bad it is so late in the season, doubt I will get to them until spring.

And the picture that show it happened:
I was able to double up one of the drills with the impact driver so there are really 9 tools there now.

Ed

I like it!

Nice job Ed. Off topic but I noticed you have a Festool 1400 router. I am debating on getting a 1010 and was wondering if you had any words of wisdom. I know the 1010 has less power and is limited to 1/4" shank bits but after working with the SO which has even less power, that doesn't seem to be much of a limitation.

sehast wrote:Nice job Ed. Off topic but I noticed you have a Festool 1400 router. I am debating on getting a 1010 and was wondering if you had any words of wisdom. I know the 1010 has less power and is limited to 1/4" shank bits but after working with the SO which has even less power, that doesn't seem to be much of a limitation.

For a lot of operations the 1010 should be perfectly fine. I went with the next step up but for most of the things that I have done so far I could have certainly gone for the 1010. The 1/8" bit cutting 1/8" deep for this project could have easily been done with the 1010 and maybe even made it easier.

I have a few compact routers and use them regularly and have yet to find an application where in my use they seemed under powered. Same with the SO, the power it has seems more then enough.

The only negative I can see is the lack of being able to use larger shank bits. For me this was enough to want the larger version. But again I could have lived without that for most of the work I have done so far with the 1400. The lighter weight of the 1010 can be a real help so I have not ruled out getting one at some point. Just a few more other festool tools before that will come up.

Ed