Festool stuff

mafe said:

CMS cross cut sled fast mount, easy to use.

Festool CMS cross cut sled
fast mount, easy to use.

Here a little idea I got the other day, to make my latest cross cut sled for the Festool CMS table more easy to use. Normally it was screwed in place, with two wing nuts, to secure the sled to the fence, but it meant that I found it time consuming to take it on and off, what lead to often not using it…

So I came up with this little mount, that simply clicks in place and where I don't need to fine adjust the fence to fit to the screws.

I have not made a blog on the cross cut sled, as this is quite basic and you will be able to find plenty of build plans for that, but I will go through it.

Here the sled, mounted on the CMS table, before I made the new mount.
A quite basic sled, that helps me prevent tear out, due to the fact, that the CMS has no zero clearance plate insert.
I have tried to keep it as light weight as possible, to make it easy to take on and off, but in my next version, I will keep the right side straight, so I can get a full runner there on the underside.

The construction is quite simple, a base plate, two fences and a runner, that runs in the groove between the CMS and the long arm for the CMS sled, but it would be even more accurate, if it got a runner on the right side also, following the edge of the table, on this one, it just have a small one at the end of the pointed corner.
The runner is made from IKEA cutting board.

Always happy when I get to the shop and find a letter from my daughter.
She writes.
Hey, passed buy with a school friend on a walk, he is a huge fan. Kisses Mathilde.

Back to the sled, here on the table, with simple C-clamp fence stop and held with wing nuts.
The red half circles are just for safety, to remind me where the blade goes and keep my fingers on each side.

This is the thing we will be making, a mount that simply fits into the T-track on top of the CMS fence.

Let's make the fast mount.
A piece of wood, here plywood gets a rabbet, that correspond to the one on the fence.

Like so.

Hardwood cut to size, made to fit into the rabbet and deep enough, to get well into the T-track.

Make sure you get a tight fit.

Do you get the picture?

We have a mount.

The hardwood is a wee lover, so when it's mounted in the rabbet, it will not touch the bottom of the T-track.

Cut to length.

Using the sled - smiles.

Now the mount can be attached to the fence.

Just screws.

Here we have it in place.

Underside.

Finally in place.

Ready to cut some wood and to be taken on and off in a second, I can already see, that I use it more, due to the fact, that it's not a screw on unit now.
(I must be lazy…).

Hope it can be to some inspiration, or a sled, now winter is up…
(MaFe, you got such a terrible sense of humour).

Best thoughts,

MaFe

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mafe said:

Makita rail / track adaptor - with zero clearance.

Makita rail / track adaptor
with zero clearance.

Makita DSS501 LXT 18 V with Festool or Makita rails, but this idea can be used for any table saw, if you want to put it on all types of rails.
I simply love this little Makita 18V saw,it's such a joy to work with.
But once in a while, I would have loved it was a rail saw, or at least that there existed a proper rail adaptor for it, so I decided to make one.

I'm completely aware I made another rail adaptor, but I was not really happy with it… I wanted it to be zero clearance, to avoid tear out, so it would function as well as the 220V Festool saw and I also wanted it to be more durable, so one more try MaFe.

So here we have the adaptor and zero clearance.
The zero clearance only takes 3mm of the saws cutting depth.

Let's build it.
3Mm plywood.

IKEA cutting board, can be any brand.

Cut to fit the rail, exactly, otherwise cut a new.
Absolutely snug is a must.

A saw, some 3mm plywood for zero clearnace and a runner made from cutting board.
Almost there…

Some kind of connection must be thought out.
So let's throw in a piece of 15mm high grade plywood.

Marking the rail T. tracks position.

And how deep they are.

To not waste too much, a test version is made first.
This will be handy later.

First the T-tracks are cut out and checked.

Check exactly where the runner goes, this is crusial.

Slowly work your way out.

I made a tiny mistake on the left, so happy it was a test piece.
Also you can see the end is a wee too tall, so it rests on the rail.
So a few adjustments.

But this will work, I'm happy with the concept.

I decided that the saw blade must start cutting 100mm from the edge of the rail, this will be easy when marking.

Still too high on the left.
Perhaps it will need some reinforcement, but let's see.

Lowering the high spot.

Yeps we are there.

This will work fine.

Transfer markings to the big base piece.

Use the test piece as a sawblade deepness setter.

T-track rabbets cut and fits perfect.

Setting deepness for the low rabbet.

Using a sled makes I quite easy, all you need is an extreme focus.

Closing in.

We are there and I also cut an extra cut, to make the edge a wee springy.

Micro adjusting the width, for a super snug fit

Perfect fit, I'm a really happy monkey.

Base, runner and zero clearance.

Cleaning up the runner, as it was an old used IKEA cutting board.

Marking the edge of the rail onto the base.

So the 100mm from saw blade, can be found.

Just make a mark

Have to be the inside of the blade.

Now the table saws base, can be marked onto the wood.

Marking on both sides.

Marked up.

Diving in with a plunge saw.

Cleaning out with a jig saw.

Grrrrr, I were not all awake, so I cut too long with the plunge saw.
Nothing that can't be fixed and the zero plate will keep in all together.
Always look on the bright sides of life.

And with a wee rabbet at the end for the lifting arm rivet, the saw fit's perfectly in.
Now we can almost taste the result!

Cut the zero clearance base to size and attached it to the base plate, with glue and brat nails.

Yabadabadooo!
An adaptor takes form.

The adaptor is placed, so the saw can be powered up and the blade can be lowered into and through the zero clearance plate.

Be careful to hold the saw straight, not pushing to any side.

We are through.

Next up is to find a way to secure the saw into the adaptor.
I was spending a wee time figuring this out, as I wanted it to be a fast operation, since I know, we tend to not use tools that are too time consuming.
So in one end just a fixed hold.
Here a small piece of hardwood will be fine.

Cut a rabbet, that were a little lower, than the hight of the saws metal base.

Then shaped the hardwood, to fit snug and rounding the end.
Made one for each side and glued them in place.

Let's stay in the glue.
Adding a layer of 15 minutes epoxy in the rabbet for the runner.

Nice and smooth.

Added the runner and put pressure, while it were drying.

Now we can get back to securing the saw to the adaptor.
In this end, I wanted a clamping tight solution.
Ash will be the material, a left over from my workshop floor again.
And notice I fixed my cutting mistakes, by gluing in a wee wedge into the saw kerf.

Something to push down here…

Well this might work.

Two cuts on the table saw and we have a L profile.

Drum roll…

Perfect!

A couple of wing nuts, will make it quick and easy, to take the saw in and out.
So marking up, for long holes, so the bolts can move freely inside.

Routing the long holes, using a push block to keep the hold straight.

With my wonderful new router table, that has already become a favourite in the workshop.

The long holes are transferred with a pencil, so the position of the bolts can be found.

I didn't want to get too close to the edge, so hope this will be fine.

First I predrilled with a two mm drill bit from the top, then making room for the bolt heads with a Forstner bit on the underside.

Drilling with 5mm drill bit.

Here you can also see the fixed hardwood holds, they were cut down to the hight of the jig, after the glue had time to dry.
Also please notice my fine new hold downs, these will get a blog post soon, smiles.

The 6mm bolts are now screwed in from the underside.

Well let's screw this up!
Or together I mean.

Perfect fit.
Free of the edge and the bolts are exactly long enough.

Adaptor is made, let's grab the circular saw.

Back end are tilted in, to grab the hardwood holds.

Front end lowered.

Once in place the front hold can be set in action.

Just put it down on the table saw base.

And tighten the wing nuts.

Now we have a base that are completely attached to the saw.

Let's find a track.

Yes!!!

Finishing touches the edges are rounded on the router table.

The edges of the adaptor also, so it will all be nice to the touch.

Even the runner got a wee rounding over, so it will be easy to put it into the rail.

Base edges rounded.

The same with all the inside edges.

I kind of like these little holds.

New adaptor can now replace the old one.
Job done, smiles.

Time to do some straight zero clearance sawing.

Link to video of the adaptor in use:

Hope it can be to some inspiration, or straight zero clearance cuts.

Best thoughts,

MaFe

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