Building the MFTC

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TOC
Disclaimer...............................................................................................3
Building the base.......................................................................................4
Building the legs.......................................................................................9
Attaching the rear legs..............................................................................11
Building the handle..................................................................................12
Table locks.............................................................................................13
Building the top.......................................................................................14
Attaching the legs to the table.....................................................................18
Making the drilled top...............................................................................19
Attaching the top to the cabinet...................................................................22
Bottom drawer........................................................................................23
Systainer drawers.....................................................................................24
Installing the drawers................................................................................26
Installing the push-pusch locks.....................................................................27
Installing the wheels.................................................................................28
Building the shelf.....................................................................................29
Building the extension tables......................................................................30
Material list............................................................................................34
Finishing tips..........................................................................................35
The plans...........................................................................................36

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Disclaimer
The following plans and instructions are to be used at own risk, do not use techniques or
tools that you are not allowed/trained to use or not comfortable with. There are always
several ways to achieve your goal.
These plans are for personal use, do not distribute, sell or share these with others.

Copyright @benchworks2013

These are the plans adapted for imperial sheet goods, all

measures are in metric, I rounded the numbers to avoid

fractioning below 1mm, If hower you want to work with the

exact measures smaller than 1mm you can use the sketchup

model for reference!

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Building the base
The base carcass is made with 12mm plywood, assembled with 4mm dominos and glue.
Once you cut out the different parts it is best to cut out the openings into each part,
this will make it more easy to clamp the parts together.
I used a plunge saw to cut out most of the lines, and a jigsaw to cut up to the corners.

For the rounded parts you can use the supplied templates to draw the right shape.

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Once you have all the parts and their openings cut out it is time to make the domino
mortises.

I like to have at least 4 dominos per side, to position them I simply mark with a pencil
both parts. Make sure that on one half of the parts you make wider mortises in order to
allow correcting any mis-alignments.
Then I assembled the carcass in two stages, first assembling the top bottom and rear
together. And then assembling both sides to it.
I did so because it would be too complex to do it all in once and require more clamps
than I have.

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Below you can see the parts ready for final assembly

Once that is done you can assemble the reinforcement parts, I simply fixed them in
place with a finish nailer and then clamped them until the glue was dry.

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Below you can see the supports for the table pivot being clamped.

Then drilling the hole for the wheel axle, in my case it's a 20mm hole which I drilled
with a forstner bit.

At this stage it is best to also add the axle reinforcement part, which adds additional
support for the axle, but also adds rigidity to the structure.

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When I built mine I only added this later, so the pictures may not be accurate.

Below you can see base being painted and sanded, at this stage nothing will be added to
it anymore so it can be painted.

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Building the legs
The legs are bast made out of a light species of wood, pine is perfect. Even though I
chose for a wood called “Ajous” because I had left overs and it is extremely light
without knots.
The rear legs are made with 40x40mm parts, and the front legs are 48x24mm.

Above is a detail image of the legs while I was mortising them, these mortises are 80mm
apart. These are done with the 10mm bit on the narrowest width setting of the domino.
This bit cannot go through the 40mm leg, so you need to mortise from two opposing
sides to make a trough mortise.

These mortises make the legs lighter but also allow you to fit clamps or pegs into them.
Above you can see the rear legs being assembled with two 6mm dominos per joint.
Before assembling I also chamfered all exterior edges with a 45 degree router bit, and I
cut away a recess at the inner top of the legs to house the hinges. I did the latter
freehand with a router.

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Then at the bottom of the feet I carefully drilled a 28mm wide hole, 50mm deep with a
spade bit in order to fit the adjustable feet.
Do this very carefully with a sharp and straight bit and if necessary reinforce the legs
with clamps so they don't explode.

Then I glued the feet into the legs, to know the correct depth it is best to unscrew the
black foot part half way and measure the total lenghth extending from the bottom of
the legs. This must be around 50mm in order to have enough adjustability.

Once the front and rear leg parts were done I finished them with a beechwood stainer
varnish to make them more resistant to scratches and dirt.

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Attaching the rear legs
While making these plans I decided to improve the design of the rear legs under the
cabinet by replacing fixed legs with adjustable feet. This has greatly improved stability!

Drill a hole of the same width as the feet tube, leaving at least 20mm of space around
the opening. Drill it at the correct depth so that the feet extend about 54mm with
enough height adjusting room in both directions.

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Building the handle

The handle is made with solid beech wood, it slides up and down and small blocks
prevent it from sliding all the way out. I assembled this with screws.

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Table locks

The locks lock the table in place when it is folded down, these are held in place with a
screw that allows them to pivot.

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Building the top
The top is made out of 1/2 and 3/4th inch plywood, glued and screwed together.
The 1/2 plywood forms the outer edge of the table top, and the 3/4th plywood form the
inner edge. The inner edge is 8mm lower than the outer edge, this way you have a inner
recess that will support the ½ inch mdf worktop.

The corners are joined with pocket holes, but regular screws or even dominos can be
used.

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Start by joining the 3/4th parts together into a frame

Then glue the ½ inch parts to it and clamp them, start with the front and rear and then
glue the sides. Don't use nails or screws because you will need to rout into this.

Below I am gluing the reinforcements to the frame to support the hinges at the rear and
the pivot point in the middle.

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Below an image of the edges being chamfered with a 45 degree router bit with bearing.

Below you can see the groove for the T-track being routed, do this to the dimension of
your tracks, mine were 16mm wide and 10mm deep. If you plan on painting these parts
then you better make a loose fit, otherwise the track won't fit when finished.

Don't make a groove into the front of the table if you plan on making holes for the saw
rails to fit through
I made the holes for the saw rail with a Domino XL and 14mm cutter, on the front the
hole must go through the frame, and on the back it must only go through the 3/4th part,
10mm deep is good enough.

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If you don't have an XL you can do this with a router or drill and jigsaw.

Notice that on the interior of the back side you cannot go close enough to the edges
with the dominon when routing from the inside. Therefore it is best to rout that rear
part before assembly, or as I did make the mortise to final size with a chisel after
assembly.
Below you can see the T-track being glued into the groove, small screws are also
necessary to hold the track in place, I used 3x20 screws and I slightly countersunk the
hole into the rail, so that the head of the screw doesn't sit in the way of the rail clamps.

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Attaching the legs to the table

The legs are attached with simple 40mm wide hinges, the hinge is recessed in to the legs
deep enough so that the legs fold close against the table. To know the depth just
meaure the thickness of the henge when closed, and make a recess of the same depth in
the legs. I did this freehand with a router.

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Making the drilled top
The top is made of ½ inch MDF with 20mm wide holes, spaced 96mm apart from center
to center. These allow you to use the MFT clamps, but also rail clamps and bench dogs.
If you want to use bench dogs to cut perfectly square with the rail on the top, then you
must drill the holes on a perfectly square pattern.
For this you will need the LR32 system, a 1400mm LR rail and rail dogs.
I made 2 tops simultaneously because the wider your workpiece, the more accurate this
process works.
I started by cutting a 1400 by 1220 piece of ½ inch mdf panel, this piece must be cut as
square as possible.

The first operation is the make a row of 20mm holes along both 1220mm edges, set the
paralel rail clamps on 70mm so that the router will be fully supported by the sheet, and
use the edge stop for the rail on any setting. Clamp the rail to the panel and remove the
paralel clamps, then using the LR32 jig and router, make a 20mm hole every 96mm
starting with the first hole as close to the edge as possible. You need 12 holes.
Once that is done, turn over the panel and do the same operation on the other edge, but
turn around the edge stop for the rail and position it on the other side of the rail on the
same setting, so that you are referencing the stop on the same side of the panel!!!
Otherwise your holes will NOT be paralel!

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On the above picture the first row is drilled with the stop clamped on the right side of
the rail, on the below picture the opposing row is drilled with the edge stop on the left
side of the rail. Make sure you drill your holes on the same distance from the edge.

When that is done turn the panel 45 degrees and place the rail on it with the rail dogs
attached to it underneath.

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I had to add a washer to the rail dog in order to be able to tightly clamp the rail dog to
the rail. If it moves or comes lose during the process your holes will be out of square!
Below you can see the top being drilled, insert the rail in the side holes and drill holes
with the LR jig every 96mm, do each successive row of holes that way.

When everything is drilled you can trim the top and cut both halfs to size and chamfer
the outside edge.

This top is attached to the table with screws that are countersunk so that you don't risk
hitting them while cutting on the table.

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Attaching the top to the cabinet

The top is attached with 70mm wood carriage bolts(M8) that are recessed in the table
side so they don't stick out, a small 1mm washer between the table and cabinet will help
smooth movement. I also glued the bolt into the table with expanding glue so that it
won't develop play over time.

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Bottom drawer
The bottom drawer is made with ½ inch plywood, simply assembled with finish nails and
glue.
On the front there is a hardwood handle which also serves as a rest to keep the MFTC in
place with your foot while tilting it.
It is held in place with a piece of 4 mm plywood on the bottom which hooks into the
hole cut out of the MFTC bottom.

Behind the drawer there is a stop block to keep it from sliding in further, I didn't make
the drawer to cover the full depth of the base, in fear of dust and woodchips preventing
the drawer to close fully.

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Systainer drawers
The systainer drawers are made with ½ inch plywood, with holes for the small feet of
the systainers to go through.
Start by cutting out the outer shape and draw the layout on one of the pieces, then drill
a hole close to each corner through the stack of drawers.
With a jigsaw and long blade cut out the openings inside the lines

Using a sander or a file clean up one of the drawer bottoms on the lines, and then use
that one as a template to clean up the other ones with a router and a flush trim bit.

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Above you can see two drawer bottoms clamped together, the below one is the template
on which the bearing of the trim bit will move to transfer it's exact shape to the above
drawer.
The drawer front is made of light softwood and attached to the bottom with three 4mm
dominos and clamped together.

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Installing the drawers
For the drawers you need 350mm full extension slides, that are each 12,5mm wide.
Screw the slides into the middle of the ½ inch drawer bottom.

Above you can see the height of the centerline for each drawer, the first drawer center
is at 111mm from the bottom, the second at 340mm, the third at 515mm and fourth at
636mm. Draw these lines with a pencil so you can align the screw holes of the slides
with it as shown on the next picture.
With this configuration you can place a sys3, sys2 and two sys1's in the MFTC.

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Installing the push-pusch locks
The push-push locks prevent the drawers from opening when the MFTC is tilted forward,
the ones I found are from “Salice”, they require you to drill a 26mm hole in the back of
the MFT with it's centerpoint about 8mm above the drawer.

Start by marking the centerpoint of the hole 8mm above the drawer and about 40mm
from the MFTC box side.
Then glue in the caps for the lock. Once those are in place you can slide the drawer in
and position the lock on it in closed position and screw it onto the drawer, leave a few
mm of play to the rear so that you can still push the drawer back enough to unlock the
system.

You can install two locks on either side of the drawer if you fear one is not solid enough.

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Installing the wheels
For the wheels I used 200mm diameter wheels with a 20mm axle and total wheel width
between 50-60mm, I cut the axle into two 120mm long parts, that way they extend
about 60mm from the body. The axle is glued into the body.

The wheels I initially used were hard plastic wheels destined for a Festool sys-roll
These turned out to be too hard to comfortably roll around, so I replaced them with
rubber coated wheels of the same dimensions.

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Building the shelf
The shelf not only serves to lay tools on but it also stabilizes the workbench.
For the top layer I used a piece of 4mm plywood I had laying around, the frame is made
of beechwood at the front and plywood on the sides.

The shelf is held in place with dominos that are sticking out of the rear legs and base of
the MFTC, to allow for an easy fit it is best to mortise these holes a bit wider, on the
second width, and do a second plunge on the same spot, but with the fence 0,5mm
higher.

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Building the extension tables
The extension tables are made of 3/4th plywood, with softwood legs.
On top of the table frame there is a groove in which you can screw replacable wooden
strips. These are sacrificial.

Once you cut out the parts of the top, you must rout a groove into the upper edge to
house the sacrifical strips. I made a 8mm wide groove, 8mm deep on the router table.
I also use this opportunity to chamfer the edges.

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The frame of the top is assembled with pocket screws or regular screws.
I used a spacer to evenly spread the rails and prevent them from moving while
tightening the pocket screws.

The feet are assembled the same way as the table feet of the MFTC, these are
connected to the top simply with long dowels.

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Once you connected the feet to the table frame with the dowels, you must lay the table
upside down on a flat surface and lift up the legs, then you can position the stop blocks
and slide them until the angled surface is completely in contact with the legs.
Then glue, clamp and screw it in place.

To connect the extension table with the MFTC you need to make a hardwood strip of
wood that slides into the T-tracks around the MFTC table.
I made this part out of beechwood on the router table.

The correct position of this part is determined by the size and shape of your track, it is

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best to measure the distance from the bottom opening of your T-track, to the upper
edge of the table, and transfer this length to the front of the extension table and screw
the connector to the front in the correct position.
Make sure the connector is dead straight and slides easily in the track, once that is done
you can make the sacrificial hardwood strips to fit into the top grooves.
Connect the extension table to the MFTC and with a square transfer the height of the
mdf worktop to the extension table and measure how deep you will need to make these
strips so that they are flush with the worktop.

Once you made these strips you can screw them into the top groove, pre drill all the
holes and drill a hole as big as the screw head at least 4mm deep in order to sink the
screw head as deep as the frame top, otherwise you may damage your blades.

On my extension tables I also cut out the excess wood in the sides in order to make it
lighter.

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Material list
The list below gives you a general idea of what is needed, besides the obvious basic
tools you need other materials that you already may have laying around. So compare the
list and check what you can build with what you already have, and only go out and buy
what remains!
• 1 sheet of 1 /2 inch plywood
• 1 sheet of 3 /4 inch plywood
• 1 sheet of 1 /2 inch mdf
• a piece of 6 mm plywood for the shelf
• hardwood for certain parts, scraps can do
• softwood for parts like legs etc...
• 4 and 6 mm dominos
• 2x 70mm wood carriage bolts M8 with nuts and washers
• screws of various sizes
• 4x 100mm adjustable feet for the MFTC
• 2x 100mm adjustable feet for each extension table
• 1 pair of 350mm full extansion slides (12,5mm wide each) for each drawer
• 2 push-push drawer locks per systainer drawer
• 2 x 40mm wide hinges
• 2x 200mm wide wheels, rubber coated is the softest, max 60mm wide in
total,20mm axle, you can also use a Festool wheel although it is quite hard, part
no: 496230
• wheel cover for Festool wheel part no: 474122
• 20mm axle for wheels, you can get it from festool part no: 474047
• locking ring for axle, part no:467699
• T-tracks 2x 1150mm and 1x 550mm, I get mine from a local hardware store where
they sell them as curtain rails.
• 20mm router cutter
• wood glue and contact cement

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Finishing tips
As you can see I painted my MFTC in Festool-like colors, this is mostly for looks. You can
use any color you want or nothing at all.
I like to give a first coat of acrylic varnish because it fills the pores and dries fast, then
to get a festool grey, I use duplicolor light grey spray paint 2-3 can sare needed.
To get the dark blue I used marine blue paint, and for the green I had to mix my own
colors of green with some yellow to get the matching tint.
On the mdf worktop I like to use Osmo oil, but dont get any on the inside of the holes or
the benchdogs will not fit anymore!

Have fun building your MFTC and send me any question you may have, or if you spot
mistakes in the plans let me know!

The plans

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