Festool MFS Fence System Instruction Manual page 42

Now back to band inlays. Band inlays
can also be set in an open field using the
MFS rectangles as templates.
Establish a long narrow rectangle with an
opening the same size as the guide bush-
ing you intend to use. Make sure the
guide bushing will move easily along the
full length of the inside of the rectangle.
A little slop won't make much difference,
but a too tight area will cause you prob-
lems.
Use the angled steel pieces that come
with the MFS to establish the desired off-
set from the edges of your work piece.
Let's say you want to put a 5mm inlay
band 20mm in from the edges of the top
of a desk or table, for example. Place
one of the angled steel pieces at each
end of the underside of the MFS rectan-
gle parallel with the long dimension and
as far apart as the shortest side of your
work piece.
Make sure they are the same distance in
from the edge of the work piece to posi-
tion the slot that is the interior of this nar-
row rectangle where you want it. You are
next going to set stops to make sure the
router bit stops short of the actual corner.
If you were to try to rout band inlays by
running a router bit with a guide bushing
around the inside edges of a much larger
rectangle, the corners would be rounded
by the radius of the guide bushing. It is
very difficult to cut the male inlay pieces
to fit that rounded corner.
Instead we are going to stop the router bit
and hand chisel a square corner. When
we place the band inlay, we will miter
those corners so the whole thing looks
really professional and clean. A short mi-
ter like that in thin material is easy to do
simply by cutting both pieces at the same
42
time with a razor knife. The actual angle
is not important since they will form a per-
fect 90 degree corner anyway.
To stop the router in the right place, first
place your MFS rectangle on an adjoining
side with the stops against that edge.
Mark with a pencil the outer edge of the
interior of the rectangle. That is where
you want to stop the guide bushing when
approaching that corner.
Now you can position the MFS rectangle
on your work piece with the edge stops
against the edge and the end of the rec-
tangle even with your pencil mark.
Clamp it down.
Make the cut a little more than half the
way across your work piece. Now un-
clamp the MFS and slide it down so the
end of the rectangle aligns with the pencil
mark at the other end. If you have the
edge stops cleanly up against the edge of
your work piece and have clamped it se-
curely, the second part of your band re-
cess will align perfectly with the one you
just cut.
Continue around the top of the work
piece the same way to make the groove
all the way around. A little bit of chisel
work will finish the corners square, and
you can easily insert the banding male
inlay pieces.
Use the technique outlined earlier to cut
these narrow strips to exact thickness.
Cut them from stock that is a mm or so
thicker than the depth of your female
groove. Glue in the pieces mitering the
corners as discussed and sand every-
thing flush once the glue dries.
While this is very easy to do, I recom-
mend you practice a bit on scrap pieces
before you tackle your masterpiece.