Festool MFS Fence System Instruction Manual page 49

Conclusion
So, after nearly 50 pages of text and pho-
tos on various ways to employ the inno-
vative Festool MFS universal squaring,
aligning, cutting and routing fence and
guide system,
is it right for
you? Is it
worth the
price?
It is not inex-
pensive ei-
ther for the
starter kits or
for the longer
extrusions or
for the router
slide. And,
as a router
template it is
fairly easily
damaged if
your router
MFS system shown here with shop made acces-
handling
sories as well as Festool supplied components.
techniques
are not fully
up to snuff (can you hear, "oops, I hit the
edge of a profile with the router bit!" in
this statement?)
So, the answer to both these questions
has to lie in terms of just how and how
much you will use the system and its
components.
When I first got the system I was unsure
of what my answer would be to these two
good questions. As a working profes-
sional furniture maker, my philosophy on
tools is that if they do not find their way
into my hands, then they must not be
useful to me no matter how neat or inno-
vative I think they are.
49
If they are not useful to me in terms of
helping me improve the value proposition
I can offer to my customers (ever better
quality at ever lower prices while still pro-
viding a good return on my time and in-
vestment,) I don't want them cluttering up
space in my studio.
found their way into my hands, they
quickly became "go to" objects that get
used on many, if not most, projects.
They are in use for most of my guide rail
layout work whether cutting or routing.
As I have explained here and in other
manuals, guided rail routing of sliding
dovetail joints transforms the quality and
speed of construction for most case
goods. Being able to lay components to-
gether in the same relationship in which
they will live in the piece and then cutting
the dovetail or dado slots in both pieces
simultaneously guarantees a level of po-
The clincher
for me came
when I
stopped
looking at the
MFS as a
rectangular
router tem-
plate and
started see-
ing how uni-
versally ap-
plicable the
simple,
sturdy ex-
truded pro-
files were
becoming in
my everyday
work. These
things not only