How to Make an MFT Table Top with LR 32

Today we’re turning this $15 piece of MDF into a $150 piece of MDF. With holes! That’s right – we’re making a Festool MFT table top. Now the first time you do this you’re going to have to sacrifice one piece of MDF to make a jig. The jig is a one time thing and you can reuse it as many times as you want after it’s made. So without more to say, let’s bring out the LR 32 system and make the jig.

I’ve got the 55” LR 32 track clamped down to the short side of this 4’ x 3.5’ sheet of 3/4” thickness MDF. The exact placement of the track isn’t important as long as the uncovered surface is at least as large as the MFT top.

If you’re not familiar with the LR 32 system – what it does, is allow you to (in conjunction with a Festool router, drill precise holes at multiples of 32mm). Conveniently the MFT table top has 20mm holes drilled at 96mm centers. So we’re just going to outfit this router with a 20mm bit and drill at every third hole. Three times 32mm is 96mm. We’ll eventually get the 20mm bit in here, but to make the jig it’s actually a 5mm bit.

I’m going to drill a 5mm hole every 96mm or three LR 32 steps.

Do not touch the track after drilling the holes. It’s critical that this line of holes is perfectly parallel to the edge of the wood.

Take your track saw and make a cut.

That’s all there was to the jig, and you’ll soon see how it helps to align the dog holes. But first we have to cut this top down to size so it fits inside the MFT. Accuracy here isn’t critical – this won’t affect the alignment of your dog holes, but it’s still nice to get a good fit inside the MFT, so try your best.

This is the jig in its final state. The dimensions are perfectly matched to the MFT top and it has these 5mm holes on this side that are parallel to this edge. I’m going to put this aside now and we’ll get started on the actual MFT top.

This is the stock that will make up the MFT top. It’s again a 4’ x 3.5’ piece of MDF and I’ve brought back the LR 32 system, clamped it down the long side now (not the short side as we did for the jig) now it’s along the long side – same 5mm bit, and we’ll make a hole every 96mm.

Once again, without moving the guide rail, make a cut with your track saw.

Just about ready to swap this top off with the jig we made. There’s just one final step – gotta take off the stock MFT rail, and replace it with an LR 32 rail running across the long side.

For square alignment, use some Qwas Dogs with the stock MFT top.

Okay, the rail is now set up across the long side of the table – but unfortunately my ceiling height is too short, so I can’t lift it out of the way anymore. What I’ll do is get the screws off the original MFT top in preparation to put our jig on, and fold the table legs so this can be lifted up out of the way.

Done. The jig is in – fit perfectly – and now we’re almost ready for the fun part.

But before I get that 20mm bit in my router, there’s one last setup step: populating the 5mm holes with 5mm dowel pins.

Now it’s just a matter of lining up the holes on the new top with the holes on the jig… and I think you know what comes next.

This part can be tedious, but if you want good results you have to take your time. And for your own sake, wear a respirator. MDF dust isn’t very good for you.

20mm bit is in… *power tool noise*

Phew! Well, that was a lot of drilling but it turned out perfect.

I’ll be a lot less preserving of my MFT tops now, when I know I can make a replacement in about an hour.

And there you have it: my $15, square as always, MFT top.