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A question I had as well as many of my projects require a tenon on the end of 4, 5, or even 6' log boards.
I may need an intervention
- Thread starter Rennie Heuer
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fred hargis
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You wouldn't be able to lay it on it's side for long pieces (at least not in any kind of convenient way), but I have seen pics of folks having them very high off the floor, and stand on a step ladder to cut the M/Ts. I have one (bought used, again) and really love it. It's extremely easy to use (unlike their DT jig) and is certainly a good choice for lots of MT joints. But (and it hurts to say this) I think the domino is still more convenient, plus you have some of the advantages of using loose tenons that were mentioned earlier in the thread. With the FMT you are still still cutting integral tenons so you have the measuring part to deal with. To me the FMT should almost have a dedicated router. It has to be mounted precisely in the top plate, so pulling it for other uses just means you go through a careful alignment process again. You could just put a plunge base in it, and switch the motor back and forth and that actually works very well. But you'd have to consider that relative to the purchase as well.
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The FMT can be used just as easily to make matching mortises for floating tenons. The precision of using it is the same whether you make M & T pairs or just Mortises in both pieces and then use floating tenons, made with the table saw and planer to size them. You don't have to make tenons on the ends of your work. When I make pieces with tenons on both ends, I cut the piece to the length needed plus 2X the length of the tenons needed, minus 1/8" for to cut each tenon to be certain that the tenon doesn't bottom out in the blind mortise. When I set the plunge depth of the router I also set it 1/8" less than the mortise depth. The desired length of the finished piece is always correct and each tenon is 1/8" shorter than the depth of the mating mortise. These measurements are easy to attain and if the tenon length is a bit off, the tenon thickness is precisely controlled by the FMT, so the joint fits perfectly anyway.
Leigh is the only woodworking company that I've ever bought tools from that makes jigs that will do exactly what Leigh says they will do, and do it very accurately. Their manuals are written to make things so clear and understandable that if you can read and understand the instructions, the cuts on your work pieces will fit together perfectly.
For the very few occasions when I wanted to make mortises in the middle of wide boards, I have used my plunge router and a straight edge clamp. No tool can handle every possibility, not even the FMT.
Like I said in a previous post. For the very few occasions when I have wanted to cut a mortise or a tenon on the ends of very long boards, I have clamped the FMT to my shop attic floor at the edge of my pull down stairway, so the longer boards could hang down through the stairway opening, then stood on the steps of the stairway, and did the routing on the FMT. Once, when I wanted to do it to even longer boards, I borrowed the use of my neighbor's 2nd floor deck railing, placed FMT on the railing facing toward the yard on top of the 2 X 6 deck railing, and clamped it in place. The 11' long boards hung down past the edge of the deck to about 4' above the ground, and I routed tenons on their ends using the FMT.
For anyone interested in an FMT, you should watch the Leigh FMT Demonstration and Training Videos on YouTube or available on DVD free from Leigh. Watch them several times, so you learn every step of using it.
My FMT has done what I've needed for about 10 years, and I have friends with Festool Dominos and I have used them. To me, they are a heavy duty biscuit joiner and work in much the same way. Yes, they cut the mortise for the domino very well, but the positioning accuracy isn't much, if any, better that you get with a biscuit joiner. After the experience of using their Festool Domino tools, I still like my FMT better for it's amazing placement accuracy over a Domino. Yes, setup is a little slower with the FMT, but there is no comparison when doing multiple closely spaced joints.
To save you searching for them, here are the links to the Leigh FMT Pro M & T jig videos -
Charley
Leigh is the only woodworking company that I've ever bought tools from that makes jigs that will do exactly what Leigh says they will do, and do it very accurately. Their manuals are written to make things so clear and understandable that if you can read and understand the instructions, the cuts on your work pieces will fit together perfectly.
For the very few occasions when I wanted to make mortises in the middle of wide boards, I have used my plunge router and a straight edge clamp. No tool can handle every possibility, not even the FMT.
Like I said in a previous post. For the very few occasions when I have wanted to cut a mortise or a tenon on the ends of very long boards, I have clamped the FMT to my shop attic floor at the edge of my pull down stairway, so the longer boards could hang down through the stairway opening, then stood on the steps of the stairway, and did the routing on the FMT. Once, when I wanted to do it to even longer boards, I borrowed the use of my neighbor's 2nd floor deck railing, placed FMT on the railing facing toward the yard on top of the 2 X 6 deck railing, and clamped it in place. The 11' long boards hung down past the edge of the deck to about 4' above the ground, and I routed tenons on their ends using the FMT.
For anyone interested in an FMT, you should watch the Leigh FMT Demonstration and Training Videos on YouTube or available on DVD free from Leigh. Watch them several times, so you learn every step of using it.
My FMT has done what I've needed for about 10 years, and I have friends with Festool Dominos and I have used them. To me, they are a heavy duty biscuit joiner and work in much the same way. Yes, they cut the mortise for the domino very well, but the positioning accuracy isn't much, if any, better that you get with a biscuit joiner. After the experience of using their Festool Domino tools, I still like my FMT better for it's amazing placement accuracy over a Domino. Yes, setup is a little slower with the FMT, but there is no comparison when doing multiple closely spaced joints.
To save you searching for them, here are the links to the Leigh FMT Pro M & T jig videos -
Charley
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Update
For the time being I have decided to NOT part with all that cash so neither the FMT or Domino plays a part in my woodworking for the near future. Just too much out of pocket right now as balanced against the benefit.
I want to tank everyone that contributed to the conversation. Your advice was sound, well grounded in experience, and most helpful.
For the time being I have decided to NOT part with all that cash so neither the FMT or Domino plays a part in my woodworking for the near future. Just too much out of pocket right now as balanced against the benefit.
I want to tank everyone that contributed to the conversation. Your advice was sound, well grounded in experience, and most helpful.