Rail track hinge mechanism!!

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I have only ever seen the Festool one sold as parts on eBay, I haven't found any other manufacturers of a similar thing.

I'm currently making one out of ply. I can share the WIP if you are interested?
 
You don't need the hinge.
All you need are two height adjustable supports (front edge and back edge) with a bolt head or similar exactly sized to fit the slot of the T track.
These will stop the end of the track dipping where it overhangs your workpiece and stop it wobbling sideways.
Custard on this forum recently posted about a forgotten tool that does this just fine.
You could DIY the same using some perspex with a pair of slots routed in it to clamp to the sides of your MFT extrusions using T nuts and knobs.
 
Festool sell them as spare parts for the MFT/3, or there are these ones from the US. 👍
Peter, I'd seen the Dashboard ones which looked like just the job, and whilst $240 is less than buying a "Full Fat" Festol MFT, it still seems s steep price for a fairly simple aluminium bracket (and I think you still need to buy the rails separately and with their design fit two single T tracks parallel with each other, and parallel with top of MFT but aligned below it, not rocket science I know but plenty of opportunity to go wrong?). If there is no other alternative I might investigate making one / getting one made. And anyway - it's all your fault for making such a good video reviewing the Mafell and Festool track saws and convincing me to go with Mafell ! :) Seriously - thank you for the video, it was incredibly informative
 
Mafell is definitely a good saw. I made my own
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hinge set up for metabo rails it could definitely be adapted to mafell rails
 
Peter, I'd seen the Dashboard ones which looked like just the job, and whilst $240 is less than buying a "Full Fat" Festol MFT, it still seems s steep price for a fairly simple aluminium bracket...

You pays your money, makes your choice; as I say, Festool sell them as spare parts - I’ve bought the hinge mechanism (about £60) to see what needs doing to adapt it to regular t-track; it’s a slow process as the parts come from Germany - ordered on Jan 18th and just shipped this week - but if the genuine parts can be adapted, then why not?

Festool MFT hinged rail/ rail support reference numbers are :-

497022 Support - this is the locating pin unit at the front of the MFT

497023 Support unit - this is the hinge part at the back of the MFT for the rail

472862 Profile - this is the MFT/3 aluminium profile

If you do a google search for those reference numbers, the spare parts links will pop up at the top of the list. I bought from NB tools as I’ve dealt with them before. HTH P 👍
 
That looks good, how much play do you get at the far end? Is there a big advantage over using rail dog and dropping onto the table when needed?
Aidan
No play every cut is spot on but haven’t done the 5 cut method yet tho. To be honest not sure that my mft top is 100 percent as I used a jig and router so couldn’t be sure that I was going to get perfect 90 cuts. I was intending to use a rail square like Peter Millard portable bench but can’t get one for metabo rails I use. Don’t think there’s any real advantages might be a little quicker to lift hinge up than completely remove rail with rail dogs
 
No play every cut is spot on but haven’t done the 5 cut method yet tho. To be honest not sure that my mft top is 100 percent as I used a jig and router so couldn’t be sure that I was going to get perfect 90 cuts. I was intending to use a rail square like Peter Millard portable bench but can’t get one for metabo rails I use. Don’t think there’s any real advantages might be a little quicker to lift hinge up than completely remove rail with rail dogs
Hi, Just spotted this for the Metabo guide rails:
Metabo 629026000 FSW Guide Rail Mitre Fence
Where did you source the hinge part of your system, it looks bullet proof!
 

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