New Tool Review - "Festool Circular Saw - add the Table."

When I finished last week's update, I started to think about the whole "Festool System." Here is the question I posed to myself: "How many shop operations could I do with the Festool Stack — as I call it?"    As I started to think of the tools I have and what they did, I then asked myself, what could the "Festool Stack" do? That is when I remembered a Festool video I watched 4 or 5 years ago. I  was most impressed with the modularity of the product line — and in particular, how they made use of a special table setup they sell.  They call it the Festool Multifunction Table. Their catalog picture is at right. They make two sizes, but the larger unit was suggested as being more popular.
	Thankfully the 85 lb. box arrived a day that Sal was here. At 90 degrees outside and very humid, the quicker we can get it unpacked, the better we will be.    Like all the Festool tools I have received, their boxing is really good. The outside container showed the usual amount of "handling."
But, open the outer packing and inside there is another box which looks as good as new. Open that box and this is what you see. The legs are folding so the table is about 95% assembled.
	Inside and cool, Sal folds the legs down and locks them in position. These are heavy duty legs and hinges.
One of the four legs is adjustable. We didn't need to use it, but it is good to have it available.
	There is very little to assemble — mostly the various clamps and stops that slide into some of the extruded aluminum tracks that are on all sides.    The installation guide is helpful, but we found that the illustrations were what we used the most. There are very few parts, and they are relatively easy to figure out. The table is surrounded by a heavy duty aluminum extrusion and various jigs fit into these extrusions.
Sal is fitting one guide bracket into the extrusion. There is a factory set stop in the extrusion, so all he had to do was to slide it until it touched the stop.
	I have fitted the other fixture on the backside of the table and have slid the guide into this fixture — again, to the factory installed stop. A 32" guide comes with this multifunction table. The table is 28" deep but the guide can be shifted more to the front or back to allow for use with different tools and tasks.
The guide slides onto the bracket in the back. Both the front and back brackets can be adjusted up or down to match different thicknessses of stock. It also serves as a hinge so that the guide can be tilted up and out of the way. The guide is lowered onto the front bracket which has a tab that fits into the guide. When the guide is down and seated on this tab, there is no lateral movement possible.    I have installed a fence that attaches to the guide  bracket and has its own miter gauge. I am adjusting the fence to be perpendicular to the guide. In this System, the guide stays square to the table at all times. The fence is moved to give miter angle cuts.    Here is a recap of how the squaring goes. First, the guide is on front and rear brackets that are up against the factory set stops. The guide is now parallel to the right side of the table. Next,  I adjust the back fence so that it is perpendicular to the guide.
	With the fence squared to the guide, I carefully move up the fence guideblock until it is engaging the fence rail. This is locked in this position for square cuts, but can be moved for miter cuts.    The black block at the right is a stop block and is easily moved to any location along the fence.