Table Saw Fence Project

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As I wrote the other day, I've been trying to fathom out a design for the fence for the new table-saw top I made a while ago. As I said I saw a product from Rutlands that looked promising but was too expensive to justify. The basic principle of using an adjustable triangular frame appealed though, because it's very easy to get a very stable structure that way. As you can just see in the picture, I've essentially got three pivot points: one fixed and floating and two moveable and lockable.

The whole thing's made from 22 mm ply and scrap kitchen unit stuff, with the addition of track and hardware from stock. The fixed pivot at the far vertex of the triangle is made from a kitchen cabinet hinge and the strut that forms the hypotenuse of the triangle is scrap melamine/MDF also from a kitchen cabinet, as is the working face of the fence. As you can see, having the front track extend beyond the table-top allows more freedom and a wider cutting throat between the fence and the blade.

To set it up, all I have to do is slacken off the two small track-bolts at the front top, and with the saw-blade fully up, slide the fence over until it's flush with the blade, then tighten the top bolts down. Adjusting the width of the cut is then done by slackening the two front bolts with larger knobs, moving the fence accordingly and then re-tightening them. The fence sits slightly proud of the table-top, the front on the adjusting track/carriage and the rear on a waxed shim: the effect of which is to reduce friction and minimize dust build-up.

So far so good: if this works reliably, then the next step is to replicate the structure in alloy section for improved accuracy, stability and lightness. I'll post whatever progress I make: knowing me it [progress] will be glacial as I like to background process ideas rather than draw too many plans, and the completed concepts tend to evolve and rise to the surface rather slowly.

Comments

  1. Joe Stoner5 April 2021 at 10:07

    As it stands my only suggestion would be to extennd the "fixed" point locking bolt so you don't skin yer knuckles. On a tangent wouldn't it be better to use two threaded studs and a chain drive twix two adjusting nuts on the studs; always parallel!

    ReplyDelete

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