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Defy conventional wisdom--use half a fence *Pic*
By:Paul G. Jacobson
Date: 12/30/2007, 4:39 pm

:Great idea for moving your fence along by even steps.

But I don't like moving the fence for every cut.

Granted, it is generally considered to be a safer situation when the strip is not trapperd against the fence. And I am all for safety. But I am also the owner of a router table which came with a split fence, and think something similar should be available for a tablesaw.

The idea is simplicity. Just use a fence which comes up to the blade, and stops. The board runs along the fence, which can be exended beyond the top of the table to give a very long infeed guide. Once the wood hits the sawblade the strip is not constrained. It can easily move away from the blade, so it is not trapped betweenthe fence and the blade.

This very basic setup needs a few additions to make it practical. For instance, just as the strip can move away from the blade, it could jsut as easily move toward the back edge of the blade, where the rising teeth could catch it and do some damage. So, to keep that strip out of harm's way, you would want a kerf splitter.

Also, and you get to the end of the board, you have less and less of it being supported by the fenced. You need to have some support for the board so it doesn't twist around. For that you use an outfeed fence which supports the board along its length, at some point after it has been cut.

The easy way to resolve both issues is to use a long wedge after the blade. Set the wedge so it diverts the strip away from the blade, and space it so that the board is supported by it.

If you don;t wnat to make a new fence which goes only as far as the blade, you can get the same effect by clamping a piece of 2x4 to your existing fence to create an auxilliary fence. That gives you a gap 1 1/2 inches wide for the strip to move into after it has been cut from the board.

See the illustration below, and these ideas might be easier to visualize.

Hope this helps

PGJ

Messages In This Thread

Defy conventional wisdom--use half a fence *Pic*
Paul G. Jacobson -- 12/30/2007, 4:39 pm