Bandsaw fence.......

[lastminute]

Has anyone made a decent bandsaw fence.....I would like to replace the annoying aluminium one on my BS300!!

Thanks for any help

Gerry

 

[JSW]

Quick search for home made bandsaw fence found this on Matthias Wandels website, version of his bandsaw made by Lucian from Romania that is a thing of beauty in itself.

http://www.woodgears.ca/bandsaw/lucian/index.html

In it Lucian mentions he built his fence based on an article in American Woodworker Magazine from Nov 2005, another quick search led to this:

https://archive.org/stream/american-woo ... 3/mode/2up

(Hopefully the link will work)

The nice thing is, the issues are fully downloadable! A little bedtime reading anyone?

 

[Fishandchips]

I have used the fence below and it locks down really well. Very rigid, not a lot of deflection and is adjustable especially handy on a bandsaw.

http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-ri ... ade-100205

 

[PeteG]

Hello Gerry

I nearly made one as I wasn't happy with the fence on my BS350, in the end I bought the Carter Magnetic fence.
It's rock solid and made life a lot easier when re-sawing. Bought mine from Turners Retreat.

 

[galleywood]

I have decided to make a scaled down version of the toggle clamp fence on Stave Maskery's Table Saw DVD.
It is made up from steel box section, flat plate & angle, and only requires drilling and tapping to build it.
You will need to obtain a suitable toggle clamp and nylon bolts.

 

[woodpig]

What is it you don't like about your existing Fence Gerry?

I ask because making the "missing" part was the first thing I did on my BS300E.

record-bs300e-upgrades-t54641.html

 

[beech1948]

I bought a Kreg bandsaw fence +micro adjuster for my Startrite 352 and its been then dogs bo**oc*s. A definite recommend.

 

[Steve Maskery]

I have decided to make a scaled down version of the toggle clamp fence on Stave Maskery's Table Saw DVD.
It is made up from steel box section, flat plate & angle, and only requires drilling and tapping to build it.
You will need to obtain a suitable toggle clamp and nylon bolts.

Let me know how you get on. It should work just as well on the BS as on the TS. If you have my bandsaw DVD as well, don't forget to incorporate the fine adjuster fence into your build. You'll have a Rolls-Royce of a fence without breaking the bank.

BTW, I have the nylon bolts if you can't source them locally (you could use the ones for attaching car number plates from Halfords) and the toggle clamp came from Cromwell's.

 

[galleywood]

Yes, will do.
Thanks

 

[lastminute]

Hi woodpig...my bs300 has the ali extrusion rail and fence (not the solid steel bar)...apart from having to 'hook' the tail end over the rear rail after each removal, there is no definite click when locking the cam lever...annoying!

Gerry

 

[woodpig]

Ah, I see. I did wonder.

 

[Monkey Mark]

Hello Gerry

I nearly made one as I wasn't happy with the fence on my BS350, in the end I bought the Carter Magnetic fence.
It's rock solid and made life a lot easier when re-sawing. Bought mine from Turners Retreat.

That looks like a nice idea. Not sure if they sell them anyone as I can't see it on their site.

 

[Glynne]

I've just been reading this post in more detail as I'm not totally convinced with the fence on my BS350.
Once set up it is fine but it is a bit fiddly to adjust using the mounting bar and a real pain to move between the high and low edges.
I really like the "missing part" that Woodpig has machined but I couldn't locate the old manual to give me more details so it would be really good if someone could point me in the direction of the manual or if Woodpig had any more details?
Thanks.

 

[woodpig]

Bear with me Glynne and I'll have a look on my desktop. Sadly links get broken quite easily these days so if possible I download stuff I'm likely to need. I do have a spare "missing" part for my machine as I remade it in alloy but I've no idea if it will fit your machine? I don't want anything for it but postage could be expensive as its solid steel.

Ok. The older version of both the 300E and the 350 manuals show the Fence Carrier looking like this.

It's clearly in two pieces bolted together. Later versions all seem to have a cast fence carrier that is little more than a tube with a shallow slot cut in the top, see picture below.

I made the grey block in this picture from steel to replace the "missing" part. The picture shows the shiny new alloy one bolted in place. The hand wheels hold the fence in place using two 6mm coach bolts. I only made a new one because the old one went rusty whilst the machine was in storage. The distance between centres is about 56mm and the raised step is to fit in the slot in the casting.

There is no reason this part needs to be made of steel or alloy it's just what I had to hand. You could just as easily make it out of wood or plastic. I can provide measurements if it's of help to anyone.

This is a pic from RP showing the fence bolted directly to the casting. It works but it's fiddly removing or changing the fence orientation.

 

[Glynne]

That's really kind of you and I'd like to take you up on your offer please. Obviously I'll pay the postage and if you do decide you want something for it please let me know. I'll PM my address.
The last picture is identical to the BS350 and, as you say, you can swap the fence around but having to fiddle underneath with Allen keys isn't ideal. It's probably me being lazy but I'm inclined not to swap the fence about as much as I should.
I like the idea of drilling additional holes in the mounting bar as well. Unlike the BS400, you can't remove the whole fence by simply opening the top door - the fence is presumably the same size whereas the throat is smaller. You can do it by tipping the table but again it's more effort than it needs to be and so moving the mounting bar along will cure that problem.

 

[woodpig]

Removing the fence on my machine is now very quick. I'll check out the cost of postage on Monday and let you know.

 

[galleywood]

Here is the toggle clamp fence that I mentioned previously.

Let me know how you get on. It should work just as well on the BS as on the TS. If you have my bandsaw DVD as well, don't forget to incorporate the fine adjuster fence into your build. You'll have a Rolls-Royce of a fence without breaking the bank.

BTW, I have the nylon bolts if you can't source them locally (you could use the ones for attaching car number plates from Halfords) and the toggle clamp came from Cromwell's.

Now for the fine adjuster fence!

 

[woodpig]

Looks very neat. What's the idea behind leaving a gap between the fence and the table?

 

[galleywood]

Looks very neat. What's the idea behind leaving a gap between the fence and the table?

I could have made it with 'zero' clearance but it is just the way it worked out initially - bear in mind that the square section steel has a radius on the corner and so does not form a 90 deg. corner.

I intend to fix the fine adjuster fence to it - it will just 'brush' the table and will be on there most of the time, except when I need the extra throat.