HTC multi fence system, add-on for table saw

[johnelliott]

I'm thinking of treating myself to one of these
http://www.rutlands.co.uk/cgi-bin/psPro ... 1,0,0,1|5|
(£269.95 from Rutlands). The rip fence on my EB PKF255 is ok for up to about 550mm, then I have to slide the extention out and it's all a bit of messing about. I would consider other makes, but probably not the Incra which is optimised for imperial. Anyone got one, or something similar? I need at least a metre's width of rip capacity

BTW, it's for use on sheet materials uo to 20mm thickness. I consider this type of fence unsuitable for hardwood due to the lack of a way to shorten the fence

John

 

[Philly]

Hi John
I was reading about this fence in one of the American mags-it's a Biesemeyer type fence. The facing do remove so you can add on jigs, different facings or a short fence (so you can use it for hardwoods!)
Should be pretty good (if the one on my Xcaliber is anything to go by :lol: )
cheers
Philly

 

[Ian Dalziel]

John,
I'm not to sure this will work well on your type of saw, the way the fence works it has an angle on the front of it about 14" long around 5" of it stick past either side of the fence this is then pulled tight to clamp itself rigid.
The PKF saw from memory the sliding table is right up against the left hand side of the blade and if you wanted to cut something less than 125mm the angle of the fence hits off the sliding table not allowing you to use the sliding table. I beleive you can push the sliding table forward enough to allow the fence for smaller cuts but its either use one or the other not both.
My friend made a copy of this fence for his PKF and he came up against this problem
the fence however is supposed to be fantastic according to some of the reviews, sits there nice and rigid

If i havent explained too clearly let me know and i'll try and draw a diagram

regards
Ian

 

[woodshavings]

Hi Ian,
This is interesting - I have been thinking about replacing the fence on my Maxi 26 -this is a weak point on an otherwise excellent machine.

The Maxi fence is supported from the front rail only, there is no rear support rail. The distance from LH side of the blade to the sliding table is about 110 mm. Do you think the HTH is a likely candidate?

John

 

[Ian Dalziel]

John,
110mm might be enough clearance but i dont have exact measurments of the HTC fence, it would possibly be worth doing a rough mock up in MDF to try and see if it will fit before purchase.
I can only comment on the EB PKF because i saw its drawbacks on my friends saw

regards
Ian

 

[woodshavings]

Thanks - I will need to get the full spec of the HTH - they don't have a Web site

I was also very interested in your article in GWW with your fence system ..maybe I should adapt that.

Thanks,

John

 

[Ian Dalziel]

John,
My style fence is one of many and could be adapted for use, the issue is out in a week or two, even if its a mock up version it will give you a good idea if the HTC will fit your type of saw.
From what i've seen with regards to the HTC it would work fine on saws that dont have a sliding carriage too close to the blade. Looking at another picture of the PKF saw it definately wouldnt allow close in cutting ie 100-125mm would be the smallest you could cut before the front angle of the fence hits the sliding carriage

regards
Ian

 

[johnelliott]

Ian
Thanks for the info, I hadn't realised there was so much of the fence on the left hand side, now that I do I realised that it will indeed hit the sliding table on narrower cuts. I may still get one and use a spacer to get closer to the blade, though fortunately I rarely need to cut anything narrower than about 200mm.
I'm happy with the way the sliding table runs right close to the blade, it makes using the ST to straighten waney-edged boards very quick and easy. Main drawback is that I can't fit a zero-clearance insert
John