Table Saw, Fence and rail system UK

[MWood]

Does anyone have some advice on trying to find a decent aftermarket Fence and rail system to replace the OEM fence on a portable table saw?
Ideally a 40" rail,
Good strong lock,
Remains true without needing to be re-aligned every time you breathe on it like the factory fence does!


Its as if i can only find 2 types available in the UK!
Either a similar size and quality to the standard fence or the Incra rail system...
I would like something at a more down to earth price than Incra and a more conventional type that doesn't need twice as much space right of the table!

 

[MikeJhn]

I have this on my band saw and it keeps true and is very solid: http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-de ... ade-102426 there are others on the Axminster site if you look around.

Mike

 

[Sawdust Sam]

I fitted this to my TS http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-ri ... ade-100205

 

[bawdseymatt]

I also fitted the "Axminster Rip Fence Upgrade" to my first (cheap) table saw and made it into something very workable.

 

[Eric The Viking]

It's worth noting that the "de-luxe" Axminster rip fence is presently quite a bit cheaper than the other one.

I've just bought two sets - one for the bandsaw and one for the table saw. They arrived yesterday, but i won't get round to fitting them for a while (work is getting in the way of woodwork!).

They look excellent - strongly made and neat. I'm in two minds about having a tall fence for the table saw, but the traveller will make it easy to fit something else if it doesn't work out, keeping the sliding part and its rail: as both look really good. It's also worth mentioning that the fence can slide along its axis, so it will act as a short fence just by pulling it towards you and clamping it up again. This strikes me as quite a good idea, as you still get the whole length of the fence for alignment when ripping, but safely. Time will tell on that one too though.

The actual fences on mine are anodised dark brown, not aluminium natural colour as in the pictures. It means they look nice presently. I'm hoping it will keep them fairly slippery too.

I took a deep breath before placing the order: they aren't all that cheap, but I'm pleased so far.

E.

 

[MikeJhn]

Review of both here: axminster-rip-fence-upgrade-for-record-power-bs350s-bandsaw-t104848-15.html

Mike

 

[MWood]

That axminister deluxe fence looks a lot better in that thread than the images on their site!
No wonder it's always on sale (£86 atm) as it looks like just another sub-standard factory fence on their site!

It's still a little short for my requirements though and i probably wouldn't be able to refit the right extension table using that fence!
My work contract got knocked back by a few weeks so I decided to crack on and make one! Was originally toying with angle iron and box section but didn't have any small enough laying about.

I used 3/4" wbp hardwood ply to make the rail and the bulk of the fence, with a few scraps of 1/2" shuttering ply for the cam lock mounts (to keep dimensions down a little)
Rail is 51" long and will be around 5" deep when mounted.
Fence is 32" x 3" and 4-1/2" wide (7" longer at the infeed end and about 2 to 3" longer at the outfeed end than the factory fence)

Took 2 days including glue up and PU finish, the pin for the cam lock is a long M16 concrete anchor with the threads cut off and the locking sleeve removed!
All the ply was scraps I had laying around and the hardware including screws, t brads, and longer machine screws to mount to the table cost around £12 total!

All I need to do is fit it and square it up, hopefully get that done this evening.

I can't take the credit for it's design as it's a basic t-square design from various youtube vids with my own adaptation!

I would post a pic but photobucket locked my account... Get this then...
They locked my account for using it for image hosting!
No really, I used an 'image hosting website' to host images! Go figure?

 

[MikeJhn]

You don't need to image host on this site, go to "Full Editor" and upload the file from your picture gallery, you have to "Choose file" then "Add File", "Place in line" then "Submit"

Mike

 

[MWood]

Max file size is only 256Kb, either im restricted being a new member, (low post cont) or this forum is really out dated?

I will try and get some pics posted from the main computer this evening. I can't resize the photos from my phone

 

[Roughcut]

Max file size is only 256Kb, either im restricted being a new member, (low post cont) or this forum is really out dated?

I will try and get some pics posted from the main computer this evening. I can't resize the photos from my phone

I usually resize to about 20% of the original size and that comes out about right.

 

[MWood]

Finally, got pics resized!

With hindsight i probably shouldn't have bothered with making the outfeed end of the fence any longer than the cast table, but at least its easier to cut it down than to add extra :lol:

Locks nice and tight, with minimal pressure on the lock handle. I can easily shorten the handle by 2" or more (simple cam, 50mm diam with 16mm pivot hole at 3.0mm off centre)
No more deflection at the far end than any other good quality metal T-square fence only when excessive force is applied and no deflection under correct use.

The table mounting rail has 10mm overdrilled holes to allow for squaring of the clamp rail, I could have overdrilled by just 6mm and still had plenty of play for alignment. It was less than 2mm out over its length when fitted.

Photo shows 18mm ply used for the cam lock mounts, but ended up using 1/2" instead as i forgot to account for the lock handle when deciding the max width of the fence!

I also added a back rail to allow for mounting of the extension table. I didn't take a pic of that, its just a 60mm and 20mm strip of ply stacked!

Only thing i could really do to finish it off is to add a couple of strips of teflon tape or hdpe block to the underside of the fence!
Its not super heavy, but has a good solid chunky weighty feel to it! (12mm hardwood ply would have been more than enough but i didn't have any laying about)

Ps.
Really sorry for skipping between metric and imperial, i'm a sod for doing it as am an 'in between' generation! My old man taught me imperial whilst it was metric at school :wink:
Older hands appreciate it, but the apprentice really hates me for it! 'Cut that at 640 and cut this at 19-3/8 ' Really screws with his head!

Pps. Perhaps i'm just really backwards, but does anyone else thats right handed have a tendency of measuring/set out upside down?
I lay the meter rule upside down and work from right to left marking below the rule not above it... I'm just weird, aren't I?