Router fence location advice sought

[Scott T Smith]

This past weekend I installed a Sidewinder router lift into the side table extension of my tablesaw, and am in the process of installing a JesseEm Mast-R-Fence router fence (Had I done my homework first, I probably would have copied Pete Janke's design and built an add-on for my existing tablesaw fence. Oh well...).

In order to inset the JessEm fence locating tracks into the top of my extension table, I modified the tracks by removing the side mount. This leaves me with a track assembly that will drop down into a groove in the top of the table, providing a flush surface when done and not interfering with my tablesaw fence travel.

I have a question though regarding the location of the fence tracks relative to the center of the router collet. JessEm's instructions advise me to locate the tracks so that the front of the fence can be located anywhere from 5-1/2" in front of the router collet to 8-1/2" behind the collet.

I can understand the rear depth, but am having a hard time understanding the logic behind being able to move the fence so far in front of the router. If I follow JessEm's instructions, when the fence is slid all of the way forward, the dust collection port on the back side of the fence is in front of the router collet (see photo below).

IMG_1964.jpg

Can anybody give me a scenario of when I would want to slide the fence so far in front of the router and why?

Thanks.

Scott

[Andrew Pitonyak]

It seems absurd that you would desire to move the fence past the router bit and have the dust collection hose connector facing the bit. Was the intent that you can turn the fence around so that the dust collection port properly faces the bit? If so, you might want to do this to change feed direction....

I built my own fence that has the dust collection port on the side (rather than the front / rear face). Just the same, I need to face the fence in the proper direction if I want to use dust collection with it. I don't have tracks, I just set it against my table saw fence, so I never had that particular problem.