Router table fence for metal table saw extension wing?

[Michael Poller]

Seeking the advice of the enormous amounts of experience on this forum. :)

My current plan is to build my router table as part of a table saw router extension. This will, as many have done before me, work best for my smallish basement shop in terms of available floor space.

I really like the Quality Grinding extensions and products like them.

I understand the limitations of these extensions in terms of using the router table plate or lift system that the table is made to fit. Once that heavy metal is cut, that's kind of it.

What I'm not sure of is what the limitations for this type of setup are around fences.

Current table saw is a Griz 1023SL and I would like the fence to work with the fence rails for the table saw. How would that work in terms of building my own fence? I see how some of the home built fences work just not clear on how I would get it locked down on the table on the fence rails.

What products are out there to purchase that would accomplish this goal?

I tried searching a bit but may not have been using the correcting terminology to really find what I am looking for. :confused:

[Neal Clayton]

the easiest ways to accomplish this are...

a) bolt something to the top of the table saw fence
b) clamp something on the side of the table saw fence
c) pay a few hundred bucks for incra's system that incorporates them all in one fence package

rockler sells some clamps specifically for option B, for about 20 or 30 bucks.

i went with option A, and used freud's fence. requires some re-engineering of their fence to make it work though.

never tried C, although i'm sure some on here have.

[harry strasil]

I made my own table saw. I don't have a lift for my router, its just a Sears router with a fixed base and a plunge base. I just hole sawed a hole in what would be an extension on a boughten saw and removed the plastic plate and mounted the fixed base under the saw table. Then I made a fence with a place for a shopvac nozzle on the back side and adjustment slots for the hold down hardware, and bored and tapped some 1/4 inch holes to affix the fence to the top. I am mostly a Neander but do have several power tools.

[Mark Carlson]

Michael,

If you have a box style fence you can easily make a router fence that slips over your fence. Or, you can just clamp a sacrificial fence to your fence.

I have a Quality Grinding extension and I use it with an Incra LS fence. I use magjigs to lock the fence down to the table.

~mark

[Michael Poller]

I made my own table saw. I don't have a lift for my router, its just a Sears router with a fixed base and a plunge base. I just hole sawed a hole in what would be an extension on a boughten saw and removed the plastic plate and mounted the fixed base under the saw table. Then I made a fence with a place for a shopvac nozzle on the back side and adjustment slots for the hold down hardware, and bored and tapped some 1/4 inch holes to affix the fence to the top. I am mostly a Neander but do have several power tools.

Great idea and I love the ingenuity!! Plus the opportunity to buy more tools since I don't own much for metal working to make large cuts and holes like that. :D

But I'd like something more easily removable for cutting sheet goods and such.


Originally Posted by Mark Carlson

Michael,

If you have a box style fence you can easily make a router fence that slips over your fence. Or, you can just clamp a sacrificial fence to your fence.

I have a Quality Grinding extension and I use it with an Incra LS fence. I use magjigs to lock the fence down to the table.

~mark

Mark - I like that idea alot as well. For my needs I think the sacrificial fence connected to a piece that slides over my existing fence would work. Another option that sounds decent also is the home made fence using a mag-jig magnet as a lock down.

Do you mean you are using mag-jig magnets to lock the incra fence system to the table when using it?

[Mark Carlson]

Yes, the magjigs clamp the fence to the steel table. Here's the thread I created showing this setup. Last weekend I added a woodpecker dust hood under the table. That turned out to be easy to mount.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=101009

[Doug Shepard]

I got my QG extension ordered last week and I'm still waiting for the new HTC mobile base I need for an end cabinet to support the heavier extension. I asked the same fence question a month or so ago and will probably go with the Woodhaven fence Bruce Page posted about
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=98335

[Chip Lindley]

There is no reason you cannot use your TS fence as the basis for a router fence, assuming you have long rails extending beyond the CG router wing. An accessory fence to slip over, or clamp to your TS fence will do you just fine. It can have all the niceities and accuracy of *store-bought* fence SYSTEMS. Don't make it any harder than it has to be to provide a fence for your new router extension!

I find the notion that router fences must be adjustable to within .001" insults my intelligence. With 25 years experience using routers with fences, close adjustments can be made much more economically than those *Rube Goldberg* set-ups such as the Incra. I do not have any Incra friends, BUT thats the way it goes!......

[John Keeton]

Michael, I have the 1023 with the router extension wing. This is the fence that I built for mine. Very easy build, and great dust p/u. I get very little on the floor.

As others mentioned, I used a magna switch. It locks very tight, and I feel the same as Chip on the lack of need for micro adjust on a fence. If you have further interest let me know and I will be glad to offer more pics or details.

By the way, I have holes drilled in mine and it hangs on the wall on two nails when not in use.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=90392

[Mark Carlson]

I was offering a suggestion on how to lock a fence down to a steel table using a magjig not proposing that one needs an Incra. An Incra fence is not a "Rube Goldberg" device. Its a fence with a screw that can be adjusted easily and does the job well. Hardly a complicated device that does a simple thing. I would agree that its an expensive device that does a simple thing. I could get the same results with a straight stick, a couple of clamps, a stop block and some postits. It just wouldn't be as fun.

~mark



There is no reason you cannot use your TS fence as the basis for a router fence, assuming you have long rails extending beyond the CG router wing. An accessory fence to slip over, or clamp to your TS fence will do you just fine. It can have all the niceities and accuracy of *store-bought* fence SYSTEMS. Don't make it any harder than it has to be to provide a fence for your new router extension!

I find the notion that router fences must be adjustable to within .001" insults my intelligence. With 25 years experience using routers with fences, close adjustments can be made much more economically than those *Rube Goldberg* set-ups such as the Incra. I do not have any Incra friends, BUT thats the way it goes!......

[Sonny Edmonds]

I'm not sure what you are looking for eggzackary, Michael.
But here's some pictures of my home groan fence and how I mounted it, and just the two hold down knobs removes it as well.
In the foremost blue corner there is a big black knob that looks like a router handle. There's one in the other side corner as well. The look like handles from a 7518 PC fixed base router because they are.
Into them I put an automotive stud with 3/8" fine threads on the knob end, and 3/8 NC on the other, about 2" long.
In the table, underneath, are 3/8" T-nuts that the studs screw into.
When the studded knobs are removed, the entire fence assembly can be removed from the side table.
The router lift cranks down and disappears into the table. And the OSS can also be removed to allow a blank plate set there to free up the side table of all obstructions.
It is very, very rare that I need that side table at all, so the RF and OSS pretty much just live there all the time.
Was I to mount my RT fence on a wing location like you want, I'd do it the same way, but drill and tap the wing for the hold down knobs.
In the second picture I used the same idea here to make mounting and removing my feeder easy. Once it is set down under the TS, all that is left is a couple of 3/8" threaded holes.

[Chip Lindley]

I was offering a suggestion on how to lock a fence down to a steel table using a magjig not proposing that one needs an Incra. An Incra fence is not a "Rube Goldberg" device. Its a fence with a screw that can be adjusted easily and does the job well. Hardly a complicated device that does a simple thing. I would agree that its an expensive device that does a simple thing. I could get the same results with a straight stick, a couple of clamps, a stop block and some postits. It just wouldn't be as fun. ~mark

Sorry Mr. Carlson, but I was not referencing your post. But now that you draw my attention to it, perhaps *Rube Goldberg* was not the right term. Perhaps *Western Woodworking Decadence* is more fitting. Einstein said it best: "Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler."

Those "LS" tablesaw and router fences are the worst! Thats a lot of wasted real estate just for *micrometer precision*. The fact that Incra offends my sensitivities is JUST ME. Many buy their stuff and they make a much better living than I do.

I never thought of my woodworking as *Fun*. Making things of wood and acquiring and maintaining my tools is an avocation and a calling, which gives me great satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment. Thats a bit more than just having *FUN*.