Auxiliary Fence - Phenolic?

[Brandon Weiss]

I'm going to build an auxiliary fence for my TS3650. I would like to have a fence for the regular blade, and either a different aux fence for the dado set, or at a minimum a removable face for the dado set, acting kind of like a zero clearance insert. Tips, thoughts, ideas that have or haven't worked?

My thoughts are:
Build the auxiliary fence out of some 3/4" MDF. It's nice and flat and provides a nice smooth surface. Or, I could use Project Plywood from Lowes. It's face is nice and smooth, I'd just want to make sure it doesn't warp in the hot oven that is my AZ garage.

For the dado face, I have heard people talk about using Phenolic. Anybody have experience with this? Any good tips on where to get some? I've done some searching and it's not cheap. Grainger sells about the best price, 3/4" thick stuff 12" x 12" for about $35. If I do go this route, is it okay to cut the Phenolic using the woodworking blades?

[Cary Falk]

I wouldn't spend the money and go real fancy for an aux fence. I use whatever wood/plywood I have laying around. I drill 2 holes in the edges in the side and connect using the Rockler fence clamps. If you want it super slick you could wax it. I don't think high tech is really needed here. Others may chime in with other opinions though.

[Tony Bilello]

[QUOTE=Brandon Weiss;1239609]........ I would like to have a fence for the regular blade, and either a different aux fence for the dado set, or at a minimum a removable face for the dado set, acting kind of like a zero clearance insert. Tips, thoughts, ideas that have or haven't worked?
QUOTE]

My question is "why?" The only tilme I use an aux. fence is when I am making a rabit cut with a dado blade and I dont want to risk hitting my fence with the blade. I just use a 4' long scrap piece of 1/4" luan or MDF, whichever is handier. All I do is take 3 clamps and clamp the piece to the fence. Not very sophicated, but it only takes 30 seconds to put on the 3 clamps.
If you want zero clearance for your dado blades, why not make a bunch of zero clearance inserts? I have them for all of my blades. http://sawmillcreek.org/album.php?albumid=191
In my case, everything was made from scrap.
Go past any cabinet and they will gladly give you a pile of Formica for free. I give mine away all of the time. The MDF is usually scrap from my garbage can. The only thing you would probably have to buy is the Contact Cement. And................it will give you a feel for working with plastic laminate which incidently is very easy.

[Doug Shepard]

I recently replaced the UHMW fence faces on my PM66 with phenolic ply and I've been happy with it.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showpost.php?p=1188310&postcount=20
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showpost.php?p=1188310&postcount=201
I had enough left to make an aux fence piece that gets clamped on (also with Rockler fence clamps) for doing rabbets with the dado blade. The back side of the aux fence can be used for cutting thin stuff (plastic laminate) if I flip it end-for-end. PM66 recommends a 1/8" gap between the table and fence faces so I built the phenolic fence with that same gap but laminate will slip underneath that.

[glenn bradley]

LOML brings me home pieces of 7/16-ish particle board that get used for dividing up pallet stacks in their warehouse. I rip them into strips, drill 3 holes and use Rocklers universal clamps. The hole drilled at the end is for hanging them on a peg.

[Chip Lindley]

Most Aux fences are very sacrificial in nature. Don't invest a great amount in something which will be chewed up from trial and error anyhow. You will find that different jobs demand different Aux fences at times. MDF is plenty cheap and and slick, and new fence pieces can be made in minutes to suit a particular project.

[Wayne Cannon]

I haven't been able to find phenolic-faced plywood locally, except in 2'x4' pieces at Woodcraft. I can get the less-expensive MDO plywood (heavily used for outdoor signs), and it appears to be quite similar. MDO plywood has a resin-impregnated kraft paper surface -- from what I read, it is very similar to Formica, but thinner. I use it for router table fences, and it hasn't worn through. It has a very smooth surface, an excellent exterior adhesive, and an ugly kraft-paper brown color. It doesn't have the thin hardwood plies of Baltic birch.

[Denny Rice]

Brandon,

I have good success in building my sacrificial fences out of either 1/2 or 3/4" melamine. It's nice and smooth and will not warp like plywood or regular wood tends to. Its very stable and the best part per board ft. its cheap. I have even taken the paste I wax my table saw top with and wax the melamine. Very slick. Depending what kind of fence you own, go to Norms website www.newyankee.com he done a series on "jigs" and built a variety of different sacrificial fences. Just a thought.

[Brandon Weiss]

My reasons for the aux fence are several. First, I would like to protect my fence from accidental contact with the blade. I could just be careful, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. My TS3650 has an excellent fence assembly, I'd like to keep it in pristine condition as long as possible. Also, I'd like to have the slicker surface on the fence without waxing if possible. I'm going to wax the table top, but would like to minimize the wax usage. Plus, the slicker surface will make for better cuts. I'm finding (the 3650 is my first "real" table saw) that feed rate is important for good clean cuts with my TS. With a slicker surface, I'll be better able to control the feed rate I do believe. This is where the phenolic and the dado set will come in to play. As mentioned, the phenolic won't wear like other materials will and I believe it will be able to withstand a little incidental contact better than the MDF aux fence would. Plus, the aux fence, raised nice and high above the table surface, will allow for tenon jigs. I think WOOD Magazine had one this month that would ride on and hang over the top of the aux fence.

Another thought is to use the overhang in the 3650 rails to attach a router table top. The aux fence could have a trimout for the router bits. That would be extremely handy to have. The fence is already there and just slides into position for use as a router table fence.

[Josiah Bartlett]

If you are really set on using phenolic, you could make a little sacrificial dado throat insert out of plywood for rabbeting. it sounds like you have already convinced yourself and just want us to back you up. I personally don't find that it matters much but I'm also not a production shop. I just use whatever straight plywood or melamine I have around and chuck the thing in the burn pile when it gets too warped or beat up. I haven't had anything warp, but I do have a shop that pretty much stays between 55-75 degrees all year round.

I have the Shop Fox beisemeyer clone with UHMW faces and I drilled and tapped the top of the rail to accept a piece of T-track. This makes it easy to scab together H and h shapes for stable sacrificial or tall fences- I just use bolts to hold them to the track. (Those Rockler clamps look cool too). I don't really find that plywood causes a friction problem on my fence.

I have one fence that is actually a slider. Its a good fitting tall fence that is longer than the saw fence, and is intended to slide along it. It works a lot like the tenoning jig but you can clamp a panel to it and use it for raising panels with the saw blade. It slides well on the fence and holds perpendicular to the table pretty well.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
Woodcraft carries throat plates for the TS3650/3660. They run about $25.00.
They make excellent patterns to use when making your own throat plates out of 1/2" MDF. The stock Ridgid throat plate has that little metal hook at the back. I was leery of using a pattern bit w/that hook there.

For sacrificial fences, I use the 11" wide Melamine shelving from Lowes.
A 10' section runs about $11.00.
It's fairly cheap, stable & slick.

Being "borg quality" Melamine, CA glue stick to it pretty well.

I made a "saddle" type fence that's the full length of the stock fence & stradles both sides. It has two holes in the top section that accept 1/4" bolts to lock it in place. W/out the bolts, the whole fence slides ala a tenoning jig.
One side is the full (well, nearly full - since the shelf stock has a bull nose that needs to be removed) 11" high and the other side sits on top of the fence & is 3/4" above it.
Nicest thing about it is once you get it all dimensioned out and fitted, you can make up 4 or 5 of them out of section of shelving and set them off to the side for later use.

Here's a couple of shots of the MDF prototype. The Melamine one is buried somewhere in all the mess. The drill press table shows the Melamine shelving I'm talking about.

The Melamine glides real well on the fence. The MDF binds really badly, even when waxed.
Out in AZ where you are, you could probably get away with using MDF. It's just too humid here in Ohio for it.

(P.S. Pardon the mess. I'm currently in "on site" mode, where I've been working on a rehab for the last 6 weeks and everything in the shop all strewn about.)

[Howard Rosenberg]

Cheeeeap!

That's the only practical way to go.

Use up scraps of MDF, buy up scraps at the HD saw area the next time you're there.

Done!

My 2C

Howard