Fence problems for Jet Contractor table saw JTS-10

[Dave Aronson]

I have a new to me Jet contractor table saw and I'm having issues with the fence. I'm not sure if it is me or the fence. The fence rides on the front rail and just floats on the back rail with a plastic bumper. The problem is once I get the width set when I lock the fence the fence squares up and I have to re-adjust the fence width. Basically the back of the fence isn't moving with the front, my previous fence on a ryobi contractor saw had a way that forced the back to move with the front.

[Trent Shirley]

I am interested in others comments on this as well as I have a similar problem with my Biesemeyer fence.
I believe the problem to be in the adjustments of the clamping mechanism on the front rail being too loose. When you move the fence you are generally moving it at or close to the front of the saw causing the other end of the fence to drag a bit in the opposite direction. When you clamp down the mechanism will pull the fence straight causing a small shift at the front and a larger shift at the back. It is something I have just been anticipating and compensating for until I got around to figuring out the proper adjustment of the fence clamp.
One thing that would help is making sure you have a nice clean slick surface for your fence to ride across to reduce friction but that is really a secondary issue.
I managed to set my fence nice and square to the channels but the extra slop before the clamp fully engages does let it throw off easy alignment to the measuring marks on the front rail.

[Dave Aronson]

Sounds like we have similar problems, I think I tend to move the fence towards the front of the fence. The surface is clean and slick with slip-it compound.

[glenn bradley]

My Beis does this but, the action is the far end being brought into alignment with the near end. If you grip your fence and position it at 4-3/16" for example and lock the handle, the far end should pull into parallel with that setting. I do not think that is what Dave A. is describing. He states that when the fence squares up it is now out of position from the blade. If the fence is aligned so that when locked, it is parallel to the blade (or miter slot if we want to get particular), then it is aligned correctly. The behavior described will likely have to be eliminated through technique. An aluminum Align-a-Rip fence I had was a great fence. I did have to apply pressure on the fence body toward the front rail when setting the measurement or it would slip position when tightening. As long as I applied a but of pressure when setting the index on the mark prior to locking, everything was great. Hopefully a similar method will solve the issue.

[Dave Aronson]

My Beis does this but, the action is the far end being brought into alignment with the near end. If you grip your fence and position it at 4-3/16" for example and lock the handle, the far end should pull into parallel with that setting. I do not think that is what Dave A. is describing. He states that when the fence squares up it is now out of position from the blade. If the fence is aligned so that when locked, it is parallel to the blade (or miter slot if we want to get particular), then it is aligned correctly. The behavior described will likely have to be eliminated through technique. An aluminum Align-a-Rip fence I had was a great fence. I did have to apply pressure on the fence body toward the front rail when setting the measurement or it would slip position when tightening. As long as I applied a but of pressure when setting the index on the mark prior to locking, everything was great. Hopefully a similar method will solve the issue.

this is the problem I'm describing. just badly....

[Bill Huber]

I have a Jet contractor saw and I replaced the fence with a Mule fence, I like it much better.

I still have the problem you are talking about, if the front rail has ANY play in it when unlocked then it can do this if you are moving the front of the fence. Once I lock the fence down it is square to the blade, now the measurement may not be just what I want but it is square.

To me it's not a big deal at all, I pull the fence over to a ruff setting, say 4 in, lock it down and then check the setting, blade to fence. I unlock the fence and tap it into the spot on setting of 4 inches and lock it down with the tape still against the fence and over the blade to check the measurement.

I think this is somewhat normal, there has to be some slop in the fence and the front rail or it would be hard to move. I only use the scale on the fence rail for the ruff settings.

[Joseph Tarantino]

my t-2 does the same thing. i just pull the fence head towards the operator position when aligning for a rip. once set this way, the fence doesn't usually deviate when locked. fences that lock front and rear, like the op's ryobi (bt3x00?), tend to move more parallel to the blade, like on my 2412. but the front/rear locking fences can be a pain to adjust for parallelism. the t-2 is a lot easier to adjust.

[Mac McQuinn]

I also have this saw(JWTS-10) w/ original fence. Did a saw tune-up recently for mitre slot to fence parallel check along with a blade parallel to Mitre slot check and both appeared to be spot on. I then noticed in checking the rearward part of Fence, I was able to move the fence approximately .020-.030 out of parallel from slot with little pressure. I don't see an adjustment for correcting this. It appears the clamping pressure at front of fence is only determining factor. Any suggestions or past experiences with this particular saw?
Thanks,
Mac

[Ken Platt]

I have that saw and fence, and know what you mean. Essentially when the fence is not locked, it can get itself a bit angled, so that it moves as you lock it down and it straightens. I have gotten in the habit of sort of pushing down on the front of the fence as I move it to keep it more square. This helps the motion as I lock it down to be less. Then, after I lock it down I check how close I am to my mark (I mostly do my measuring with one of the incra rulers, so I have a mark that I am aligning with a blade tooth tip). I only lock it loosely the first time, so it's easy to unlock, just enough to be able to tap the fence a bit until it's in good position. It usually takes less time to do than it took me to type this. A minor annoyance that has not yet made me but a new fence, although I'd love to get one with a micro adjust....

Ken

[George Gyulatyan]

I have observed similar behavior with my JPS-10 fence. I've just gotten in the habit of moving the fence to the location, clamping it, then unclamping it and tapping it to fine tune the location. Figured this was a normal behavior? Kinda makes sense to me it would do this.

[scott spencer]

I also have this saw(JWTS-10) w/ original fence. Did a saw tune-up recently for mitre slot to fence parallel check along with a blade parallel to Mitre slot check and both appeared to be spot on. I then noticed in checking the rearward part of Fence, I was able to move the fence approximately .020-.030 out of parallel from slot with little pressure. I don't see an adjustment for correcting this. It appears the clamping pressure at front of fence is only determining factor. Any suggestions or past experiences with this particular saw?
Thanks,
Mac

The vast majority of lateral pressure on your fence will come just before the blade....there's next to none at the tail. You're just proving that leverage works by pushing at the tail. Try applying the same lateral pressure before the blade and see if it moves enough to even worry about. My guess is that it'll be negligible.

To the OP, you can reduce the amount of slop in your fence by adjusting the screws that hold it against the front rail.