Router Table and Fence - Problems or Not?

[Steven Wahlert]

I’m building my first router table and need some advice.

I started with a general idea of a table design but decided to buy a fence instead of making one.

My Jessem Mast-R-Fence II arrived yesterday and I started checking its condition and alignment.

First concern is flatness of the face of the aluminum fence extrusion.
It is kinked in the center at the cutout for bits.
Using a straight edge tight against the fence on one side of the cutout, there was a 25 mil gap at the opposite end.
This was a bit alarming having read Pat Warner’s book talking about routing accuracy of 1 or 2 mils.
To correct this I shimmed one of the subfences using various combinations of index cards and paper (8 mils and 4 mils) and it was near dead even with the other subfence.

Is misalignment typical for router fences and is shimming the subfence like this a good permanent solution?

The aluminum fence has a T slot on top and another one on the face above the subfence. I’m thinking these will be used for featherboards and stops and therefore perfect alignment is not so critical. Is that right or are there uses for the T slots where the kinky extrusion would be a problem?

I would like to avoid the hassle of repackaging and returning the fence, but before deciding I would appreciate any advice on whether the kinky fence face will be a problem.

The second issue is the face of the subfence (melamine?) has a raised concentric circle (like a mini volcano) around a couple of the countersunk holes for bolting to the aluminum fence. It’s about 10 mils high. Doesn’t seem like it can be flattened (at least not with a hardwood block and hammer), so I’ll need to check with Jessem about a replacement.


Something else I learned is the Jessem brackets for mounting the fence work for a table top thickness of up to 1 and 5/16”. I’m planning on using 2 layers of ¾ MDF for my top with hardwood trim around the edge. The trim depth will match the 1 and 1/2" table thickness so I’ll need to notch it to say 1 and 1/4" at the bracket. The bracket is then screwed to the trim from below. It seems like this should work ok.


Thanks in advance for advice and any suggestions, especially on whether to keep or return the fence.

Steve

[Neil Brooks]

Hmmmm.

As to the extrusion, I might start by asking Jessem what the tolerances are that THEY accept.

The bumps from the screw-holes, though, start moving ME toward thinking ... send it back. Sounds like more work than I might want to do, to get a new RT fence to be ship-shape.

Besides ... if you have another problem, and you've futzed with it ... will they warranty it, after your "modifications ?"

Never know.

[Steve Costa]

My suggestion is to return the fence to Jessem & get your money back. Next step is to contact Woodpeckers. They make an amazing all aluminum fence. If you can afford it buy their phenolic router table. With this setup you get a premium fence and router table. You can mount their router table to you own base or buy theirs. I have had this set up for about a year and I have no complaints. I would avoid their MDF router table as they have a tendency to sag.

Steve

[glenn bradley]

Agree with others on return. At that price point there are better option IMHO.

[Stephen Cherry]

I'm certainly not a router expert, but in my opinion a strait piece of wood with a cutout for the bit woks better than just about anything.

[Steven Wahlert]

Thanks. When I talk to Jessem about the subfence bumps. will definitely ask them about their flatness tolerance for the main fence aluminum extrusion.
Overall the fence design looks very good and, except for the items I mentioned, build quality is good.

Steve

[Troy Turner]

You've got more patients than me. If I paid a good piece of money for something and I thought it wasn't right, it'd go right back. I know it sucks because you want to install and start using it. If you'd gotten it used, I'd say try and fix it up, but brand new out of the box, is brand new back in the box.

[Don Morris]

After a number of years my Bench Dog Pro fence with Riser needed to be aligned to return the face to flat. That also took a little shimming to do. But as I remember when first purchased it was flat and I don't think I would have been pleased if it wasn't for the price I paid. It probably would have gone back to the store from whence it was purchased. But I almost expect all my equipment to need periodic maintenance and realignment. At least, that's what I've come to expect or find out. If it didn't take much to get it "perfect" and I expected it to stay that way for a long while...I don't know that I would go to the effort of sending it back. Though that's a decision to be made early on.

[Ellery Becnel]

In many ways metal is just like wood. Both have built in stress. When material is removed they both relax/move. The bit
cutout is the weakest area. That is where it will most likely kink. Being a machinist .025 is a mile. There tol. might not be
yours. When paying for precision, you should get it. That is why Pat Warner is my hero. Then you have the melamine issue.
A good idea to talk to Jessem. You will get a feel for there quality and precision approach. From there you can decide if
you want to return it and look for something else.

[Bill White]

Now go about building your fence. I built mine from 3/4" mdf. Slotted it for a moveable set of faces, shellaced and waxed it. It has chip extaction and is fully adjustable. Might have cost me $30.00 total. Been usin' it for over 10 years with no probs whatsoever. So there!!!!
Bill

[Steven Wahlert]

Now go about building your fence. I built mine from 3/4" mdf. Slotted it for a moveable set of faces, shellaced and waxed it. It has chip extaction and is fully adjustable. Might have cost me $30.00 total. Been usin' it for over 10 years with no probs whatsoever. So there!!!!
Bill

I've been thinking about it!

Also looking at Woodpeckers Super Fence.
I like what I see of the design but need to do some more internet due diligence.
Anyone here SMC have experience with it?

Steve

[Greg Hines, MD]

I made my own out of 1/2" plywood, 3/4" Melamine, and T-tracks. Search for photos under my name. It has worked great, and stayed dead flat for years now. Making your own also allows you to customize it as you see fit. Mine is about 6" tall to accommodate running up against the fence if you need to.

[Steven Wahlert]

I made my own out of 1/2" plywood, 3/4" Melamine, and T-tracks. Search for photos under my name. It has worked great, and stayed dead flat for years now. Making your own also allows you to customize it as you see fit. Mine is about 6" tall to accommodate running up against the fence if you need to.

Thanks doc, will check out your design.

A a relative newbie I like to build jigs to learn and improve my skills.
I may very well end up building my own fence.

Steve

[Steve Costa]

The Woodpeckers fence is a great fence. I looked at bench dogs, kreg & jessem. None can compare. Extruded aluminum 2 piece fence which can be adjusted to accomodate the router bit size, adjustable on the outfeed side, rock solid aluminum supports behind the fence. Not cheap but the BEST fence I have ever used.:D

[Steven Wahlert]

The Woodpeckers fence is a great fence. I looked at bench dogs, kreg & jessem. None can compare. Extruded aluminum 2 piece fence which can be adjusted to accomodate the router bit size, adjustable on the outfeed side, rock solid aluminum supports behind the fence. Not cheap but the BEST fence I have ever used.:D

I like the Woodpecker design but was wondering how solidly the faces anchor to the base and if they stay aligned or need to be trued up often.
From your post sounds like no worries.

Steve

[Andrew Pitonyak]

My initial intention was to build a router table top from two pieces of MDF glued together, but I was convinced to avoid the trouble of gluing the two levels together and I purchased some 1" MDF and used that instead. I added an oak border and then laminated the top and bottom. I also built a support grid underneath the table so I do not expect it to sag.

I made my own fence from baltic birch and added hardwood front faces. When I was done the front was not flat so I hit it with a hand plane and then it was :-)

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?157936-Must-I-laminate-both-sides-of-everything-to-avoid-warping

On the second page, Bill Orbine indicated how he thought that I should set the top into the oak band, which I did.

[Steven Wahlert]

I called Jessem and described the problems with the Master Fence.
Customer service rep said they had never had issues like this and wondered if it was damaged in shipping or was previously returned as damaged. (BTW - I had purchased through Amazon).
Amazon shipped the Jessem box inside an Amazon box with extra packing. The Jessem box was not previously opened, but had obviously seen some rough handling somewhere between manufacture and packaging at Amazon. That said, there didn't appear to be any shipping damage to the fence. However, the hardware packaging was very cheap and nuts and bolts were rattling around loose all over the box.

I sent the fence back to Amazon for a refund.

In addition to the problems mentioned in the OP, I felt that the aluminum extrusion design could be stouter. There's only 1 1/8" material left on the horizontal and vertical legs after the center cutout for router bit clearance.

The Woodpeckers design still looks interesting but I'm now planning to build my own fence after the good suggestions here. That way I can make my own mistakes without paying someone else for theirs :)

Steve

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I built my router table into my table saw. My router fence is mostly a plywood box with a dust collection point from the end so that I can place my fence against my tablesaw fence (it would be more difficult to connect dust collection from the center of the fence).