Resaw Fence Blues

[Julie Moriarty]

I have Jet 18" bandsaw that's about 10-15 years old. It works fine but the stock fence isn't the best.

I have some 8/4 lumber I'm trying to resaw to some pretty exact dimensions, trying to get three (3) 1/2" thicknesses out of it when planed. I built a tall fence and was able to resaw two lengths but while working on the third I noticed the cut looked a little thicker. When I checked, I found the fence had slipped. Maybe my fault because I just polished and waxed the cast iron tables in the shop about a week ago. They are like Teflon.

So I did my best to tune up the stock fence and butted it up to the fence I made. Again, two lengths, no problem, then by the third it slipped again. I have a lot more lumber to resaw (up to 9" wide) and just want a fence that will stay put, is tall, and square to the table. I can't find one anywhere for an 18" bandsaw. The table, BTW, is about 19" square.

This shouldn't be that hard! A 14" bandsaw? No problem finding a decent resaw fence. But even Jet doesn't make one. I've heard talk about the Laguna Driftmaster that has been great. And I've read some poor reviews from owners of non-Laguna bandsaws, one so bad the guy said he would have to have a machine shop tune it.

The new blade is awesome. The saw handles the load just fine. I have the work supported on both ends and a tall featherboard that works like a charm. But the fence is giving me fits!

Any help?

[Jay Jolliffe]

You could always try some stick on sand paper on the bottom of it. Won't slide then.

[Gus Dundon]

I suggest you buy band saw fence. It has better and stronger quick clamp that holds the fence so that it will not move.

[Julie Moriarty]

I suggest you buy band saw fence. It has better and stronger quick clamp that holds the fence so that it will not move.
What bandsaw fence are you referring to?

[john lawson]

Try this one.


http://www.lagunatools.com/bandsaw-driftmaster

good luck

[Thomas Hotchkin]

Juli
Just my two cent. You might hang a weight off the end off fence clamp handle to keep tension on over center knob. Resawing tall stock I add a wood block clamped to table on outfeed end fence to keep it from shifting over. Tom

[david brum]

You can also get a fence for the Grizzly 513 or 514 series (http://www.grizzly.com/products/Re-Saw-Fence-Complete-For-G0513/H7588) saws for reasonable money. They are generally well regarded, although I'm sure not as nice as the Laguna. I believe that Kreg will also sell you a longer fence to retrofit their 14" fence. I have owned both and prefer the Grizzly version.

[ken masoumi]

Julie,may be you will eventually have to by an expensive BS fence for your application but please before you do that ,have a look at this video (by Tom Casper the editor of American Woodworker Magazine)about how to build a universal bandsaw fence,I made one just like the one in the video and I tell you it's very precise and the cost was about $5 for the MDF,,I already had a miter gauge from my table saw and a couple of F clamps and it was done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpbwH9510MY

[Kelby Van Patten]

I have the Drift Master fence and I love it. I use it on a Laguna bandsaw; I don't know how well it would fit your Jet.

[Curt Harms]

A couple clamps, one on each end seem like a good inexpensive first step. I'm certain the Laguna driftmaster fence is a fine piece of machinery. It's also $395. 2 F or C clamps, one front and one back are 5% of that. If this is a frequent operation, it might be worthwhile upgrading the fence. Try to figure out why the Jet fence is working itself loose? Or clamp a stop on the non-stock side of the rail, another stop on the table against the outfeed side of the fence?

[John Bailey]

Here are few thoughts -- admittedly grasping at straws because everything else has been covered.

- Check to make sure the feather board is not pushing too much. Most fence systems do a good job at downward pressure, but can be moved laterally more easily.

- I had a similar problem that ended up being a table alignment issue. The first few cuts I made would not be noticeably different, but in fact, they were. By the time I got to the 3rd or 4th cut, it was noticeably different. Nothing I tried worked until I checked the table alignment and found it was quite a bit off. After fixing that, I've not any more trouble.

- Make sure the edge of the board that sits on the table is square to the fence. I've found that if this is the case you don't even need to have a very tall fence. However, if it isn't square to the fence, even with a feather board, it causes problems and tends to have the operator push too hard against the fence.

I have the same problem with finding a fence. I've got a vintage Oliver bandsaw. I can buy an Oliver fence, but at $650 I couldn't justify it. I made a very useful fence that looks like a t-square. The T makes sure every thing is aligned with out any fuss.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k301/JohnBailey_01/525d68b4695e9a620fc5aef7b0cffec0.jpg

it works fine for smaller pieces. If you notice, there are some holes on the board that sits on the table. That's to attach a higher (3" or 4", I can't remember) fence. This system has worked well for up to 9 3/4" resawing. That's the saw's max. Most of the time I just use spring clamps. When doing larger resaws, over 3", I'll add a couple of F clamps on both sides. Sometimes, on small pieces like you see in the picture, I just hold the fence with my left hand and move the piece with my right hand with no clamps.

Like I said, I'm grasping at straws a bit but you might find something useful.

John

[Jeff Duncan]

Unless your fence lock is complete junk, you have too much pressure on it. If your bandsaw is tuned relatively well and the blade is new, you need very little pressure against the fence. I don't use featherboards on the bandsaw myself, but if you feel you need them set them with very little pressure. All they need to do is keep the stock from coming away from the fence, they shouldn't be forcing it too tightly. I would start there before trying to fix something that probably is not broken. If it's still a concern though I'd just grab a clamp and throw it on there....problem solved without spending any more money!

Anyway just my two cents.....good luck,
JeffD

[Brian Kincaid]

Maybe put a rubber grommet (sp?) or piece of leather under the outfeed side of the fence before you clamp it. Might hold a little better to a slick table.
If your fence is okay but has a tendencey to slip, a clamp on the outfeed side should be a good solution.

-Brian

[Jim Matthews]

A couple clamps, one on each end seem like a good inexpensive first step. I'm certain the Laguna driftmaster fence is a fine piece of machinery. It's also $395. 2 F or C clamps, one front and one back are 5% of that. If this is a frequent operation, it might be worthwhile upgrading the fence. Try to figure out why the Jet fence is working itself loose? Or clamp a stop on the non-stock side of the rail, another stop on the table against the outfeed side of the fence?

+1 on this simple, effective solution. You might need clamps with a deep reach, or blocking underneath.
This his how I do it with my stock fence backing up the large resaw fence.

Resaw fence clamped to the stock fence laterally through access holes, and to the table from underneath with "F" clamps.

I expect you're getting vibration from too high a feed rate, at the middle of the cut. If the sawdust can't escape, the motor is working very hard.
That can induce some slippage at the drive wheels, and vibration to loosen your fence.

Slow and steady with a sharp blade.

[ed vitanovec]

I have the Laguna Driftmaster on my 18" Rikon, it is built really heavy duty. I may redesign the universal mounts for my saw, the mounts are okay and I know I can design a better mount specifically for my saw. The fence is easy to adjust and has worked well for me, I am also using the resaw King blades which cut well too. I know the Driftmaster is expensive and I think worth it if you do a lot of resawing. There is a magazine I saw at lowes this week on shop tools and there was a review on resaw fences, you should get the magazine and see what the reviews are recommending.

[Julie Moriarty]

I think the problem is the size and weight of the lumber I'm resawing. It's upwards of 75 pounds and 9' long, 8/4 sapele up to 9" wide. That short section of fence, just as you're feeding in the wood, I've been relying on to keep the wood parallel with the fence. What you see in the picture below is a piece of 3/4" MDF screwed to the stock fence. I had just tuned up the fence and it seemed to be holding pretty well. The problem is there's a small piece of UHMW plastic that is attached to a metal piece that the lever on the handle applies pressure to in order to lock it in place. I have done everything to keep that piece of UHMW in place but it just keeps slipping. And it's too thin to screw it in place.

http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Kitchen%20Cabinets/resaw_03_zps0102b26f.jpg

When the fence holds, it's pretty nice!
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Kitchen%20Cabinets/resaw_05_zps76e23100.jpg

I finally had to admit the Jet fence was garbage. I found a place where they sell the Driftmaster for $325. So I ordered it. In the meantime I'm making a new cabinet for the new cooktop/pop-up vent. But that's another story. I don't really think they designed the combo for a 24" deep cabinet.

[john lawson]

That is a good price for the Driftmaster. Good score!

[John TenEyck]

Julie,may be you will eventually have to by an expensive BS fence for your application but please before you do that ,have a look at this video (by Tom Casper the editor of American Woodworker Magazine)about how to build a universal bandsaw fence,I made one just like the one in the video and I tell you it's very precise and the cost was about $5 for the MDF,,I already had a miter gauge from my table saw and a couple of F clamps and it was done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpbwH9510MY

Thanks for posting this - pure genius.

John

[Julie Moriarty]

I ordered the Driftmaster tow days ago and it arrived today. That was quick! If this doesn't work I'm selling everything and buying a sailboat. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

[Curt Harms]

I ordered the Driftmaster tow days ago and it arrived today. That was quick! If this doesn't work I'm selling everything and buying a sailboat. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

I don't know about that one. It seems like woodworking represents a more leisurely journey to the poor house :D. I hope the driftmaster works out for you.

[John Bailey]

I ordered the Driftmaster tow days ago and it arrived today. That was quick! If this doesn't work I'm selling everything and buying a sailboat. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Or, like me, buy yourself a 60 year old wooden sailboat. That'll keep you in woodworking and sailing.


http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k301/JohnBailey_01/216a724277a291098a593f6c9ce87fc4.jpg

[Brian Kincaid]

Or, like me, buy yourself a 60 year old wooden sailboat. That'll keep you in woodworking and sailing.





John,
What's that saying about the happiest days of a boat owner's life?
J/K enjoy!

-Brian

[John Bailey]

John,
What's that saying about the happiest days of a boat owner's life?
J/K enjoy!

-Brian

The two happiest days in a boat owner's life is the day you buy the boat and the day you sell it.

I'm still working on the first day.

John

[Julie Moriarty]

I hope the driftmaster works out for you.

Thanks Curt,

Well, it was easy enough to mount the rail and set the fence, but I already knew I was in for a let down, of sorts. The cast iron table is 19" x 19.5". When ripping with the old fence I could get 17.5" horizontally (18.5" depth minus 1" for the fence). The new fence is 2.5" wide, so I lose 1.5" there. Nothing you can do about that. But then I lose another 2.5" because of the location of the rail. Overall, I lose 4" of horizontal depth.

I mounted the universal bracket as far back on the table as I could, then used the farthest threaded hole on the rail (so the maximum length of rail extends back) and slid the mounting stud as far back as possible in the bracket. I can only get the 2.5" back if I mount some bar stock to the table so I can mount the universal bracket beyond the edge of the table.

The other issue that came up was as I slid the fence back, the far end falls off the table. The stock setup had a rail on back side to prevent that.

I took the whole thing off and am working on using parts from the old fence to make things work better.

[Myk Rian]

Seems like an awful lot of trouble, and expense.
I use the 6" tall fence I made for my router table, clamp it, and use a feather board on the bottom side.

[Mike Goetzke]

I have a Griz 17" saw and I added the Laguna DM fence but I didn't pay full price plus they had a deal of resaw king blades with purchase and I sold my stock Griz fence to help pay for it. Anyhow, I really struggled with re-sawing before I got the DM and now I'm almost an expert. I'm a hobbyist so I justified the fence when I could save lots of wood $ if I could resaw thick stock myself. I like it so much I even bought the tall fence for it.

Mike