TS fence adjustment question...

[Michael Dunn]

I'm aligning my table saw fence. I've read that some guys deliberately have the far end a bit further from the miter slot and thus the blade to reduce the possibility of kickback with other precautions. If I were to do this, how much is acceptable for safety purposes, but still allows for a nice square/parallel cut?

I have the iGauge digi align dial indicator. I can get it dead on to .0000" if I want. Is .005" out at the rear a good compromise for kick back safety and accurate cuts?

[Jamie Buxton]

I've never understood folks who deliberately misalign the rip fence. What happens if you need to cut on the other side of the fence? You're putting yourself in trouble. Me, I find myself needing to cut on the other side to make some kinds of bevel rips.

[lowell holmes]

I'm sure my fence is out a bit. I set it by making it tight and then moving the end away from the blade until it quit binding.

I get glueline rips with it with no tapering of the cut.

[Michael Dunn]

I've never understood folks who deliberately misalign the rip fence. What happens if you need to cut on the other side of the fence? You're putting yourself in trouble. Me, I find myself needing to cut on the other side to make some kinds of bevel rips.

Do you have a right tilt saw? With a left tilt saw I don't imagine I'd be using the fence to the left of the blade. Even on my old right tilt saw I never did.

I've always been of the mindset of getting every possible adjustment on every single tool to be absolutely dead on. That must be the engineer/machinist side of me. Not that I'm actually a machinist, just that I think like that. I remember reading that some guys will have the rear end out a bit. I just wanted to try it out.

Today I noticed my TS fence was sliding a bit tightly so I checked the alignment forgetting that I have these two nylon screws that adjust the pressure on the front of the fence rail. This allows for perfect one hand sliding of the fence with zero racking. Not bad for a Chinese saw for $1000.

On another note I plan to do an in depth review of my Steel City table saw. I'm quite please with it. As well as their CS.

That being said, the 'hairline' indicator is anything but 'hairline' it's about 1/32" wide. I have to buy or make a new one.

[David Miles]

I'm aligning my table saw fence. I've read that some guys deliberately have the far end a bit further from the miter slot and thus the blade to reduce the possibility of kickback with other precautions. If I were to do this, how much is acceptable for safety purposes, but still allows for a nice square/parallel cut?

I have the iGauge digi align dial indicator. I can get it dead on to .0000" if I want. Is .005" out at the rear a good compromise for kick back safety and accurate cuts?

Hi, I have my fence pulled forward, it is only important to guide the timber to the blade you do not need the fence along side or after the blade it only guides the work to the blade. No binding kickback then.

[scott spencer]

I've never understood folks who deliberately misalign the rip fence. What happens if you need to cut on the other side of the fence? You're putting yourself in trouble. Me, I find myself needing to cut on the other side to make some kinds of bevel rips.

That'd definitely be a concern on a right tilt saw that you slide to the left of the blade for bevels, but shouldn't be a problem on a lift tilt saw. Perfect is ideal, but since nothing is, the theory behind the toe-out philosophy is to compensate for any potential deviation in the fence straightness or measurements. I wouldn't toe it out any more than ~ 0.003".

[Eric Shapin]

For what it is worth, the manual for the Shop Fox W2005/6/7 Fence (a Biesemeyer clone) calls for a deliberate 1/64 skewness of fence (page 11 in below link, see text and picture under Item 4).

http://cdn0.grizzly.com/manuals/w2005_m.pdf