Anybody made or modified a tablesaw table fence?

[Al Faulkner]

I have a 65 Delta 3hp saw. Works great but I would like to improve the fence. Any suggestions?

I was thinking of adding some sort of wood/plastic to increase the width of it to allow anti-kickback rollers etc to be added.

Some of the fences out there are very nice looking but a bit pricey.

[Loren Woirhaye]

There's a good, cheap to make fence in the FWW "Making and Modifying Machines" I think... if not it's in the one on jigs and fixtures. It's an old article so it's in those CD/DVD sets they sell.

There was also a shop-made mostly wooden version of a T-square fence that looked pretty good. I don't remember what magazine had it... it was probably over 10 years ago.

[David C. Roseman]

Al, what fence do you have on it now that you'd like to modify? Pic would be good.

[Al Faulkner]

Let me know if more pics would be better

[Rick Potter]

Hi Al,

To keep the cost down, I think I would try to fix the pitting on the hook end with some JB Weld, put a new piece of UHMW on that, and polish the tubes. Then, I would make a simple Melamine saddle to straddle the fence, bolting it all the way through, so you could attach the board buddies. Finally, you could shim the fence so it rides only on the tubes, not the table.

Keeping the table and tubes waxed will help a lot too.

Hope this is of help,
Rick P

[Al Faulkner]

Rick,
Thanks, you put into words what I was thinking and added the UHMW to the mix. Excellent ideas!

Where would I look for the UHMW? Is that similar to Teflon?

[Garth Almgren]

You should be able to get cut-to-size sheets of UHMW polyethylene from a plastics supplier.
For example, locally we have a place called TAP Plastics (http://www.tapplastics.com) that will cut you any size you want up to 96" x 48" (by 16ths) and up to 3/4" thick.

[Rick Potter]

You can get 3/4" wide sticky back rolls at Rockler, or on line from Peachtree Woodworking. They are real thin and go well on the bottom of jigs. Peachtree has a pretty good selection. I use the tape on the bottom of my Unifence.

You know, it looks like it would not be too difficult to make a whole new hook piece from hard maple, if you cannot repair the original. Also keep your eye out on CL for used fences.

RP

[Bruce Wrenn]

Do a search for Home made Biesemeyer fences. The hardest part to make, and you all ready have it, is the cam lever. Salvage the one out of your old fence.

[Rick Lizek]

HDPE from Mcmaster is a better voice than UHMW. You really should get rid of the stock fence and get a Biesemeyer or Mule.