Bandsaw fence - magnetic or regular?

[Mark Gibney]

I aim on making a fence for my bandsaw, either the conventional type or a magnetic fence.
I'd like to get some feedback on the magnetic fence is someone has used one.

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These are screenshots. The magnetic fence is designed by Vogt Toolworks. You position the fence and engage the magnets. The fence has a lip that registers against the front edge of the table to keep it aligned with the blade.

I like the idea of the magnetic fence. It's seems neater, without the cumbersome plywood rail on the front.
The basic fence can have resaw attachments that you can pop on and off too.
But looks can be deceiving and I'd like to hear how it is in real life. Speculations are welcome too.
thanks, Mark

[Matthew Hills]

What saw do you have?
Magswitches aren't especially cheap, as I recall; price of a fence with rail may be comparable.

[Mark Gibney]

Matthew I actually have a Davis & Wells 20".

Two mag-switches will come to between $70 and $90 depending on the strength.

[Randy Heinemann]

I only have experience with Carter the Products MagFence; not one I made. I feel that the MagFence was one of my better purchases. It allows quick setup for both resawing and regular ripping on the bandsaw. I would advise that, when you make the fence, you make it long enough to reach the full dimension of the table from front to back (front meaning the side you stand on to push wood through the blade), but maybe that is already obvious to you. I like the Magfence much better than the fence that came with my bandsaw. The bonus is that you should be able to use it on other tools with cast iron tables also. I owned a sander for awhile on which I used the Magfence to provide a reference for sanding edges.

[Paul F Franklin]

One advantage I can see for the magnetic version is that you could, by purposefully not registering the lip against the table, align it at an angle for tasks like sawing wedges or cutting a piece of straight grain out of a board with slanted grain...tasks that normally call for removing the fence and clamping on a guide at an angle. One thing I would worry about is if the magnets are strong enough to hold alignment while ripping a big heavy thick board; something I do a lot on the bandsaw. I have magnetic feather boards and they are certainly not strong enough for that, but they use much smaller magswitches then the fence would, I presume.

[Mark Gibney]

Thanks Randy, this is just the advice I needed to read - and wanted to read tbh - as I'm enamored of the idea.

Paul I think the magnets should be strong enough. Here's a video showing the magnets used to lift a slab of metal straight up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0LGA6FovMM

[Earl McLain]

Regarding strength--i've got a MagSwitch branded feather board that i use in all my table saw ripping, it's never moved even when i set it too tight to push the wood through. I like the idea of a band saw fence...things like angle cutting, setting up a point fence, etc all make good sense.
earl

[Derek Cohen]

I have not used a magnetic fence, and remain somewhat unsure how it will function when setting up. Especially, how does one fine tune a setting? In fact, how does one set it for a setting at all? What am I missing?

My bandsaw fence is the standard one on my Hammer N4400. For fine adjustments, and for repeat adjustments, I have a Wixey DRO (intended for a tablesaw). This combination is fantastic ..

https://i.postimg.cc/GpMfYBjM/2.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Bill Carey]

I have not used a magnetic fence, and remain somewhat unsure how it will function when setting up. Especially, how does one fine tune a setting? In fact, how does one set it for a setting at all? What am I missing?

My bandsaw fence is the standard one on my Hammer N4400. For fine adjustments, and for repeat adjustments, I have a Wixey DRO (intended for a tablesaw). This combination is fantastic ..


Regards from Perth

Derek

I tried a friends mag fence, and to Derek's point I found it very fiddly to try to set up. Fine adjustments were very frustrating. The standard fence on my Laguna works great.

[Jim Matthews]

I built a sliding table for my bandsaw.

The fence on the "fixed" side just gets clamped in place. I make test cuts to get the position correct.

Were I to add a more adjustable fence it would be Brian Boggs' design. His is made from 8020 aluminum, shown in the linked video.

https://youtu.be/ZyrcVlENqRQ

[Mark Gibney]

Well damn you all, Derek, Bill and Jim. You've gone and got me thinking and that hurts my head!
I can see how it might be fiddly to micro-adjust a magnetic fence. It would require unlocking two magnets, as opposed to one cam-lock on a regular fence. Once unlocked then any adjusting is just the same as a regular fence I presume? - tap tap tap? - and then re-engage the magnets / tighten the cam.

Watching Boggs' video reminded me I have a fair amount of that extruded aluminum his fence appears to be made from. And if it's good enough for Brian Boggs....
In a world of dizzying change and uncertainty I thought I had settled on the calm of knowing what I would next do, and now I don't.

[Lisa Starr]

Mark, I'll be very interested in what you decide to build. I have an older bandsaw that I love, but due to the location of the slot for the blade, precludes mounting a rail for a fence. I usually just clamp a piece of wood for a fence when I need it, but the magnetic fence sounds like a great idea.

[Jim Matthews]

I can see how it might be fiddly to micro-adjust a magnetic fence. It would require unlocking two magnets, as opposed to one cam-lock on a regular fence. Once unlocked then any adjusting is just the same as a regular fence I presume? - tap tap tap? - and then re-engage the magnets / tighten the cam.



If you have a sufficiently heavy "soft face" mallet, a magnetic fence can be adjusted in the active position.

I think speed in adjusting a bandsaw fence is over-rated, but I'm in no hurry.

I don't have any index on my fence, and use my sliding table edge to align the cut piece.

I make a test piece to verify dimensions.

I leave most faces a little "heavy" and plane to final dimensions during dry assembly.

The only cuts I try to get precise are like the bridle joint shown in BB's video. (Still working on that)

[Randy Heinemann]

The magnets on the Carter MagFence are definitely strong enough to hold. I've never had it move once, even on heavier boards and while resawing. I believe they are rare earth magnets. The magnets on the Magswitch products seem to be even stronger so, if you make your own and use the Magswitches I wouldn't think you would have any problems. There's a limit to how large and heavy a board you can do on most bandsaws anyway, depending on size.

[Randy Heinemann]

On my bandsaw, the Carter MagFence is very easy to setup. Since I set the saw up according to a standard set of steps each time I change the blade, I can use the front of the saw's table as a reference point for distance from the blade when resawing. I just make sure the fence is equi-distant from the same reference edge on each end of the fence. I get great results from resawing within the capacity of my saw and for ripping also. Maybe on higher end bandsaws the fences are much better, but the MagFence gives me an easy way to set up for ripping and resawing while the fence that came with my Rikon (actually 2 because they sent me a second after the first one couldn't be lined up properly) never worked without a lot of effort each time I used it. The variety of answers indicates the variety of experiences with fences and and bandsaws. I can only speak for myself and the MagFence works the best for me.

[Mark Gibney]

Lisa I think our bandsaw tables are the same. The slot on mine to put the new blade on is on the front middle of the table, not the side.
I've seen fence rails on tables like this that stop to the left of the slot.
No matter what fence I use I will need to get some steel bar and attach it to the front left of my table - the casting is wavy.

Jim, you and me both. I can only aspire to Boggs' level of skill.

[michael langman]

I use 1 or 2 magnetic bases, used with dial indicators, for a fence on my bandsaw. I can line the base up on the table by setting the piece I am cutting with the cut line registered at the edge of the band saw blade. Takes a few seconds to line up a cut and mount the base just before the leading edge of the blade.
I have a 2'x2" piece of mahogany about 12" long that I stuck 2 pieces of .050 thick steel flatstock to, one at each end, with double back tape. I can attach this to the 2 magnetic bases to make a long fence for ripping big pieces. It can be set parallel to the miter slot with a adjustable square to any setting in a few minutes.

[Tom Bender]

The fence on my Grizzly 17" saw was a pain to remove and reinstall. Leaving it in place made my saw into a 14" saw. I leave it and the guide rail in a drawer and clamp a piece of wood to the table when needed. I normally clamp on a point fence.
456030

I filled the ribs in the bottom of the table with auto body filler to make clamping easy.