Biesemeyer/clone fence jigs?

[John Miliunas]

This goes out to you folks with the Biesy or clone TS fences out there. I used to have an Excalibur fence, which had the T-slots built into the fence and made jigging a snap. How do you guys do it on the Biesy or clones? I'd be interested in a zero-clearance "sacrificial" fence, as well as a way to easily incorporate hold-downs, such as featherboards or Board Buddies. Any suggestions, tips, "how-to's" would be appreciated. :cool:

[Jim Becker]

I've built and used some of the system that Jim Tolpin shows in his book, <i>Tablesaw Magic</i>. It only requires drilling and tapping two holes on the top of the fence and those two points are used for "everything" that needs to be nailed down. I currently have a tall fence extension which is also useful for easier clamping of sacrificial fences. It also has a tee-track in it for handling feather boards. I also have a "special" fence-topper that holds my Lechtung anti-kickback wheels (similar to Board Buddies).

[John Miliunas]

I've built and used some of the system that Jim Tolpin shows in his book, <i>Tablesaw Magic</i>.

Oh no...*Another* book! Sheeesh...And I though I already had them all! OK, will need to find that one. Thanks for the guidance! :cool:

[Kent Cori]

John,

I made a sacrificial fence out of MDF for my Bies clone for about $5. I simply made it so that the cross section is an "H" with each of the legs just a tad (1/16") less than the distance from the top of the fence to the table top. I made the length the same as the table depth. The advantage to this approach is that you really have four different faces since you can flip the sacrifical fence any way you need it. I've used this for over a year and one side is still "virgin".

I cut the cross bar just the right width so that the whole thing fits by friction. I simply put it on top of the fence and then push down. It is a good tight fit and takes a moderate amount of uplift force to disengage it. It takes a few minutes to trim the cross bar to the right width but it goes pretty quick. I screwed the faces to the cross bar so as I needed to make adjustments, I just backed out the screws and trimmed down the width. I think it took only three iterations. You can then install the rest of the screws and even glue it if you'd like once you have it zeroed in. The screw heads are well above the maximum blade elevation so there is no problem with this approach.

I also cut some tee slots right into the faces on each leg to hold featherboards. I did this with a router bit from Rockler and use the same arrangement on my router table fence which is also made from MDF.

This appraoch has worked very well and the MDF is very stable. For $5 of materials, it can't be beat.

I've also made a tenoning jig using a similar approach. I just made it so it would slide along the fence once the piece was clamped to it.

[Lee Schierer]

If you check out this article on my website Beismeyer Fennce Cover (http://home.earthlink.net/~us71na/fence.html) you can see what I did for my Beismeyer to accomodate the Grip-Tite magnetic featherboards. It would also work for a scarificial fence and other accessories.

[Jim Becker]

If you check out this article on my website Beismeyer Fennce Cover (http://home.earthlink.net/~us71na/fence.html) you can see what I did for my Beismeyer to accomodate the Grip-Tite magnetic featherboards. It would also work for a scarificial fence and other accessories.

Lee, that's a great idea with how you did the toggle clamps on the back side of the fence addition! (Nice site, too)

Happy Holidays!

[John Miliunas]

Lee, that's a great idea with how you did the toggle clamps on the back side of the fence addition! (Nice site, too)

Happy Holidays!

Lee, ditto to what Jim said! Great idea. I assume you just need a minimal amount of pressure from the toggle clamps just to keep things put? I'm assuming that, given that Kent's idea seems to work for him, which is similar?

At any rate, great suggestions, gentlemen! I think I still might pick up the book, as it looks as though there are numerous other items of interest in it, as well. Me thinks I'm going to have a fun Christmas break here! Thanks guys! :cool:

[Daniel Rabinovitz]

John
I made a U shaped aux fence out of 3/4 MDO.
The side nearest the blade is long enough to run out to the end of the aux table extension. I wanted that for "jointer-sawing" long boards. I saw the boards 3 to 5 times - an oooch at a time.
Clamp the aux fence on the "far end" of the regular fence (In the hole) with a 3" "hand turn clamp" or vise-grip clamp.
Would screw another taller piece of MDO to the aux fence for clamping a feather board to it.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Daniel