Freud router fence owners

[Russell Tribby]

I'm thinking of getting the Freud router fence since it's on sale on Amazon. I've tried to find the specs for it and haven't had any luck. I'm wondering how high the fence is and what the spacing is between the two slots that are used to attach it to a table. Thanks.

[Kev Godwin]

Russell, the side-to-side spacing for the Freud SH-5 clamp handles is 14 inches. The fence provided is only 2-1/4 inches high. If you buy it, you will want to quickly get rid of the fiberboard fences and make several different sets of your own. The ones that come with the unit are not of the quality of the rest of the unit. I used the original fence pieces as templates for the new split fences as well as full single piece fences.

The unit does not come with threaded inserts for the clamp handles. You'll have to get those. When you install the threaded inserts, space them apart by slightly less than the length of the slot in the base plus the maximum amount of travel of the threaded setscrews that move the fence back and forth. You can make it work at about 2-1/2 inches if you want to reduce the # of threaded inserts.

It is a pretty good unit if you take the time to make your own fences. The dust collection is very good.
Kev

[Russell Tribby]

Thanks a lot Kev, you rock!!!!

[Kev Godwin]

Russell, one of the best features I forgot to mention is those screws that move the fence back and forth. If you install a single piece fence, you can use the screws to move the fence into a turning bit to make perfect zero-clearance fences for specialty bits. Makes for excellent control of dust as well as potential chipping at the end of your cut.:)
Kev