Lee Valley MagSwitch Magnetic Featherboard

[John Keeton]

Anyone use one of these? Do they hold as well as claimed? Looks like a really useful attachment if they work.

[Walt Stevens]

LOML gave me one for Christmas from Rockler (http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?Offerings_ID=17217). I like it. Very strong magnets. It's a little wide, which may limit its usefullness.

[Dave Lehnert]

Just FYI. Home Depot sells the same item under the RIDGID name if you would like to check it out.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100618240

[Cary Swoveland]

I have both of the Magswitch featherboards:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=55999&cat=1,42363,42356

and

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=58746&cat=1,240,45884

I like them both, but prefer the second one, the "universal" model. It's called "universal" because, unlike the first (original) model, it can be used on either side of the blade. That allows me to use it on my bandsaw, as well as on my table saw.

There are two situations were you cannot use one or both of these featherboards. The first is where the distance from the blade to the edge of the board that contacts the featherboard is so great that the magnets are off the edge of the table. This is less of a problem for the universal model, as it is more compact than the original model. The second situation is were the magnets are positioned over a miter gauge slot. That's one advantage of having both types (for a tablesaw, anyway), as the distances between the magnets and the board being held are substantially different.

An optional hold-down attachment is available for the original model, but not for the universal model. I don't have that, as I don't think I'd use it.

When using my tablesaw, I often use one of the Magswitch featherboards in front of the blade, and a Board Buddy behind the blade. That combination works well, as a featherboard generally can't be used behind the blade, and a Board Buddy in front of the blade may interfere with the use of push sticks.

Cary

[Walt Caza]

Hi John,
I have and use the LV mag featherbd often. It holds well on clean cast iron. I usually give a hand wipe for dust before I lay it down.
I previously used BenchDog's orange FeatherLoc, which also worked fine.
The advantage with the magnets is liberation from the limit of reach of the miter guage slots.
Also, the more quick and easy a safety device, the more likely it will be used...
I also bought the hold-down attachment, which I have yet to use...
Isn't that the way with shop gadgets?
be well,
Walt
:)

[John Keeton]

Thanks guys for the feedback. They seemed to be a good idea, but there is no better teacher than experience. I am gathering ideas for a fence setup to use on my Grizzly 1023 router extension table. Since there is no miter slot, I thought this attachment would fit in nicely to that arrangement and be useful on the blade side for TS use as well.

Cary, thanks for the recommendation on the universal model. That seems to be the better choice. The only limitation would be absence of the hold-down which doesn't seem to be used much by anyone. Seems to me that any hold-down would be best used closer to the fence anyway.

Dave and Walt, thanks for the info on the similar products. I have to travel about 30 miles to HD, and pay sales tax. Getting ready to do a Lee Valley order anyway, so in the end, it would be cheaper to get the universal model from LV.

[Larry Fox]

I have the original and I like it but I find that a large percentage of the cuts that I make have the magnets directly over the miter slot on the saw. I actually wish my Uni table didn't have a miter slot to the left of the blade. I wish I had the universal so I could use it on the bandsaw as well.

[Brad Shipton]

It works very well, and the individual bandsaw ones can be added to almost any jig a fellow can come up with. A very good idea, opposing magnetic poles. I bought the other magnetic one LV sells first and it scratched the table surface too much for me. I just bought a couple more of the bandsaw versions recently and was surprised to see it was labelled made in China. As I understand the company that invented them hails from Australia.

Brad

Brad

[Eric Commarato]

Got three, they work great.

[D-Alan Grogg]

I have both versions. They work very well. I use the universal for the bandsaw and jointer. It is true that the large model will sit over the TS miter slot more often than I imagined, but I find that the magnets are wide enough that they still get good holding force on the table top.

[harry strasil]

I must be the oddball, I do all my cutting on the right side of the saw fence. I got the fence feather board from rockler for Xmas as it was the only one that could be used on the right side of the fence.

The New Universal Feather board had not come out yet. So before getting the one for Xmas, I used my shop made universal one made from two of the smaller magswitches, a piece of scrap oak baseboard and a piece of old salvaged 3/4 metal cutting band saw blade with the teeth ground off. I still use it the most.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/bsawblades002.jpg

For a fence hold down for narrow stuff I made this spring loaded hold down that uses a circle cut from scrap paneling.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/clmps002.jpg

[John Keeton]

Harry, necessity is truly the mother of invention. That's some neat looking rigging! You need to come up with some sort of a "whindig" name for the hold down device.

As for cutting on the other side of the fence, my woodworking days would last about 30 seconds. I would be 5 fingers shy the first time I made a cut!

[michael osadchuk]

.... I have the 'original' ts MagSwitch with the hold down and find I do use the hold down attachment (it has a workpiece height limit of 2.5", btw).....

...... before the MagSwitch, I had the GripTite but returned it to Lee Valley for the MagSwitch - it's not as refined: a rocker arm is used to "turn off" magnet strength and the hold down has less workpiece height range....

.... Gary, thanks for the idea about combining the MagSwithch w/ a sole Board Buddy behind the blade so as to good access for the push stick.....

michael

[richard poitras]

I use the larger magswitches for three jigs I made for my biesemeyer fence, they are all” h” shaped and fit over the existing fence. (The magswitches just sit in the middle of the fence and when turned on hold really good on the metal of the biesemeyer) One is small (about 8’’ long) and is used for a stop gage when using my miter gage while making tendons. Another one is full size and is used for a sacrificial fence for datoing and the last one has a tall face on it with metal to be used in conjunction with my grip-tite hold downs, quick clean and fast … I like em!

[John Keeton]

Richard, can you post pics so I can steal some ideas? Still working on all the different ideas I want to incorporate into my router fence that I will be using with my Grizzly 1023 with a router table extension. I had already decided to do a saddle, but was going to use a clamp of some sort. Sounds like you have some great ideas.

[richard poitras]

PM sent....Sorry john I don’t have a camera for posting pictures