Shaper Outboard Fence

[Brad Shipton]

I was thinking about getting an Aigner Thickness stop to accurately clean up stock on the shaper, but I didnt want to drop yet another $900 for an accessory. I decided I would have a machinst accurately drill some stock and I would build it myself. Before doing so I decided to build a mock up out of wood to make sure my dimensions worked, and it turned out to work so well I am not sure I will have one machined out of aluminum. Thought I would share.

Key things, accurate brad point drill bit, and shaft stock. Bolts will not work. The shaft stock used was within .003 of .75" and were carefully pressed into the holes.

The wood fence slips over the shaper fences and it worked well, but I should not have made it stick so far out from the fence because the cuttings do not get collected very well since most of the cutting is done outside the fence. It makes a bit of a mess. A hood can be added later I suppose.

It does not have a caliper like the Aigner version, but it is easy to use a 12" caliper to the underside of the T-square.

I am going to add some bolts to add various pieces of aluminum sub-fences to the front of the outboard because it was very difficult to find places to set the power feeder with the shaft and wood upstands.

Any comments to improve would be appreciated.
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj176/Brad805/DSC01506-sm.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj176/Brad805/DSC01507-sm.jpg
Brad

[Paul Simmel]

I'm just curious, Brad, why wouldn't you just set the fence back behind the cutter and micro adjust your stock's dimension that way.

[David DeCristoforo]

Paul is on the right track...BUT.... If you run your stock between the fence and the cutter you are virtually guaranteed consistent dimensioning. Now for the "but"... It would be very foolish to attempt this without a power feeder. With a good feeder, its a breeze. Of course that gets you back into spending some dough but a feeder will be a much better overall investment than an Aigner fence.

[Paul Simmel]

Hey David. I saw he had a feeder in one of the pic's. Good to point this out, as I just sort of assumed. Others may not have gotten that very, very essential part of the mix.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...I saw he had a feeder in one of the pic's..."

Ah yes... so he does... I completely missed that.

ZZZZZZZ

[Brad Shipton]

The advantage of the outboard fence is the stock is supported at all points. I dont have an Aigner integral now ($1400). Peter Quinn had suggested something along these lines a while back when I was chatting with him about my flooring project. I have tried using the standard fence along with feather boards and the likes, but I always seemed to get some small discrepancies in the stock at the end or points where it transitioned between support points. I found this easier to setup too. I slide the outboard fence to the cutter, measure the protruding T and adjust as necessary for the stock I am making. If you do a search for this topic on the woodweb you will find a great discussion between some fellows with many more years than I.

Brad

[Paul Simmel]

Brad, that’s what I don’t understand… supported at all points. There’s no contention here, I’m just trying to make sense of this.

If you are “cleaning up” stock, I take that to mean that you are at least to some degree shaving material off. On your pic’s I see supports on the fence side, and of course the outboard fence. The way you have it set up, as I see it, you’d have to have every piece dimensioned first to fit between the two fences.

With your feeder, if you set the main fence back, angled the feeder towards the main fence, and ran your stock through, the distance between the cutter and the fence would remain consistent so long as you left the fence settings. You’d be able to run different width stock because this set up is essentially like a planer (only sideways).

I’d appreciate it if you could elaborate a little on what operation you are doing. Please excuse my ignorance. I’ve only seen outboard fences which were clamped to the table, and stock run (with the feeder) in the same method (material between cutter and fence).

Personally, I use the planer, but know some guys use the shaper for final dimensioning of face frames, for example.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...I don’t understand..."

Me either... seems like a lot of extra "muss and fuss".

"...use the shaper for final dimensioning of face frames..."

Not to mention profiled door frames... no jointing, planing or anything else needed. Many uses for this "technique". But everyone has their own ideas about how things should be done and if a guy wants to build a special rig for something who are we to say?

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

With a good feeder, its a breeze. Of course that gets you back into spending some dough but a feeder will be a much better overall investment than an Aigner fence.

I'm with that guy. Get a feeder.
Aigner is so pricey & most of the stuff you can make yourself as you are finding. I think it's really for the people who are doing this stuff for a living and their time is better spent making product than making fixturing.

[Jeff Duncan]

Glad I'm not the only one who doesn't get it. I saw this posting and couldn't wrap my head around what this contraption was supposed to accomplish. For running stock I use the powerfeed and an auxilary fence clamped to the shaper table.
But I am curious as I'm sure there's more to this than meets the eye????

JeffD
Hoping to learn something new today:)

[Brad Shipton]

I didnt invent this thing, just came up with a less expensive version than Aigner. I added their description at the bottom. Yes, this is pretty much a device for a fussy person that uses calipers (a lot) or gets perturbed fiddling with less than perfect fits.

The first thing I used this for was prepping 3/4" x 1" stock with a 1/4" x 5/16" tongue for edging veneered drawer fronts and cab doors. I know there are many other ways to edge these panels, but this was a trial for other projects down the road. I left the stock 1/8" over to allow the removal of a 1/16" from each face (saw marks mostly). During these clean up passes I also eased the edges. The cutter shown is 160mm without the groover and without support between fences I was concerned I could have ended up with inconsistencies. I am not a big fan of having my hands that close to my jointer head and my planer can leave little marks that I have to remove with my ROS.

I fiddle with my power feeder during setup and test run stock without the cutter in place, but I find when I run 300bdft or so a few pieces end up a little out at the ends. I made about 400sq ft of flooring a while back (relief cuts, t & g, and end matched) and I had some small (1/32 - 3/64") gaps in my 5" x 10' long flooring pieces a while back and I hope this will help to improve upon this. Peter Quinn suggested that it would help. It was 50hr of work, so needless to say I was not thrilled about many gaps. 5" wide stock does not flex, especially when it is brazilian cherry.

One side does need to be straight but the other does not as the spring in the center adjusts the inboard and outboard guides tight to the stock on either side of the fences.

Aigner's description for the Thickness stop:

Ideal fence when milling work pieces to an exact thickness.

The thickness stop ensures a perfect milling of even short work pieces without any dimple over the whole length.

Indispensable for all milling works without the possibility of spanning both fence parts, particularly in case of thin and small work pieces. Exact adjusting system with microprocessor and digital display.

Brad

[Brad Shipton]

Jeff, I have an aluminum slider that is 80" long on the outboard side that I dont really want to clamp too. Its a combination machine.

We are doing the exact same things. The bolt loosens and the aux fence moves where ever without touching a clamp or checking any dimensions other than one. I replaced your two clamps with a single 5/16"x2" bolt and wing nut.

Aigner makes great stuff to comply with european safety requirements. Smart, but pricey. Their distometer is very useful.

Brad

[David DeCristoforo]

I totally understand the need for "exact thickness" or, in this case, "width". I developed a method for making solid wood chessboards that required all of the pieces to be exactly the same width. If there is anything as unforgiving as getting 64 wood squares all perfectly aligned at the corners, I have not yet found it! But I am able to do this easily by running the stock between the fence and the cutter. I also use a jig similar to yours but it's just a piece of MDF with a couple of slots cut in it for bolts that fit the "T" nuts that go in the slots on the sliding table (which I see you have). And just in case anyone wonders, yes, the slider is locked!

FWIW, I think the Aigner stuff is ridiculously overpriced.

[Peter Quinn]

Seems clear as day to me. I know this set up as a back fence. It's only done with a power feed, a hand feed would be very dangerous. The feeder is cocked in use to push the stock towards the back fence and the main fence is set back 1/16" or so from the stock for use as dust collection but provides no bearing surface in this operation. Once set up it allows very precise dimensioning of stock width on thin boards that would be difficult or impossible using a planer, though the idea is the same. I use this for running the molding cuts on doors and occasionally to prepare face frame material. You can achieve shaping and precise dimensioning in one operation. For cleaning up material it leaves a better surface than a table saw cut or most jointers.

An Aigner fence buys you speed and repeatability in a production environment but no improvement in surface quality. My back fence is a 5" wide piece of 6/4 QSWO, a piece of PSA sand paper on the bottom, and two Bessey deep throat clamps. Simple, accurate, cheap. By loosening a clamp at one end and tapping gently I am able to hone in my measurements to within thousands of an inch without spending thousands of dollars. You could probably incorporate a dial indicator set up for extreme accuracy if needed.

I would suggest eliminating all non essential moving parts from your set up which leaves one straight board, in your case a piece of plywood 3/4"X15"X32" with a hardwood strip glued to the bearing edge and two perpendicular through slots routed one on each end might work. I'm guessing there is some way to use the slot in the Hammer sliding table for clamping jigs? Mine is a traditional shaper so I'm able to clamp to the bottom side of the table.

If you've ever seen how a multi head through molder works this is the same concept except with only one head. The distance between the straight line (your back fence) and the apex of the cutting circle will determine the exact width of your stock. Of course on a molder the fence is stationary and the head moves in and out, but the idea is the same.

I created a sketch but can't seem to get it small enough to upload.

[Brad Shipton]

Last thing I would add is the main piece was incredibly easy to build and only took about an hour after I finally decided to build it. The shaft stock was free. The two arms were scrap and so were the other parts. I was surprised how accurate it turned out. The measurement between parallel arms is within .015". I will admit the fence plates were time consuming and more for practice with the rasp. Scrap also, and attached with 5/16" dowels.

David:
I did start with a simple plywood piece set in the table groove, attached with 7/16" carriage bolts. The plywood had slotted holes for adjustablity. I can slide this new jig tight to the cutter head, zero my calipers and then adjust to the desired dimension. The first profile i tried with this was three setups (left/right and final tongue dimensioning).

Peter:
I have seen the method you describe and thought about it. I was concerned I could over tighten and damage the slider at some point. Plus it seemed difficult to measure during setup.

I appreciate the comments from all.

Brad

[David DeCristoforo]

"I appreciate the comments from all."

I have been told that there are many paths to nirvana.....

[Jeff Duncan]

OK I got it now, actually pretty simple in design, I just didn't catch on the first time I looked at the pics.
I agree with the others that $900 would be a heck of a lot of money to buy what you just built yourself with scraps. I'm sure the manufactured version offers some nice additional features, but I think the one you built should be just fine for most people. It seems more and more things that used to be shop built from scraps, are now being sold for arguably too much money, pushsticks come to mind.
Anyway nice job and thanks for sharing, I did learn something new, only problem is I'm too lazy to give up my plywood fence and clamps:D
JeffD