Originally Posted by
Cameron Wood
I looked (online) at the Incra fence that you're wanting, and read a bunch of reviews. Personally, I'm not a fan of overly complicated equipment, have never found even a basic fence mounted measuring system (tape and pointer) to work for long, and figure 80% of cuts on the tablesaw are more utility then precision. YMMV.
The issues for me would be:
- The fence arm sticks out to the right of the saw, so if it's set up for wide cut, or just pushed out of the way, it interferes with getting around the saw to the right- an issue in a small shop.
- The fence assembly covers the saw table to the right, which is valuable real estate for stacking multiple parts.
- Locking the fence in place is a two part operation which would be way annoying for me, and mentioned by multiple reviewers.
This Amazon review I thought put it well:
"I will say that I am extremely impressed with how accurate and sturdy this fence is.
You honestly won't find a more accurate fence on the market - it's truly all that it's cracked up to be. I also found the installation and calibration to be fairly quick and simple.
However, there are some significant costs/sacrifices to make for this incredible accuracy that should be taken into consideration.
As many other reviewers have pointed out, the center arm takes up valuable shop real-estate when you move the fence to the right. For me, I had re-arrange my whole shop to accommodate for the arm to extend out. It also takes some getting used to walking further to the right to adjust the fence (it's a 34 year old habit for me).
Some additional draw-backs that other reviewers didn't point out are as follows:
1) The fence arm also takes up valuable table-saw-TOP real-estate to the right of the fence. I often rip a great number of pieces and after each cut, I stack the cut piece on the table-saw-top to the right of the fence. With the arm running across the center of the table, it takes away this valuable stacking area.
2) The "sight-glass" often gets dusty and makes it hard to see the ruler below. It's more enclosed than a standard fence and I often need to use compressed air to clean it out or remove the fence to wipe the underside of the glass (plastic).
3) When making narrow cuts, I like to keep as many fingers as possible away from the blade by keeping them over the other side of (or on top of) the fence. With the center arm attaching to the right of the fence, I sometimes have to maneuver my fingers around it (yes, I know I should probably use a push-stick).
4) Although it's rare to need to set a fence to the LEFT of the blade, sometimes it's beneficial, or a must. With the Incra fence, this is not really an option.
For the sacrifices, I give it 2 out of 5 stars, but the incredible accuracy brings me to the 4 star final rating.
If you demand extreme accuracy and have plenty of shop space to allow for the arm to extend - this is the fence system for you.
For me, I love the accuracy, but I think I'm ready to "trade down" to a nice old-school Biesemeyer style fence."
Also, reviews of the Incra router table attached to the table saw are rather low, so I would look closely at that.
Good luck getting a great shop set up!