I have a General International 10 Inch Contractor’s Saw with a good Biesemeyer style fence. I’d like to attach an auxiliary/sacrificial fence I can use to make rabbets with a dado blade. I also like to attach an auxiliary fence that has a t-track on its face so I could use featherboards/hold downs to keep my material against the saw. I’d like to be able to attach and remove these without drilling holes into the face of my fence (holes in the top are fine). I’m looking for advice, articles or plans as to how to construct and how to attach the auxiliary/sacrificial fences.
Thanks for your help. This is a great forum.
Frank R.
Replies
Biese has pictures of their jigs on their site. I've copied a couple
Joe
FR,
Just a thought that's a bit out there....
I happened upon some 1/8" plywood...cut a 4" strip and attached (glued) that perpendicular to my Aux. Fence...it slides under the Bies and then use some spring clamps or small 'C' clamps.
After seeing the Bies sight, maybe I'll get some handles and angle aluminum and forget the clamps...hmmmm.
Jim Tolpin's Table Saw Magic, 2nd Edition. He has lots of great stuff for the table saw including a universal rip fence fixture that allows you to attach lots of other jigs to it.
Hopefully, I can describe my approach to your problem. I have been using dado blades to cut rabbets for the back panel on an armoire.
The jig has one piece of wood (3/4" ply in my case) about 6-8" high and the length of the saw table (front to back) then a second piece 3/4 x 3" (the height of the fence) and the same length as piece # 1. I have about six blocks of wood joinging the two together - each block about 3" square. The blocks are glued to piece 1 & 2 and are spaced about 6-8" apart. I attach this to the jig to the fence with clamps. Works great for cutting rabbets.
Lower your table saw blade below the table, move the fence about 1/4" over the blade then slowly raise the blade. Voila.
Willie,
Thanks for responding, Just so I'm clear, the 6-8 inch piece sits on the blade side of the fence, the short piece sits upright on the other side of the fence, the blocks join the two pieces and sit across the top of the fence. (so the jig essentially is straddling the fence). One question, how to you clamp this to the fence? C Clamps in the front of the saw and the rear of the saw to hold it down?
Thanks.
Frank R.
The complete unit sits on the blade side of the fence. - - then clamp the unit to the fence with, of course, one end of the clamp between the two uprights and the other end of the clamp on the other side of the fence. Just be sure the blocks of wood are wide enough, ie the two pieces that run parallel to the fence are far enough apart to accomodate the one end fo the clamp. The first one I made would not accomodate the clamp. Hindsight is great!
Willy,
Now I understand, that makes more sense. Thanks for your help.
FR
FR--
Here's a photo of the sacrificial fence I made out of scraps for the Bies on my General tablesaw.
Works great.
Good luck!
--T
[Avoid schadenfreude]
Edited 1/17/2006 4:44 pm by Trappist
How "sacrafice-able" is the fence facing? How is it attached to the frame (so-to-speak) of the fence? I like the basic design, and just happen to have a couple of those clamps floatin' around.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Hi FGThe sacrificial fence doesn't have a facing; it is just one piece of 3/4" baltic birch ply. When that gets destroyed I suppose I'll add a replaceable face.The sacrificial piece is joined to the horizontal piece that holds the buttresses and the clamps.There is a t-track sitting in a rabbet along the top of the face that I use to attach hold-downs for feather boards, stop blocks etc. If I were to make another of these I would move the t-track down an inch or so. That way, the hold-downs would have more surface to grip on. As it is, the ends of them tend to slide over the top edge unless they are positioned almost horizontally. I can send pix of the sacrificial side if you like.Hope this helps. --T[Avoid schadenfreude]
Edited 1/18/2006 11:42 pm by Trappist
Thanks for the additional info, T. Especially the note that you'd move the T-track down. Not sure if I'll build one just like it, but it'll be in the "possibles" file for sure!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
That fence looks like the one in Jim Tolpins Table Saw Magic. I made one similar to his - it is not really sacrificial, but you can attach other additions to it, like a sacrifical face for doing rabbets with a dado blade.
I just moved and am not sure exactly where the digital camera is, If you do not have Tolpins book, let me know and I will find the camera and take a picture of my fence and maybe see if I can scan in the page from the book that shows it.1 - measure the board twice, 2 - cut it once, 3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go 4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
Thanks, Rick, your's sounds like an improvement (Nope, I don't have that book). No hurry, but I hope you can find the camera! I lost mine for one day and was kinda panicked.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
I will try and get the camera tonight and also see if the scanner is working and try to scan the page that has the picture. This fence, works real well, and is the bones for a host of other attachemnts for various tasks. If you can locate the book in the library, I would advise looking it over.1 - measure the board twice, 2 - cut it once, 3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go 4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
Here are the photos of my fence. I scanned in the 2 pages of jim's book that show this fence and what discusses what other attachements he designed towork with it and what they do. ie. raised panel jig, pattern jig, vacuum rip fence, rabbet fence, taper and rip fence and more.
If you have software that will let you zoom in on JPG files, I can send you the files. Just email me at [email protected].
One thing he does not really mention on the design and construction of this fence, is that you start by attaching some 3/4" UHMW to the front and back of your existing fence and this then sits on top of the fence and the UHMW. You can get an idea of that from the photos here.1 - measure the board twice, 2 - cut it once, 3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go 4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
Hi Trappist,
How did you attach your track to your fence?
I recently made Tolpin's fence, which is very much like yours, only it is secured to the Biesemeyer using two knobs with threaded studs that screw into holes I drilled and tapped in the top of my Bies. But Tolpin doesn't address how to attach the tracks. I bought my track at Rockler and it is made by Kreg. Unfortunately, when I bought it, I didn't realize it's 1/2 inch deep, which leaves me only 1/4 of fence to attach it to, so screws are out. Yours looks like you might have 3/8 inch deep track and 3/8 inch of fence to attach it to. That's still kind of thin. Did you use screws? If not, what glue did you use?
P.S., I can't add more backing to the fence to screw into because the auxilliary jigs I plan to make have to envelope and slide on the fence.
Thanks for any advice!
Hi cheakamusThe T-track is attached with screws that fit into the pre-machined countersunk holes that came with the track. I don't remember whether I used my own screws or screws that (maybe??) came with the track. The track is 3/8" deep, and the screws don't penetrate through the back side of the jig. Hope this helps--T[Avoid schadenfreude]
Edited 2/1/2006 4:01 am by Trappist
Just sent the first guy instructions for the one I made and there r no clamps! Here it is so take your pick.
Get some 3/4" ply, enough to make 2 sides of your sacrificial fence & supports. Cut first 8" x (length of real fence + 3"). Next side is 4" + (length of your fence + 3". ) Cot 2 "bridges." ( width of your real fence). You want it to be snug. Also, they're the length of 8" + 4" sides. Attach 2 sides with first bridge about 1/2" higher than real fence. Second bridge goes on top, (even with 4" side. Cut caps to plug each end. I used wood glue and screws to assemble..Just b sure u "countersink" screws.
Now u have a 2 for 1 aux fence. With high side facing blade u can cut tenons. Turn it around with 4" side facing "dado" blades below surface of table. slowly raise the blades till u make an arch. D-Blades SHOULDN'T CUT MORE THAN 1/2 THE AUX FENCE. Arch should be decent, say 1 1/2". U R set.
Next time u need to cust a dado, drop your new fence over the old one, (4" side facing d- blades). Line up so aux fencing overlaps blades 1/4" or so.
I u want to cut tenons, just turn it around with 8" side facing saw blade. U can get fancy and mount a "t" track in it to hold feather boards too.
Good Luck
Great idea - a 2-for-1 approach. Thanks.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) Do unto others as you tell them they should do unto you....
Lots of good ideas here!My only remaining problem is how to secure the track I bought to the fence so I can also attach featherboards. The track is 1/2 inch deep and the fence is 3/4 inch thick, so after routing a dado to sink the track in, I have only 1/4 inch of fence to screw into. Not enough!What glue should I use? (aluminum to wood)
Looking at the picture, it appears that the T-track is surface mounted to the baltic birch base fence, and then a second piece of 3/4" baltic birch (the sacrificial fence) is attached to the base fence below the T-track.
Trappist,
That is perfect. Thanks for the picture. I keep a few of those clamps around so I can build this with stuff that is already in my workshop.
Thanks again.
Frank R.
Just built one of these a few weeks ago and works great! Beauty of it is no more clamps! One side is high, 8", the other is 1/2 that, about 4" high. make it 3" longer than your fence out of 3/4" plywood. Also, make sure u countersink screws. Join with a "bridge" about 1/2" above fence and again @ the top of short (4" high) part. Cap each end w/piece of 3/4 ply. Trick is u want it 2 b snug on your fence but, not too tight. Once built u have a 2 for 1 aux fence. High side for supporting tenon cuts and short side is for dados. Just place aux. fence over your dado blades, start saw and slowly raise blades to make your cut. Now when u want to do dados, set it for the width u need and blades ride under "sacrafice " part of aux fence. There is plans for this but, why bother looking. Just told u how to build. Good Luck
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