Replies

1. 
   adrienne4468 | Jan 09, 2004 12:05am | #1

   You could make a sacraficial fence with a t-slot and drill and tap holes in the face of the fence to attatch it. There are also tracks you can buy for what you are talking about doing that you can cut a slot in and attach to the fence in the same way. If you make a few fences you could change them out as needed. Maybe mount one t-slot on the top of the wood fence and one on the face for stops. If you keep your drilled and tapped holes at a specified distance apart you can make sacraficial fences to your hearts content and change them out as often as you like. If the thickness of the material is not thick enough to take a tapped hole without stripping you can always drill through and use a bolt with a nut on the back side. Just countersink the front side to keep a flat smooth surface.

   Tony

   We already have enough youth, how about a fountain of smarts.
2. 
   Steinmetz | Jan 09, 2004 11:15pm | #2

   Makin, Just drill 3 or 4 staggered holes through the hollow fence and when ready, clamp the sacrifical fence to the fence and, use BRASS screws through the fence into the wood No need to penetrate more than 3/8" into the wood.

   Also space the screws away from the blade's area. If you accidently cut into a brass screw (No Biggie)

   If you first drill the pilot holes THROUGH the wood fence, you can attach it to either side of the fence as needed

   Stein.

   
   

   ---

   Edited 1/9/2004 3:20:27 PM ET by steinmetz

3. 
   mercury | Jan 09, 2004 11:45pm | #3

   I have the same saw, and have pondered the same question as you. I usually just clamp on a straight board as a sacrifical fence, but the factory fence is not terribly tall so positioning the clamps is a bit of a challenge.

   I'm very interested to hear some of the other suggestions that may pop up to address this question. One thing I'm concerned about is that the factory fence is a thin wall aluminum tube, so I think it would be easily dented if a screw was pulled too tight from only one side. I think you need a full width threaded spacer inside the fence to avoid this.

   I have made myself a six inch high auxilliary fence with 1/2 mdf on one side and 1/4 ply on the other sandwiched between a piece of hardwood planed a shade narrower than the fence itself. The 1/4 ply goes on the back side, and gives a little bit of spring to keep the aux. fence tight. I use this fence when I need a little extra height support.

   One other question for you, you've said that the fence is accurate and remains true. How did you manage to do that? My biggest complaint with this saw is that I have trouble keeping the fence parallel to the blade. I've adjusted the fence myself several times, and even took it to a Dewalt service centre once when I couldn't adjust it any further. Did I get a bad saw, or did you get the only good one? Sorry, that's probably not a fair question to ask in a public forum like this.

   Anyway, good post and I hope someone else has some good ideas.

1. 
   GHR | Jan 10, 2004 12:02am | #4

   I believe your parallel problem is caused by the saw pivioting on a pin on the front and one on the back. When you tilt the saw, you have to be careful to move the same amount on both piviots.

   I discovered this one day when I made a quick 45 degree cut and then went back to 90 degrees and had the fence 1/16" out of line. Blowing out some dust and being a bit more careful solved my problem.

   For a better fence you can epoxy a piece of solid wood inside the metal fence and then drill a few holes and add threaded inserts. Makes a friendly fence. (I use nuts and bolts with a wood fence.)

2. 
   wdrudman | Jan 10, 2004 01:19am | #5

   All I can say is that I've had the saw for a year and four months, light duty use (weekends, a couple of hours  of use per).  Stacked dado head and regular saw blades. 

   The rack and pinion mechanism on mine has just held true.  Whenever I set a new blade, I check for parallel.  Everytime I scoot the saw around, I take my little 6" engineer's square and check the blade for 90 degrees.  Now I do hear more scraping sounds coming from the back end of the blade than I would like (you would think the front makes the cut and that a parallel blade wouldn't make any noise of that sort).

   Also, I don't use the splitter/guard.  After reading the recent discussion on this (elsewhere), I am thinking of removing the plastic guard and just installing the splitter/prawls.  The overhead guards I've seen intrigue me -- if I had a cabinet saw, I'd get this set-up. 

   I recently bought a 10" compound miter for more accurate bevel and miter cuts, but this has more to do with my unwillingness to spend $150 on an Incra miter guage (I'd rather spend $200 on the saw).

   But the day will come when I need more than a 6" bevel cut, so I'll have to muck with the saw again.

   Roller stands help me keep large pieces against the fence.  That's all I can think of.

4. 
   bandit9497 | Nov 30, 2008 05:40am | #6

   It seems that issues that were around in '04 are still here today.  I have a  DeWalt 746 and was looking for some information on how to attach a sacrificial fence.  My issue is the same as outlined here.

   I need to add a fence, but the 746 only has an aluminum fence without any holes to add a sacrificial.  Tried to the fence using c-clamps, but since my piece of wood was 3" high, the c-clamps were in the way.

   Are there any new ideas around in '08 about adding a sacrificial fence for the DeWalt 746?

   thanks for the guidance

1. 
   AlanWS | Nov 30, 2008 05:45am | #7

   Have you considered something like these fence clamps?http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=17821&filter=fence%20clampAll you need to do is drill a hole in the sacrificial fence, and you can easily clamp it to your fence. The link is to Rockler's version, but there are several types around designed to use on fences of different widths.

1. 
   bandit9497 | Nov 30, 2008 07:09am | #8

   Alan,

   Thanks.  I think this will work.  Sure beats cutting holes in the aluminum fence.