Looking to enhance your woodworking precision? Connor from Shopfix has created an excellent guide on building a custom auxiliary table saw fence! This project is perfect for anyone looking to improve their table saw’s features and capabilities. Let’s walk through the steps together.
Materials and Tools Needed
- Large piece of lumber (pine or any thick wood)
- Miter saw
- Jointer
- Planer
- T-track
- Hold down clamps
- Screws
- Combination square
- Star knobs
- Shim (if needed)
Step 1: Milling the Lumber
To start, Connor explains that the first step in creating an auxiliary fence is to mill a large piece of lumber. He uses a large pine board but emphasizes that any species of wood will work, as long as it has decent thickness. The final thickness should be no less than 3/4 inches.
He begins by ripping the lumber to fit the width of his jointer. Since he doesn’t need the full length, Connor cross-cuts the board to its final length using a miter saw. One of the benefits of an auxiliary fence is that it can be longer than the original fence, providing more surface area to support the workpiece as it passes through the blade.
Step 2: Flattening and Jointing
Once cut to size, he heads to the jointer to face-joint one side of the board completely flat. Connor made this fence as wide as his jointer allows, which is 6 inches, to flatten the opposite side using a few passes through the planer.
Next, he jointed one edge of the board to ensure that both edges of the fence are parallel. After ripping the other side on the table saw, the board will have perfectly milled 90° edges. Connor double-checks the squareness using a combination square.
Step 3: Attaching the T-Track
With the board now squared, it’s time to attach the T-track. This track will allow Connor to mount two hold down clamps to secure the new fence to the original Dewalt fence. He locates the T-track high on the fence to ensure the clamps won’t hit the saw’s surface.
After marking the center of each hole in the T-track, he drills small pilot holes for the screws. This step is crucial as it prevents the wood from cracking and maintains the squareness of the fence. With the pilot holes drilled, he secures the T-track to the back of the fence.
Step 4: Securing the Auxiliary Fence
Now, it’s time to secure the auxiliary fence to the original fence. Connor slides the hold down clamps onto the T-track and screws them into place using star knobs. If your fence is wider, you may need to add a board underneath the T-track to widen the clamping area.
Once both hold down clamps are secured, he checks the squareness of the new fence. To his surprise, the thickness of the lumber alone didn’t completely solve the squareness issue. He removes the auxiliary fence and finds or makes a shim that matches the gap revealed during the last check.
Step 5: Final Adjustments
After placing the shim along the original fence, Connor reattaches the auxiliary fence, ensuring the shim stays flat against the original. He secures the new fence by tightening the star knobs on the hold down clamps, applying enough pressure to keep it stable during operation.
With the shim in place, the new fence is now perfectly square to the table saw surface! Connor mentions that using set screws inside the fence can be an alternative to shims.
Step 6: Benefits of the New Fence
This new auxiliary fence provides a larger surface to reference when cutting box tops, making the process much easier. It also supports lumber vertically when cutting rabbit joints and keeps long workpieces straight through every cut.
Although the auxiliary fence can be removed, Connor hasn’t found a cut that necessitated its removal yet. He appreciates that it’s not a permanent addition and can be adjusted later as needed.
Conclusion
Connor hopes this guide helps woodworkers build their own auxiliary table saw fence quickly and effectively. If you found this tutorial helpful, don’t forget to subscribe to the Shopfix channel for more woodworking insights!