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I have a tendency to keep a bunch of items I use a lot close to hand at my tablesaw - on the fence! Unfortunately I have a Dewalt hybrid saw which has a fence that doesn't really contain items as the fence has only a left side unlike a Biesmeyer type (I do like the saw and fence, btw). And without that lip on the right side of the fence things tend to roll off.
So I had the idea to make a shallow tray to ride the fence and keep my pencils, squares, and splitter wrench handy. I thought the fence body was an aluminum extrusion and that I was going to have to drill and tap holes to mount the tray to, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it was steel and magnets would stick to it. So I epoxied several small rare earth magnets to the bottom of the tray and now it sticks great to the fence until I need to move it, and it moves easily when I need to.
And to top it off, I got the beech it's made out of through a bit of dumpster diving at work, very low cost.
Thanks for looking,

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That's a really great idea.. one that I will replicate this weekend. I sometimes set stuff on the fence only to have it fall onto the saw while it's running. Not safe at all… this would eliminate that safety hazard.
 

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48 Posts
Like this idea and I may just have to make one for myself as well.
 

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I too do things that are somewhat unsafe while working with the table saw. I keep to much clutter on or around the table saw. This is a great idea!!

Thanks for sharing
 

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I've been meaning to make one of these for some time. Ths for the motavation. Thx.
 

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Great idea. I'm gonna make one too. The wings on my table saw are webbed instead of solid and my tape measure and pencil keep falling through the holes. Thanks for posting.
 

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That's pretty cool! I'm no safety prude but don't let that mask get down in the blade. If I have a reason for saying something like this, I'm not saying:)
 

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It's a neat idea but it wouldn't work for me.
I ride my pinky along the top of the fence when I rip without a pushstick. The theory behind this is it's a lot harder to reach the blade and ensures you are always positioned correctly instead of in the path of the very friendly blade.
 

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Hey Bertha - the dust mask isn't usually there - I took these shots after doing some pattern routing on MDF, which makes a horrific amount of dust. Normally the mask is over by the lathe for sanding.

But thanks for worrying about it. I hope you had no major issues to make you sensitive to such a thing, but I certainly don't think you a 'safety prude' for mentioning it. As an appeal, note the safety glasses that ARE always there and which I use despite wearing corrective lens glasses to boot.

Tyrone - I hear ya, sounds like a good habit, but I'm a push stick guy. I have one that keeps my hand a good 5 inches over the table and offers 6 inches or so contact with the work to apply a down pressure. I have a healthy respect for the saw blade and only use my hands on panel cuts where it's obvious (even to a fool like me) that I'm clear by a wide margin. I have a magnetic featherboard that I use all the time as well, which I strongly reccomend.

Thanks for looking,
 
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