# Homemade table saw fence



## BramC (Jan 22, 2012)

*Front guide assembly*

About 1 year ago, I've purchased a cheap benchtop table saw, in fact, it was the Jet JTS-10. For the small projects I've made 3-4 months after the purchase, it served me well. But when I wanted to cut some thick lumber with the stock blade, I immediatly heard the sound of an underpowered table saw motor.










I really wanted to cut thick lumber, so I could cut my own wood for a project. If I can't cut my wood out of bigger and thicker boards, it means that I need to get them cut at my local wood supplier, which i really don't like since I like to lay out every part of my project on the boards and take my time to do that.

That problem got fixed just by buying an ultra thin kerf blade from CMT which has a sawkerf of 1.7mm wide.

The next problem that I've experienced was the dust collection. The table saw has a DC port of 30mm in diameter. Everyone knows that that's way too small. So I've made a table saw station with integrated dust collection that gives me a port of 120mm in diameter. This gives excelent suction and I will make an overarm blade guard in the near future that will suck up even more dust.

Sure there are some other problems with that saw, but I don't want to waste your time by telling you all the defects of a benchtop table saw.

Except for this one: *The fence*. Everybody knows that the fence on a benchtop table saw is worthless. in fact, my table saw had the worst fence that I've ever seen.

I could go the easy way and buy an aftermarket fence, but those are all way too long (50" or 30"), way out of my budget at the moment and since I live in Belgium, I have no idea where to buy one.

So I decided to make my own. I did lots of research on the internet to get some idea's. I've made up a list of the materials needed and went to my local steel supplier. I thought that I would need to pay more than 40 euro's, but in fact, I only had to pay 16 euro's. With my fence, I will have 20" to the right of the blade.

So let's start!

Those are the profiles that I've bought.









First of all, I deburred every piece, so it feels smooth and I wouldn't cut myself (which wouldn't be the first time).









Then I've cut some wooden spacers to put between the front rail and the guide tube. I've used 19mm plywood as a spacer. You want this space to be pretty consistant so the guide tube will be parallell to the front of the table.









Next, I've marked the holes to be drilled, so my drill wouldn't walk around.









Then I drilled the holes…









... that eventually get's tapped for M10 bolts (M10 because i have tons of those).

















All done, with the bolts inserted

















...and with the front rail attached to the table saw (note the steel plates that I had to weld to the front rail, well that's my fault because I've bought the L- profile too small).









well, that's it for this part. So far, it has been very easy.


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## StumpyNubs (Sep 25, 2010)

BramC said:


> *Front guide assembly*
> 
> About 1 year ago, I've purchased a cheap benchtop table saw, in fact, it was the Jet JTS-10. For the small projects I've made 3-4 months after the purchase, it served me well. But when I wanted to cut some thick lumber with the stock blade, I immediatly heard the sound of an underpowered table saw motor.
> 
> ...


Often the problem with making your own table saw fence is finding perfectly straight iron tubing. If that front rail has even a slight bend in it, the error will really show in the fence. It might be parallel to the blade in one setting, but off on another. It's impossible to get it aligned.

I hope you found a good source for precise material, because the off the shelf stuff is rarely suitable!

Looking forward to seeing the finished result!


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## DocSavage45 (Aug 14, 2010)

BramC said:


> *Front guide assembly*
> 
> About 1 year ago, I've purchased a cheap benchtop table saw, in fact, it was the Jet JTS-10. For the small projects I've made 3-4 months after the purchase, it served me well. But when I wanted to cut some thick lumber with the stock blade, I immediatly heard the sound of an underpowered table saw motor.
> 
> ...


Good Luck,

sometimes the measuring on a commercial guidebar is off as well!


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## Grandpa (Jan 28, 2011)

BramC said:


> *Front guide assembly*
> 
> About 1 year ago, I've purchased a cheap benchtop table saw, in fact, it was the Jet JTS-10. For the small projects I've made 3-4 months after the purchase, it served me well. But when I wanted to cut some thick lumber with the stock blade, I immediatly heard the sound of an underpowered table saw motor.
> 
> ...


StumpyNubs, I agree on the straightness of the metal being critical. I think if you will look at ornamental iron or ornamental metal it will often be straighter than the mill stock.


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## gavinzagreb (Jan 19, 2012)

BramC said:


> *Front guide assembly*
> 
> About 1 year ago, I've purchased a cheap benchtop table saw, in fact, it was the Jet JTS-10. For the small projects I've made 3-4 months after the purchase, it served me well. But when I wanted to cut some thick lumber with the stock blade, I immediatly heard the sound of an underpowered table saw motor.
> 
> ...


This just what I needed to see. I recently bought a very similar cheap tablesaw from Lidl of all places. 1700 watts though and it came with 2 semi decent blades.
I will also build it into a better table and make a fence so I will be watching this space carefully for ideas.
I was planning to use some aluminium rails my wifes uncle has laying around. I have found aluminium extrusions to be surprisingly straight.


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## BramC (Jan 22, 2012)

BramC said:


> *Front guide assembly*
> 
> About 1 year ago, I've purchased a cheap benchtop table saw, in fact, it was the Jet JTS-10. For the small projects I've made 3-4 months after the purchase, it served me well. But when I wanted to cut some thick lumber with the stock blade, I immediatly heard the sound of an underpowered table saw motor.
> 
> ...


Stumpy, the front rail is only 3 feet long, so it's pretty straight. If it would be over 6 feet long then there is a bigger chance of not being straight. I've also got "first choise" (or whatever) steel profiles, so i'm not really concerned about it not being straight.


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## BensBeerStShop (Jan 8, 2012)

BramC said:


> *Front guide assembly*
> 
> About 1 year ago, I've purchased a cheap benchtop table saw, in fact, it was the Jet JTS-10. For the small projects I've made 3-4 months after the purchase, it served me well. But when I wanted to cut some thick lumber with the stock blade, I immediatly heard the sound of an underpowered table saw motor.
> 
> ...


worst stock fence you've ever seen? You never saw my little Hitachi fence then. I'd thought about building my own fence system, but it really isn't worth the bother for my saw. I did go with a thin kerf blade for mine too and that did make a huge difference in cut quality and power shortage. I'm on the lookout now for a decent used contractor or hybrid. Depending what I end up with, I'm going to either build or buy an aftermarket fence. Whether I buy or build will depend on what I end up spending on the actual saw. Great build though, I hope it works out well for you


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## BramC (Jan 22, 2012)

BramC said:


> *Front guide assembly*
> 
> About 1 year ago, I've purchased a cheap benchtop table saw, in fact, it was the Jet JTS-10. For the small projects I've made 3-4 months after the purchase, it served me well. But when I wanted to cut some thick lumber with the stock blade, I immediatly heard the sound of an underpowered table saw motor.
> 
> ...


I'd love to buy a conctractor or hybrid saw but those are way out of my price range. So I had to make the best of what I have right now.

I highly recommend to make your own table saw fence. If you find a good supplier then you could buy your materials for like 30$ or so. If you compare this price with the aftermarket fence then you will see the big difference.


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## BramC (Jan 22, 2012)

*Fence tube plug and squaring angle*

I've made the front guide assembly in the previous blog post, now I'll continue with the fence tube.
I had to plug one end of the fence tube, so i could weld the clamping brackets on it.
I would need to have a piece of 5mm steel 60×60mm big. I didn't had that, so I had to weld 2 pieces togheter to form the 60×60 plate. 









Next, I've cut the plate to size and cleaned up the edge.









In order to have a strong weld, I had to bevel the edges of the plate so i wouldn't grind all the weld off when I'm cleaning up the weld.


















Next, I've welded the plate to the fence tube. (yes, I know, my welds look like crap, but that's why they invented an angle grinder, right?)


















Then I've cleaned up the weld and squared the fence tube with my belt sander.


















Now we start on the squaring angle. Note the spacer between the squaring angle and the fence tube.









Then I've welded it to the fence tube togheter with the spacer.









That's not a bad weld, if i say so myself.









That's it for this time .


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## Nighthawk (Dec 13, 2011)

BramC said:


> *Fence tube plug and squaring angle*
> 
> I've made the front guide assembly in the previous blog post, now I'll continue with the fence tube.
> I had to plug one end of the fence tube, so i could weld the clamping brackets on it.
> ...


Tha t going to be one heavy duty fence…


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

BramC said:


> *Fence tube plug and squaring angle*
> 
> I've made the front guide assembly in the previous blog post, now I'll continue with the fence tube.
> I had to plug one end of the fence tube, so i could weld the clamping brackets on it.
> ...


If you think your welds are ugly you should see mine… I subscribe to the "Gob and Slobber" welding method!

Now I'm waiting with heart all aflutter for the next installment!


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## BramC (Jan 22, 2012)

BramC said:


> *Fence tube plug and squaring angle*
> 
> I've made the front guide assembly in the previous blog post, now I'll continue with the fence tube.
> I had to plug one end of the fence tube, so i could weld the clamping brackets on it.
> ...


Nighthawk: Yeh, I'm sure it will be.

Dallas: As long as the weld keeps the 2 metals togheter, then that's enough, right?


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

BramC said:


> *Fence tube plug and squaring angle*
> 
> I've made the front guide assembly in the previous blog post, now I'll continue with the fence tube.
> I had to plug one end of the fence tube, so i could weld the clamping brackets on it.
> ...


Bram, yeah I agree. I tried sticking two pieces of metal together with duct tape but I found out that it burns and melts when you try to weld with it!


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## BramC (Jan 22, 2012)

BramC said:


> *Fence tube plug and squaring angle*
> 
> I've made the front guide assembly in the previous blog post, now I'll continue with the fence tube.
> I had to plug one end of the fence tube, so i could weld the clamping brackets on it.
> ...


yeh, that's not going to work, I alwase try to clamp it down with a vise-grip or a clamp


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## BramC (Jan 22, 2012)

*Clamping brackets and -cam*

Now that the squaring angle is attached to the fence tube, it's time to make the clamping brackets.
For the shaping and drilling of these brackets, I've clamped them togheter so the shape and holes will line up perfectly.

First of all, I cut the 2 pieces of steel. As you can see, it's reclaimed steel.










I've cut off the corners, just for the aesthetics and I've also marked the holes to be drilled.










Holes got drilled…










To keep the 2 brackets the right distance apart from eachother during the welding, I've used 2 bolts and some nuts. You can also see the clamping cam in this picture.










Clamped down for welding…










Freshly welded.










It looks a lot better after some grinding










For the clamping cam, I've drilled a hole off center to achieve the clamping action.



















Next, I've drilled and tapped holes for the adjustment screws.



















In this picture you can see the pressure plate to prevent the clamping cam to push directly against the fence tube.










The whole fence system complete, including the back rail. I've also scraped the paint off of my table saw table.










The completed fence, waiting for it's first layer of paint.










Thanks for watching!


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## NormG (Mar 5, 2010)

BramC said:


> *Clamping brackets and -cam*
> 
> Now that the squaring angle is attached to the fence tube, it's time to make the clamping brackets.
> For the shaping and drilling of these brackets, I've clamped them togheter so the shape and holes will line up perfectly.
> ...


Great job, Looks very well built and sturdy


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

BramC said:


> *Clamping brackets and -cam*
> 
> Now that the squaring angle is attached to the fence tube, it's time to make the clamping brackets.
> For the shaping and drilling of these brackets, I've clamped them togheter so the shape and holes will line up perfectly.
> ...


That's great .


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## BramC (Jan 22, 2012)

*Paint job and wooden handle*

Before I painted everything, I've sanded all the surface rust off with some 80 grit sandpaper and cleaned it all with paint thinner.

Now, everything is ready for it's first layer of black hammerite hammertone paint.



















To lock the fence in place, you will need some sort of handle to screw in the clamping cam. All the aftermarket fences have a painted handle, but it thought if I'm going to paint it then the paint will wear off anyway and the light brown wood that I'm using for the handle would contrast pretty nicely with the black paint. 
So I took a block of wood, cut it in 2 and routed a stopped groove in it. The wood is afrormosia.










Then I've marked the area that has to be removed for the head of the bolt.










And cut it away with my dremel.










Result










Then I've glued it up with polyurethane glue (epoxy would work just as good), let it sit over night and turned it to the shape that I liked the most on my drillpress, sanded it to 1000grit and finished it with a coat of beeswax.

The completed fence system.














































As you can see I have bolted 2 plastic boards to the fence tube, just like the aftermarket fences.

I'm very happy with the way the fence turned out. I think it really looks nice and looks a lot like the ones you can buy. I think it works just as good as the aftermarket ones. There is zero deflection when I'm sawing a piece of wood. And for the total price of 27 euro (including the paint) I can't complaine either.

Special thanks to my uncle that borrowed me his 20+ year old stick welder.

This is my last blog about the table saw fence.
Thanks for reading.


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## festeringsplinter (Dec 6, 2011)

BramC said:


> *Paint job and wooden handle*
> 
> Before I painted everything, I've sanded all the surface rust off with some 80 grit sandpaper and cleaned it all with paint thinner.
> 
> ...


Great looking fence!!! I am soooo stealing the handle idea!!! There are a few things in my shop that need them.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

BramC said:


> *Paint job and wooden handle*
> 
> Before I painted everything, I've sanded all the surface rust off with some 80 grit sandpaper and cleaned it all with paint thinner.
> 
> ...


good work top to bottom.


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## BramC (Jan 22, 2012)

BramC said:


> *Paint job and wooden handle*
> 
> Before I painted everything, I've sanded all the surface rust off with some 80 grit sandpaper and cleaned it all with paint thinner.
> 
> ...


Feel free to steal the handle idea, festeringsplinter 

Thanks Jim


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## superstretch (Jan 10, 2011)

BramC said:


> *Paint job and wooden handle*
> 
> Before I painted everything, I've sanded all the surface rust off with some 80 grit sandpaper and cleaned it all with paint thinner.
> 
> ...


You are my hero. Good job


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