# Fence upgrade options for Ridgid R4512 (and other stuff too)



## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

I am one of those people that can never leave well enough alone. Everything I own from cars to computers I find a way to tinker with, upgrade, and get more performance and usability from. I've noticed lately the fence system on my R4512 is not ideal. There is technically nothing wrong with it, but the front rail is split, which leaves a little ridge. If I am very careful I can still make a very accurate cut.

I had ordered a vega pro 50, but when I finally opened it, it was pretty banged up and went back. I am rethinking my decision now was well. I didn't realize how much more this fence system extended the table. It is WAY too big for my shop. I am now heavily considering either the Delta T2 which is the same size as my current fence, or a slight upgrade with the DELTA 78-902 42 fence (42" Biesemeyer fence) with the Biesemeyer 78-130 rail and tube system.

Question 1 - Is the Beice system really worth double the amount of money vs. the T2? If so, I have no trouble purchasing it. The T2 system looks really nice. I will miss the fence on the ridgid though. The rails suck, but the fence is awesome. I love the T tracks all over it. I will have to re-think all my jigs now that that is gone

Question 2 - has anyone here ever upgraded the fence system on one of these? I know the fence rails hold in and align the steel extensions. Obviously there is going to be some drilling involved, I just want to know exactly what I am getting into.

In addition, I want to get this:
Bench Dog 40-102 ProMax Cast Iron Router Extension









This looks super solid and it would be nice to add another 100lbs of cast iron to my saw.
I have a left tilt saw, so I'm not sure if this will fit in the left extension, I may have to put it in the right extension. I've seen examples of this on the left of my saw, but I am going to have a gigantic PC 7518 under it and am not sure I will have room. Again, does anyone have one of these?


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## Bobmedic (Sep 24, 2010)

I have that same saw and the little lip from the split front rail I filed down and have no alignment/fence issues right or left of the blade. I don't have a router table in the extension wing. It seems like a great space saver but the added headaches of possibly having to interrupt a router / table saw set up just to use the other tool. I can see the router fence/ bit getting in the way of a table saw operation or vise versa.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Bob, next time your fence is near or over that little ridge, check it for square. It will still be square to the blade, but not square to the table. I was wondering why my glue ups of some table legs I cut were not going well. I face glued some 4/4 stock on top of one another because I couldn't get 8/4 stock (and they came out awesome!). However I noticed the edges were not flat. I thought my blade was out of alignment. I have a digital angle finder my dad used to set up bridgeports before he retired. Sure enough, the blade was 90 degrees to the table on the nose. The fence was NOT. It was about 87 and some change. I moved it away from the middle and it was extremely close to 90 (three 9's) Not discernible to the naked eye (or mine anyway), but it's there. My tubes are lined up as perfectly as I can get them too. I think when you add the clamping pressure of locking the fence down, the little set screw holder on the inside gives a tad. The close you get to the middle, the more it gives


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Also I don't mind dismantling the router table for TS use, one thing I really like about this setup is the fence for the router can be on either side of the bit. That give me +/- 40" of table! I am only 1 guy and usually try to do all my cuts at once per machine when possible. I am in the process of making the "super sled" and cutting those dadoes on a 36" piece of plywood, that extra table space would save me a lot of hassle of rigging something up to cut them free hand.

Also as I have mentioned before, that 7518 router scares the crap out of me. Having it hanging from 300+lbs of cast iron makes me a little warmer and fuzzier than having it under a 50 lb shop made table.


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## knotscott (Feb 27, 2009)

I've seen pics of R4512's with the T2 and with a Vega fence, so I know it's possible. Whether or not the Biese is worth twice is a matter of opinion….it's definitely a heavier duty fence (nicer IMO), but it's pretty expensive for that saw….like Pirelli tires on a stock Hyundai Accent. The T2 is an excellent value IMO, and is a more price appropriate purchase for an R4512. A Vega could be too (at the right price). A Shop Fox Classic is fairly "Biese-like" for less $ ($300 shipped).

Also, since your saw is left tilt, you can always slide the rails a little further right to gain more rip capacity on the right….prolly a good idea to support the rails if you do that.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Scott, thanks and I have seen those pics. With the T2 it looks like he tossed the steel extensions and made new ones. That's not something I am trilled about doing, but could - HOWEVER I am going in a new direction. 
More on that in a minute. I am going to take a chance on the bench dogs cast iron insert on the LEFT side. I won't be able to install it on the right side (again, more on that later) so I hope it will fit. Here are some pics to prove it can be done:










I just hope the 7518 fits









Now, it's funny you mention putting "Pirelli tires on a stock Hyundai Accent". I am actually going a step past that and putting kumho v710 victoracer's on a Yugo. I was in woodcraft picking up some supplies for a jig I am making, and ordered this:










Incra LS32-TS. This is why that router table insert has to go in the left.
It's actually cheaper than the Biese. Yes, this belongs on saws way nicer than mine. but there is actually nothing at all wrong with mine. It cuts straight (no alignment issue), smooth, heavy, etc. If I ever upgrade, I can keep this system as it will be a welcomed addition to any saw. The bad news it's back ordered and I won't have it for 6 to 8 weeks. Not a huge deal as I don't have an urgent need to upgrade.


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## knotscott (Feb 27, 2009)

Ha! I almost used "Yugo" in the analogy! There's nothing wrong with putting a great fence on a good saw….the performance should still improve. The Incra and the Bench Dog RT should make that a hot setup.

What blade(s) did you end up with?


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

I am starting my mini-knotscott collection 
What I have so far:
The crap ridgid 40 tooth (my wife made a clock out of it for me!)
Diablo D1024X - GREAT for chopping 2xwhatever's in half.
Forrest WWII 40 tooth. Sadly this is my least used blade. It really belongs on a 3hp+ saw. I got a great deal on it though.
Freud LU87R010 30 tooth thin kerf "glue line" rip. I use this to rip the ugly edge off of long, ruff cut lumber 
Diablo D1050X 50 tooth combination blade. (I love this thing! not the best for LONG rips, but really good at cross cuts)
Diablo D1080X 80 tooth cross cut. I almost never use this unless I am doing a lot of cross cutting at once. The 50 tooth combination blade is really good
Freud SD208 8" stacked dado. Check my review. I should have got the delta

Future blade purchases:
Infinity 010-150 thin kerf 50 tooth combination blade. My diablo blade is great, but it's a low end blade. I've had it for 2 months now and it's already showing wear and could honestly use a sharpening. My saw performs better with thin kerf blades. It's a lot cheaper than the Forrest and supposedly as good.

I am also contemplating getting the infinity 80 tooth laminate blade for cutting laminated plywood. Have you ever used one or something similar? I know a really good combination blade and a ZCI does a pretty good job, but I actually like buying saw blades and if I could find an excuse for getting another one - even better.


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## knotscott (Feb 27, 2009)

*"I am also contemplating getting the infinity 80 tooth laminate blade for cutting laminated plywood. Have you ever used one or something similar? I know a really good combination blade and a ZCI does a pretty good job, but I actually like buying saw blades and if I could find an excuse for getting another one - even better."*

Oh yeah baby! For ply and fine crosscuts, something like the Infinity 010-080 "Ultrasmooth" just goes to town….definitely "the next level". It's got a 40° Hi-ATB grind, reasonably tight side clearance, high tooth count, precision manufucturing. I don't use this type of blade on an every day basis, but it represents the pinnacle of clean cuts (if the saw is running true…otherwise it masks what a blade like this can do)...there are really times when it's worth it's weight in gold IMO. The Forrest Duraline, CMT 210.080.10, Freud LU80, and Amana MB10800 are pretty similar.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Have you used the infinity combination blade at all? I'm about to pull the trigger on it now along with some router bits, even though I already spent 800$ on a fence and router insert today. It's kind of weird to know the stuff attached to my saw will work out to about double the price of the saw itself. Some say it's stupid, however even if I went with a much more expensive saw, it's not going to come with an Incra LS-TS fence system or a cast iron router table with a reversible fence.


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## knotscott (Feb 27, 2009)

*"Have you used the infinity combination blade at all?"*

Yes…I've used it quite a bit. True story….maybe 7 or 8 years ago I went to a woodworking show with 4 good friends. While there, we thought it'd be nice to pitch in and a buy a WWII at the show price for one of the guys in the group since it was his birthday. He loved the blade and had never used something that nice in his 30 years of wwing. Fast forward a couple of years before I bought my cabinet saw….I picked up an Infinity Combomax Lite (010-150) for my 1.75hp hybrid saw, and loved it…..easy to get great results from, rivals my WWII, etc….just a great blade. My shop closes for the winter, so for the winter I loaned my Combomax to the friend with the WWII so he could try it out….he loved it too, and hasn't given it back! (I haven't pressured him much, since I have no shortage of blades, and he's done a ton for me over the years, but I really liked the blade for general use). It's not as clean as an 80T Hi-ATB grind, but is far more versatile and is very easy to use. It's the best of the several 50T ATB/R designs I've tried (LU84, DW7150PT, DW7640, Leitz TK, Amana Tool, PC Razor, Tenryu RS25550, prolly a couple of others…some real nice blades in that group).


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Great news, I can't wait to try it out. I really want to love that WWII, unfortunately I don't think my hybrid saw has enough guts to make it really sing the way forrest designed it to. It's not bad, but it's not as good as my thin kerf blades. It does cut exceptionally clean, but it struggles more than it should. Some day when I get my dream saw (which right now is the JTAS-10XL50-1 with the router lift), maybe it will be my go-to blade.


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## knotscott (Feb 27, 2009)

Thought you might like this setup Joe….posted by bh442 just a few minutes ago:


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

YES!!! 6 to 8 weeks cannot come quick enough! I thought about getting that cross cut sled, but Ihonestly think the one I am building (if it comes out right) is better.

Where was that posted? I see we have some things in common already:
1 - no dust collection
2 - I also left the plastic on my power cord

I have a dust collector now, I just need to hook it up. In order to do that, I need to flip the saw over. In order to do that the fence rails need to come off. I'll be putting it on once I install the incra fence.


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## knotscott (Feb 27, 2009)

Here's the Link Joe.


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## bh442 (Jun 21, 2012)

Hey Joe, when I initially had the Bench Dog router table extension on my saw, the only issue I had installing it was the center bolt (3 bolts connect the extension to the saw table). All I did was, instead of using the supplied hex head bolt, I used the original cap head which came with the Ridgid. Worked like a charm.

And actually, if you look at this Amazon link for the Bench Dog, a reviewer uploaded a video of the extension which he put on his saw, which just so happened to be the 4512.

http://www.amazon.com/Bench-Dog-40-102-ProMax-Extension/dp/B001TDLSUS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340728507&sr=8-1&keywords=promax+bench+dog


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## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

I really like my Shop Fox Classic


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

I saw that video on Amazon, which is partially the reason I even bought the bench dogs table. he proved it was possible. I am still concerned about clearance issues with the PC 7518, however I'll take a chance. I see in your pictures you didn't support it underneath. Having the Incra fence installed, do you think that provides an adequate level of support? In looking at the attachment points and methods for the TS-LS, I'm thinking it won't be. I've got some angle iron I can make some legs out of if need be.


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## bh442 (Jun 21, 2012)

My Milwaukee 5625 (3 1/2 hp) is pretty big and I didn't have any clearance issues, minus the handles which I simply removed.

When unboxing the extension and realizing just how heavy it really was, I was concerned about no support other than the 3 mounting bolts. I figured I'd just order a pair of rail mounts from Incra and use them to mount to the side of the extension.

But after it was mounted, I didn't even think twice about further supporting it. It was solid as a rock and, even better, it was also level with the table. I didn't have to shim it at all.

Here's a pic, you can see the extension is predrilled for side mounts.


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## MolokMot (Jan 11, 2012)

Have any of you put a wooden router table in the right side of your table? I purchased the MLCS http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/smarthtml/pages/router_table4.html

I am looking for a way to mount it to the table but I am having a little bit of difficulty trying to figure it out. The table itself is thicker than the rails.

Any ideas / help would be appreciated.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

I'm not sure what you mean. Are you looking to attach the cast iron insert to a wooden table installed on your saw?


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## bh442 (Jun 21, 2012)

*"I am looking for a way to mount it to the table but I am having a little bit of difficulty trying to figure it out. The table itself is thicker than the rails.

Any ideas / help would be appreciated."*

Because of so many different ts fence options, most of the ts router table extensions I had looked at didn't include any mounting hardware, minus a few nuts and bolts.

Because you're posting in this thread, I'm assuming you're using a r4512 yourself… but are you still using the stock fence?

I know Incra makes a mounting kit. I don't see why it couldn't be made to work on the stock Rigid fence.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002UTJDMA/ref=wms_ohs_product

I would assume there are some others who make mounting kits or even taking their idea and making your own mounting out of some aluminum angle, if you have the capabilities.


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## MolokMot (Jan 11, 2012)

I am using the stock fence on the R4512.

I have posted some pics and a couple other folks are helping me figure out a solution at this post. I also have a very detailed sketchup posted there as well.

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/40298#reply-474634


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