A fence for my router table

[Monty]

I have finally gotten around to making a fence for my router table. It's a modification of Norm's design -- it's fit to the dimensions of my work surface, and made to clamp onto the table saw's fence.

It's all made of MDF. The glueup of this project was a little stressful, since I was trying to make sure the thing ended up perfectly square. If I were doing this again, I would have gone to the trouble of making some dadoes for those right angle support pieces to fit in. The dust collection hooks up to a 2½" hose. I still have to work out the dust collection to the router table itself, as well as this fence. Maybe I'll get to that... eventually... :roll:

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Just thought I'd share. :mrgreen:

 

[WoodWrangler]

Awesome job! Looks like another job from a pro! Will you make me one? :lol:

 

[DaveO]

Great job Insom. looks very similar to the one I built and it works great. Did you coat the MDF with anything? And how much gravy did you make from the dust? :lol: :lol: :lol:
Dave

 

[Canuck]

Another engineering marvel, Insom! AND it is even color coordinated to your saw! By the time you finish it off, you will need to get a hold of the patent office!

Great Work!!:eusa_clap

 

[Monty]

Yea it's similar to yours, DaveO. I will put some Seal-a-cell on there probably, since I have plenty of that around the shop.

 

[DaveO]

Yea it's similar to yours, DaveO.

I copied mine from pics of Nahms, how close did you stick to his design. You have the plan right?
Dave

 

[Monty]

I do have the plans. The fence faces are all the same height as designed by His Normness™, but the lengths are an inch or two shorter so it would fit "cross-ways" on my table. The back supports are different, too, so it will clamp onto my TS fence face. I also used T-track™ on the back of the moveable fences instead of a T-slot cutting router bit. Just seems stronger that way to me, although it doesn't really have to be that strong.

 

[DaveO]

I used a T-track from Incra™ on the back of mine. I didn't feel that a routed T slot in MDF would be sturdy enough either. I used a Miter-track from Incra™ on the face to fit my Benchdog™ feather boards.
Dave

 

[Matt]

Very cool. Now my router is jealous...

 

[Monty]

I used a Miter-track from Incra™ on the face to fit my Benchdog™ feather boards.

Oooohhhh!!! Good idea! Wish I had paid more attention -- maybe I'll do that next time! :eusa_doh: Oh well, if T-track™ is good enough for the Normster®, then it oughta do the trick for me.

 

[D L Ames]

Looking good Monty...........great looking fence.:icon_thum I like your use of the quick clamps to secure it to your TS fence. Making adjustments of the fence will be a breeze with a set up like that.

D L

 

[Gofor]

Now we know where all that MDF dust came from on the "5 min" post (hope this doesn't cost me 50 posts 'cause I think that'll put me in the negative !!) Great design and I hope to copy it. Do I owe you a royalty (it'll be for personal use only!)
Thank you:lol:

 

[Wilmingtonian]

Great job! Very impressed.

 

[JohnsonMBrandon]

Nice job Monty. Looks great!

 

[Steve D]

Nice job Monty, that came out great. I really like the design but have a couple of questions. Is there a reason for the gap between the lower & upper portions of the fence? Have you come up with a way to make it zero clearance without making the sliding pieces sacrificial?

 

[sapwood]

I like your use of the quick clamps to secure it to your tablesaw fence. Making adjustments of the fence will be a breeze with a set up like that.

D L

Neat Insom!
D L already said it, so I'll save a few keystrokes :mrgreen:

Sapwood

 

[Monty]

Is there a reason for the gap between the lower & upper portions of the fence?

If there is a reason, I don't know it... that's how Stormin Norman® did it in his design. Like I mentioned before, I got the height measurements from the plans, and I didn't notice that there would be a gap until I put it all together.... :-?

Have you come up with a way to make it zero clearance without making the sliding pieces sacrificial?

Yea I haven't done it yet, but I think I'll partially back-bevel the inner edges of the sliding fence faces to 45°, so a sacrificial face can be added and trapped between the fences. Like erasmussen did (Po boys shop). This would of course mean that the sacrificial piece would have to be either laminated, or shimmed out to be even with the sliding fences. Sounds like a lot of trouble, but I think I'll make a few like that. I expect that they could be reused depending on the bit profile, or flipped over to use the other end.

 

[woodguy1975]

Nice fence. :lol:

 

[Steve D]

I didn't know if there was a function I was missing or if it was just a "momma always did it that way".:lol: My exisiting fence doesn't adjust in and out but I cut 4" wide dado the thickness of a piece of masonite over the bit area and made a bevel with a DT bit on each side. I then cut up a bunch of masonite pieces with bevels to slide in to the groove for use as a ZC. It might make sense to leave the ends square and do something similar to avoid the need to shim the ZC. That way you would only need to cut a beveled rabbett on each end with a DT bit and capture the masonite between the ends. Hmmmmmm:eusa_thin

If there is a reason, I don't know it... that's how Stormin Norman® did it in his design. Like I mentioned before, I got the height measurements from the plans, and I didn't notice that there would be a gap until I put it all together.... :-?

Yea I haven't done it yet, but I think I'll partially back-bevel the inner edges of the sliding fence faces to 45°, so a sacrificial face can be added and trapped between the fences. Like erasmussen did (Po boys shop). This would of course mean that the sacrificial piece would have to be either laminated, or shimmed out to be even with the sliding fences. Sounds like a lot of trouble, but I think I'll make a few like that. I expect that they could be reused depending on the bit profile, or flipped over to use the other end.

 

[Monty]

Hmmmmm :eusa_thin I like that idea too. I could always just make another one-piece fence with a dovetailed dado like you describe, and just use that fence when I need zero-clearance.