Has anyone made your own rip fence

[Jon Wood]

I'm thinking about upgrading but was wondering if anyone has built thier own rip fence.

[Mark Jerde]

IIRC there's one in Fine Woodworking's book "Shop Accessories You Can Build."

-- Mark

[TeamCasa]

Jon, If you have a welder you should be able to fab one up in an afternoon. I made one many years ago for my first TS. It is still in use in a new home. Look at a Biesemeyer. It's actually a simple design.

No welder? Hard to do.

Dave

[George]

Pretty much anyone who's ever clamped two ends of a board to their table. I've done some coving, myself, which demands one. Now how elaborate can you get before the cost of real machining and metal becomes worth it?

[Bridger]

I made one for my bandsaw. it works fine.

[Larry Blanchard]

I built one (wooden) following plans in a WOOD magazine book called "Woodworking Tools You Can Make". IIRC, I made a few minor changes. That was 10-12 years ago. It's still working, although it's beginning to show signs of age. I'll probably build a replacement this year or next using the same design.

[Pounds on Wood]

Sure, and you can see it at the link below.

[Dave Mundt]

Well, after struggling with the fence on the Unisaw for slightly too long, I am in the middle of building a Biesemeyer clone... So far, so good. Regards Dave Mundt

[Tom Watson]

You have to remember that the Unifence is a "kit".

I've had three of them and none of them were dead straight (when measured against the Starrett Machinist's Straight Edge That Cost More Money Than Any Married Man Should Put Into Such A Thing But The Fugger's Straight)

I've shimmed the current one to match up to the SMSETCMMTAMMSPISATBTFS.

Of course, this eliminates the sliding feature of the fence.

That's no great loss in my view.

What's bad is when you have to put the fence on the left side of the blade to do something.

That really sucks.

Thomas J. Watson - Cabinetmaker (ret.) (Real Email is tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet)

[Tom Watson]

You have to remember that the Unifence is a "kit".

I've had three of them and none of them were dead straight (when measured against the Starrett Machinist's Straight Edge That Cost More Money Than Any Married Man Should Put Into Such A Thing But The Fugger's Straight)

I've shimmed the current one to match up to the SMSETCMMTAMMSPISATBTFS.

Of course, this eliminates the sliding feature of the fence.

That's no great loss in my view.

What's bad is when you have to put the fence on the left side of the blade to do something.

That really sucks.

Thomas J. Watson - Cabinetmaker (ret.) (Real Email is tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet)

[Jon Wood]

I looked that one up. It seems like a good design. Does it stay straight even in humid weather?

--Jon

[Luigi Zanasi]

On Mon, 02 Feb 2004 22:05:02 -0500, Tom Watson scribbled:

Why'ncha make your own instead of buying the SMSETCMMTAMMSPISATBTFS. I did. Made three of them as a matter of fact. Got me three 1/4" X 3" X

48" (or something like that) steel bars at what passes for the local Borg (although it doesn't qualify on a number of accounts; i.e. it ain't big enough, most of the employees know their stuff, it's called Home Hardware, f.k.a. Beaver Lumber, and it carries much drooled-over Generals 350 at the same price as HoT in Calgary).

First, I squared off one rounded edge on the grinder, using a drywall square to make sure the dips were not too deep and the bumps not too high. Then I took a big honking file, clamped a squared block of wood to it and used it as a plane to joint the edges of the steel thingies (planks, boards, strips?). I know the metalworkers reading this will cringe as they coulda filed it true to a gazillionth of an inch holding the file perpendicular to the steel using just their eye, but I'm a wooddorker of sorts and I understand planes and let's just see them try to fit a tenon into a mortise that were cut a few days earlier. I digress. Next step was to hail myself over to the auto parts shop for some valve grinding compound.

Then I cut slots in a couple of short pieces of 2X6 and clamped them to the bench to hold the steel (almost) straightedges. Then I sort of followed the directions here:

one edge against another with the valve grinding compound. I have to admit I eventually did get confused with the A-A' B-B' and C-C' and at what point in the sequence I was. Anyhoo, to test the thing, I got out my old metric feeler gauges from when I owned a Fiat (shoulda been Fial in my case). Cut the 0.05mm (0.019685", Keith) in half to separate the two straight edges. When the 0.04mm (.0015748", Keith) gauge slid easily everywhere between any two edges in both orientations, another piece of 0.05mm dragged slightly all along, while the 0.06mm (0.0023622", Keith) didn't fit in between. I hadda try this a few times, wiping off the gooey gritty valve grinding compound with mineral spirits.

So I figure the straightedges are accurate to within about .01mm (.0003937, Keith, yup, 4 ten-thousandths of an inch), better than a gnat's ass.

I then put some 1" masking tape along the straight edge, and spray painted them a nice bright red with varathane so that I knew which one was the straight edge. (Sorry Larry, but your Waterlox would not have worked here). I gave one away to Doug, my cabinet worker friend, and I still have the other two.

BTW, to get back on topic, Swensen also has direction on how to make a Biesemeyer fence

the new email address. Please adjust your krillfiles (tmAD) accordingly Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address

[Larry Blanchard]

I haven't noticed any problem. I used 3 pieces of oddball "hardwood" plywood from a local lumber store. I suspect the "paint grade" stuff at HD would do as well.

But I do most of my woodworking in the summer and summertime around here is humidity of 15%-30%.

BTW, the major mod I made was to add a clamping mechanism to the back as well. I also cut half a dovetail into both front and rear bars, but that may have been in the original - I don't remember.

[Clarke Echols]

I built one for my Unisaw, using the "T-square" approach, which I think is now Biesmeyer or something like that. However, I have access to welders and other machine tools for metalworking. I used a 2"x3" rectangular steel tube (11 gauge = 1/8" thick walls) welded to a piece of angle 1/8 or 3/16" by 2" by 2" bolted to the table and extending to the right about 53" past the blade. Fence is also 2" x 3" rectangular tubing with 3/4" x 5" ash facing on both sides. "T" was built using 3/16" x 1.5" x 1.5" angle and slider blocks made of HDPE (high-density polyethylene) block attached with flat-head screws threaded into the angle. I built a cam with an attached plastic handle so it looks nice and professional. I love it! Your mileage may vary because this assumes considerable welding skill and experience. I also welded caps on the ends of the tubing so no dust gets inside.

Clarke

J>

[Mark and Kim Smith]

Got any plans or pictures?? Sounds like it is up my alley. Thanks!