Router Table fence

[Keith Nuttle]

A couple of decades a go I got a Table for my Router. At the time I made a fence, and have used it ever since.

The face of the old one is of a piece of 3/8 plywood, about 3.5 inches wide. It has brackets so the fence can be adjusted. The plywood has developed a bend and is laminating on the edges.

For the new one I thought about using a piece of maple, poplar or oak, for the face of the fence, but was unsure which would have the best properties for this use.

Any recommendation on construction of, and wood for the fence.

[DerbyDad03]

Learn to play Pinochle. Once you get good at that, you'll be able to play Euchre in your sleep.

[hubops]

.... aluminum ? :-)

John T.

[krw]

[Larry Kraus]

If you can get 20 years out of one face, I'd use 3/8 plywood again.

The faces on my split fence are made from MDF scraps that can slide along the brackets. They get pushed into the cutter when I want zero clearance, and are removed and trimmed shorter when I use a different profile. Consequently, they only last a few years.

[Keith Nuttle]

That is several time more expensive that my whole setup

[Leon]

Don't rule out MDF, easy to replace and you can use add pieces to act as zero clearance backs to help prevent tear out when cutting cross grain.

BenchDog router tables uses MDF on the daces of their fences. I have had this brand fence and table for 10 plus years and and like it a lot.

What ever you use, spray some TopCote on it to make is slippery.

[Brewster]

I use a split fence, melamine covered MDF. The low friction is a plus and you can easily make (and remove) pencil marks.

They mount and slide with a T-track embedded into a BB ply sub fence.

As with Larry, I slide them into the router bit when I need zero clearance.

-BR

[Steve]

Another vote here for Melamine covered MDF-- exactly what I was thinking. However, if you "MUST" use lumber, then I think the question you'd want to ask is "Which species is the most stable under these circumstances?"

So... Where are you located? Is your shop heated? Do you have full climate control, or do you leak air & humidity, etc?

I don't pretend to know relative stability of the species in terms of movement, but those are the questions I'd be asking, and then I'd be comparing cost for the best & better ones.

-- I'm sure one of these woodworkers that's purer than I am will have a species idea for you.

[B]

A couple of decades a go I got a Table for my Router. At the time I made a fence, and have used it ever since.

The face of the old one is of a piece of 3/8 plywood, about 3.5 inches wide. It has brackets so the fence can be adjusted. The plywood has developed a bend and is laminating on the edges.

For the new one I thought about using a piece of maple, poplar or oak, for the face of the fence, but was unsure which would have the best properties for this use.

Any recommendation on construction of, and wood for the fence.

[Keith Nuttle]

It looks interesting I will look into it.

[B]

Forgot to include the link to FWW article I mentioned:

Bob S.