After years of enduring the inconvenience of removing and resetting numerous small bolts to adjust the fence on my router table, I made an adjustable fence that makes the whole process simple, rapid and accurate.

The fence is built around a used Toyota scissor jack that I found at an auto wrecking yard. First I spent a few minutes with a hacksaw to remove the portion of the jack that fits the underside of the car. Next I cut down the base to the width of the jack and bolted it to a 3/4-in. plywood backboard. To make the fence, I attached a piece of straight, well-seasoned cherry to the top of the jack. With the careful use of shims, I set the face of the fence exactly perpendicular to the tabletop. The fence is easy to adjust precisely. Once it’s in position, I anchor it with small C-clamps on both ends.

I suspect that these readily available scissor jacks could easily be adapted to a wide array of clamping, pressing and fine-adjustment problems.

John B. Moon, Mount Vernon, Wash.

Fine Woodworking Magazine, April 1983 No. 39

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