Lisa Raleigh, Gary Junken, Cari Delahanty
The rip fence is an integral part of your tablesaw’s functionality, but its abilities are somewhat limited. That’s why Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking director Bob Van Dyke created his own auxiliary rip fence system. This clever tablesaw add-on fits over his stock rip fence, allowing him to maximize the saw’s potential.
In this short video, learn how supercharge your tablesaw with a rip fence that performs a wide variety of tasks more easily and safely than your standard fence.
Learn How to Build Your Own Supercharged Rip Fence
Learn how to build this auxiliary rip fence system—from start to finish. You can find complete assembly instructions in Fine Woodworking #231.
Even More Clever Tablesaw Fence Ideas
Fine Woodworking Recommended Products
Stanley Powerlock 16-ft. tape measure
With its smooth lock, tough case, compact size, and excellent accuracy, this Stanley tape is perfect for workshop use.
Ridgid R4331 Planer
Priced nearly $300 less than the DeWalt 735X, the Ridgid R4331 is an excellent value. Its three-knife cutterhead left wonderfully clean surfaces on plainsawn white oak and white pine. It did not perform nearly as well on curly maple as the 735X, but it created less tearout than all but one of the other machines (the DeWalt 734 was its equal). Knife changes were quick and easy with the provided T-handle wrench. Dust collection was good, assisted by an internal fan. The 2-1/2-in.-dia. port on the outfeed side of the machine is directed to the side, so the hose is out of the way. The planer’s top is flat and provides a good surface for holding stock between passes.
Grizzly G0495X Industrial Helical Cutterhead 8-in. Jointer
Regardless of the board’s grain, this jointer produced excellent results. Its fence was totally flat, worked smoothly, and locked well, staying in place even after jointing multiple edges. Getting the fence to 90° was very easy, but the 90° stop was a little tricky to set and the fence did not go back to square when using it. For those who would use it, there is also a digital depth-of-cut scale.
Rockler Dust Right 650 CFM
While all five of the smaller units will collect chips efficiently when deployed properly, the 3/4-hp Rockler was just a bit more powerful in our suction test. Bag changes were very easy too, thanks to a lip on the lower edge of the
canister, which holds the bag in place while you operate the clamp. The Rockler 650 also hangs very solidly on its bracket, which helps when you turn the filter-cleaning crank.
Oneida’s Super Cell Dust Collector
30-Gal with Wall Mount
Comments
Very nice, thank you for sharing!
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Really nice fence. I especially like the safety features when cutting narrow tenons.
Hey Bob, that’s really a very nice set up. I’m going to build one. I can see how really handy it’ll be. Thanks for that 👍
Bob, Thanks for this video. I had just drawn up some plans for a fence, but your rig is far superior. I will build it tomorrow!
Very nice! My only reservation: Bolting on a sacrificial fence with the bolts not far from the blade makes me nervous with a SawStop saw. Having accidentally triggered the brake with a jig I built makes me wary of having metal anywhere near the blade. Of course, having ANY table saw blade hit a bolt is undesirable, and the design of your fence is excellent.
I am very impressed by the design and utility of your auxiliary fences and owning the same table saw as you, I have an urge to build them all. Please post plans for a 200 sq. ft. outbuilding so I’ll have a place to store them!
I am curious as to whether clamping the far side of the tablesaw auxiliary fence would tend to pull the fence out of alignment creating a situation where the blade would not be perpendicular to the fence, especially when using a tall add on to the fence to cut tenons.
I built this fence a few years ago and it has been very useful. It's my go-to fence and I've used it as the basis for several add-ons. I'm looking for a way to cut bevels on 10' 2x6s and I knew I had seen a way to do this without having the blade exposed. I was delighted to see the panel raising attachment for this fence that keeps the waste between the blade and the fence. Problem solved, so long as I remember the rabbet! Thanks!
In one of the clips (at 3:31) the author’s hand looks dangerously close to the spinning blade while cutting a bevel in end grain of a panel.
SawStop or not, this is insanely dangerous, your hand only some centimeters away from the saw blade, while pushing with much force.
The USA may have been to the moon, but I wonder if all of their astronauts had ten fingers.
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