Auxiliary fence material

I would like to make and attach an auxiliary fence to my Ridgid TS3650 instead of using the bare aluminum of the fence as I am now. I have been thinking about this for awhile now and I think the best material for this would be PVC coated phenolic like the fences on my JessEm Mast-R-Fence but in 1/2” thickness but I have no idea where one would buy such material. I have purchased smaller pieces at Woodcraft that they sell as blank router plates which I have cut up and use for my ZCTP’s for the saw. Another possibility is the Phenolic faced plywood that Woodcraft also sells. I have also considered Melamine faced boards and possibly Formica covered Baltic Birch.

What are you guys thoughts on the best material to use for this purpose?

Ken

I personally use a UHMW tape on mine. It's not too thick so the fence indicator can still be used without major modification. It's plenty slippery and wears extremely well. The only bad part is removing it if I ever have to. That's some good adhesive!!!

Matt

I use MDF for my sacraficial fence; use with dados, etc. It sounds like you're after something for regular fence duty. Although it may exceed your fences cursor range, Woodcraft sells a phenolic veneered baltic birch which wears like iron. I also have the UHMW wide tape like Rockler and Woodcraft sell. I never got the chance to use it on my aluminum fence and don't have the Biesemeyer set up yet so I'll defer to those that have used it but, I intend to. I did take the time to cut t-slots into the MDF fence for featherboards and such. I highly recommend this.

I've used UHMW for a bunch of fence applications. I got most of it at machinistmaterials.com.

Jay

For my router table fence, bandsaw resawing fence, tablesaw sacrificial fence and zero-clearance inserts, I use particle-board core melamine scraps. Yes, the one from the BORG.

It's slick, flat, cheap, and widely-available.