I’m building my first router table and need some advice.
I started with a general idea of a table design but decided to buy a fence instead of making one.
My Jessem Mast-R-Fence II arrived yesterday and I started checking its condition and alignment.
First concern is flatness of the face of the aluminum fence extrusion.
It is kinked in the center at the cutout for bits.
Using a straight edge tight against the fence on one side of the cutout, there was a 25 mil gap at the opposite end.
This was a bit alarming having read Pat Warner’s book talking about routing accuracy of 1 or 2 mils.
To correct this I shimmed one of the subfences using various combinations of index cards and paper (8 mils and 4 mils) and it was near dead even with the other subfence.
Is misalignment typical for router fences and is shimming the subfence like this a good permanent solution?
The aluminum fence has a T slot on top and another one on the face above the subfence. I’m thinking these will be used for featherboards and stops and therefore perfect alignment is not so critical. Is that right or are there uses for the T slots where the kinky extrusion would be a problem?
I would like to avoid the hassle of repackaging and returning the fence, but before deciding I would appreciate any advice on whether the kinky fence face will be a problem.
The second issue is the face of the subfence (melamine?) has a raised concentric circle (like a mini volcano) around a couple of the countersunk holes for bolting to the aluminum fence. It’s about 10 mils high. Doesn’t seem like it can be flattened (at least not with a hardwood block and hammer), so I’ll need to check with Jessem about a replacement.
Something else I learned is the Jessem brackets for mounting the fence work for a table top thickness of up to 1 and 5/16”. I’m planning on using 2 layers of ¾ MDF for my top with hardwood trim around the edge. The trim depth will match the 1 and 1/2" table thickness so I’ll need to notch it to say 1 and 1/4" at the bracket. The bracket is then screwed to the trim from below. It seems like this should work ok.
Thanks in advance for advice and any suggestions, especially on whether to keep or return the fence.
Steve