sorry to bring this thread back from the dead, but I am having some similar issues with aluminum on a shaper fence as well as a couple router plates I made. Peter did you ever get your fence faces anodized? Anyone else have any suggestions?
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sorry to bring this thread back from the dead, but I am having some similar issues with aluminum on a shaper fence as well as a couple router plates I made. Peter did you ever get your fence faces anodized? Anyone else have any suggestions?
Not trying to be smart, but do you mean some suggestions different from the 8 ones already offered in this thread? Aluminum oxidizes rapidly and what you see is the aluminum oxide rubbing off on the wood. If you clean all of the oxide off first, usually the problem resurfaces only after you let it sit for a while. Best solution is hard coat anodizing, easiest solution is to add a layer of "slick tape" something like this: http://www.rockler.com/nylo-tape-fri...oose-thicknessOriginally Posted by Ken Grant
NOW you tell me...
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Peter, the best stuff I have ever found was what came on my Uni originally. Its a wood product, EXTREMELY dense, man made lamination. There is no visible wear showing and although I have no idea how much stock it ran before I bought it I have run thousands of feet across it. I have been trying to find the same stuff with no luck. If you would like I can send you a sample and see if you have better luck.
I have tried 3/4"UHMW, too flexible except for use on one piece fences. I tried a split fence out of it and it was like a spring at the cutter. Tried backing it with aluminum and I could not get a good bond and it was getting too thick for small diameter cutters. Have been going to try Formica on aluminum, but have not gotten to it. Would like to try brass as well. Just because it is cool.
I keep looking at the Aigners but I use offset fences as much as not and they have no advantage in that case.
If you want a sample of the old fence, they cut one up before I bought it, PM me an address.
Larry
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Standard decorative anodising isn't a big deal Peter, at least not over here - typically $50 for an item like a fence. Just be aware that whatever finish you have before anodising will remain. I typically block sand or lap my stuff on a surface table with maybe 600 wet and dry first, and then give it a quick rub with fine steel wool.
It doesn't seem to have any tendency to introduce distortion, and is easily drilled or tapped through if needed. There's fancier varieties of hard and electroless anodising which are probably a lot more expensive and chemically different, i've never used them.
I've had several items done locally (a planer thicknesser fence that was cuppped as supplied, and needed lapping flat which cut off the original anodising, and saw and drill press fences), and they have been 100% trouble free. e.g. the planer and low profile sub rip fence for an Incra TS LS positioner below:
a3 410 fence re-anodised & assembled.jpg diy low fence for incra ts ls.jpg
Last edited by ian maybury; 08-28-2015 at 4:13 PM.
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Add a UHMW plastic layer to it. My main shaper I cover the whole deck in it. My old shaper went four or five years with out being lubed up once.
My experience with UHMW tape was similar.
"A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".
– Samuel Butler
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My Inca J/P has hard anodized tables but a plain machined aluminum fence. The tables have never left a mark on the wood, but that fence would drag against the wood and leave black marks on it when done. I added a thin sheet of peel and stick UHMW plastic to it. Problem solved. It's been on there for 20 years now.
John
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Did you use the self adhesive thin stuff, or a thicker layer bonded some other way? I'm thinking of doing this for my sticking shaper.
JR
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I always wondered if that tape would stay stuck. Guess so.
[OP]
Member
Well, I looked into anodizing, I forget the quotes but it gave me pause, for a couple of little fence plates, no way. So I double stick taped some Formica to the plates and moved on with life. I have this vision of maybe using contact cement and doing both sides some day. But frankly the aluminum doesn't move like single sided wood. The last year I've been working so much in other peoples shops that I've barely used my own and all but forgotten about the problem! I may have ordered some thin UHMW sheets to glue on, I'll remember when they fall on my head from a shelf looking for something else! I just sprayed a book case I made for my son 3 years ago to start school....things been moving slow in my shop as all focus is on making cash.
"A good miter set up is like yoga pants: it makes everyone's butts look good." Prashun Patel
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For some reason I can't edit my post. I'll try and get a picture after lunch for you JR
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Neither really. I used 1/4", but it's not bonded or fixed to the shaper.
The shop next door to me uses a fair amount of Plyboo. Some of that stuff is ridiculously expensive, like $900 a sheet, and a lot of times it comes with a 4x8 sheet of 1/4" UHMW as a dunnage sheet. I poach these whenever I can. The 4x4 out feed table on the widebelt is plastic, and one of sawhorses for the table saw has the deck of it skinned with it as well. I've got a bunch of sheets in the rack I've been saving to skin all the tablesaw out feed tables with. The out feed on the widebelt, I just marked it out maybe 16" on center in a grid, and put a small screw that is countersunk. It's worked well. Slippery, and it doesn't mar anything coming out of the sander. The sawhorse, I used contact cement to stick it to a piece of 1/2" Baltic Birch, and it has held up far better than I thought. I figured one change of the seasons and it would start peeling, but so far so good. I did run the bonded face of the plastic through the widebelt with an 80 grit belt, just enough to get a scratch on it. I figured giving the contact cement some tooth wouldn't hurt. Might be why it has held up so well too.
On the shaper, I just ran it long on the sides and ran a few screws through the face into a small piece of solid scrap. That holds it in place side to side. Fore and aft, it's pinched in between the normal shaper fence, and an outboard fence. It doesn't move anything that causes me concern. Eventually, I want to get rid of my complicated and season dependent system of plywood spacers and mount a set of linear bearings on the sides of this shaper with a piece of aluminum between them. I figure with a digital readout on it, it will be plenty accurate for my needs, fast to set up, and consistent.
The other crap clamped to the fence is just there for chip management. My new insert heads haven't shown up yet, (Monday hopefully), so with my current mix of odd ball heads, I can't keep the fence as tight as I would like to the material for all the heads. If you are using the regular shaper fence as your reference point for the cut, I'd suggest removing the whole hood, cutting the bottom off of the fences whatever the thickness of your plastic is and attaching the plastic to the fence. I did something similar on my SAC shaper that I use for panel raising, but on that one, the wood rides on the iron, and the plastic is just there as a guide under the fence. I ran it through the spindle to make the fence continuous, so I didn't have to use a bearing. Panels fed very smoothly through it, until I lowered the cutter like an idiot into the plastic with the machine off, then started it up. SAC:1 UHMW:0.... I just made the new one from waxed up 1/4" Baltic Birch for the time being. I would've had to move a pile of miscellaneous sheets to get at a sheet of plastic, and didn't have time to do so. But, if you attach it to the fence bottom, then it will move with the fence if that's what you require. That is likely the path I will be taking when I finally get my fancy outboard adjustable fence. Another option would be to just drill and tap a couple of small holes to hold it in place. It's not really under that much load. There's a lot of pressure being put on it, but I don't really think it would take that much in sheer to hole it in place. I've got a few small hinge plate screws holding mine in place.
This setup is fairly new to me and hasn't had that much material ran across it, a few miles tops, but I did something similar on the predecessor to this shaper, and that thing had zillions of feet of lumber ran across it with no substantial wear, and I lubed it once but had no improvement. Plastic is cheap, just have to find the right source. I probably wouldn't do as much as I had if it weren't literally leaned up against a dumpster twenty feet from my back door. I have found a few places locally that were pretty reasonable price wise.
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^^ Thanks - that is helpful. Just seeing it helped me figure out how to do mine.
Nice to have a ready source of plastic close by. I would cover everything with it, too!
JR
Contributor
I mount a one piece panel raising fence as well, made out of uhmw or whatever initials it is, has worked good for years. I screwed a 1/8" piece of aluminum on the bottom to stiffen up the little bridge of plastic.
A good source for absolutely any plastic is Norva Plastics out of the Carolina's I believe. I have their card here somewhere if anyone should need it, but a google search usually brings it up quicker than I can find the card. They do fabricated parts as well if the need should arise. I told them to send me $200 worth of scrap just for whatever, and they set me about 250 pounds of large pieces, much of it the high molecular weight stuff. They make the curved Lexan I use for sneeze guards to order and service is good.
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I thought you were running all your sticking through a moulder?
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