Incra Tabel saw fence

[fRED mCnEILL]

Does anyone have the 52" Incra table saw fence and, if so, how do you like it. Pros/cons.

Thanks

Fred

[John Sanford]

I have an Incra TS-II, or perhaps it's a TS-III, I don't remember exactly which it is. I've been pretty happy with it. I do not have the 52" fence, mine is the 37". Technically, the fence and carriage is the same, only the rails are different, and you simply mount the carriage further back for the 52" functionality. I do the same thing with my fence when I switch it between using it for the tablesaw and my saw mounted router table.

Plusses to the Incra are the ability to return to a setting flawlessly. The ability to quickly get a specific setting. The ease in mounting fences. Downsides are the additional space required on the rights side of the saw when the fence is being used on the far right. Storing the fence is a bit more bothersome than a more traditional fence. You can't do the "nudge/bump" with the fence.

Would I get one again? Yes, but I haven't used a full blown Beisemeyer type fence before. The times that I've needed more cutting width than 37" have been very few, not enough for me to sacrifice the amount of space required. I wouldn't recommend the extra width, but your requirements may call for it.

In the semi-likely event event that I get a 3hp SawStop, I will almost certainly keep the Incra, at a minimum for use on a router table. After spending some time with a Bies-clone, I'll decide which I'll use on the saw. Unfortunately, the mounting rails between the two systems aren't compatible.

[Chris Rosenberger]

I have the Incra LS52-TS on one of my table saws.

I like it very much. I really like being able to come back to same measurement over & over again with out remeasuring. I also like being able to micro adjust measurements.

The down side is the extra space it takes & having to reposition the carriage for cuts over 32". It is not a huge deal to do this, but it does take a little time.

I would not want to give it up.

[fRED mCnEILL]

What i the proceedure from repositioning the carriage for cuts over 37"

Thanks

Fred

[John Sanford]

What i the proceedure from repositioning the carriage for cuts over 37"

Thanks

Fred

When you initially install the fence, you install positioning nuts/stops in/on the rails. You can install as many sets as you want, each one set for a fence position. I have two sets, one to use my tablesaw, the other positioned to do router work. Switching between the two is as simple as loosening the big T-knobs that hold the fence carriage bridge in one position, loosening the small fixing "bolts" that hold the actual fence to the rails (to keep it from floating up or shifting slightly), then lifting the entire fence up, setting it down over the other set of nuts/stops, and tightenng up the equivalent hardware at the new location that was loosened at the old. It takes a lot less time to do it than it does to type this out, and I'm a fairly good typist. Seriously, it takes about 1-2 minutes to move it, and it can be moved back just as quickly.

[fRED mCnEILL]

Thanks John.
I have a couple of more questions, if you don't mind.
1. When you reposition the fence carriage to a new set of stops do you have to recaluculate the positioner. For example if I had just ripped a board at 12" and wanted to do another cut at 47" other than moving the carriage to a new set of stops is there anything else to change so I know I am at 47".

2. I make parrallel dadoes in plywood blanks. So my first dado is at 6" and the second one is 6" from the first. Is there a method to measure 6" from the first dado or do I have to add them together in my head to come up with 12". I know this sounds simple to add 6 and 6 and come up with 12 but sometimes you might add 3 +3/16 to 6 +3/32.

Thanks

Fred

[Kelly Colin Mark]

2. I make parrallel dadoes in plywood blanks. So my first dado is at 6" and the second one is 6" from the first. Is there a method to measure 6" from the first dado or do I have to add them together in my head to come up with 12".

Why not just slide the carriage to 12" and be done ? No worry about additive errors there.

If you didn't want to do that, you *could* then move the tape so that it now reads zero on the cursor after the first 6", move the fence to the new 6" mark, then cut again. But, you're still doing the math and, I think the limited length of the measuring tapes could eventually be a problem since you'd have to constantly move the tape for each new measurement..

Another downside is then you lose calibration to wherever your initial zero line lay. You could then move the cursor so it lay on 12" to recalibrate, but if you didn't want to do the math one way, you won't want to do it the other way.


The

[Aleks Hunter]

If you want to go wider cut indexing pieces of Mdf or anything stable a the width you wish to offset the fence. place the block betweent he fence and the blade and re-zero and you're in I have a tsLs and i like it a lot more than the grizzly 1023z its bolted to!

[John Sanford]

Thanks John.
I have a couple of more questions, if you don't mind.
1. When you reposition the fence carriage to a new set of stops do you have to recaluculate the positioner. For example if I had just ripped a board at 12" and wanted to do another cut at 47" other than moving the carriage to a new set of stops is there anything else to change so I know I am at 47".

Don't mind at all.

Well, I don't have to recalculate the positioner, because I'm switching between the RT and TS. For the 52" fence, I think that you simply look at a different measurement tape (you can have either 3 or 5 installed at a time, I don't recall off hand which) that's calibrated for the 52" fence. As long as you zeroed and indexed the two sets of stops and two tapes properly, you won't have to do anything other than move the fence, set to 47" and cut. When I do move mine "out beyond" to the right, (IIRC, I have my normal position, and a set of stops another 9 inches to the right), I just remember to add 9" to the tape reading. I don't have much call to do it very often, so it doesn't bother me. What's slightly more bothersome is when I put a sacrificial fence on, I have to remember to account for that. I could set up an additional tape just for that, but again, I don't do it frequently enough to have made it worth my while. yet.

2. I make parrallel dadoes in plywood blanks. So my first dado is at 6" and the second one is 6" from the first. Is there a method to measure 6" from the first dado or do I have to add them together in my head to come up with 12". I know this sounds simple to add 6 and 6 and come up with 12 but sometimes you might add 3 +3/16 to 6 +3/32.

Thanks

Fred

Welllllll, "it depends." Incra sells a bunch of additional tapes for cutting a lot of fancy joints, and IF one of those happens to match your increments, you can use it. Otherwise, you have to do the math. When you do, don't forget to handle the width of the dado correctly, i.e, do you want them every 6", or do you want a 6" space BETWEEN the dadoes. The best way to handle the math is figure it out, and write down each of your positions. Then all you have to do is look at your position list and reset the fence, rather than doing the math on the fly at the saw. Additionally, if you want to, any method for setting spacing that can be used with a regular fence can also be used with an Incra. Finally, IIRC, Incra sells Metric tapes as well, so if you want to go that route (which makes for easier math), you can.

[fRED mCnEILL]

Thanks for the input. Just ordered the fence from Incra.

Regards

Fred