Fence not square to the table

[scott spencer]

You can always make an aux fence and shim those faces until they're parallel with the table.

[Greg Peterson]

I have to wonder if the reference edge has been properly jointed.

The description of the problem indicates high/low spots along the ripped edge.

What happens when you try to glue up two jointed edges? Do they match up perfectly?

[Frank Drew]

My modest suggestion would be to adjust one's ripping technique: If the saw blade is perpendicular to the table, then making sure to keep the work flat on the table while ripping should produce square-edged cuts, even with less than 100% contact with a slightly canted but otherwise straight fence.

[Greg Peterson]

My guess is that as I shifted my hands during the cut, the edge of the board tilted against the fence and gave a bevel in spots.

I would be extremely concerned if the board 'lifted' enough during the cut to leave less than a 90 degree edge. If indeed this is what is occurring, you are going to have a bigger problem than uneven rips. The board should remain flat during the entire cut.

I can think of problems a non-perpendicular fence face could produce, but an edge that deviates intermittently from 90 degrees is not one of them.

Perhaps I am not understanding the problem?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I agree with Greg.

The blade being perpendicular to the table top is what sets the angle on the edge of a board being ripped.

[Jason White]

Having a fence square to the table is absolutely important, especially if you plan to use jigs that ride along the fence.

Use a heat gun and carefully pry off the laminate, then set it aside to reuse. Next, loosen the sheet metal screws holding the plywood onto the square, steel tube. Use masking tape to shim the plywood face square to the table (usually one or two strips on the top or bottom of the metal tube is all that's needed. Then, screw the plywood back onto the tube and use contact cement and a J-roller to reattach the laminate.

I need some help. After having trouble getting some boards to align properly for a glue-up, I discovered that my TS fence (a Biesemeyer on a zip code saw) is not square to the table. It is parallel to the miter slot and blade, but if I set a square between the table and fence, I can see significant daylight on one side of the fence (the other side is fine). Unfortunately, it is on the side that I mostly use.

I can't see any way to adjust this. Any suggestions?


Chris

[Chris Parks]

Try another square and check it first before use.

[Chris Kennedy]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will likely try removing the face and trying to shim it after Christmas.

I've checked (and double-checked) everything else. The blade is square (and more to the point, if the blade were not perpendicular, when I ripped using the other side of the fence, I would have had the same problem, just canted in the other direction). The jointer fence is square to the table and jointed edges mate well.

Chris

[Chris Parks]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will likely try removing the face and trying to shim it after Christmas.

I've checked (and double-checked) everything else. The blade is square (and more to the point, if the blade were not perpendicular, when I ripped using the other side of the fence, I would have had the same problem, just canted in the other direction). The jointer fence is square to the table and jointed edges mate well.

Chris

The fence perpindicularity (new word for the day) will have no effect on what you are cutting if the board takes its reference to the blade from the table top. If you were standing the board on edge against the fence and the fence was the dominant reference then yes then the fence dictates the angle to the blade.

[Cliff Furman]

Having a fence square to the table is absolutely important, especially if you plan to use jigs that ride along the fence.

Use a heat gun and carefully pry off the laminate, then set it aside to reuse. Next, loosen the sheet metal screws holding the plywood onto the square, steel tube. Use masking tape to shim the plywood face square to the table (usually one or two strips on the top or bottom of the metal tube is all that's needed. Then, screw the plywood back onto the tube and use contact cement and a J-roller to reattach the laminate.

That's the way to fix it. I have a Jet Xacta fence (Biews clone) and they have nylon adjustment screws on the fence, to adjust for 90 deg. to table.

When Lowes was giving Bies. fence kits away for $50, and less, I got one with the same problem. I called Bies, and without even asking where I bought it, or for proof of purchase, the lady said they would send me a new fence! I later found out it was a day or so, before they were closing the plant! Right call at the right time!

[glenn bradley]

My modest suggestion would be to adjust one's ripping technique: If the saw blade is perpendicular to the table, then making sure to keep the work flat on the table while ripping should produce square-edged cuts, even with less than 100% contact with a slightly canted but otherwise straight fence.

If all you did was rip dimensional material that presented a reference edge at the table/fence junction this would work well. I use my tablesaw fence with material standing vertically at times as well as with profiled edges as as the reference edge which do not contact the table at the fence/table junction. I also have jigs that attach to the fence or rely on it as a reference in such a was as to make an unknown angle unusable. The variation of use will amplify the problem of poor vertical precision.

The fence is probably not defective. There is a simple hardboard gauge supplied that allows you to set the front rail position using the table top as a reference. While usable, I substituted a combo square. Like many items that have fallen under a certain company umbrella, the documentation supplied with the fence has gone to pot. There are a few "better than Bies" fences out there that allow perpendicular adjustment but, if properly installed on a properly aligned saw, the Bies is no problem.

Things required to align your Biesemeyer (I am making this up based on experience and it is probably worth what you are paying ):

• Your saw top and extension wings/tableboards must be co-planer.
  
  • That is; they must be dead flat in relation to each other. This is your reference surface for the rest of the setup so, if you don't have this right, you may as well just wing it.
  • I always have the machine level with Mother Earth before I start any of these procedures.
  
  
• The front rail (not the tube) is what you are aligning to the top surfaces of the saw.
  
  • If the front rail will not align due to physical adjustment limits, enlarge the offending holes to allow this adjustment.
    
    • Enlarge the holes in the saw as the holes in the rail are coutersunk.
    • Add larger/thicker washers behind to provide a larger/stouter bearing surface.
  
  
• Install the tube and check your alignment.
  
  • If subtle variations in the tube, paint, weld splatter, whatever, cause the tube to not align correctly you can sand, file or shim your way to happiness.
  
  
• Once the tube is known to be good, the fence faces should align as perpendicular to the table top.

Now, having got that all out of my system I will say that I wanted the fence to set a bit closer to the table top than the stock setting. It is just a few bolts and a bit of time (a bit of time that you will never have to give up again) so I lowered the rail, thereby lowering the tube and fence. I also modified the skid, shoe or whatever they call the piece of nylon or laminate that the far end of the fence has stuck to the bottom of it to ride the table. This was just a couple of swipes with a card scraper to get things setting pretty. The Beis holds its alignment so well that when the saw went to a new owner, I marked the positions of the main front rail and when we reassembled at the saw's new home, everything was already aligned. We had, of course already leveled the machine and the top/wings before starting installation.

[John Downey]

The jointer fence is square to the table and jointed edges mate well.

Now I'm really confused (but don't worry, I do confuse easily )

I'd assumed you were gluing up boards right off the saw for lack of a jointer. Why not joint one edge, rip a hair over size, then joint down to final width before glue up?

I don't think I've ever checked that my TS fence is plumb to the table. To be quite honest, the problem you describe sounds more like a blade vibration than anything else. It's unusual, but I've seen it once, and with a quality blade - Tenryu IIRC, wasn't mine - The effect was a rip cut with slight "corrugation" on maybe an 8" or 12" period.

[Chris Parks]

To take this a bit further. IF the fence is square to the top on one face only my next step would be to rip it off the saw and check it for square all round as you would a piece of dimensioned timber. Having said that it is not important that it be square all round if it is only used as a guide and the table used as the reference. it is important that it be straight end to end though if it were bent end to end AWAY from the blade after the cutting area even that won't effect the quality of the cut, in fact it might even enhance it. The fence on a lot of European saws is adjustable so that it can be retracted to the first point of contact with the blade and not go beyond that to reduce the risk of kick back from the fence causing the timber to get caught on the trailing edge of the blade. The timber contacting with the trailing edge is what causes kick back and why manufacturers use a full length fence is one of life's mysteries. I know, shock, horror but we need the full length to keep things straight, my saw can't possibly work that way etc etc. It can and will and reduces the dangers of kick back to just about zero.

[Chris Kennedy]

Now I'm really confused (but don't worry, I do confuse easily )

I'd assumed you were gluing up boards right off the saw for lack of a jointer. Why not joint one edge, rip a hair over size, then joint down to final width before glue up?

I guess I could do just that. My usual procedure has been the customary -- joint an edge, then a face, plane the opposite face parallel and then rip to width. I have a good ripping blade, and I have done this a bunch of times without trouble. The edges I glue together are usually dictated by aesthetics. I haven't had a problem prior to this last glue up. It has driven me a little crazy trying to find the problem. I wouldn't have thought to check the Bies but I had ruled everything else out.

Chris

[John Downey]

Its funny, I would have said the customary was to only glue jointed edges Amazing how perspectives vary!

I joint the face first, then the first edge - that way they are perpendicular. Plane the other face, or rip to width ++, those two are interchangeable. Then joint off another 1/32" or so. Usually I take a handplane and spring the joint as well, but I don't always bother depending on what I'm making.