I have never liked my composite material stock Sawstop fence. I seemed to have trouble ripping wood with parallel sides and this was especially problematic when making picture frames. I finally measured the fence face plate and the metal fence that the face mounts onto. The fence itself was wavy and concave in by up to 0.007". The face plate varied in thickness by 0.007". That may or may not seem like a lot, but I was not getting straight rips and so I decided to try and make it better.

I owe much of what I did to Mike Leung who posted on this in 2013. Following Mike's lead, I bought a 42" Woodhaven extrusion channel. This channel was precisely milled - 0.747-0.749 in thickness and flat within 0.003". I next fashioned a snug fitting carriage to ride in the left miter slot so that I could precisely measure the variation in my fence which I noted on blue tape on the top (pic 1). Since the fence was mostly concave in, I taped brass shims on the fence so that they hung down on the fence (pic 2). In order to mount the channel to the fence, you need 1/4-20 x 3/8" button screws and t-nuts and have to elongate the stock holes in the fence by about 1/4", which I did with dremel. You have to take off the right face plate to attach the new left face plate/channel but that's not too hard. Voila, a new and improved fence (pics 3 and 4).

The new fence is within 0.003" flat using the same dial caliper as above. Ripped a few pieces of oak and their width was within 0.001" along the length. Meets my needs! Picture frame miters are now perfect. The slots on the channel make it easy to attach auxillary fences. I was quickly able to make a 12" tall fence for ripping larger pieces on edge, slid it right onto the new fence and tightened down a couple of 1/4-20 x1" flat head bolts.

It took me 10 years to get er done, but Thanks Mike!

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