Thread: Triton Work Centre & After Market Fence system........Can it be done?.........Yep.

This is an interesting build.

Well, all finished and with some adjustment, the fence system is extremely accurate and quite solid not having a locking mechanism at the rear of the fence. Unbelievable time saving and peace of mind.
I installed a polypropylene fence via tapped screws into the factory aluminium fence. I could have gotten away with just the fence on its own but I needed to close up the 10mm gap due to the installed height of the fence front rail. One issue I discovered with my first test cut was that due to this height (as I needed to clear the retained Triton extension table inner-rail) the actual metal angle that secures the fence sits proud of the triton table top by about 1.5 to 2mm (you can see this in one of the photos). A bit of a pain but it didn't seem to affect the cut or ripping action too much. Given that the workcentre was never really designed for this purpose, I am still quite happy with the outcome.

I just need some additional tweaking as I don't think my blade is in perfect alignment with the crappy factory wood splitter/guard mount and this can be painful. On some longer rips I was noticing that the work piece would pull away from the fence slightly just as it passes through the splitter. I always hated this design but I can't see any way of discarding the factory splitter and fabricating something with a little more adjustment. I'm running the Hitachi C9 circular saw.

Any how, all done and pretty happy with the results.

PS. I still can't get the orientation of the pictures correct!

I am not jealous of much, but I am of this! Well done.

Originally Posted by perthwoody

I am not jealous of much, but I am of this! Well done.

Thanks perthwoody. I appreciate your kind words. It's good to contribute something people may find of some use. The whole upgrade only cost me $295 and a few hours in the shed. These days i would be lucky to get that for my workcentre that, for its age, is in immaculate condition. Then I would still be up for another $1700 for a table saw like the Harvey which I just can't justify at this point but would love! One day when I get a bit more serious.

Work smarter not harder.


cheers

trav

One reason for being out of alignment with the splitter is if you switch to a thin kerf blade. You need a blade of at least 2.5mm kerf - if you have thinner than this then one edge of the cut will often hit the splitter.
And thin kerf blades are becoming dominant. There are however still some wider ones around.
Very impressed with your build. It would help us if you could put references to particular photos in the text.
Chris

What model fence did you use?

Hi Chris (and to anyone else interested).

I purchased the fence from Timbecon in Coburg and this fence is used on their cheaper Sherwood brand of table saws. They have a heavy duty rip fence on their more expensive Sherwood TS but this is not available as an aftermarket accessory. By chance in my many hours of searching (and researching) getting ideas, I stumbled across the Timbecon link to the one they can supply as an after market accessory. It was on special during March for $229.00 and is now $249. If you google search images of the green "General" brand of table saws in the US, it appears that on a few of their select models (most likely their entry level models) they use the same fence system.
The link to the Timbecon version is here: https://www.timbecon.com.au/sawing/t...ce-upgrade-kit

I know Carbatec sell an aftermarket fence but that is double the price and looks very similar to the hevay duty Sherwood equivalent.
This can be found here: https://www.carbatec.com.au/machiner...10hb-2-cartons

I was a bit disappointed that the fence was missing some screws and the quantities were wrong but given that I was doing a custom fit this was not an issue even though quality control could have been better. The other thing that I noticed was that brackets that bolted the front fence rail to the TS had 2 x 10mm holes drilled in each of them (4 x supplied in total). One was in the center of the bracket and one was offset. Not sure why but clearly this was done after manufacturing and powder coating as the offset hole exposed the raw steel as if it was drilled out post production. This maybe seen in one of the photos and isn't a big issue, just strange.

Anyhow, hope this helps.

Cheers

Trav.

Hi All,

I have attached some pictures of the affected ripping range due to sliding extension table inner rail fouling the locking lever of the new fence. Hopefully this gives a better indication and I am still yet to decide on a workaround.
The range affected is approx. 291 to 355mm.
I have also reattached all the images (as I didn't realise I couldn't edit the originals) with their descriptions, correct orientation and in order of the steps done so it is easier to follow.

Trav

Trav,
does the sacrificial fence obviate the need for the small UHMW support block?
Chris

Hi Chris,

I did take note that on a few fence designs that didn't have a rear support rail (this one does but i haven't installed it), that they used a similar concept to help glide the fence across the work surface. You could most definitely rely solely on the fence but I actually found that the small surface area of the UHWM plastic used as a bearing (or guide) provided far less friction based on it's characteristics and small footprint The only issue with this (if you could call it an issue) is that the trailing edge of the sliding extension table needs to be inline with this bearing so there is something to always take the weight of the fence when utilizing the full rip capacity of the new fence.

If you refer to photo 11, you will see the red 3mm packers where I was trying to work out the correct height of the fence to the table top. That's the position the the sliding extension table needs to be in relation to the guide/runner that is to be installed.

It seems to glide well.

Trav

Update.

I thought I would close of this Thread with the last modification. I decided to cut the Maxi Sliding table inner rail to give me full, unimpeded range of the new fence. I toyed with the idea of purchasing same size steel and making a new inner rail as not to affect the factory one. I found one steel supplier that seemed to stock the required size which is 50.8 OD and 47.6 ID but then I would have to somehow mount it to the triton and I couldn't be bothered.
Instead, I searched the net for steel pipe/tubing joiners and discovered that a lot of stainless steel handrailing seems to be of same or very similar dimensions to the triton galvanised rails. I refined my search and discovered that the Green Shed actually stock SS handrails and SS joiners. The joiners were exactly 50.8mm OD with a wall thickness of 1.6mm and they were $10 each.

I purchased one and test fitted it to the triton rail. It appeared to be an extremely tight fit but it looked like it would work so I marked up and committed to the cut. I filed off the burrs and with a mallet and timber block, I persuaded the joiner into the off cut. It is a perfect fit but I am thinking it will never come out so for now I have put the offcut away until the day where I decide to sell the whole lot and I will rejoin the two sections back together should that be required. If I had the right machinery for metal work, I would try and shave down the male part of the joiner so it slides in and out a little easier to the triton rail but at least I know it will be a very strong fit as it is. I thought I was going to have to screw/bolt/pop rivet the two cut sections to the joiner but there is actually no need. Those out there that have better metal working skills could even look at maybe a threaded solution but this works very well.

Hope everyone has enjoyed this build.

Cheers


Trav