Thread: My Workcenter fence isnt square!!

Suggest you screw a "secondary" MDF shim to the face of the dodgy rip fence, thicknessed to the appropriate cross section by ripping it with the dodgy rip fence itself...!

You will of course need to take the extra thickness that results into account when reading the scales.

Originally Posted by The enderman

It touches an engineers square at the botton but is 1.5mm out at the top.

Forgive me if I'm missing the point (it happens a lot) but I can't see why this matters because it is the table surface that is the datum not the fence wall

Originally Posted by Glennet

Forgive me if I'm missing the point (it happens a lot) but I can't see why this matters because it is the table surface that is the datum not the fence wall

It would matter to me if I was ripping 12 mm sides for boxmaking off square or larger stock! But perhaps we are both missing the point, whatever it is. Let's wait for the rainy country dweller to clarify...

The critical angle in the angle of the table, as you press doan on the table and the fence only guides it through.

The fence is only secondary, unless you are cutting pieces standing on their side.

It would matter to me, If you are dressing wood for veneers etc cutting wedges would not make me happy. For simple ripping you are correct the angle of the guide wouldnt matter as its the bench top thats important

It'd annoy me, too. having the fence out of square vertically restricts the types of cuts that can be made accurately.

I'd give thought to andycap's suggestion... it'd be a right PITA having the scale out by X amount, but I think I'd rather that than having the fence out by Y degrees.

It has been a while since I last used mine, (it's a few '00k away at the moment) but from memory the arms are only attached by rivets to the middle of the fence bottom?

Perhaps you could drive small wedges between each arm and the bottom of the fence to lever it back to true for jobs when it's needed? Only a temporary fix and still a PITA, but short of a total fence replacement...

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

from memory the arms are only attached by rivets to the middle of the fence bottom?

Perhaps you could drive small wedges between each arm and the bottom of the fence

I've just had a look at mine and its a millimetre or so out.

On mine the arms are held on with screws and locknuts, there is a plastic spacer so it would be fairly easy to shim it or fit a wedge.

I've always thought it was a pretty ordinary fence so if I found it a problem I'd probably look at making a better one, I think I saw a suggestion about using an aluminium box section somewhere on the forum. On the odd occasion when I've needed to hold a part vertically I've mounted it on a jig that slides along the fence.

I've had the same problem, but found out that my table was as straight as a politician. Where the 3 Al channels run the length of the table top, the top will sink towards the channels, then rise to a crest in between.

You can see that the square is flush with the blade on one side but out on the other due to the dip in the table. the third pic is a straight edge across the centre channel.

Welcome.

Its easy to ge lost in just setting up for perfect cuts.
It doesn't have to be that accurate.
Trying to get it perfect will waste a lot of time.
Especially if you don't have a precision saw in the table.

There should have been a video with your workcentre on how to use it.
One of the topics is how to setup for accurate cuts.

The Triton Precision Power saw was made to fix this issue.

As some saws have arbour float.
You can setup a not spinning right angle but once the motor start turning the angle changes.

That sliding carpenters square in the photos, for me, is very hard to get and maintain a right angle. I only have to bump mine slighly to move it out of square. And won't measure arbour float.

Use an offcut and a fixed carpenters square (the black flat righ angle one, with measurements on the outside and the inside, to measue the angle of the cut like in the video and go from there.

If you're building furniture its worth the time each morning to test and set to square.

Otherwise, for me, .5 mm off is ok.

I've spent hours on setting up and am pretty much over it.

I would cleanup and setup the night before and be ready the next day to get stuck straight into my project. Otherwise I loose my interested momentum mucking about with the fine setting.

Think safety first and have a clear mind before starting.

I look forward to reading about all your projects.

Hope this helps.

First, thanks for the responses gentlemen.
It annoys the hell out of me that I cant do small cuts on thin pieces or rip material on edge when the face needs to against the fence for accuracy. I need to know that when I come to use it it will be accurate. I have checked all the tables squareness every which way using lots of different methods and everything else seems pretty much OK. And the saw is the big old Triton with no slump at all with only about 10 cuts on its clock.
I'll think about what you guys have said but i'm one of those people who has to trust his tools to be able to use them. And it's about 1.5 mm out and that's quite a bit.
Will look in again later over the weekend.
Thanks

I'm just wondering if its the Rip Fence itself is warped?
Can you look down the Rip Fence itself and actually see the warp?
I just wonder if you can grasp both ends and twist back in to alignment?


Or could it be where the Rep Fence is mounted onto the Fence Tracks?
Place the Rip Fence on a flat surface like the kitchen table with the Fence Tracks extended and see if you get a wobble.
I wonder if you can adjust the mounts somehow?


Anyway hope this helps.

I went and checked the table as Salvo mentioned and I don't have that recess/sink along the sides of the middle channel. Mine is tiny compared to the pictures posted so the engineers square sits pretty much flush with the table top and the blade is perpendicular to the table on both sides. Besides, the base of the square is about 6" long and would pretty much override any slight recess.

I took the fence apart this sunday afternoon and whilst it looks like it may be possible to make something to shim it up into square it will be a fiddly and time consuming job to get dead right. Time I just don't have at the moment ( this year in fact! ).

( It might be worth me checking the fence against a known straight edge. I think it's ok but best to be sure. I'll be back soon )

Grrrrr!!

I checked the fence and it's straight. The fence is not square though. Put a square on it and it's out by the said 1.5mm along almost all the length.
The shims would need to be made quite accurately and need to work when the fence is reversed for 45deg bevels too. I could probably bodge it but it would cause problems down the line i'm sure.

Originally Posted by The enderman

I came to start using my workcenter 2000 in earnet last week and I just couldn't get square cuts, despite trying everything that has been recommended on these forums. I thought I might as well check the obvious and it was the triagular rip fence that was out.
I can't see a way to shim it or pull it back to square and obviously the triton three year warranty is not going to happen, so any advice will be most welcome as I can't really use the damn thing until I resolve this issue.Enderman

There was a problem with the extrusion not being square and the 45deg side not being 45deg.
Triton replaced faulty fences but like you say it is not going to happen now.
You will need to shim the fence or fit a piece to the face to correct the problem.

You will need to decide if you want the 90 deg accurate or the 45deg, you will not get both accurate with shimming.

Here is a link to the same problem back in 2004

https://www.woodworkforums.com/showth...ighlight=fence