Like a few people, I've had trouble with the rip fence on my table saw not keeping a straight line. So instead of just clamping another fence on the table as needed (the simple solution) I decided to hack up something that would hopefully be a bit more permanent and easier to use.

It took many, MANY, tries to make something that was going to be square and adjustable. This is about the 6th thing I came up with and decided to go with it:

http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/i...raightener.jpg

Using a ruler (from a combination square) allowed me to make a mark on the side plate that corresponds to the ruler on the table so once the rip fence clamp is set, all I need to do is push or pull the end of the fence until the same measurement on the steel ruler lines up and screw the clamp down.

Everything is bolted on so it can be swapped over to the other side of the table/other end of the fence within a couple of minutes, although I'm not sure how well the ruler will work on that side given that I haven't done that setup yet.

I've only done a couple of quick test cuts with it and over 1.5 meters the cut is only out by .5mm, so it needs to be calibrated a little better before I use it on something good but it's certainly doing a better job than without it. Sometimes the fence gets lifted by a few mm which I think is coming from either the edge of the table or the plate on the edge not being a perfect right angle so I may need to tweak a couple of bits to stop it, but otherwise I'm reasonably happy with it.

I'd certainly do a couple of things differently if I had to do it again, but any comments, questions or suggestions would be appreciated. I might be able to make something better with some fresh eyes on it...although if I never work with metal again it'll be too soon...sooooo many burns