Stabilizing the Incra router fence

I have had an Incra Router fence on my router table for over 10 years and it is an excellent piece of equipment. However, recently, as I age, with my eyes getting worse and my back problems are making it harder and harder to move in an agile manner around the workshop, I decided to add on a bit of auxiliary assistance to the Incra system. I bought a pair of Jessem router table stock guides.

Attachment 511309

I installed the Jessem system onto the Incra fence and I was seriously impressed with how the two work together. It doesn't matter if I can't see the workpiece coming away from the outfeed fence now because it just doesn't. Setting up each cut is so easy - just one adjustment on each guide instead of a whole collection of featherboards to fiddle with. It takes the strain off of my back when feeding the stock through and the ratchets in the rollers means no kickback and I am not in danger if at any stage I need to stop feeding the stock and take a rest..

One downside - The downward pressure of the Jessem units lifts the Incra fence a little bit off of the table, which adds a little inaccuracy and slightly reduces the benefits of the Jessem guides.

Attachment 511310

My quick fix for this was to put a small Bessey Duoclamp on either end of the incra fence, holding it firmly to the table.

Attachment 511311

While this worked well to stop the fence from lifting in use, it became inconvenient to keep removing the clamps and replacing them for every new setup. It was a two-handed operation on either end of the fence and this was far from ideal so I devised a more efficient way to solve the problem. So, I made these from some brass offcuts, a pair of toggle clamps and a Tassie Oak offcut. They attach to the Incra fence using the t-slots just like all the Incra accessories and the toggle clamps are easily operated one-handed.

Attachment 511312

The brass looks good with the Incra Gold anodised aluminium, it simplifies the work process and does not get in the way anywhere as much as the Bessey clamps. I cannot move the fence at all once it is clamped down.

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I used the same bolts Incra used so the Incra hex-drive "screwdriver" is all that is needed to fit and remove so no extra tools needed.

The clamps go onto the main fence and the "wonderfence" is attached to the front of the main fence. This has left just a tiny amount of movement due to the way the wonderfence is attached and the way leverage works against it. But it is a hell of a lot better than before I started. Any remaining error is too small to worry about for woodwork.

Doug, interesting issue.

I have the Jessem's on both my router table and my table saw. They are great.

The issue I have with your set up is that the clamps will be in the way if you run a long board along the full length of the fence. What I would do is attach a clamp to the end of the aluminium extrusion, and not the face - get the clamp out of the way. It does not look like you use the fence for dust collection.

Alternately, add a track at the rear. This may be the better option as it will offer a great deal of extra rigidity.

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Regards from Perth

Derek

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Originally Posted by derekcohen

I have the Jessem's on both my router table and my table saw. They are great.

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They are excellent. I hope to be getting the ones for my tablesaw soon, It's due for a makeover.

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Originally Posted by derekcohen

The issue I have with your set up is that the clamps will be in the way if you run a long board along the full length of the fence. What I would do is attach a clamp to the end of the aluminium extrusion, and not the face - get the clamp out of the way. It does not look like you use the fence for dust collection.

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Derek, with the Incra system there is a one-piece main fence which has the toggle clamps mounted on it, It also supports the two parts of the wonderfence split fence system, which is what the work actually comes in contact with, so the brackets mounting the toggle clamps are not in the way at all. Dust collection is through the split fence with a collection port on the outfeed end.

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Originally Posted by derekcohen

Alternately, add a track at the rear. This may be the better option as it will offer a great deal of extra rigidity.

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Adding tracks to the rear is great for your fence. Derek, but the Incra system uses a lead screw positioner to set the fence position, so adding extra tracks and holddowns in tracks to the back of the fence would inhibit the free movement of the fence when adjusting. The LS positioner by itself locked into place very securely until I added the Jessems and their inherent vertical force. My system allows the Incra fence to use all of it's excellent features to precisely position the fence and allow repeatability of the setup when required. Once it is in it's correct position, all I have to do is snap the toggle clamps into place and it's locked down until I want it to move. It just needed a little help to hold in the vertical axis, and that's what I have done here and it is now as steady as a rock.

Good to hear, Doug. The Incra is a great fence system. I considered one, but it would not have fitted onto my table saw (Hammer K3 slider). More recently, I would have liked to have made it the basis for a parallel guide for the slider, but now they are unavailable or very expensive.

Regards from Perth

Derek

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Originally Posted by derekcohen

Good to hear, Doug. The Incra is a great fence system. I considered one, but it would not have fitted onto my table saw (Hammer K3 slider).

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I solved that problem by not buying a Hammer K3 slider. :q

You probably already know this but when I got my incra I fit it to a table saw with router wing and incra rails. It completely solves the problem you describe. You could probably throw a sling around the fence and suspend the table saw from it and the fence wouldn't move. It's a beautifully thought out system.

It makes cuts on router or saw difficult to stuff up, even for an imbecile like me.

I deliberately built a combo machine to leverage the investment in the incra and accept that I have to organise my work flows to accomodate the compromise.

The only problem I've had is something heavy got dropped on the wonder fence and the top guide area is dinged slightly so my 90 deg subfence binds in one spot. I haven't had time to try to repair it and a replacement is not cheap.

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Originally Posted by damian

You probably already know this but when I got my incra I fit it to a table saw with router wing and incra rails. It completely solves the problem you describe. You could probably throw a sling around the fence and suspend the table saw from it and the fence wouldn't move. It's a beautifully thought out system.

It makes cuts on router or saw difficult to stuff up, even for an imbecile like me.

I deliberately built a combo machine to leverage the investment in the incra and accept that I have to organise my work flows to accomodate the compromise.

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Yes, the tablesaw system is a bit different from the router table one, as you say Damian. You opted for the compromise, I chose the stand alone option because it allows me a better workflow. I am loving how the Jessem and the Incra work together. It makes it even harder to stuff up a cut. I know that when I get my Jessem Stock Guides for the tablesaw I won't need to repeat this mod there because the ends of the fence are clamped tightly to the rails.

I bought all my Incra gear (TS and Router table fences, mitre gauge and various Incra rules) from the US back when we only had to put in AU$0.70 to get US$1.00 and freight was cheap so the investment would have been a lot smaller than it is now. It took less than 48 hours from mainland US to my front door too. For some reason I have always been able to get freight delivered from Mainland US to my home quicker than I can get it from the other side of Melbourne. I've never been able to work out why.

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Originally Posted by doug3030

I bought all my Incra gear (TS and Router table fences, mitre gauge and various Incra rules) from the US back when we only had to put in AU$0.70 to get US$1.00

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Doug, I can remember quite clearly when the AU/US exchange rate first passed parity and that would be over 40 years ago. Were Incra even going then? There was a time about 10 years ago when the A$ was above parity with the US$ but the best it got to was around A$1 to US$1.05. I stand to be corrected, but I can never recall an exchange rate like you've quoted since I started work in 1972.
Mind you, I'm currently importing some stuff and your quoted rate sounds very attractive. :D

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Originally Posted by aldav

Doug, I can remember quite clearly when the AU/US exchange rate first passed parity and that would be over 40 years ago. Were Incra even going then? There was a time about 10 years ago when the A$ was above parity with the US$ but the best it got to was around A$1 to US$1.05. I stand to be corrected, but I can never recall an exchange rate like you've quoted since I started work in 1972.
Mind you, I'm currently importing some stuff and your quoted rate sounds very attractive. :D

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All that I can say for sure is that it was a lot more beneficial than currently - both on exchange rates and even more so on postage/freight. come to think of it I might have gotten confused with the ratio between the purchase prices available from local Australian dealers and buying direct from the US, including freight charges. Either way, I bought at the right time.

My memory is about $1.10 to 1.12 was the best spot rate. Was great. Wish I bought more stuff then

Nice work on the fence. The Jessem things sound like the business.
There is now also a clone from a mob Hongdui that seem to make ok quality clone stuff.

Leaving the World Finance Market aside and getting back to Incra jigs, if for no better reason than I enjoy them more, I discovered a great little advantage of my clamps on the fence that I hadn't even planned on. In fact it actually overcomes one of the very few issues I had with the Incra system.

Today I was making some sacrificial auxiliary fences for the Incra fence on the router table and was, naturally, using the router table to make it's own accessories. Having been born in 1959, I am naturally fluent in Imperial and Metric and my shed is a mish-mash of both.

In fact, I often make a whole project without actually measuring anything in either metric or imperial units; I just make things to fit - for example if I make a one-of presentation box for a bottle of wine, I make the box to fit around the bottle and I couldn't tell you the exact measurement of the completed box or any of it's components.

While Incra will set itself to exact millimeter dimensions when the handle is pulled up, you can use the micro-adjuster to hit any precise size you need. But that gets quite fiddly and time consuming. Today I realized that, under some circumstances, my fence clamps allow me to move the fence without actually having to measure it in either inches or millimeters.

Incra gear, being made in the US is sized in Imperial, eg T-track is 1 1/4" wide and 1/2" thick. However, I have the version with the metric lead screw.

So, I needed to set some T-track into the auxiliary fences for the Jessem stock guides. Setting the router bit to the required 1/2" depth was easy with a digital height gauge. Setting the fence for the first of two cuts to make the dado for the T-track - The first cut can be out by a mm and not be a problem as long as it is the same on both fences. I guess the second cut can be off a bit too, so long as it is wider, not narrower even half a mm would not look too bad. But I had an idea that I wanted to try and see how close I could get this, bearing in mind that I had to move the fence by 1 1/4" minus 16mm (width of the T-track minus the width of the router bit in two different measuring sytems). I thought this would be a good opportunity to try my idea where the outcome was not so critical.

So here's what I did.

I started out making the first pass as normal, setting a calculated distance on the Incra positioner, incidentally giving my new clamps their first "live" run. (they worked very well)

Next, I did a very simple procedure as illustrated in the photos below to move the fence exactly the distance I needed to - by the width of the T-track minus the width of the router bit:

I clamped a block to the table in front of the fence.

Attachment 511793

I unlocked the fence (LS positioner and clamps) and moved the fence back the width of the T-track by placing it between the fence and the block.

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After clamping the fence in position with the clamps but NOT THE LS POSITIONER (it would snap the position to the nearest millimeter and would no longer be the exact width of he T-track from it's original position) I moved the clamped block to the rear of the fence.

Attachment 511794


I then unclamped the fence and moved it forward by the width of the router bit (I had another bit of the same size) and again clamped the fence in place using the clamps and not the LS positioner.

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Result: perfect dado, perfect fit, time saved, math avoided and a very happy woodworker.

Attachment 511796

These little clamps are going to be far more useful than I originally thought. The LS positioner keeps the fence parallel and the stopblocks and clamps allow accurate movement by the size of project components without any rounding errors when measuring or converting to the other system.

Very good Doug. I've seen a video on the LS-TS where he moves the fence a calculated amount to cut exact thin strips using the outside of the board instead of the more dangerous inside cut. Very clever!

I've also seen this video ( Review of my personal Harvey / Incra LS table saw set up - YouTube ) where the Jessem stock guides fit the standard fence bit I thought they would also fit the wonder fence.

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Originally Posted by barri

I've also seen this video ( Review of my personal Harvey / Incra LS table saw set up - YouTube ) where the Jessem stock guides fit the standard fence bit I thought they would also fit the wonder fence.

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Thanks for the feedback Barri.

I've got another idea for a use of the Jessem guides that I will post if it passes the tests when I have finished the setup.

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Originally Posted by doug3030

Thanks for the feedback Barri.

I've got another idea for a use of the Jessem guides that I will post if it passes the tests when I have finished the setup.

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Look forward to it