The subject of an auxiliary fence and safety came up in response to my recent Magic Molder product review ( http://lumberjocks.com/reviews/3999 ) and I indicated I would share mine. So here is my Auxiliary TS/Router Fence and Feather Board Rail system that has evolved over the past 20-years to provide both vertical and horizontal feather boards (FB), reduced clearance inserts (RCI) for my router bits plus various specialized fences.
Obviously, the vertical and horizontal feather boards provide safety in preventing kick back and provide constant downward/inward pressure to insure consistent cutting. The FBs are fully adjustable as you can see from the slots and star-wheels. The constant vertical and horizontal pressure allows you to push (feed) up to the first FB, stop and move to the back, pull (out feed) end to finish a cut without any problems. These feather boards and the rail can be seen in the first photograph (above) where the set up is used to cut the 5/16” round molding with the Magic Molder on the ends of a 1”x2” board.
This fence system started life using the Biesemeyer T-Square Auxiliary Fence that used to be available in PM gold before Biesemeyer was sold to Delta and subsequently became available only in Delta gray (if at all now). You can see the back of the original Biesemeyer Auxiliary Fence in Photo 2 (above) which shows how it attached to the original TS fence with two round knobs that raise the back of the “L” bracket and transfer pressure to the side of the original fence. Photo 2 also shows the four horizontal slots I cut with four-star wheels to add my supplemental fences (which are also shown). The supplemental fences shown are the one next to the original fence, which has the slots, and a second fence which has the bolts that ride in the first fence slots and are tightened using the star wheels. Also shown is the 2-1/4” vacuum hose outlet, which collects sawdust from the router outlet inside as limited by the RCI on the second fence (outside). The RCI inserts for the router bit are shown in Photos 3, 4, 5 and 6.
The next photo shows the vertical FB in place over the router bit.
Next is the FB rail added to the router set up to utilize the horizontal FBs.
Following is a close up of the front of the FB rail showing how the rail clamps to the front Biesemeyer fence rail:
And, this is a close up of the back of the FB rail showing how it clamps to the back of the Biesemeyer “L” rail:
This is an edge-trimming fence that is adjusted around a flush trim bit to trim the proud edge of a solid stock, which I often glue to a plywood edges to provide a finished look of solid wood. The front fence is raised to provide clearance for the proud solid wood up to the router bit (in feed fence); and, the back fence is lowered to the table top, much like a vertical joiner out feed fence. The plywood is run vertically against the fences. Both fences attach to the second auxiliary fence by means of the “t” bolts and “t” slot in the auxiliary fence.
This is the original Biesemeyer Auxiliary Fence that I ran a groove 1/8” from the bottom and 1/8” deep so I could use it to make a controlled rip on Formica and similar thin stock.
This is a spacer fence to insert between the first and second fence shown in Photos 2 and 3 above when extra thickness is needed for a large diameter router bit (such as a raised panel bit):
This is an extra tall, 12” fence (which I was sure I would need, but haven’t found occasion to use):
This is the out feed view of both the horizontal and vertical FBs in use to control the trim cut of a 1”x2” molding piece:
And, this is the in feed view of the same horizontal and vertical FBs in use to control the trim cut of a 1”x2” molding piece:
This is my auxiliary fence system as it has evolved over the past two decades, and I am sure will continue to evolve.
As always, comments (good, bad, critical or whatever) are greatly appreciated. Thanks for looking.