Thursday 31 August 2017

New fence for an old chop saw

My main cross cut saw is a sliding compound mitre chop saw. The chop saw cost me £700 ish about 12 years ago and a new one is the same price now. I have heard there can be an issue with the accuracy of the same make with the newest model, and I have been thinking about buying a bench saw with a good sliding table.
The reason for buying a new saw is because slowly over time the fence on the chop saw has been bending out of true. The reason is simple, as we may have experienced, it is easy to catch the saw blade on the wood and knock the wood into the fence. This has only happened a few times with any force, but over the years these things happen and can scare the &*%§ out of you. The fence has cracks in and is no longer true and straight.
Cutting long  pieces of wood result in the wood pinching the blade at the end of the cut, which results in the saw being forced back towards you. Cutting short ends off, results in out of square cuts. All in it is not that safe to use, and students have not been allowed to use it for some time.

Today I made a new fence, if I knew how quick and simple it was I would have done it years ago.

One 2 inch thick lump of oak planed square all round. Holes drilled for the bolts using the original fence as a template.

The old fence placed against the new fence to show how badly it is out of alignment 


The casting is cracked on both ends of the fence.


New fence which is made longer than the original

This saw has seen a lot of use over the years and has been punished and used to its full capacity often. It is now again a dream to use, and I have no excuse to buy a new bench saw.