By Sam Conder
It is quite uncommon that a seasoned BT3 user would look to upgrade the fence on their saw. One of the biggest reasons that we "BT3 zealots" love our saw is because of the stock fence's quality, as well as the ability to attach various jigs and fixtures to it using the fence's series of T-slots. With that in mind, I must confess that I was a bit concerned that Jointech was possibly overestimating the market for an after market fence for the BT3 series table saw. Now that I have had an opportunity to evaluate the product firsthand, I must say that Jointech has indeed created a worthwhile upgrade to the already stellar BT3 rip fence, and that is quite an accomplishment.
I have owned a Jointech Cabinetmaker's System for about five years. In that time, I have become aware of the quality of both Jointech's products and service. It is one of the few companies that I have dealt with that I got to purchase the product directly from the owners of the company and shake their hands after the deal. Additionally, in the past when I needed service, I always talked to one member of the father/son duo Phil and Terry Adams, the owners of Jointech.
I first saw the Saw Train at the Indianapolis Woodworking show a couple of years ago. I was immediately intrigued at the possibility of using my Cabinetmaker's System on my BT3000. I caught Terry during an unusual lull at his booth and asked him if they had thought about releasing a BT3 version of the Saw Train. He said that at the time they hadn't thought about it but that he would give the idea some consideration once he had some free time. Over the next couple of years Terry tinkered with some ideas and even entertained some of my own ideas from time to time when I would contact him via e-mail. The big breakthrough finally came when a BT3000 owner by the name of Roy Shrove (WrkWatchr here at BT3Central.com) offered to loan Terry one of his BT3000s for research. Within a couple of weeks, Terry and Roy had devised a workable solution for attaching his Saw train System to the BT3000.
The Saw Train System I received was the JST-R4232M Ryobi 42" Saw Train System. It consisted of:
- A pair of 42" rails
- A pair of full-length mounting brackets
- The JCM-1832 Cabinetmaker's System
- A STT-2736M 27" x 36" melamine table that is a full 1 1/8" thick, laminated on both sides and edge banded
- An RP-60 3-Ring Universal Phenolic Router Plate
- A pair of STL-1 telescoping table legs
This kit has an introductory price of $799.99.
I found the Saw Train installation process very straight forward. The Jointech rails mount to the BT3's rails using a pair of specially machined brackets. (fig. 1) These brackets allow the Saw Train to attach to the BT3's existing rails, but do not require any custom modifications to Jointech's original rail design. This accomplished two very important objectives. First, it allows the BT3 owner to retain the Sliding Miter Table and did not require Jointech to design and manufacture custom rails just for the BT3. Such a redesign would have made the development of the Ryobi Saw Train cost prohibitive. In order to compensate for the profile of the front rail, Jointech includes two plastic "donuts" that act as shims under the front rail. (fig. 2)
After the brackets are installed, it was time to mount the Saw Train's rails. BT3 owners will feel real comfortable installing the Saw Train's rails because the process is very similar to the way the BT3's rails mount to the saw. Jointech provides aluminum t-nuts and machine screws (fig. 3) to attach the rails to the bracket. (fig. 4) The rails are very easy to slide onto the brackets and they attach very securely. (fig. 5)
The STL-1 telescoping table legs give the rails a very good amount of support. (fig. 6) With the Jointech rails successfully mounted to the BT3100, I installed the STT-2736M 27" x 36" melamine table. (fig. 7) This is one outstanding extension table. It is 1 1/8" think MDF that is laminated on both sides and edge banded. Additionally, it comes with a 9-1/4" x 11-3/4" cutout that will accommodate any one of Jointech's five router plates. The table mounts to the rails using six very sturdy machined L-brackets. Four of these L-brackets mount to the Ryobi rails (fig. 8) and two mount to the specially machined aluminum mounting brackets. (fig. 9)
After attaching the brackets, rails, telescoping legs, and extension table to the BT3100, it was time to move to the Sliding Bridge Assembly. (fig. 10) The Sliding Bridge Assembly slides on the rails and attaches the Clincher Machine (fig. 11) to the saw. It is important to square the Sliding Bridge assembly to the blade, so to accomplish this I put the BT3's rip fence on the saw (since I knew it was square to the blade) and then used a piece of MDF with two perfectly parallel edges to square the Sliding Bridge Assembly. (fig. 12)
After squaring the Sliding Bridge Assembly I moved to attaching the Smart Fence. (fig. 13) The Smart Fence attaches to the Clincher with two screws and nuts. The Smart Fence then slides on the rails on two front and rear fence brackets. (figs. 14 & 15) After Installing the Fence Brackets I squared the fence to the blade using the same piece of MDF that I used to square the Sliding Bridge Assembly to the blade. I mounted my Hitachi M12V to the included router plate (fig. 16) and dropped it into the hole provided in the extension table. (fig. 17) The installation was now complete. (fig. 18)
At this time I have not had a chance to complete a full project using the Saw Train but I did do some test cuts with some ¾" MDF. I "zeroed" the Smart Fence to the blade and then placed the 12" mark on the tape measure on the Clincher directly under the Anti-parallax Cursor. (fig. 19) Using the Micro-adjust Thumbwheel (fig. 20) I moved the Smart Fence 2" away from the blade. I ran a scrap of ¾" MDF through the saw then using my Harbor Freight digital calipers, I measure the piece. (fig. 21) Again using the Micro-adjust Thumbwheel, I moved the Smart Fence one click towards the blade and ran another test piece. Once again the digital calipers measure the results. (fig. 22) Granted, tolerances this minute are not necessary when working with wood, the accuracy and repeatability demonstrated by this test speaks volumes for the quality and construction of the Saw Train system.
My overall impression of the Saw Train is that it is a very well designed and well built machine. By integrating the router table into the table saw's extension table, the Saw Train doubles at a precision router table fence. Included in the Saw Train kit are 60 joint making templates that are normally included with the Jointech Cabinetmaker's System. The Jointech Clincher and Smart Fence make easy and precise work of cutting through and half-blind dovetail joints, box joints as well as several complicated joints like double-double box joints, double dovetails, and Jointech's exclusive "Boxtails". Also included in the package is the Vertical Push Fixture II (figs. 23 & 24), and a stop block. (fig. 25) The Vertical Push Fixture securely locks into the Smart Fence's dovetail slot for making end-grain cuts. By design, the fixture locks into an extruded dovetail slot on top of the Smart Fence. This design makes it impossible to tip over or kick out during use as opposed to a fixture that hangs over the fence. Provides smoother, accurate control while holding work square to the fence and table.
One immediate criticism that immediately arises when the topic of the Saw Train comes up between BT3 owners, is the fact that the system with it's introductory price of $799.99 costs more than twice as much as the BT3100 itself. However, if you consider that you are buying a precision router table fence in addition to a precision table saw fence, the cost is more understandable. The Saw Train kit contains an entire JCM-1832 Cabinetmaker's System which retails for $414 by itself. If you already own a Jointech Cabinetmaker's System, you can buy a retrofit kit for only $259.
In conclusion, I am very impressed with the Saw Train System. As a longtime owner of a Jointech Cabinetmaker's System, I have been eager to retrofit my Clincher and Smart Fence onto my BT3100. Now that I have the Saw Train System on my BT3100, I am eager to tryout some ideas I have been cooking up for some products. Though the cost of the Saw Train initially seemed steep, once I took into consideration all that the kit included as well as the full capabilities of the system, I feel that the system is a good value. If you have questions regarding the Saw Train System or if you are interested in purchasing one, visit the Jointech web site.
Stay tuned for some articles about some of my projects created with my new Saw Train System...
(Questions, comments or snide remarks about this article can be directed to sam@samconder.com)