attaching sacrificial fence to SMT

[EarltheWoodbutcher]

I the proud owner of a $50 BT 3000 from a garage sale. It works great and all now seems fairly well aligned. On past table saws I always attach a 1x3 to the front of the miter gauge so I can get it really close to the blade when I need to do a lot of fine, small work. The only thing I can figure out is sheet metal screws as you can't use bolts that comes out the back of the miter guage. The plastic things on the end of the miter gauge are useless and on my saw, all cut up. Do any of you have a simple, elegant solution? Couldn't find anything by searching.

As an aside, I recently gave myself a budget of $300 to buy a new table saw. I need a reasonable size table for all my craft work done with the miter gauge. They sure aren't available and decided I would do better to just tune up the BT 3000.

[JimD]

I haven't used my SLT in quite awhile but I believe it has a slot on it that you can put a flat nut into. With a screw of the right length, you can screw through the sacrificial fence into the nut in the slot.

[leehljp]

I have been searching for some picts but cannot find them. Several people here used sacrifical fences. It wasn't too difficult. I will keep searching for some picts and will post a link if I can find them.

[EarltheWoodbutcher]

I hadn't thought of trying to slide a nut into that slot, Jim. I check that out tomorrow. Would love to see some pictures if you can find them, Hank Lee.

[capncarl]

I think that I attached the wood sacrificial fence with Kreg type screws. They fit nicely in the fence slot.

[LCHIEN]

The miter fence can be adjusted sideways to get close to the blade and that's probably how your ends got chewed up. Veteran BT3ers paint a red line in the slot on the main table in front of the blade to remind them what on the miter fence will get cut when fed forward.

If you want a sacrificial fence then you have to attach it to the front of the miter fence and there are slots in the front of the fence for this purpose. On mine, I use 3/4 wood and drill 2 holes at the height of the slot. I countersink 2 holes to hide the head of a bolt. And then you need a bolt of limited length and some square T-nuts to ride in the rail and tighten the bolts to. The square T-nut is the elusive item. Ryobi sells some in the once-available user kit. The site T-nuts.com used to have some specifically for the BT3000 series. Or you can take some aluminum strips the width of the slot about 1/8" to 3/16" thick and drill and tap them for the bolts. Make or buy spares - they also fit the slot on the left face of the rip fence for sacrificial rip fences. Actually I just looked... mine are T-bolts with a 3/8" square head to fit the slot.

An alternate way is to use fence clamps such as those I reviewed here... a bit simpler option. Handy to have anyway. I have found them to be faster to setup and use than the T-nuts.

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=49791&highlight=rockler+fence+clamp

[JR]

Jeff's Nuts!

[leehljp]

I hadn't thought of trying to slide a nut into that slot, Jim. I check that out tomorrow. Would love to see some pictures if you can find them, Hank Lee.

Couldn't find any. Rod Kirby had the best looking tips on his fence and a few others had some picts of scraficial fences. I did too but I cannot find picts on here from before 2006. I think I had a pict for a sacrifical fence on the Miter fence back in 2005.

T Nuts is how most were attached.

[jdon]

I've had good luck using elevator bolts, ground down to fit in the slot. The wide head provides a lot of support in the slot, but thin enough so the grinding is easier than on a regular hex head bolt.

[LCHIEN]

In case you missed it, I have T-nuts but I recommend using Fence clamps as a much easier and faster way.

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=49791&highlight=rockler+fence+clamp

[wardprobst]

+1 on the fence clamps by Loring.
Another way to go is to install a miter slot accessory and use a traditional miter gauge. I still tend to use the clamps as they are on and off in a jiffy.
DP

[EarltheWoodbutcher]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Rockler has the clamps LCHIEN suggested in your review on sale for $12.99 so I will order them. That would be the easiest and allow a simple way to attach other fences, also when I need zero clearance on the rip fence.

I hesitate to spend too much money fixing up this old of saw so the clamps will also be good if I end up buying another at some point. But this saw doesn't look like it has been used much at all. Even the dreaded shims seem to be fine. The raising mechanism was binding but I read on this site about getting in there and the shims were fine. It just took a little cleaning and lubing and it works like new.

[capncarl]

The hollow aluminum fence on my sliding miter table (Craftsman BT) had several holes drilled through the fence for access to be back side of the slot! That way I could use thin headed Kreg square drive screws screwed into the wood sacrificial fence, slide it down the slot and tighten it up from the back. The previous owner must have drilled these holes, probably 3/8", I never give it any thought as to not being factory holes! You will like the clamps, I find lots of use for them other than fence clamps as well.
capncarl

[LCHIEN]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Rockler has the clamps LCHIEN suggested in your review on sale for $12.99 so I will order them. That would be the easiest and allow a simple way to attach other fences, also when I need zero clearance on the rip fence.

I hesitate to spend too much money fixing up this old of saw so the clamps will also be good if I end up buying another at some point. But this saw doesn't look like it has been used much at all. Even the dreaded shims seem to be fine. The raising mechanism was binding but I read on this site about getting in there and the shims were fine. It just took a little cleaning and lubing and it works like new.

Keep them shims lubed. $13 is a great price for the fence clamps... Buy some extras for your other tools with fences. I use a pair permanently for holding my home-built fence to the router table, by drilling 3/8" holes into the ends of the router fence which is the same width as the table.