BT3000 tall rip fence

09-12-2021, 07:58 PM
I have had a tall BT3000 fence for a number of years, I should have used it a few days ago but I didn't because it was too much trouble, And I paid the price as the tall item was a little unstable and I had a hard time controlling it as the two pieces separated and wallowed out a bigger kerf than I wanted at one place.

Anyway the BT3000 tall fence is generally held on by the T-slots in the side of the rip fence. This is compounded by two things... you need the BT3000/3100 specific T-bolts/nuts. And not only that but you need different sets of nuts/bolts for the left and right side of the fence.

My old fence had both sets of holes and recesses - yes to add to the difficulty you need to recess the heads of the bolts and nuts to not protrude, another complication needing the exact right sized length bolts.
And even though I had all those, you have to partially disassemble the rip fence to slide the nuts into the grooves.

Now I'd seen and heard of this before there is a way to make a fence attachment using what are called fence clamps https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/vb...arison?t=49791

I use the ones from Rockler which are very nice and have some other uses.


So I took my old tall fence and modified it with some slots for the fence clamps to fit. I made elongated holes - two 1" holes and a jigsaw between them. Honestly, it would have been simpler to drill a 2" Forstner or hole saw and be done. But I decided I wanted elongated holes. I rounded over the edges so there's no chance of work catching as I feed it. Don't forget you need a 3/8" hole from the bottom edge of the fence to reach the opening. Good job for a drill press. as its longer than 2" needing to be centered in a 3/4" plywood.



I checked with a combination square and protractor and the fence was almost perfectly perpendicular to the table saw table.



One thing I did for the BT3000 specific was to add a couple of 1/4" dowel pins to ride in the slot in the front (left side I normally use) of the rip fence to position the fence 1/16th inch off the table so the fence does not drag and the rip fence positioning works as smoothly as normal (the pins are centered 15/16ths from the bottom of the fence.):


Some suggested measurements for the holes. Visio-Detail drawing Tall rip fence.pdf

I used a 24" x 9" piece of 3/4" plywood.
Attached Files

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• Visio-Detail drawing Tall rip fence.pdf (28.1 KB, 19 views

I just did a little playing around. If I was to do it again, I would just drill a 1-3/4" to 2" hole with the bottom edge 2" from the bottom.
That's enough to get the Rockler clamp pin in the hole.
Nothing wrong with 1/2" wide slot if you want to, but leaves just 1/16th clearance if your 3/8" hole is perfectly centered.

But 1-3/4" hole so much easier than the oval and you're not going to have any issues with support from the big holes in any conceivable item on the saw. shown below is a 2" hole and a 1-3/4" hole in a piece of test scrap:


One of the best purchases I ever made for my drill press is the $36 HF 16-pc Forstner set 1/4" to 2-1/8" diameter. https://www.harborfreight.com/14-in-...-pc-62360.html


In my my PDF drawing I put the bottom of the hole a little higher... to make the screw foot of the clamp on the ridge of the back side of the rip fence and not end up between slots. What I have decided I will do in the future is to use a 2" high x 24" long piece of thin wood strip to protect the back side of my rip fence.

A user in the Rockler product reviews suggested using a soda bottle plastic cap to cover the end of the screw foot to make it less likely to damage "non-marring" stuff, I wonder if that works or makes it too slippery. Another user suggested oiling the screw-screw foot joint to make it smoother.