fix-r-up, nicked fence

[noky]

Hi all, just bought a used BT3000 for $150 on Craigslist. The BT3Central site has been a fantastic resource to help me get the saw fixed up right!

The TS has the "shim problem", so I'll be ordering parts for the shim upgrade tomorrow. Any other parts worth ordering besides maybe a new drive belt?

Just got the blade off today and dropped it off to get sharpened. The prev owner didn't have the wrench set, so I had to make my own wrench using a spare metal shelf bracket and a dremel! Not bad!

Anyway, the one other problem I need to deal with is the fence. The previous owner nicked it with the blade. Not too bad, but I worry how it will affect the precision of cuts. Anyone ever dealt with this before? Not *your* saw, of course... It was, er, your *friend's saw*! ;^) Is there some sort of filler compound that might be good to fill this in?


Mike

[leehljp]

Welcome Mike. Congratulations on your purchase. Enjoy your saw and keep posting. Plenty of help here.

On the fence, I would find some epoxy putty and fill it in with that, then scrape or sand to shape.

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[dbhost]

You must be talking about the miter fence. Now I have only read about that here, never seen it before. But are you talking about the aluminum extrusion, or the plastic end caps?

If it's the plastic, you could order new ones from M and D mower...
http://www.m-and-d.com/

Just scroll down on the right side until you see the Ryobi tools link, there will be a list of model #s available, which will pull up the parts listing PDF, get the part # and enter it...

I need to replace mine, but this was due to an incident that impacted my fence with the previous owner, not me. I swear!

[LCHIEN]

a small nick in the SMT miter fence will not affect anything, just do small bit of sanding or filing so there's no rough edge that protrudes to catch on pieces of wood as you slide them acorss the fence face.

[noky]

Thanks for the input Hank, I'll look into the epoxy putty. This was actually the aluminum rip fence, not the SMT fence! Tried to get a photo but it is hard to gauge the scale:



(BTW: profile updated)

[Uncle Cracker]

You can get a piece of MDF or UHMW to re-face the rip fence. It's a sacrificial piece, and you can replace it if and when it gets dinged up. If you use UHMW, it will also reduce the friction that occurs when the work slides against the fence, but UHMW can be a bit pricey compared to MDF.

[Ed62]

You can get a piece of MDF or UHMW to re-face the rip fence. It's a sacrificial piece, and you can replace it if and when it gets dinged up. If you use UHMW, it will also reduce the friction that occurs when the work slides against the fence, but UHMW can be a bit pricey compared to MDF.

That's what I was going to suggest.

Ed

[shoottx]

You can also get a replacement part from either Sears or M7D mower and replace just the nicked part.

Here is the link to the Sears part http://www.searspartsdirect.com/part...ponents%20list

[Tom Miller]

To expound on Uncle Cracker's excellent idea -- you might consider adding a long-n-tall face to the fence (in which case, just knock off any high spots of the ding). Mine almost never comes off, and is an integral part of other shop-made jigs and fixtures that I wouldn't be without. Here's a link that shows some ideas.


(If you look too closely, you may become confused: my pictures show the long rip fence extrusion accessory between fence and my tall fence board, but I'm not currently using that on the rip fence.)

Regards,
Tom

[master53yoda]

If you use JB weld or something comparable it is machinable. I also have a pattern bit for my router that I have reserved for milling aluminium. It could be used to bring the JB weld to perfect alignment with the fence after it has set up. I have used this router bit this way a number of times just don't remove more then 1/16 " at one time of the aluminum or JB weld..

You could also take to a machine shop and have them surface grind the hole fence and make it perfect by removing any high or low spots on the whole fence.

personally I would just put the extended fence on because I use my extended fence a lot anyway. If you don't want the length, put on a short fence that is the same length as the BT fence.

Good Luck

[John Hunter]

Here is a link to Rockler's Universal Fence Clamp that might just be the ticket to solve the problem http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...er=fence%20jig

[Ed62]

Here is a link to Rockler's Universal Fence Clamp that might just be the ticket to solve the problem http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...er=fence%20jig

Yes. I have a pair of them. They should work well.

Ed

[dbhost]

I didn't read all the replies, but it sounds like you have a damaged rip fence... Watch here for folks parting out their BTs, or maybe M and D mower, or even Ebay... Lots of sources for replacement parts you know...

[jonmulzer]

Instead of the fence clamps you could make a more permanent cover with some t-nuts and permanently affix it.

[DustyandLefty]

watch out

The T-nuts will work, the Rockler fence clamps will work. A long time ago I decided to attach a tall fence with counter-sunk screws by drilling straight through the rip fence. It seemed like a slick and easy task, until I hit unexpected resistance about 1/2 way through. Note to self and others -- do not drill through the hidden long threaded rod that runs inside the rip fence that locks down the back of the fence!