These are some of the first things I did after I bought the BT3K (7 years ago).
1. The Handle. The Handle was needed so I could mount the fence and have enough room for
the “Fast track” along the top. The handle is a piece of striated 1-¼” curtain rod – perfect for
the job. The tee nut is set in a counter bore slightly less than the thickness of the tee nut.
This means that as you tighten the handle, the tee nut binds on the fence. If the counter bore
was any deeper the tightening action would draw the tee nut out.
2. The miter fence: Is a piece of ¾” plywood mounted using ¼-20 brass countersunk bolts – the
nuts just fitted in the slot. The face of the fence has 200 grit sand paper glued on.
3. The wide Rip fence: I found it very uncomfortable (and dangerous) trying to rip narrow pieces
– this wide fence gets more use than just about any other item I’ve made for the BT3K. The
mounting is ¾” plywood and the base is ½” MDF with cut outs for the knobs and a routed
edge for the ½” x ½” aluminum channel – glued on with “Weldbond”.
4. The fences for laminate etc: These I made to take care of the slight gap under the Ryobi rip
fence. Both fences use the same mounting – using the Ryobi “User kit” bolts and nuts.
5. The left (removable) side. A bit of a story here. From day one, I hated the Ryobi splitter-guard
assembly! Everything about it was a giant pain in the !@#$%&*. Until I came up with
an alternative (see separate Guard post), I wanted some way to be able to get at the thing
easily – this was the result, made from ¼” MDF with hardwood braces. The lower half is
“permanently” attached with self-tappers using the existing holes. The top section is attached
using two ¾” long 10-24 finger knobs into tee nuts. The two large holes are to provide a
finger grip. The top section does not rest on anything, it is supported only by the knobs – it
works fine. Although I solved the splitter-guard problem, it is still great to be able to get in
easily – cleaning, CHECKING SHIMS, etc.
1. The Handle. The Handle was needed so I could mount the fence and have enough room for
the “Fast track” along the top. The handle is a piece of striated 1-¼” curtain rod – perfect for
the job. The tee nut is set in a counter bore slightly less than the thickness of the tee nut.
This means that as you tighten the handle, the tee nut binds on the fence. If the counter bore
was any deeper the tightening action would draw the tee nut out.
2. The miter fence: Is a piece of ¾” plywood mounted using ¼-20 brass countersunk bolts – the
nuts just fitted in the slot. The face of the fence has 200 grit sand paper glued on.
3. The wide Rip fence: I found it very uncomfortable (and dangerous) trying to rip narrow pieces
– this wide fence gets more use than just about any other item I’ve made for the BT3K. The
mounting is ¾” plywood and the base is ½” MDF with cut outs for the knobs and a routed
edge for the ½” x ½” aluminum channel – glued on with “Weldbond”.
4. The fences for laminate etc: These I made to take care of the slight gap under the Ryobi rip
fence. Both fences use the same mounting – using the Ryobi “User kit” bolts and nuts.
5. The left (removable) side. A bit of a story here. From day one, I hated the Ryobi splitter-guard
assembly! Everything about it was a giant pain in the !@#$%&*. Until I came up with
an alternative (see separate Guard post), I wanted some way to be able to get at the thing
easily – this was the result, made from ¼” MDF with hardwood braces. The lower half is
“permanently” attached with self-tappers using the existing holes. The top section is attached
using two ¾” long 10-24 finger knobs into tee nuts. The two large holes are to provide a
finger grip. The top section does not rest on anything, it is supported only by the knobs – it
works fine. Although I solved the splitter-guard problem, it is still great to be able to get in
easily – cleaning, CHECKING SHIMS, etc.
