Power Tools Washington DC

Your table saw is a router table and jointer just waiting to happen. Replace one of the saw's wings (or adapt your existing table board) to hold a router table insert, and you're in business. Add this router fence to your table saw's fence and you get a router fence with the capacity to handle boards few commercial router tables could even touch. Make a couple quick adjustments to the fence and you can edge-joint boards for gluing up panels -- no jointer necessary. 

This fence was designed for the Little Shop Mark II, a rolling workshop that was featured in the September 1999 issue (#110). However, this fence will work with just about any contractor- or cabinet-style table saw.

This fence is essentially two long plywood boxes with hardwood face fronts on them. The space between the boxes is where the router bit spins. One of the boxes stores router bits, the other acts as a dust collection chute. Though construction isn't complex, study the diagrams carefully before you begin.

It's in the Hole
First cut the hole for the insert in the top of your saw's table. If you've built the Little Shop Mark II, use the end of the long top for your table. For contractor's saws, you can use the table board on the right side of the saw. Or you can replace one of your saw's wings with a piece of laminate-covered plywood. Lay out the spot for the router table insert. I put the insert in the middle of the width of the table and between the back and front rail from the end. Cut the opening for the insert as shown in the photos. Mount the insert to the router. Drop it in the opening and adjust it so it's flush with the table.

Making the Fence
First you build the body of the fence, and then you attach the fence faces afterward. Begin by cutting the opening for the bit on the front piece. Use a rasp to round over the inside right edge of the opening to help deflect chips into the box that will later be connected to a shop vacuum. Next cut the bottom piece for the right box and cut a 45-degree chamfer on the end next to the opening for the bit, again to deflect chips.

Assemble the boxes like this: First attach the two end pieces of the left box to the left bottom piece. Then attach the larger end piece for the right-side box (with the dust collection hole) to the bottom piece for the right box. Now nail the front and back pieces to the left and right assemblies. Be sure to hold the bottom edges flush. For the top part of the fence, keep in mind there are three fixed pieces -- one on each end and one in the middle. And there are two removable pieces that give you access to the bit storage, the dust collection tube and the wing nuts that will hold the fence faces in place. Attach the three fixed top pieces and the support.

Now drill the holes in the back piece to accept the 1/4" x 20 t-nuts that attach the router fence to the saw fence.

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