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Table saw fence locked up mid-cut on a big job
I was in the middle of cutting 50 cabinet doors for a kitchen remodel in Denver last Wednesday when my saw fence just stopped dead. It wouldnt slide forward or backward no matter how hard I yanked on it. Turns out the aluminum track had warped just enough from humidity changes in the shop over the winter to catch the plastic block underneath. I spent 2 hours with a file and some 80 grit sandpaper trying to free it up before giving up and ordering a new rail system for $140. That lost time meant I had to push the whole schedule back a day and eat the overtime for my helper. Has anyone else had a fence fail on them right when you need it most? What did you do to get past it?
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david_adams3h ago
Oh man, I gotta disagree with you a bit here... I've been running the same old cast iron fence for like 15 years now through colorado winters and never had that problem. Maybe it's the type of aluminum track you had, but I've always thought those cheaper rail systems are the weak link. You spent $140 on a new one, but filing and sanding for 2 hours on a Friday afternoon when you could've been knocking out those doors just seems like a bad tradeoff to me. I'd rather have paid extra upfront for a heavier duty setup than mess around with a file mid-job like that.
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