Fence question

Dennis Allen

Member
Messages
10
Hello,
I am in need of advise from all the friendly and knowledgable people here.
I purchased an Incra fence system for my saw and plan on installing a router table with it as well.
I am right handed and mostly attach my current fence left of the blade to work, moving it out of the way to use the miter gage. No particular reason, just seems natural to advance the workpiece into the blade while keeping snugly against the fence. I notice in the Incra demos videos the operator is doing the opposite of what I usually do. But he may be left handed. So the question is how do you work, why, and what hand are you. I don't want to install the system more than once and will certainly appreciate your input.
Thanks!
Ron
 
You are the second person I have heard of that runs the fence to the left of the blade. As you notice, tablesaws are built for use in the opposite manner of what you are doing. This probably explains why the video shows the fence to the right of the blade; that's the way tablesaws are normally designed/used. If you want to use the saw with the fence to the left, that's fine. Most of your books on technique, aftermarket accessories and so forth will assume the saw is being used as designed so you can just reverse the examples. The Incra fence makes many accessories a no-go anyway so this may not be a concern. In the end you want to do what is best for you.
 
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It all depends on which way the blade tilts. You want the blade to tilt away from the fence so you can do thin rips. If you tilt the blade towards the fence, your rip capacity decreases as the blade angle increases. Also, there's no way in hell I would put my fingers between the business end of the blade and the fence. No. Thank. You.

Left tilt saw, fence on the right. Right tilt saw, fence on the left.

But the entire right/left tilt is a can of worms anyway... :D
 
Most table saws get set up with the fence to the right of the blade. For right handed operators it seems that there is more control for feeding against the fence. As for which side of the blade to position the fence, it can be moved to either side for the bevel cuts to tip away from the fence.



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