Incra Table Saw Fence

Paul Douglass

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S E Washington State
Yesterday I watch some demo videos of the Incra table saw fence. WOW! Is that set up really as good as it looks? I was impressed, but that is what the video was suppose to do. Are they really that good? Almost $500.
 
paul those that have them love them,, vaughn will speak up on this i am sure he won one and after using it would have bought one.. i think brent has one as well.
 
I'd love to have one, but I don't have the space, I do have the miter gauge, the router fence and the iBox jig, love them all, Incra makes great stuff!
 
Like Larry said, I won a TSIII jig (an older model) in a drawing at Sawmill Creek. I spent another couple hundred to buy the rails to go with it. I don't want to own another table saw without one. I can rip a board to 1 7/32" wide, remove the fence, put it back on, and know without a doubt that if I set the fence back to 1 7/32" (just using the scale on the fence) the next board I rip will match the first one, +/- a few thousandths of an inch. It's one of those tools I just simply trust to be right, each and every time. Same with my Incra miter gauge. I have never even checked it...my 90º and 45º cuts have always just come out exactly right. :thumb:
 
Oh, and I set up the router table on my table saw to the left of the blade, so I can just slide the jig down the rails and use the same fence for that, too. I have a shop-made router table fence that attaches to the Incra TS fence, which gives me dust collection and an adjustable gap between the two halves of the fence.
 
Reading over this thread, thanks for the input by the way, and the thread started on the miter gauges remindes me of a question. On every saw I have had, the tape that you affix to the rail to supposedly set you fence by is useless. It is no longer accurate even when you do something as minor as changing saw blades. On the Incra TS fence how difficult is it to reset things if you changes blades, or do you have to?

Another comment, I see you have a choice of metric measurements or SAE on the fence. Darn I use both often, prefer metric and wish we would go to it, but why couldn't Incra make it switchable? It is not a case of one or the other in the U.S. it is getting to be more common to use both. I just couldn't decide to buy on or the other and I would not buy two fences.
 
On every saw I have had, the tape that you affix to the rail to supposedly set you fence by is useless. It is no longer accurate even when you do something as minor as changing saw blades. On the Incra TS fence how difficult is it to reset things if you changes blades, or do you have to?

Another comment, I see you have a choice of metric measurements or SAE on the fence. Darn I use both often, prefer metric and wish we would go to it, but why couldn't Incra make it switchable? It is not a case of one or the other in the U.S. it is getting to be more common to use both. I just couldn't decide to buy on or the other and I would not buy two fences.

Paul,

It's been a while since I set mine up, but if I remember right, there were a couple tapes: one metric, one SAE. I'd have to look, but there may even be two "tape slots." Maybe things have changed since then? At least when I'm using it with the router fence, I have a standard tape, and a "project tape," that I mark up with a pencil to keep myself from making a silly error. Of course, mine is at least five years old now, so I can't vouch for recent models.

On the other hand, the tape is quite useful. I don't even measure anymore, I just set the distance to whatever I want, and cut. Yes, if I change blades, I have to reset... which is simply a matter of sliding the marked "tape" (actually a strip of half-rigid plastic) a little ways. Of course, that depends on your saw: mine's mounted to the right of the blade, and I think I've seen some people mount theirs to the left.

Thanks,

Bill
 
Paul,

I take it back. There are actually four:

rtf_lspositioner_detail1_zoom.jpg

Blow that pic up, and look closely. Standard, metric, "project tape" (that's the one that reads 7A, 7B, etc.) and then the metallic looking rule, which I seldom actually look at. So you can work in both worlds, and still have a markable tape for individual projects. The three white tapes are writeable with a pencil. Now that I think about it, that's also where I keep track of resets for blade changes...

Thanks,

Bill
 
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Bill's right. You can have up to four different "tapes" on the fence at once. And re-calibrating after switching blades is easy. If the tape does need to move (mine seldom does, because nearly all my blades are the same width), it takes about a second to re-zero it.
 
I really like mine; I'm installing it on a new saw which is coming this week. I have the Miter 5000 sled, and it has been so good that I decided to buy their 1000SE miter gauge for the new saw as well. Almost best of all, they have terrific tech support- the best I have experienced, anyway. Good luck.

Tony
 
I'm still studying this and I have another question and I learned something.

Question is: I have a hinged table extension hanging off the back of my saw that I use for cutting long boards. Would I be able to have that with an Incra fence set up?

What I learned:
There is a difference in the metric versus imperial measurement fences and I thought it must be so. You have a different fine adjust, it does it in 1 mm versus 1/32". Fact where I was looking, at Incremental tools, it cost $5 more for metric set up. Darn, that is a hard decision for me. By the way at Incremental Tools the 32" setup is $399. Cheaper than anywhere else I found.
 
To answer your question, it will depend on how the table extension is attached to the saw. In the worst case scenario though, you could always engineer another way to attach the extension table. (I figure I'd be using the fence a lot more than the extension, so to me I wouldn't let the extension be the determining factor in buying the fence.)

Regarding the metric vs. Imperial, I hadn't though about the "teeth" being different for metric, but it makes sense. Personally, I'd go with the Imperial (1/32) teeth, just because it's a bit finer granularity. But if you work mostly in metric, then the metric teeth would indeed be the way to go.
 
Well if a person wants on, Incremental Tools has the 32" on sale for $399 plus 10% off that for an anniversary sale. $359, not too bad. Ya, I have one ordered. I have never been real happy with the fence on my saw. Hope I will be.
 
Several years ago, I bought the Incra LS 25" Super System for my router table. Initially, my table router was in the extension table that came with my table saw. I mounted the positioner base to my extension table with six threaded inserts. One day, when I needed to do some repetitive, accurately-spaced cuts on my table saw, I had an "ah-ha" moment. I unscrewed the base, flipped the fence around and aimed it at the table saw. So, I ended up with the best of both worlds.

In my new shop, my router table is in a different configuration, but I added threaded inserts to the right of my table saw so I can use the router fence when I need to make repetitive cuts. I like the Incra table saw fence and have seen one in action, but my table saw support tables, etc., won't allow me to add one. Besides, the way I'm set up, I can continue to be cheap...er, frugal! :rolleyes:
 
Darn, I figured when I posted that I ordered a fence, I get a lot of this ROFL!, :rofl:. GotYa! stuff from you all that talked me into this! It is your fault, I've convinced my wife it is!!!
 
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