by Graham McCulloch

I don't know about you, but in recent years I have been into a great number of woodworking tool stores in the US and Canada. In most cases when I look at a table saw that is on display, the supplied rip fence looks like it was a really inexpensive afterthought. They wobble, they sit on the saw table showing large gaps between the table and the fence and when locked they are obviously out of square. Sure, they can be adjusted but that is time consuming and with today's technology, unnecessary. For the past couple of weeks I have had the Accusquare rip fence installed on my Delta table saw and I can tell you up front that this after-market fence lives beyond its reputation.

A lot of woodworkers that I know seem to be intimidated with the thoughts of installing an after-market rip fence. Some of their fears relate to the fact that you have to drill holes into the edges of your saw table and the idea that this might alter the integrity of the saw. They are also very much concerned with their ability to drill accurate holes for the placement of the new fence rails. Over the years I have tested a number of after-market rip fences and the edges of my saw table now compare to pegboard. This has in no way affected the integrity of the cast iron table surface, it is as flat and level as it was when it came from the factory.

Installation

Installation of the fence was a breeze, all of the necessary parts were in the package along with very straight forward and accurate instructions. In the off chance that something is missing in the package or if your particular saw requires an additional part, a 1-800 number will assure next day shipping.

It took me about an hour and a half to install the fence and I was very impressed with that. The two most important things to look for are making sure that the front and back rails do not interfere with the miter slots on the saw table and that both rails are the same height throughout their length. And that was easy. I wanted about 1/64th clearance between the fence ant the saw table (and extension), so I simply used the included self adhesive tape scale as a shim under the fence. I attached the fence to the extreme left of the front rail, clamped the rest of the rail to the table and drilled the hole. I repeated the step in the middle and at the right end.

The rear fence was just as simple. A couple of clamps, a couple of wrenches and a drill was all that was required.

Setting Up

Okay, it's on there and it slides freely. However, out of the package but the fence is off by about 15 degrees. That is to be expected and that is what those four bolts under the front of the fence are there for. I simply loosened them and slid the fence over to line up parallel with the miter slot. Tighten the bolts in an 'X' fashion and there you have it, Accusquare.

The only thing left to do is fasten the adhesive backed rule to the fence. There are two standards for tape measures in the industry, Stanley and Starrett as they seem to be the most accurate in the full length of their tape measures. Accusquare uses Starrett as a standard. With the rip fence tight against the saw blade, stick the rule onto the front rule with the very first line under the cursor. Now, it's dead-on accurate. However, the fence is dead-on accurate for that particular blade that you have installed in the saw. A change to a thicker or thinner blade will have to be compensated for as with any rip fence installation.

Accuracy?

Obviously, we had to check the accuracy of the Accusquare fence and we did so in a couple of ways.

The first way was to rip a few boards of various lengths and use a micrometer to check for any differential from front to back. The dial wavered between 0 and 1/1,000th of an inch. Using the miter slot on the saw table we checked for deflection of the fence from the front edge to the rear. There was only the slightest movement on the dial gauge. A five pound push at the rear of the fence showed a deflection of 3/1,000ths and at the front, just a tad over zero. We moved the dial gauge over to the right hand miter slot and got the same results.

Likes & Dislikes

I liked the smooth operation of the fence. It moved with enough resistance to be able to stop it right on the mark, yet it did not run away from me.

I liked the cruciform style extrusion of the fence in that with some imagination, you can add all sorts of jigs that will simply 'ride'' on the fence.

I liked the less than 1/2 turn required on the large knob to lock the fence tight and the bright cursor made it easy to line up on the tape.

I liked the smooth finish on all of the parts.

Try as I did to find something, there was nothing on the Accusquare fence that I could find fault with.

My only suggestion is that maybe roller bearings or some other devise be used so that the fence would slide with ease if moved from the tail end. There are times that measuring from the back of the saw blade is necessary and this would prove helpful.

Mule Cabinetmakers are the people that make the $215. Accusquare rip fence and they deserve *****'s.

Tool Test© Rating system:

* = below average quality
** = average quality
*** = very good quality/value
**** = excellent quality/value
***** = top of the line

Graham McCulloch is a woodworker living in Halifax and is the author of "Ingenious Shop Aids & Jigs" and "Workshop Shortcuts". Both books are published by Sterling Publishing Co. Drop us a note by writing to ShortCuts, P.O. Box 721, Halifax, NS, B3J 2T3. ©Copyright 1999, by Graham McCulloch. All rights reserved.

We thank Graham McCulloch and Canadian Woodworking magazine for giving us their permission to post this article on our site.