A few months ago I bought a used craftsman TS with a 2424 alignarip fence.
I have never used the 24 to the left of the blade, but have needed more than
24" to the left several times.
Can I simply slide the rails 12" to the right and make it a 3612? (The rails
are one piece, not two piece like some of them.)
If I recall correctly, the old Ridgid was very similar and came either way.
The only problem I see is lack of support or maybe balance for that much
rails to the right. I emailed Sears about it, but they didn't bother to
answer.
What do you think?
Toller wrote:
> A few months ago I bought a used craftsman TS with a 2424 alignarip
> fence. I have never used the 24 to the left of the blade, but have
> needed more than 24" to the left several times.
> Can I simply slide the rails 12" to the right and make it a 3612?
> (The rails are one piece, not two piece like some of them.)
> If I recall correctly, the old Ridgid was very similar and came
> either way.
>
> The only problem I see is lack of support or maybe balance for that
> much rails to the right. I emailed Sears about it, but they didn't
> bother to answer.
>
> What do you think?
My fence gives 35 15/16" right of the blade and 0" left. ;-) I like it.
-- Mark
Traves,
I have the excalibut fence, and it has been a lot of grief. First, it
kept going out of alignment. I took it back to the factory where they adjusted
the springs. The were extremely co-operative, and it is much better now. But
it still locks in a non parallel position about one third of the time. The
distance between the front and back rails is a constant to within 1/64" The
distance between the top of the rails and the saw surface is constant to within
.01". got any clues?
Len
Traves W. Coppock wrote:
> On Wed, 31 Dec 2003 15:31:05 GMT, "Toller" <[email protected]> Crawled
> out of the shop and said. . .:
>
> snip
>
>
>
>>Great, I was hoping to hear from someone who had done it.
>>I suppose the extension is so that the two rails support each other;
>>anything fancy about the extension? I was thinking of attaching some oak
>>strips to the rails and putting piece of plywood on the oak strips.
>>
>>Just curious, what does the Excalibur do better than the Alignarip?
>>
>
>
>
> well, you might want to get a bit more fancy than just a few oak rails
> with plywood on them, i built a torsion box assembly for mine, stays
> true, and its a whole lot stronger than i thought even considering the
> thickness. even tho the main reason for building the "wings" is to
> support the fence rails, you want to keep them coplaner to the rest of
> your TS, if you don't it would cause problems with cut squareness
> later. DAMHIFTO
>
> the excalibur rides on ball bearings front and back, and positively
> locks both front and back. the 24/24 sort of locks, but always had a
> tendency to shift while ripping. you wont get any of that with the
> excalibur. also you don't need to measure the distance from front of
> the blade to the rear and the fence when you lock it down. it locks
> parallel EVERY time.
On Mon, 29 Dec 2003 18:44:06 GMT, "Toller" <[email protected]> Crawled
out of the shop and said. . .:
>A few months ago I bought a used craftsman TS with a 2424 alignarip fence.
>I have never used the 24 to the left of the blade, but have needed more than
>24" to the left several times.
>Can I simply slide the rails 12" to the right and make it a 3612? (The rails
>are one piece, not two piece like some of them.)
>If I recall correctly, the old Ridgid was very similar and came either way.
>
>The only problem I see is lack of support or maybe balance for that much
>rails to the right. I emailed Sears about it, but they didn't bother to
>answer.
>
>What do you think?
>
i did the same thing before i replaced the 24/24 fence with an
Excalibur...didnt have any trouble, but make sure you have an
extension, shop built or otherwise between the rails, or you WILL bend
them...DAMHIKT...momentary lapse of reason while building the #%^#$&^
extension wing to fit in the newly moved rails
"Traves W. Coppock" <newsgroups-AT-farmvalleywoodworks-DOT-com> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...
> On Mon, 29 Dec 2003 18:44:06 GMT, "Toller" <[email protected]> Crawled
> out of the shop and said. . .:
>
> >A few months ago I bought a used craftsman TS with a 2424 alignarip
fence.
> >I have never used the 24 to the left of the blade, but have needed more
than
> >24" to the left several times.
> >Can I simply slide the rails 12" to the right and make it a 3612? (The
rails
> >are one piece, not two piece like some of them.)
> >If I recall correctly, the old Ridgid was very similar and came either
way.
> >
> >The only problem I see is lack of support or maybe balance for that much
> >rails to the right. I emailed Sears about it, but they didn't bother to
> >answer.
> >
> >What do you think?
> >
>
>
> i did the same thing before i replaced the 24/24 fence with an
> Excalibur...didnt have any trouble, but make sure you have an
> extension, shop built or otherwise between the rails, or you WILL bend
> them...DAMHIKT...momentary lapse of reason while building the #%^#$&^
> extension wing to fit in the newly moved rails
Great, I was hoping to hear from someone who had done it.
I suppose the extension is so that the two rails support each other;
anything fancy about the extension? I was thinking of attaching some oak
strips to the rails and putting piece of plywood on the oak strips.
Just curious, what does the Excalibur do better than the Alignarip?
Greg G. wrote:
> adept at adding new ones. Not familiar with the fence, but if the
> fence sticks out *too* far, you might have to add some triangulation
> or legs to support it properly. JMHO,
I have an instruction sheet from a fence I'm thinking about buying. It says
if the legs protrude more than 12", you have to build a "support box" for
them.
I'd imagine the same applies to most anything, but would especially apply if
the rails are aluminum.
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
On Wed, 31 Dec 2003 15:31:05 GMT, "Toller" <[email protected]> Crawled
out of the shop and said. . .:
snip
>Great, I was hoping to hear from someone who had done it.
>I suppose the extension is so that the two rails support each other;
>anything fancy about the extension? I was thinking of attaching some oak
>strips to the rails and putting piece of plywood on the oak strips.
>
>Just curious, what does the Excalibur do better than the Alignarip?
>
well, you might want to get a bit more fancy than just a few oak rails
with plywood on them, i built a torsion box assembly for mine, stays
true, and its a whole lot stronger than i thought even considering the
thickness. even tho the main reason for building the "wings" is to
support the fence rails, you want to keep them coplaner to the rest of
your TS, if you don't it would cause problems with cut squareness
later. DAMHIFTO
the excalibur rides on ball bearings front and back, and positively
locks both front and back. the 24/24 sort of locks, but always had a
tendency to shift while ripping. you wont get any of that with the
excalibur. also you don't need to measure the distance from front of
the blade to the rear and the fence when you lock it down. it locks
parallel EVERY time.
On Fri, 02 Jan 2004 10:58:30 -0600, lopez <[email protected]> Crawled
out of the shop and said. . .:
>Traves,
>
> I have the excalibut fence, and it has been a lot of grief. First, it
>kept going out of alignment. I took it back to the factory where they adjusted
>the springs. The were extremely co-operative, and it is much better now. But
>it still locks in a non parallel position about one third of the time. The
>distance between the front and back rails is a constant to within 1/64" The
>distance between the top of the rails and the saw surface is constant to within
>.01". got any clues?
>
>Len
Every once in a while it will try to "rack" or clamp down crooked, but
what i have done is just get the fence to where i want it on the
scale, just start to set the handle in the locked position, then
release it a bit,,,this seems to remove all the tendency for racking,
it straightens itself out, then lock it down.
Traves