Today i decided to act on my idea to take the Vega fence off the
tablesaw and straigtening that sucker out. The fence is 20+ years old and
the previous owner had it mounted on my '72 Rockwell TS which was dragged
from jobsite to jobsite for years before i "liberated" it and the fence for
a mere $100. The fence had some nicks where someone had gotten the blade
too close, plus the whole thing had a slight bow to it that was more than i
could handle anymore. I love the fence though, and couldn't bear the
thought (or cost) of replacing it.
Now I've cut plenty of non-ferrous metals with saws easily, which gave
me the idea of how to flatten this thing out. My jointer blades were
finally to the point at which they need replaced. I bought a new set
yesterday, but had one more task in mind for the old ones.
With the jointer set to cut "super light" I proceeded to run the large
aluminum extrusion through. Shavings much like the tinsel on the tree hit
the floor, and i kept at it.
Ultimately, i took 3/32" off the blade side to straighten it out and
remove the nicks and about 1/32" off the other side. The fence then got
sanded to 1000g, given a few doses of TOP COTE, and I ended up with a DEAD
FLAT (I mean i can't see light anywhere between it and my straightedge) and
silky smooth as a baby's behind fence. The jointer survived without
complications, and was given a good cleaning and dons a new set of blades.
I love days when everything goes as planned! --dave
Hooray for you!
You get all of the fun, and all of the reward!
It really has to be totally satisfying when something THAT GREAT turns out
to BE THAT GREAT!!
--
Enjoy life and *do* well by it
-- it might well be the only chance you get :-)
Steve,
http://www.ApacheTrail.com/ww/
"Dave Jackson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Today i decided to act on my idea to take the Vega fence off the
> tablesaw and straigtening that sucker out. The fence is 20+ years old and
> the previous owner had it mounted on my '72 Rockwell TS which was dragged
> from jobsite to jobsite for years before i "liberated" it and the fence
> for a mere $100. The fence had some nicks where someone had gotten the
> blade too close, plus the whole thing had a slight bow to it that was more
> than i could handle anymore. I love the fence though, and couldn't bear
> the thought (or cost) of replacing it.
> Now I've cut plenty of non-ferrous metals with saws easily, which gave
> me the idea of how to flatten this thing out. My jointer blades were
> finally to the point at which they need replaced. I bought a new set
> yesterday, but had one more task in mind for the old ones.
> With the jointer set to cut "super light" I proceeded to run the large
> aluminum extrusion through. Shavings much like the tinsel on the tree hit
> the floor, and i kept at it.
> Ultimately, i took 3/32" off the blade side to straighten it out and
> remove the nicks and about 1/32" off the other side. The fence then got
> sanded to 1000g, given a few doses of TOP COTE, and I ended up with a DEAD
> FLAT (I mean i can't see light anywhere between it and my straightedge)
> and silky smooth as a baby's behind fence. The jointer survived without
> complications, and was given a good cleaning and dons a new set of blades.
>
> I love days when everything goes as planned! --dave
>