Byrnes Rip Fence Add-Ons

One of the first problems I encountered with my Byrnes saw was that there is a gap between the rip fence and the table. Not a big gap (only 0.024”) but big enough that some of the thin stock I wanted to cut slipped under it. So I decided to make an add-on 0-gap plate for the rip fence. While I was at it, I decided to also make a tall fence and a cross-cut stop.

I made the fence plates from a length of 2” x ¼” aluminum bar. The tall plate is just a 9 7/8” piece of that bar. The 0-gap plate was ripped from a 9 7/8” long piece of the aluminum bar after first tilting the saw blade a few degrees. The 0-gap plate and the stop are both ¾” tall (the height of the Byrnes extended rip fence).

I drilled 3 #19 holes (body drill for a 8-32 bolt) through the Byrnes extended rip fence. Vertically the holes are centered on the Byrnes fence, horizontally two of the holes are located 1 ½ inches from each end and the third hole is located 3 ¾” from the front end of the Byrnes fence.

I then drilled and countersunk corresponding #19 holes in the plates. Note that the slope on the bottom of the 0-gap plate is such that the bottom edge is on the side of the plate away from the Byrnes fence.

The plates are held onto the Byrnes fence using 2” 8-32 flat head screws and knurled brass nuts.

The cross-cut stop can be used to set the position of a piece to be cross-cut such that it will not bind on the saw blade. I kept a cutoff from the cross-cut plate to use when setting the rip fence position.

A vertical feather board can be clamped to the tall plate using a small C-clamp. I use laser cut feather boards from Micro-Mark.

I made a holder for a horizontal feather board by getting a miter bar from Byrnes and drilling a #30 hole (body drill for a 4-40 screw) 2” from one end. I then drilled and tapped a 4-40 hole in left hand miter gage slot in the saw table 2” from the front of the table. I bolt down the miter bar and bolt on a horizontal feather board when I want to use that.

Finally, I use the same miter bar, not bolted down, to hold a gage for setting the rip fence for cutting thin strips off of a plank. It is easy to set the gauge by sliding the gage up against a strip of the correct size because the saw blade and tightening down the gage. After the gage is set it is easy to set the fence – slide the gage towards the front of the saw and slide the plank up to it pushed by the rip fence, when the plank just slides between the gage and the rip fence you can tighten the rip fence and make a cut. Using a Byrnes zero-clearance insert for a very thin saw blade makes the cutting much easier.