I’d like to get an x-fence set up on my 5 pro. I’ve tried sifting through posts and videos out there, but I can’t seem to find a true best practice for doing this.
I’ve purchased a couple pieces of maple I plan on doing it with.
Does anyone have guidance on best practices to cut the fence? Is it best to do it with a file, or to jog the machine all the way over on the x-axis and then jog it back along the y-axis with the router turned on (adjusting the z after each pass)?
Since you have an SO5 with the hybrid table measure the distances between the t-track and drill holes and countersink them for hardware to secure your fence. When you bolt on your fence snug it up and jog up to it and then jog to the other end and get it aligned with the Z axis. Jog back and forth a few times with a bit or the BitZero rod to make sure changing it at one end does not shift on the other end. Then tighten. Check by jogging one more time to both ends.
I have had L fences so in the lower left corner you need to relieve for the BitZero to sit down. If you only have 1 fence just make it so the lower left corner of the fence clears your material so you dont have interference with the BitZero. Relieving the fence itself will eventually limit the minimum height of material you can set with the BitZero but you could leave enough space so the BitZero does not touch the material even if you have 2 fences.
I would do it with a simple file. It’s very hard to get consistent movement while jogging.
The file itself is very simple - just draw a narrow rectangle with the lower edge where you want the fence to be relative to X-Y zero, and pocket that. You could also add a little bit on the Y axis to make a stop for positioning things. You can also relieve the corner, something like this:
X Fence.c2d (44 KB)
You will need to recut the edge every time you remove and replace the fence unless you have a very reliable way of repositioning it.
I got tired of that and cut holes for PVC inserts as my fence. Easy to pop out out when I need the room and put back when I need the fence.
I did lines on X and Y.
Thanks for all the replies and advice! For anyone else following, here is what I ended up doing:
I wanted the fence to be removable, so I bought a pierce of 1x3 maple and created a file to mill down a channel for the fence to sit in the t-track. I also cut the 48" piece of maple into roughly 4 pieces so I could stack two together for a little height. The pieces also had holes for the screws to go into.
Then glued them together, using some dowels in the screw holes to keep everything aligned.
I then slotted them into the t-track and positioned them spaced apart from each other. I made a simple file in carbide create with a stock dimension of 48x32 and the height of actual stock. I just made a line for the cut along the left most edge of the stock and then cut the fence. Stopping just shy of the bottom so I didn’t run the bit along the top of the t-track. I simply took my multitool and plunge cut the very bottom of the stock.
Next step for me will be creating outfeed support tables so I can slide full 4x8 sheets for easy tiling!
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