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How The WondeRip® Fence Works
The WondeRip® fence is the world’s most
unique rip fence for tablesaws. What makes it unique is a stock-feeding
device that has never before been incorporated into any other rip
fence. This feeder allows a saw operator to push a board through
the saw blade while his pushing hand is inside the body of the rip
fence. The photo below shows the handle with its red knob which
the saw operator grasps and pushes forward to complete the final
6” to 8” of a ripping operation.
The handle is connected to a plastic carriage with a moveable aluminum
slide on its underside. On the left side of the slide is attached
a small aluminum feeder tab that protrudes outward when the carriage
is pushed forward. You can see the feeder tab sticking out of the
long horizontal slot (not too apparent in this photo). Just above
the feeder tab is a red arrow engraved on the side of the rip fence.
This arrow indicates the position at which the feeder tab fully
protrudes from the slot. When the carriage is pulled all the way
back to its starting position (near the saw operator), the feeder
tab is completely retracted inside the body of the rip fence. As
the operator pushes forward on the handle, the feeder tab begins
to protrude. When it reaches the red arrow, the tab protrudes as
far as it can. The following photo shows a side view of the left
face of the WondeRip® fence and a more easily
seen feeder tab.
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These are the steps that are followed in ripping
a board with the WondeRip® fence:
- Adjust the two custom-designed, vertical
holddowns for the thickness of the board that is to be
ripped. This is easily accomplished: First the two-wing
locking knob of each holddown is loosened and the polycarbonate
(Lexan) leaf pushed down until it bears moderately on
the top of the board. The knobs then are tightened. For
the best holddown results the operator should position
one holddown close to the infeed end of the saw blade
and the other close to the outfeed end of the blade. The
holddowns are most easily adjusted with the saw blade
lowered below the level of the saw table’s top –
so that the entire board may be slid beneath the holddowns.
After adjusting the holddowns, remove the board and raise
the saw blade high enough for the cut.
- Pull the carriage all the way back to
its starting position. This assures that the feeder tab
is retracted inside the body of the rip fence so that
the tab will not obstruct the board as it is being pushed
forward manually during the first part of ripping.
- Turn the saw’s switch to the “On”
position and begin feeding the board by hand into the
saw blade.
- When the trailing end of the board reaches
the red arrow on the left face of the WondeRip®
fence, grasp the red knob and continue feeding the board
by pushing forward on the handle.
- When the cut is completed, retract the
handle and carriage all the way back to its starting position
and then turn the saw off.
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A tablesaw’s splitter must be used with the
WondeRip® fence. This enhances safety and insures
that the WondeRip® fence will provide the best
and most accurate ripping cuts it is capable of producing.
The following photos demonstrates the use of the feeder mechanism
in completing the last 6” to 8” of ripping with the
WondeRip® fence. Note how the feeder tab pushes
the board into the saw blade.
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The WondeRip®
fence can be used to rip off not only wide pieces but also very
narrow strips. Many woodworkers use this rip fence routinely to
rip off 1/8” wide strips. With care to assure that the trailing
end of the board being cut has no snipes and the feeder tab has
no rounded corners, one can rip off strips as narrow as 0.040”.
The photo to the left shows a strip that was ripped with the WondeRip®
fence set close to the saw blade.
The primary obstacle preventing one from ripping off strips narrower
than 0.040” with the WondeRip® fence
is that the feeder tab protrudes so little from the face of the
rip fence that the tab tends to slip off the trailing end of the
narrow strip. Nevertheless, with very careful setup, and some luck,
we have been able to rip off strips as narrow as 0.035” in
width.
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A significant advantage that the WondeRip®
fence possesses over other conventional rip fences is that
it is capable of producing many ripped strips of identical
width with one setting of the rip fence. Conventional rip
fences may have to be moved closer in to the saw blade with
each consecutive cut – and all the pieces planed afterwards
to a uniform thickness. With the WondeRip®
fence one can set the rip fence once and then rip off hundreds
of pieces of identical width. With a sharp saw blade these
pieces will have ripped surfaces so smooth that they will
appear as if planed.
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The next photo shows eight strips of 0.063”
width that were ripped off with one setting of the rip fence.
The aluminum feeder tabs are soft and easily cut when they come
into contact with a high-speed or carbide tipped saw blade. No damage
is done to the blades. In fact, steel and carbide saw blades are
regularly used to saw aluminum in metal-cutting cold saws. When
the feeder tabs become too short to be of any further use in the
WondeRip® fence, they are easily replaced with
unused ones. The photo below shows a tab being replaced.
Each WondeRip® fence comes with a hardwood
auxiliary fence for mounting vertical holddowns (or regular featherboards),
two custom-designed vertical holddowns, a small supply of straight
feeder tabs, necessary hardware and an instruction manual.
Our final photo reemphasizes perhaps the most important advantage
of using a WondeRip® fence - being able to
keep your hands away from the saw blade while ripping wood!
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