# Incra Fence uses



## ranman (Oct 27, 2017)

I see em on the table's here but curious what they do that other methods can't duplicate. I mean other than just the precision adjustments. They are really bulky, so they must have a special advantage that so far, I haven't seen here in actual usage.


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## Terry Q (Mar 2, 2017)

Plus lots more


In woodworking there is always more then one way to accomplish something.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Wow Terry , that is amazing . Do you have a build thread ?


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## Terry Q (Mar 2, 2017)

I have no patience for trying to shoot video and edit a build. I do take pictures from time to time, but not much for sharing. On another forum I tried showing off the features of my workbench build but was told I was too wordy, so rather then offend anyone I tend to share only knowledge.

The cabinet was just practice and is an under the workbench storage cabinet for chisels and layout tools. You should see the pile of practice boxes I made getting to the point where I felt competent with the Incra fence. Every one is made using a different dovetail or box joint, no two are the same. 











In woodworking there is always more then one way to accomplish something.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Wow Terry , you are the king of joints . It’s one thing I really have a liking for , and hope to conquer someday . Blind dovetails are my favourite, and I have an Incra table and the fence . Just need Incras other neccesary accessories.

On your first pic , the second drawer from the top and the bottom one are my favourites  

So this was all done with Incras system ?


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## Terry Q (Mar 2, 2017)

RainMan 2.0 said:


> Wow Terry , you are the king of joints . It’s one thing I really have a liking for , and hope to conquer someday . Blind dovetails are my favourite, and I have an Incra table and the fence . Just need Incras other neccesary accessories.
> 
> On your first pic , the second drawer from the top and the bottom one are my favourites
> 
> So this was all done with Incras system ?




Yes, all standard joints laid out in either the manual that came with the jig, or their project book that is bought separately. Not cleaver enough to figure it out by myself.

There are templates for about 60 different dovetail and box joints. 

The drawers have red oak fronts and backs, white maple sides, Cherry and walnut accents. 

In woodworking there is always more then one way to accomplish something.


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## Terry Q (Mar 2, 2017)

A project I’m currently working on. The brown is white oak, light color is curly maple. The goal of the project is to wrap the dark color around the light color and vice-versa. If you look closely the light colored sides have an 1/8 inch dark strip on the top and bottom, continuous with the corner piece.










I learned several important lessons like making sure the corner accent piece is made out of a piece of wood that the large panel was, because the colors don’t match.










It’s an eight drawer project, two different sized drawers. The height of the drawers are important in making them come out looking right. 


In woodworking there is always more then one way to accomplish something.


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## ranman (Oct 27, 2017)

Those cabinet ends are beautiful. I still don't see what that fence does.


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## Terry Q (Mar 2, 2017)

It allows for repeatable, “programmable” type cuts. Having a fence that moves in exacting 1/32 increments allows projects you can’t do with a standard fence that you have to bump to fine tune.

More examples: 

Business card holders









Whistles that I made to give to the youngest generation at family reunion in an attempt to drive their parents nuts









A trivet that had I think, 56 fence changes that needed to be repeatable. I know it would be easy to make something like this using cnc, but I dare you to try it on another router table.










The advantages of the Incra fence are for joinery and small craft type projects. If you think a router fence is just useful for edge profiling or routing rabbits, dados and grooves then your right, you can do everything you want using your fence to do, but if you want to open yourself up to entirely new ways to use a router table, then an Incra fence will allow you to do things you never consider possible.

It isn’t just the front-to-back movements that offer 1/32 adjustments. The fence offers 1/32 left-to-right adjustment of stops for precise stopped dados and grooves. The superfence add-on also allows for routing tall items safely and precisely. 


In woodworking there is always more then one way to accomplish something.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Terry , you do some outstanding work, just wow!


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## ranman (Oct 27, 2017)

Terry Q said:


> It allows for repeatable, “programmable” type cuts. Having a fence that moves in exacting 1/32 increments allows projects you can’t do with a standard fence that you have to bump to fine tune.
> 
> More examples:
> 
> ...


Certainly is Terry. The left to right adjustment seems especially neat for repeatable movements. Routing is pretty new to me other than splining plank edges for laminate floor repairs and splining a plank edge to add a custom reducer edge. I'm learning.
One of these days I'll take some photos of the router lift I'm still working on. Once done it will need a top and a fence, so I'm keepin' an eye on you guys and your set ups.
I made a quick router table setup to do some solid oak stair treads. Didn't look purdy but it functioned. :laugh2: I used an old Craftsman router and fit an insert into my wooden saw table stand. The fence wasn't made of the right materials and being stored in the carport, it's a bit warped. O well, did what it needed to do .....4 years ago.
Here's how that fence functioned.
I inserted a T-nut under the table on the left side, then made a pivot from a 1/4-20 screw and a piece of brass hobby tubing to make an accurate bushing. Those were JBWelded into the table top for stability. This made the pivot end of the fence have zero movement or "slop". The _right_ side of the fence was movable and I could make temporary marks on the table near the clamp to show how much this end of the arm moved. Once moved to where I wanted it, it was clamped to the edge of the table top. I suppose I could have readjusted that end of the arm as little as the thickness of a recipe card with a temporary stop of sorts.
I may include this sort of 'swing-arm' setup on my new table top but only for special purposes. To avoid warping this time, there's gonna be angle or channel aluminum involved.


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## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

Terry Q said:


> Plus lots more
> 
> 
> In woodworking there is always more then one way to accomplish something.


Terry we are a lot nicer and we would never say anything about someone being to wordy. Your joinery is awesome. Which Incra product are you using?


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## Roy Drake (Feb 10, 2014)

Really nice work, Terry. Thanks for sharing / informing.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Terry....outstanding job taking advantage of the features the Incra LS systems offer!!!


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Randy... 7-8 years ago, I began looking for a new router fence for a table i was making. I looked at em all at the time, homemade to aftermarket. Quite a selection to choose from. I choose the Incra LS17 and have never regretted it. The Fence system itself is rock solid, exceptionally well made and designed, versatile and accepts just about any of the aftermarket add-ons for a fence available. I fully expect my Incra LS to outlast me! These reasons by themselves do not make the Incra system unique. There are quite a few fence systems on the market that quite honestly (including well made shopmade units) that hold up to an Incra system. 
In the end what sold me was/is the repeatability and adjustability the system offers. You just can't beat the 1/32nd down to .001 adjustments you can make with the system. In time and in use you find these features alone make the fence well worth the cost easily!!!




ranman said:


> Those cabinet ends are beautiful. I still don't see what that fence does.


Thats kind of the point, the ability to create the kind of joinery Terry demonstrates. No doubt this kind of work is achievable outside of an Incra system, but the time and setup involved would far exceed the speed and accuracy you can have with the Incra. Once you get the hang of the system, the same principles can be applied to other aspects of tabletop router work.....


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## ranman (Oct 27, 2017)

Thanks Bill. I knew there was something very special about the Incra. My question was asked because when I see something.... I just gots' ta know! 
What I am making is portable...... not lightweight and flimsy, but portable, so the Incra won't be something I'll include. It won't get used very often. The lift and router will come out of the table top as a unit. The router table top will rest on top of my fold up tablesaw table. (until I figure out a way to make sturdy portable legs) :laugh2: The router and lift weigh about 20# with the lift being 14# of that. Kind of a beast because it's all metal.


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## Terry Q (Mar 2, 2017)

hawkeye10 said:


> Terry we are a lot nicer and we would never say anything about someone being to wordy. Your joinery is awesome. Which Incra product are you using?




I have the Incra LS Positioner 25 with their super system fence. It requires a massively large router table. Truth be told, the only advantage of the LS25 over the LS17 is those rare circumstances where you really need to route a dado another 8 inches further from the end of your board. If I have lots of dados to run I usually use a dado stack on my table saw anyway.

After using the LS Positioner on my router table I decided to go for the same precision on my table saw so I bought one for that, even though my Jet Exacta came with a really nice Bessemer style fence with a second locking knob and micro adjust dial. It’s nice knowing that I can set the fence, make some cuts, change the fence and make more cuts, then change it back knowing the cuts are exactly the same width as the first time. I previously would cut all similar sized parts at the same time knowing that consistency is more important than an exact measurement. Now I don’t have to worry about it, I get consistent results with the right measurement even if I have to go back and cut more piece later. Another advantage of the LS Positioner on a table saw is when cutting really thin pieces, but we aren’t talking table saws here.

There is a third Incra product I really like for precise layouts and that’s the Incra T-rules. Very precise layout lines down to the 64th of an inch or 100th of an inch with the pro T-rules



In woodworking there is always more then one way to accomplish something.


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## ranman (Oct 27, 2017)

Terry Q said:


> I have the Incra LS Positioner 25 with their super system fence. It requires a massively large router table. Truth be told, the only advantage of the LS25 over the LS17 is those rare circumstances where you really need to route a dado another 8 inches further from the end of your board. If I have lots of dados to run I usually use a dado stack on my table saw anyway.
> 
> After using the LS Positioner on my router table I decided to go for the same precision on my table saw so I bought one for that, even though my Jet Exacta came with a really nice Bessemer style fence with a second locking knob and micro adjust dial. It’s nice knowing that I can set the fence, make some cuts, change the fence and make more cuts, then change it back knowing the cuts are exactly the same width as the first time. I previously would cut all similar sized parts at the same time knowing that consistency is more important than an exact measurement. Now I don’t have to worry about it, I get consistent results with the right measurement even if I have to go back and cut more piece later. *Another advantage of the LS Positioner on a table saw is when cutting really thin pieces, but we aren’t talking table saws here.*
> 
> ...


But you _can_, and especially so when you include the information you just did. :wink: I think most guys hate changing a saw setting, then trying to return to the same setting later. Good info and thanks for being "wordy" like me. >


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## Tagwatts (Apr 11, 2012)

Terry, 

As stated, you are doing craftsman work and what you show is just outstanding. I am sorry you feel you can not write a bit of a article to be read. Here and I can only speak for myself, but I would certainly enjoy reading about how you do what you do. Also, I would really enjoy a film or vid of your work. There have been some long posts here and I have yet to hear or see anyone complain. 
Thanks, for your post. 

Frank


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