How I fixed the ripping fence of Proxxon FET table saw

Y.T.

Y.T.

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Toronto, Canada
Since I purchased this saw I immediately noticed a huge problem with a ripping fence. This saw is sold with notion that it has a micrometer adjustment for a distance between the cutting blade and the ripping fence. It appeared to be a non functional feature in the saw I got.
 
There is a yellow knob which secures a fence guiding part against the horizontal ruler part. Also there is a black turning knob securing the fence guiding part against the working table.
 
The presence of micrometer with 0.1 mm horizontal adjustment assumes that ripping fence can be adjusted with high precision. Problem with this saw was the fence wobbled side to side whenever I tightened both yellow and black knobs together. Releasing or tightening of any of these knobs resulted in fence wobble of about 2 mm side to side. Terrible! Useless.
 
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I spent hours of looking at why fence adjustment feature works so bad. I came up with decision that this is because the ruler part must move free front to back against all its constraints when yellow knob is secured and the black turning knob is being tightened against a working table. This was not the case with my saw! Fortunately at the end I was able to fix this problem so my parts with yellow knob locked against the ruler assembly move like in video below.
 
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Glad you found the problem. Mine worked correctly out of the box. The yellow knob must be tight and the black lever must be loose for the micrometer to work correctly.

Out of the box, when I tightened the fence down the fence would move out of alignment (not square to the blade). I finally found the adjustment. There's a allen headed screw at the top/front of the fence. I tightned the fence down and loosed this screw, squared up the fence and tightened the screw back down. Now my fence is square to the blade when the tighten the black lever.
 
In order to achieve a proper operation of rip fence adjustment I had to do a few modifications. First I had to modify the yellow color brackets in which the ruler assembly moves side to side. The holes in these brackets were enlarged with the round file.
Above was necessary but not sufficient.
 
The guiding part surface pressing against a working table must be parallel to the ruler assembly when the yellow knob is locked against the ruler.

unnamed (6).jpg

My guiding part had this surface NOT parallel to working table. I had to machine this surface to correct this. I did it on my disk sander.

unnamed (7).jpg

This was necessary to do but it was again not sufficient. To move the ruler assembly further away of the working table and too prevent it to bind on its brackets I had to add some shims to the guiding part as shown below. Shims are made of brass. Cut out with scissors off a larger sheet. When I did this my fence adjustment started to work perfect. This is it.

unnamed (5).jpgunnamed (4).jpgunnamed (3).jpg
 
Y.T. said:
In order to achieve a proper operation of rip fence adjustment I had to do a few modifications. First I had to modify the yellow color brackets in which the ruler assembly moves side to side. The holes in these brackets were enlarged with the round file.
Above was necessary but not sufficient.
Click to expand...
 
Y.T. said:
I wonder if it was just my saw that was defective or it is a common problem. Please write here if you had similar problem with your Proxxon FET saw.
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It’s seems to be a common problem with the FET saw. I’ve seen many YouTube videos and other posts here on SOS describing alternatives and modifications to the rip fence. I’ve tried a few mods like you have as well. I’ve filed and shimmed and adjusted to where it mostly stays in line to the blade but nowhere near perfect.
good luck and fair winds.
 
Y.T. said:
Now I am completely satisfied with my saw. Do not think I will ever want to replace it with something else.
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Had I to do it over, I would have spent the extra for a Jim Byrnes saw. But that no longer seems to be an option so the FET will suffice.
 
Y.T. said:
I wonder if it was just my saw that was defective or it is a common problem. Please write here if you had similar problem with your Proxxon FET saw.
Click to expand...
I've had the same problem. I haven't done anything to fix it yet, so this thread is very helpful!!
 
Y.T. said:
I wonder if it was just my saw that was defective or it is a common problem. Please write here if you had similar problem with your Proxxon FET saw.
Click to expand...
Had the same problem.... first with the fence which was corrected using that allen headed screw but never spent time adjusting the ruler assembly... wish i knew these issues before purchase.... Well. will try to adjust it now...
 
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