My Craftsman 12" Band Saw was in need of a fence. It is old enough now that current aftermarket fences either do not work well with the saw or cost more than the saw is worth. A Harbor Freight clamp and a few pieces of wood were all that were needed to make an inexpensive and accurate fence for this old saw.

The first step was to strengthen the clamp. That was accomplished by milling a piece of maple to fit inside of the clamp's aluminum channel body. The added wood prevents the clamp for twisting when it is tightened.

Next, another piece of maple was sized to fit on the out side of the clamp. This allows material to slide past the jaws when being cut. Holes were drilled through this piece and into the clamp. It was then screwed to the clamp's body. At this point you could call the project finished. However, I wanted the ability to resaw with this fence.

An auxiliary panel was made from MDF and it is held to the rest of the fence with 1/4-20 screws and threaded inserts. This panel can be removed and installed as needed.

Finally, the fence is lightly clamped to the Band Saw's table, squared, and then fully tightened. Now it is ready for use.

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0:05 New Blade and Setup
0:27 Reinforcing the Clamp
3:24 Making the Spacer Block
6:48 Adding the Side Panel
7:44 Fitting the Fence


#bandsaw #diytools #woodworking