I love Magswitch - Cast Iron router table fence

[DynaGlide]

The fence for my router table left a lot to be desired in its mounting. One, it was scratching up my new top when I moved it around because it was tilting and there must be part of the extrusion not smooth. I tried addressing that with liberal amounts of UHMW tape to the bottom with little success. Two, it attaches with two threaded knobs that go into a nut from underneath. It's an annoying system to remove the fence and re-attach when you want it out of the way. I came up with this and it seems to have solved both issues. The Magswitches are 150lb. The same ones I use to attach my Jessem clear stock guides to the main tablesaw fence.

And here's a pair of Izzy swan folding infeed supports I use for longer plywood sheets:

Coming from the CMS-GE to a cast iron top router table. .I love the ability to use magnets on it anywhere I want.

Matt

 

[ChuckM]

Me, too.

I wish there were more affordable competitive products. I use them on my SawStop a lot, particularly with the featherboards:

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[Packard]

I’ve had feather boards for years, but they were rarely used until I tot the Mag Switch.  Very useful and convenient.

 

[MikeGE]

Several years ago I wanted to buy four Magswitch MagJig 150 clamps for a work project.  The price of each MagJig 150 from the European distributor was about €62 (including VAT), so I was looking at over €250 for the four with shipping.

As I browsed through the online catalog, I found this Bandsaw Featherboard Kit for about €88.  The Magswitch EU part number for the kit is 8800946 and contains two MagJig 150 clamps, bearings, and other hardware to make a two-piece featherboard.  I don't understand the Magswitch pricing strategy, but two clamps and a bunch of extra hardware was priced much less than the two clamps separately.  I bought three of the featherboard kits, two for my other project and one to try out the featherboard.  The savings from buying two kits versus four separate clamps paid for most of the third kit. 

A friend in southern Germany 3D printed the featherboard housing and I use it on every resawing job.

 

[tjbnwi]

The baby power feeder we use to groove lock miter pieces is held in place with Magswitches. Works really well.

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Tom

 

[Packard]

This is the one I have.  The current price is $67.00.

It would pain me to have to spend it, but if mine failed for some reason, I’d buy another.

 

[Steve1]

My new table saw blade vacuum shroud.
Probably gonna stay exactly where it is most of the time, but every once in a while I will need to remove it for larger workpieces.

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[smorgasbord]

Several years ago I wanted to buy four Magswitch MagJig 150 clamps for a work project.  The price of each MagJig 150 from the European distributor was about €62 (including VAT), so I was looking at over €250 for the four with shipping.

In the US, Taylor Tools sells two of the MagSwitch 150s for under $92 USD:
https://taytools.com/products/magswitch-magjig-150-set-of-2-magnetic-clamps?variant=32489752821847

I have a couple for my shop-built router table fence that I've post about here previously (I can dig up the link if you want). I use my tablesaw fence's DRO to set the router fence precisely, then lock it down further with the magnets. I can even leave the router fence in place and use the tablesaw for its normal operations of the boards aren't too wide (over 36" in my case).

I find that adjust a router fence in small amounts precisely, though, is difficult with only the MagSwitches. Yes, you can leave one magnet ON and turn the other off and nudge the fence, but you have no real idea how much you're moving it.

Also note that while in practical terms these magnets do work well, there are limits, and it does pay to read the spec sheet to determine if they're good enough. Magswitch's site claims:
Max Breakaway: 133 lbs (60.3 kg) on 1'' steel
2:1 Shear Working Load: 15 lbs (6.8 kg)

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And here's the full spec sheet:https://downloads.magswitch.com/products/1101285.pdf

 

[festal]

[member=65062]DynaGlide[/member] is that sawstop router fence? I don't like mine either, might have to do the same

 

[Packard]

What took me by surprise was how tenacious the grip of the magnet is.  In my mind, the magnet would not hold the position.  In the shop, it does.

 

[DynaGlide]

[member=65062]DynaGlide[/member] is that sawstop router fence? I don't like mine either, might have to do the same

Yes it is. I kinda hated it until I did this mod. The mounting is just frustrating and I want it to be quick to get out of the way.

 

[DynaGlide]

What took me by surprise was how tenacious the grip of the magnet is.  In my mind, the magnet would not hold the position.  In the shop, it does.

Yes. You can move them if you want to but under normal forces, they aren't going to.

 

[PaulMarcel]

[member=65062]DynaGlide[/member] is that sawstop router fence? I don't like mine either, might have to do the same

Yes it is. I kinda hated it until I did this mod. The mounting is just frustrating and I want it to be quick to get out of the way.

I've often considered the rollers, but didn't want the hassle of mounting it to the fence like that; excellent idea!

What's silly is I replaced my jointer's annoying fence with a magnetic fence, but didn't think of it for this

 

[smorgasbord]

What's silly is I replaced my jointer's annoying fence with a magnetic fence, but didn't think of it for this

Got any pictures/suggestions? My jointer, part of a MiniMax combo jointer/planer has a pretty inconvenient fence that I should probably do something about.

 

[PaulMarcel]

What's silly is I replaced my jointer's annoying fence with a magnetic fence, but didn't think of it for this

Got any pictures/suggestions? My jointer, part of a MiniMax combo jointer/planer has a pretty inconvenient fence that I should probably do something about.

Mine is a Laguna jointer/planer and yes the fence was horrible: wouldn't hold 90º, difficult to adjust the angle if you ever even cared, stuck out awkwardly, difficult to stow. All fixed. I'll take photos probably this weekend (I'm out until this weekend)

 

[festal]

What's silly is I replaced my jointer's annoying fence with a magnetic fence, but didn't think of it for this

Got any pictures/suggestions? My jointer, part of a MiniMax combo jointer/planer has a pretty inconvenient fence that I should probably do something about.

Mine is a Laguna jointer/planer and yes the fence was horrible: wouldn't hold 90º, difficult to adjust the angle if you ever even cared, stuck out awkwardly, difficult to stow. All fixed. I'll take photos probably this weekend (I'm out until this weekend)

I have Jet combo jointer/planer and also find my fence lacking.  pretty much same issues as yours

 

[Packard]

There are many other options for magnets with on/off toggles.

Here is a search (though none seem to be very cheap, though Amazon shows one that is 2” x 2-1/4” x 3” for $19.00.  So significantly cheaper than the Mag Switch.
https://www.google.com/search?q=magnets with on off switch&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-m

 

[Michael Kellough]

2 pack of red painted 150# MagSwirch for $100 US

 

[festal]

[member=3513]PaulMarcel[/member] can you post a picture of your magnetic jointer fence?