Introducing the UJK Parf Fence - a must for MFT3 or custom benches

[Rick Herrick]

Seems Axminster is now charging USA sales tax (I'm in Illinois). Anyone else notice this?

I have placed 3 orders this year and I paid NC sales tax on each of them.

 

[thender]

The Parf fence does look useful. Does the issue of them not fitting the MFT hole layout happen often or is it a rarity based on not guaranteeing accuracy, but more often that not it is accurate?

Well, I can only say that I bought one after watching Peter's video, and it didn't fit my MFT.  (2 years old FWIW).

So that is close to $100 of my hard earned down the tube. 

Don't take the chance unless you can easily return it....

 

[Php54]

I bought two Parf Fences thinking I wanted support on both the finished side and waste side of the cut, i.e. both sides of the track.  I made my top using my Park Guide (original version) a few years ago when it first came out.  I bought it from Axminster as well.  The fences don't fit my top either as others have stated.  I can get two of the dogs in at 96mm apart but no way can I spread them out more than that.  Also, I agree with the previous comment about the finish.  It is not a quality finish you wood expect for that price.  I will be writing Axminster to ask to return them.  Very disappointed.  Fingers crossed.

 

[TwelvebyTwenty]

I bought two Parf Fences thinking I wanted support on both the finished side and waste side of the cut, i.e. both sides of the track.  I made my top using my Park Guide (original version) a few years ago when it first came out.  I bought it from Axminster as well.  The fences don't fit my top either as others have stated.  I can get two of the dogs in at 96mm apart but no way can I spread them out more than that.  Also, I agree with the previous comment about the finish.  It is not a quality finish you wood expect for that price.  I will be writing Axminster to ask to return them.  Very disappointed.  Fingers crossed.

Just to be clear, you're saying even with a top you made using the Parf Guide system, the holes still don't align with the Parf fence?

 

[AstroKeith]

[/quote]

Just to be clear, you're saying even with a top you made using the Parf Guide system, the holes still don't align with the Parf fence?
[/quote]

I have used the Parf Guide to make a number of work surfaces, and I now have two Parf fences. No problem at all with alignment.

The fences work OK, but cosmetically disappointing. Machining marks and poor anodising.

 

[Rick Herrick]

I have used the Parf Guide to make a number of work surfaces, and I now have two Parf fences. No problem at all with alignment.

The fences work OK, but cosmetically disappointing. Machining marks and poor anodising.

I am the same as [member=72891]AstroKeith[/member] .  I have made a full 4x8 table and a 4x3 table, both with the MKII system.  I have 2 of these fences and everything works ok.  I also agree with the cosmetics of these things not really being up to snuff though.

If the store was right down the street, I would have returned them but I think it would be too much hassle to return them from the USA.  I have also used standard tall dogs with the large shoulder on the bottom.  I have gotten the same results with those as I have with the fences.

 

[Php54]

To answer Twelvebytwenty, I'll try to be more clear.  My Parf Guide top is 3/4 mdf that I made with my Parf Guide System I.  If I insert one flush mount dog that came with the Parf Fence in a hole at one end, I can't insert the second dog in the hole at the other end.  The tolerances don't match up and you can feel it with your finger.  As you progress from one hole to the next in sequence the difference becomes greater.  It is slight but over the course of six holes (7 in the mdf) it exagerates to the point that the dog has no chance of lining up.  Interestingly if I put a dog in each hole next to each other 96mm apart I can force them in both holes.  It doesn't matter which two, 1-2, 2-3, etc.  So the consistency of my drilled holes is there and the consistency of the fence holes are there but they ever-so-slightly don't match.  Hope that helps.

 

[AstroKeith]

To answer Twelvebytwenty, I'll try to be more clear.  My Parf Guide top is 3/4 mdf that I made with my Parf Guide System I.  If I insert one flush mount dog that came with the Parf Fence in a hole at one end, I can't insert the second dog in the hole at the other end.  The tolerances don't match up and you can feel it with your finger.  As you progress from one hole to the next in sequence the difference becomes greater.  It is slight but over the course of six holes (7 in the mdf) it exagerates to the point that the dog has no chance of lining up.  Interestingly if I put a dog in each hole next to each other 96mm apart I can force them in both holes.  It doesn't matter which two, 1-2, 2-3, etc.  So the consistency of my drilled holes is there and the consistency of the fence holes are there but they ever-so-slightly don't match.  Hope that helps.

Do you have the errors on all 'lines' of holes in the MDF? In particular what about at 90 degrees to the first line?

Have you compared the Fence with the Parf Guide System jig? Using the 'dogs' that came with the guide you should be able to check that the hole spacing is the same.

Similarly you can compare the spacing of the 3mm holes in the Parf sticks with the 3mm hole spacing in the Guide jig, by laying one over the other and inserting the three 3mm pins.

 

[Php54]

I tried to post a long thorough explanation to answer your question and attached 4 pictures but somehow it didnt go through.  So I'll sum up.  Yes it is slightly off in bot x and y axis.  Trying random holes in both directions with the same result.  I took your advice and tried overlaying the guide on top of the fence and still over the holes in the top.  I used the guide dogs that came with the Parf Guide and I was able to get a fit on both ends of the guide, thru the fence and into the top.  That spacing I believe is 288mm (three top holes apart.  That told me the tolerance on the guide dogs is a touch under the fence dogs.  Now the big news, I tried my TSO aluminum dogs and viola!  Success.  Their size is a touch under anything UJK makes.  I came fit both holes at opposite ends through the fence with the TSO dogs.  Thank good ess I found a solution.  The downside is I will have to use knobs under the table to secure them tight and they stick up 40mm above the fence.  J will have to get another two sets of those because I use them with my Makita track and UJK track keepers (forgot what they are called) and they work real well for keeping my 90° cuts square.  I have been using fence dogs from Bench Dogs UK with a 40mm 80-20 rail for a fence.  That works ok but has it's own challenges.  I saw their new fence MK2 and that looks to solve some things.

 

[AstroKeith]

I tried to post a long thorough explanation to answer your question and attached 4 pictures but somehow it didnt go through.  So I'll sum up.  Yes it is slightly off in bot x and y axis.  Trying random holes in both directions with the same result.  I took your advice and tried overlaying the guide on top of the fence and still over the holes in the top.  I used the guide dogs that came with the Parf Guide and I was able to get a fit on both ends of the guide, thru the fence and into the top.  That spacing I believe is 288mm (three top holes apart.  That told me the tolerance on the guide dogs is a touch under the fence dogs.  Now the big news, I tried my TSO aluminum dogs and viola!  Success.  Their size is a touch under anything UJK makes.  I came fit both holes at opposite ends through the fence with the TSO dogs.  Thank good ess I found a solution.  The downside is I will have to use knobs under the table to secure them tight and they stick up 40mm above the fence.  J will have to get another two sets of those because I use them with my Makita track and UJK track keepers (forgot what they are called) and they work real well for keeping my 90° cuts square.  I have been using fence dogs from Bench Dogs UK with a 40mm 80-20 rail for a fence.  That works ok but has it's own challenges.  I saw their new fence MK2 and that looks to solve some things.

Glad you have some resolution if not perfect. I think you must have a small error in your holes. Others have seen this and I can only think it is down to drilling technique?

You expose (again) the variation in bench dog diameters. The UJK anchor dogs supplied with the fence are extremely tight (over tight IMHO). I have the tall UJK dogs and they seem good. I have some fence dogs from BenchDogs UK which are marginal.

 

[Php54]

I agree.  It could have been my drilling  technique, very slight tolerance variation in the Parf Guide drill bit or something i haven't thought of.  However, the technique is fairly foolproof.  I figured out the picture attach problem.  I can't seem to take a picture less than 3mg and I'm not savvy enough to figure out how to reduce the size.  The forum rule says 10,000KB max per pic.  That''s one 10th of a megapixel.  Huh.

 

[Php54]

I was wrong, 10000kb is one 100th of a megapixel.

 

[AstroKeith]

I was wrong, 10000kb is one 100th of a megapixel.

I think you are confused or confusing different things?

So 10000kb is 10Mb    'b' being 'bytes' a unit of memory.
Megapixel would be a million pixels. Each Pixel will take an amount of memory to store it. The amount depends on the image quality/compression/etc.

The limit is as you say 10000kb for one image, 40000kb for all images being attached to one post. I'd be surprised if one of your images was bigger that 10000kb. Most phone images are around 2Mb max. Perhaps you had too many images?

What machine are you using to create your posts? PC, MAC, iPhone, etc?

 

[Php54]

You're right, I misspoke, I meant to say megabyte instead of megapixel.  But I'll agree to disagree on the math.  1 megabyte is 1,000,000kb.  I'm using my Samsung A20 phone to take the pics.  I tried to post 4 pics.  I'll try to post from my old Samsung Tab.  The Axminster site limits images to 5mb.  They asked for a review and i may try to post a pic or two there.  I didn't mean to stray off-topic. 

 

[MikeGE]

But I'll agree to disagree on the math.  1 megabyte is 1,000,000kb.

You can disagree with the math, but you would still be wrong.  One megabyte is 1,000kB, where "kB" is kilobyte, or one thousand bytes.  One gigabyte is 1,000,000kB.

 

[Php54]

Lol, well, I see now that I'm wrong on both counts, (literally...."counts", no pun intended).  Thanks to Keith and Mike, I stand corrected.  Now that I know the picture size is not the problem, I tried uploading again and got an error message saying it took too long to upload or the file was too big.  But the message came almost instantly which seems odd.  If I ever take the tme to sit down at my computer I might try it there since it is hardwired instead of wifi.  Thanks again to both of you.  Thank goodness I can use a tape measure.....most of the time.
Phil

 

[Paulhoward]

I have the Parf rail system ordered, and am in the process of making Peter's isometric cutting work top. I also have Peter's  book from Amazon so far it's a very good read. Keep up the good work Peter Parfitt.

 

[Stone Message]

I have the Parf rail system ordered, and am in the process of making Peter's isometric cutting work top. I also have Peter's  book from Amazon so far it's a very good read. Keep up the good work Peter Parfitt.

Brilliant !

Cheers.

Peter

 

[Michael Kellough]

Peter’s book?

 

[Stone Message]

Peter’s book?

It is called "Stone Message" and is a mystery thriller with a tiny dash of SciFi. It is only available from the Amazon Kindle store.

I can give the links if required.

Peter