Bent Biscuit Jointer Fence - HELP!

[OPJ]

Concrete floors - what the heck are they good for?

They're cold, damp, dull and when you drop something on them from any height, you know all too well you could be picking that back up again in pieces!

Fortunately, my problem isn't quite that bad, but the fence on my Makita biscuit jointer (90º, non-removable one) is now bent on one corner after a 1m drop yesterday! :x

In this first photo, it's the nearest top corner.

So, that makes it the top corner on the far side in this shot.

In case you still can't see it, this is the definitely the best photo.

Good news is that nothing appears to be broken. I can't see any cracks, splits or anything like that. So, what I'm wondering if I can simply bend it back with a G-cramp or similar?

I'd appreciate anybody's thoughts on how to fix this matter.

I only bought this in Febuary and saved £60 buying it sightly used on eBay (I assume that also means any warranty is out of the equation?). It's an almighty improvement over the £25 Ferm I used to have but, unless I can fix this fence, it looks like I'll be stuck with another biscuiter with which I can only reference off the base!

Thanks for your time,

Olly.

 

[jasonB]

Spare fence is about £35

http://www.mtmc.co.uk/prodtype.asp?PT_I ... istory=cat

http://www.toolshopdirect.co.uk/spares3 ... SPARE_3901

Plenty of other makita spares sites, look under saws, took me a while to find it

Jason

 

[OPJ]

Thanks for this Jason, I never would have thought to look there!

I'll try and see if I can bend it back first, but if that does go horribly wrong then, at least I know where I can buy a new one.

 

[OPJ]

Looks like I'm still gonna have to splash out on a new fence.

I've tried clamping it to my bandsaw table as follows, using some G-cramps (apologies for the picture being upside-down ).

The bent-side was cramped down flush without any trouble whatsoever, unfortunately though, it doesn't appear to have made much of a difference. Maybe I need to try and bend it past the point of being true again, by the same difference to which it is currently offset...?

I'll try a couple of other things first - and if anyone does have any other suggestions, I'd be grateful to hear from you - but if I do end buying a new fence, can anyone tell me how to remove/undo these bolts please?

 

[dennis]

Olly

I think that I would put packings under the three straight corners the thickness off the distortion cramp all three if possible and then cramp the bent corner hope it works

good luck Dennis

 

[Shultzy]

Olly, it doesn't look like a bolt, I think its a circlip which you prise off out of the groove with a screwdriver.

 

[NeilO]

Olly, think they are refered to as E-clips, just prise them off with a screwdriver carefully as they tend to spring off into oblivion if your not careful, to put them back on place them into the groove on the rod(bolt) and squeeze back on with a pair of pliers....


HTH

 

[Harbo]

Sorry about your accident OPJ but buy some cheapo interlocking rubber mats for your floor - they may have saved it?

Rod

 

[OPJ]

Thanks for your concern and advice Rod. That's a good idea. Actually, it wasn't so much an "accident" as it was my laziness in leaving it sat slightly off-balance so that it only took the weight of the dust extraction hose to pull it off and teach me a harsh lesson...