Hi everyone, first post here on LJ. I’ve done my fair share of lurking and finally decided to sign up. Today I have a few photos of some improvements I made to my Ridgid R4512 hybrid saw.
Given that this saw is available at HD and is reasonably priced for a new tool, I imagine I’m not the only hobbyist with one of these and I also imagine every other owner has been a bit peeved with the inherent design flaw of the aluminum extrusions that the fence slides on. In a brilliant logistical decision, Ridgid chose a two-piece design for the fence rails, with a wimpy method of joining them together. Even with light use, they began to sag and this was throwing everything else off because my fence was inaccurate in different ways depending on it’s position… a nightmare.
My solution was to bolt two pieces of moderately heavy gauge angle iron to the bottom of these rails which conveniently already had t-slot track profiles. For those who have this saw, you will need M8-1.25×16mm hex bolts to fit in Ridgid’s t-slot track.
Here you can (sort of) see the problem… the extrusion slopes down to the left and right with the apex positioned inline with the blade (where the joint is)
Time for disassembly:
.. And reassembly:
Installed:
I forgot to take pictures of the rear rail (this saw has a pair and the fence ‘clamps’ them together to lock in place), but I gave it the same treatment, however I put the angle iron the other way so things could be attached to it:
Temporary (!!!) leg to hold the new outfeed table parallel to the saw’s table while I measured and cut real legs for it.
-- Woodworking from an engineer's perspective
4 comments so far
Joe Weaver
home | projects | blog
547 posts in 4694 days
#1 posted 05-19-2014 07:57 PM
welcome to ljs. great idea for the 4512
-- Joe, Ga
BOOM_TOWN
home | projects | blog
19 posts in 2834 days
#2 posted 05-23-2014 12:50 PM
Where’d you source the iron?
William Shelley
home | projects | blog
609 posts in 2477 days
#3 posted 05-23-2014 01:42 PM
The first rail I added was from home depot, the second, I got a chunk that was all rusty for free from my work. I cleaned it up with a belt sander.
What do you LJ’s think… should I paint the rails the Ridgid orange color?
-- Woodworking from an engineer's perspective
tblake1984
home | projects | blog
29 posts in 2179 days
#4 posted 03-30-2015 06:13 PM
I say keep them the raw iron… buff them out with the sander and throw some t-9 on em. I have an old-school schwinn varsity bike frame that I bead blasted down to the bare metal and powder coated clear. It gets a lot of attention.
Have your say...