Woodpeckers - Super Fence - Router table fence (Rating: 3)

This review can only address the unboxing and assembly because the fence has gone onto a not quite finished bench and so hasn't been used yet.

The unit is very solidly made, and I feel confident I will like using it. However when I first unboxed it I considered returning it to Woodcraft. Instead of a router fence I had a collection of 15+ parts and what looked like maybe a hundred assorted, unidentified nuts, bolts and washers. My first look at the instruction manual suggested that the assembly was going to be an ordeal.

Although the parts come in three colors the instructions are in black & white. There is no parts lists. Step one reads: "Attach the dust port using 4 (8 - 32×3/8) Dust Port Screws. Then use 3 End Cap Screws to attach each end cap." I am not a machinist and I live in a a metric world so this meant very little to me. I tracked down some 10 mm screws and guessed they must be the right ones. Then peering into the dust port housing I noticed that the openings had no threads, so I hunted for something that looked like it was self threading and had a round head. I discovered that I am not strong enough to drive these all the way in. At this point I decided to stop until I felt less angry at Woodpeckers.

The second day working on this went much better, even though the instructions continued to fail me. For example, the infeed bracket and the offset bracket are identical except that one has 4 small screw holes in the back and the other has only two holes. If you overlook this small detail, not highlighted or even mentioned, as I did, you will have to disassemble much of it and start over. After that things went more smoothly with only two more places where I could have benefited from more detailed instruction.

The instruction include directions for making a sacrificial fence, but the kit actually included a split sacrificial fence! The instructions show three different possible sets of hardware to attach the fence, but I didn't have any of them. As I scratched my head over this I saw some pieces that looked like they could work, and in fact they were better than any of the suggested solutions! Apparently they have upgraded the product but not bothered to upgrade their crappy instructions.

I made only one irreversible but not fatal mistake. The instructions install and align the fence in a completely closed position and I unfortunately used the fence like this to lay it out on the table and now have one end hanging off the table whenever I open it for even the smallest of bits. I'm hoping I don't bang my hip on it too often.

As I wrote at the beginning, the unit is very solidly built, looks to be quite durable, and easy to adjust. I'll update this review in a month or so when I finish the bench and get the router wired and fired up.