Micromanage your rip fence

One of the frustrations throughout my 50 years of woodworking is fine-tuning the tablesaw rip-fence position. Being a retired mechanical engineer, I decided to address this problem.

My solution: a simple adjusting block that clamps to the rail of the saw, as shown. I used a metric M5×0.8 threaded rod and insert. With this thread, one turn of the thumb knob turns the shaft 0.031"; one-half turn, 0.015"; one-quarter turn, 0.0075"—very accurate. I added a nylon tip and lock nut to prevent marring my rip fence. (Get all this hardware at woodmagazine.com/microadjust.)

To tweak the fence position, simply unlock the fence and nudge it closer to the blade by turning the knob. If I need to move the fence away from the blade, I back off the threaded rod and bump the fence to it.
—Steven Pietrowicz, Cresco, Penn.