This is a really good video, and just what I needed. Thanks, you’re still helping people five years later

I added strips of foil tape to the plastic pieces to make up the gap. I have no more wobble in the fence.

I ended up buying some 3D printed replacement parts for the fence rail guides. That took care of the slop in the rail but my fence was still so crooked that adjusting the 4 top crews to their max still didn't get the fence straight. If you turn the fence over there are 4 more screws that attach the fence to the locking section. The fence itself was attached to the locking section at a wonky angle from the factory. I loosened the 4 bottom screws, straightened the fence position, and tightened the screws. Then I went back and fine tuned the alignment with the top screws until it was perfect. Just thought someone else may come across the same issue.

I have this same saw, with the same issue. Here's what I did to align my fence. First, make sure the blade is aligned with the miter slot. Once that's done, loosen the fence adjustment bolts and lightly, clamp the fence, to the blade. That will align the fence, to the blade. THEN, holding pressure on the fence part that rides in the rail, start tightening the adjustment screws, while the fence is still clamped to the blade. It's as simple as that. NOW, your blade is aligned to the miter slots, and your fence, is aligned to your blade. Makes sense? I did all of the same crap, using the digital indicator, you'll drive yourself crazy doing that, and I could never get it right...I found that this way is so much easier.... Great video!

I have owned this same model saw for a couple of years and had many of the same issues you discuss. I was finally able to take out most of the slop in the fence by applying UHMW tape to those nylon pads you showed. I put the tape on the nylon pad where it rides against the vertical part of the fence rail. Then at the back of the fence where it attaches to the rear rail, I put a small piece of the same tape at the notch on the fence that actually rides on the rear rail. This accomplished 2 things; removed most of play in the fence so that the front and rear ends of the fence stay in alignment when it's repositioned and 2, because UHMW tape is very slick, the fence glides better with less resistance. I also noticed one more thing about my fence. The face of the fence is not flat, it is wavy. If you are setting the "square" of the fence using a dial indicator at the front and rear of the fence, I think you will get a more accurate reading and be less frustrated if you measure at the same place on the fence each time by marking the spot on the fence that where you take the reading. Its like marking the saw blade and measuring front and back at the same spot for blade alignment.

Thanks for the tips on aligning the fence. I replaced the guides with 3d printed ones I bought on Etsy and that helped considerably. Placing your thumb on the right side of the fence in every time gives the repeatability I was looking for.

I have the same saw that I bought in 2014 my first fence had bow in the extruded aluminum, I contacted Ridged they sent a new fence, this one was damaged in shipping, so along came a third fence that was packaged properly and was straight. As a former CNC installer I was pretty anal about get this square, I did pretty much what you did on the fence with the dial indicator. I have not had to adjust since. TIP When not using the fence release the locking mechanism. I also have a master plate that I put on the Arbor to measure the parallelism between miter slot and the Arbor. A saw blade is not a good reference, the master plate is flat to less than 5, 100 thousand. Adjusting the trunnion was not easy, until I started using bar clamps to move the trunnion. I backed off the pressure on all four trunnion bolts. The retightened the left front bolt to a snug fit. Then using two bar clamps one jaw was on the trunnion. The other jaw was on the out side of the cabinet I did the same with the opposite trunnion and cabinet. This allowed me to micro adjust the movement of the trunnion,by adding pressure on one side and relaxing the other side. With the dial indicator in the miter slot measuring off the master plate I was able get the Arbor parallel to the miter slot. What led me to the clamps was every time I torqued down on the Arbor bolts the trunnion moved. Recently I changed over from 120 volts to 240. If I had to spend over $20.00 to do it I would not bother. In my case I had everything. The motor spools up much faster in the long run I think there is less stress on startup at 240 volts vs 120. I hope this helps someone.

That jig is a great idea. I wasn’t able to build one, because ironically I was actually trying to cut runners for a crosscut sled, so I just attached my dial indicator to the mitre gauge that came with the saw. Worked like a charm.

Or build John Heinz's fence kit. I have this saw and it is so frustrating

Kyle - I watch and do a ton of wood work. I love the depth gauge on the fence concept. Thanks bro!!!

I bought the same saw secondhand and same issue. Tried your trick and it worked for me. Thanks for sharing. I had a dewalt contractor saw and never worried about the fence, so it was frustrating dealing with the Ridgid fence. But now all it takes is a push then lock and it’s straight. Again, thank you!

Glad I’m not the only one. I have had this saw for about 8 months and constantly playing with t to keep square. Just got a dial indicator yesterday. Can’t wait to give this a try thanks !

Just got one of these used and noticed that at the end of a cut it's tight. I know it's the fence and I got a HF dial thing. I wasn't sure how to mount it but now I'm going to copy what you did. I'm also going to try putting masking tape to get the fence tighter in the slot.

I have my dads OLD Ridgid 285a e23417 10" portable Table Saw (several decades old at this point, I know i've used it for over 15 years), the Fence was a full BLADE THICKNESS off from 1 side of the blade to the other (so more then that from end to end), I did 2 things, first was the 4 bolts that hold the fence to the front of the fence, I took them loose and squared it with groove in the top then I took a wrench and tightened the nut on the back end of the fence just a bit so when clamped it has more clamping force to firmly hold the fence in place. Will be testing out the adjustments tomorrow when I make my first cuts (also replaced the blade for the first time in ages). sliding the fence back and forth it definitely feels like it's tracking straighter since I took out a bunch of the "looseness" guides by tightening that nut on the back end of the fence, but be careful not to go too tight or you won't be able to remove the fence as there won't be enough gap to lift it up to put it on the other side of the blade.

I have the same saw, I have the same problem with my fence. My issue was the plastic/ nylon fence rail guides broke then caused the difference from front to back to be off by 3/16”. Not acceptable... I had to fine tune with my tape measure to the farthest miter slot on front and back. Every cut having to make these fine tuning adjustments was killing my productivity. Had to fix it but I didn’t want to call Ridgid and get replacements because the same would probably happen. I found a set of 3D printed guide rails on the old ebay! Came with 2 pieces for the front of fence and 1 piece for the rear of fence. Think I paid about $30 free shipping. Not a paid advertisement, hell I’m not even going to go and try to find it and link it here. Just search ridgid r4512 fence guide rail upgrade. Should come up. Happy working, oh good video, I liked the homemade jig.

Literally have been dealing with this issue at my work for a couple of days now. Thank you for the help and letting me know it wasn’t just me!

Kyle.... I'm planning on buying this saw next month... And like you, after watching about a hundred videos, am anticipating having to true everything up when I get it assembled. This is a good video... you taking the time to explain your method, I think will make the process probably go a little smoother. Thanks for the vid... :)

Turns out that the "fix" was a lot easier than I believed. Some UHMW tape on the plastic clips underneath and the end piece of the fence. The kind usually used to help drawers slide easier. Got a roll for under $15. I used J.V. Converting UHMW-PE-3/NATTR0536 JVCC UHMW-PE-3 UHMW Polyethylene Film Tape: 1/2" x 36 yd. Ended up having to do 2 layers, but now the fence stays straight as an arrow.

No real fix there is a bit of play in my saw as well. But everytime I push it forward and wiggle first, it lines up true. I will try your method and hopefully gain a little more confidence. Thanks for sharing.

I just bought a new table saw and this is video what I needed. Thanks for the clear explanation.because of this video you got yourself a new follower😉

The real problem with this fence system is the four bolts and nuts holding it together. The bolts and nuts are too soft and mine actually stripped out after I tried to adjust my fence for the 10th time. I changed my bolts and nuts to 1/4-20 socket cap screws ( go to an industrial hardware supplier for these). You will have to file down the nuts as they won't fit into the square holes on the fence but once I changed these to proper nuts and bolts that won't strip out, I've never adjusted my fence again. Hope this helps

I believe I have found a solution to the fence problem, and it requires only an old plastic gift card or credit card. Here are the steps I just took: 1) With the fence in place on the saw, remove the plastic windows on the left and right side of the fence. 2) Take the old gift card (or similar card) and slide it into the opening and see if it will slide down between the plastic guard and the channel. If it does, you're in good shape. Do that for both windows. 3) If they fit, remove the card and remove the fence and put it upside down on the work bench with the plastic guards facing up. 4) Cut a 1/4" slice off the ends (not the sides) of the credit card. 5) Using super glue, glue the plastic pieces onto the front of the plastic guards and let set until thoroughly dry. 6) Put the fence back on the saw and check for smoothness of the slide. 7) Replace the plastic guards.. You should be able to slide the fence fairly easily (Mine squeaked at first) with no play whatsoever. Now adjust the alignment of the fence, and you're good to go.

Thank you for explaining the whole issue with the fence it really helped me out a lot

I have reverse engineered ( close to) the guides and have 3D stl files if any one wants to give them a go and let me know.

Best solution for me to this day since a year ago was to add a strip of plastic to the runners. That has prevented the play when locking the fence.

Spring clip would work great on those plastic pieces.

To fix the fence so it is tight and you don't have to push forward, there is an adjustment, but its not those white feet under the front. It is at the back of the fence. Remove the little black cap on the back and then you can adjust the tension rod.

maybe try aluminum foil ducting tape. I used it to get rid of the slop in my miter slots and the adhesion is great.

I wonder if anyone else has issues with the ruler on the rail being off. I lined and squared every thing to 3,4, and 5 inches from blade to gate. But the best I could get the reading in the window on the rail ruler was still off by 1/4 inch...so I never use it. Adjusted what I could but off 1/4 inch. I just measure every time I need change the cut.

If the fence is sloppy why do you think its a good table saw? If the fence is tilted like in your case you could have serious kick backs.

Could you create addition width between the two rails to make up for the slop?

There’s a Facebook Group for this very saw. A guy sells 3D prints those white plastic rail guides. Also. There are 1000, thousands in an inch. So .250 is one quarter. 0.050 is called out as fifty thousands. Not five one hundredths

For those that have reported fence alignment issues with their R4512 Rigid Table I just installed some new 3D printed rail guides for the Rigid table saw made available from Summers Woodworking Company and they greatly improved the alignment issues I had been having with the Rigid fence. The new 3-D Printed guides easily replace the Rigid guides or slides in minutes. The new guides are available from Summers Woodworking for $25 a pair. The new guides are slightly larger than the old Rigid guides fitting tighter and removing the extra space in the fit and reducing the wobble from the old guides. These new guides are smooth, and the fence moves easily. Try them out; I am completely satisfied with my purchase. www.summerswoodworking.co/p/store.html

What about elongating the screw holes on those plastic guides under the fence?

It's the design of the fence, its junk. All fences that of the same design perform poorly (craftsman, delta, etc.) Replace fence with biesemeyer or get a new tablesaw with a biesemeyer fence.

I'm only 1/2-way through this video and I've thrown up from motion sickness 15 times. ;)