Customer Reviews

HTC HMS-400 Multi-Fence Router system

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have mixed feeling about this fence.

I think it's a good idea mounting a router fence on your existing fence. you can make one yourself that will do the same thing but I don't have a lot of time to make specialty jigs and fences etc. so the idea of getting one seemed like a good idea.

On a positive note, the fence assembly once assembled is very solid and straight.

The main extrusion seems somewhat thin, more so than a CMT, Jesseem, or Benchdog extrusion and it only uses toilet bolt type clamping hardware not the larger headed bolts. I'm making my own fence faces that can use the bolts with featherboards etc.

This fence could be a 5 with some creative extras, although I gave it a 3 right out of the box, here's why.

First - the instructions are not well thought out. There are 2 photos that are used for reference and you're supposed to determine which fence setup you have by looking at the photos. The only problem is that the photos are so so small and reproduced without the ability to see detail that they virually look exactly the same.

Second - The directions instruct you to assemble the router fence completely then install that over the clips of the saws fence. The problem is that the plastic insert that's used for dust collection won't allow the fence to be installed over the clips. It's a very tight fit so I installed the 2 extrusions to the saws fence first, measured correctly then placed the dust port piec in place followed by tightnening the long extrusion to those which worked perfectly. (I'm going to make my own dust colletion insert which will fit better).

Third - One of the supplied split fence pieces which are birch plywood was bent like a banana (slight exageration but not usable as is because it's bent and your work would get hung up on it as it passes the router bit).

Fourth - Once of the screw holes on the supplied bit guards metal bracket needed to be re-tapped. The screw would not go into it.

Therefore I have to make some straight fence faces, either 2 new splits or one large long one. Either way doing so will still be less time consuming than making a whole new fence that would clip on to my HTC fence. But for $150 I wish the attention to detail was greater.
I still like this fence but I'm doing some work to make it the way it should have been from the box.

This item is basically unusable. After I recieved it and followed the lousy instructions, I discovered that it would not fit on the fence. I took it apart and even the pieces would not fit. I called HTC and they had me ship it to them. I waited over a month for a replacement unit that came fully assembled Once again, no amount of effort allowed this thing to attach to the fence. I wound up shipping it back to Amazon after a frustrating two months. HTC should be embarressed. They must not even stock this item because everytime I called they kept telling me they were waiting for parts. In my opinion, they could not make it work either and after a month of trying just shipped it back. Amazon did the right thing and took it back.