Rip fence for a table saw

A guidance and alignment assembly for guiding and aligning a workpiece during use with a table saw assembly of the type having a generally rectangular table with a length defined by front and rear edges, a width defined by side edges, and a rotary cutting blade extending upwardly through a slot in the table, said guidance and alignment assembly comprising:

• sliding means for slidably engaging a top surface of the table;
• positional sensing means disposed on either end of said sliding means;
• and
• positional detecting means disposed on the table for communicating to the positional sensing means a location of said sliding means relative to the table.

A method of guiding and aligning a workpiece along a surface of a table saw assembly of the type having a generally rectangular table and a rotary cutting blade extending upwardly through a slot in the table, said method comprising:

• providing an elongated guidance and alignment member having sensing elements at either ends thereof, where a workpiece abuts the guidance and alignment member during operation of the table saw assembly;
• including sensing indicators on the table at locations corresponding to locations of the sensing elements at either end of the guidance and alignment member;
• placing the guidance and alignment member in abutment with the table such that the sensing elements and the sensing indicators are operably aligned with one another;
• defining a zero position for a distance between the guidance and alignment member and the rotary cutting blade;
• moving the guidance and alignment member and the workpiece away from the rotary cutting blade;
• observing the sensing elements at either end of the guidance and alignment member;
• and
• comparing positions of each end of the guidance and alignment member to ascertain distance from and parallelism with the slot.

A guidance and alignment assembly for use with a table saw assembly of the type having a generally rectangular table, a motor operatively coupled to drive a rotary cutting blade extending upwardly through a top of the table, said guidance and alignment assembly comprising:

• an elongated body having front and rear end portions, and being configured to engage the table along a length of the table and to move laterally along a width of the table;
• at least one positional sensor provided with each of said front and rear end portions;
• and
• a plurality of positional indicators configured and arranged along the width of the table to operatively engage said at least one positional sensor.