A comparison between the Veritas combination plane fence mechanism and a Stanley #45.
I did not measure the diameters, but they are clearly different. They’re about the same length for both the long and short rods (Stanley rods are about ¼” longer). The Veritas rods have a very slight taper on the end, and it isn’t polished like the rest of it. This helps locate and get the fence or sliding skate on, but I found it to still have the same problems with the skate/fence not sliding well, and binding. The #45 has the same problem from time to time, but a little wax seems to fix that for me.
I don’t have a picture of it, but they are the same diameter as the rods and spacing on the skew rabbet plane, so the fence fits on it. The difference, however, is that the skew rabbet plane rods screw into the casting of the plane, so you’d be able to use the skew rabbet rods in the combination plane, but not the other way around. Also, the fence locking mechanism on the skew rabbet (or small plow) is different, and I kind of like it more.
In case you’re a “picture or it didn’t happen” type: See I told you that’s not going to work…
“Ok, but if I enlarged the holes on the Veritas plane to use Stanley rods, then I could use the Stanley fence, right?”. Nope, you’d also have to move the location of the rods as well, sorry.
With the rods spaced closer together on the Stanley plane, we knew it wouldn’t sit in the box like the Veritas does. As it turns out, the Stanley plane is also slightly longer as well, and wouldn’t fit in the Veritas box if the iron boxes were also in it.
That about does it for the visual/mechanical comparison, the only thing left was to make some shavings with them both…
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