What do folks here recommend for a replacement table saw fence?

[Nicholas Scheuer]

I've got a Menard's 10" saw (private label ?) with a 2hp motor that is used at least once a week for some small job, and occasionally for most of a day. The original fence is crap. Fortunately it has a pair of screw knobs for securing both ends to the table, but it takes a minute or so to square the fence up. I'd like a decent fence that can be secured by just one lever on the front, however, it must be square. I see a few on the internet for $300 +, but would like to spend less if possible.

[Nicholas Scheuer]

I got the saw at ReTool a few years ago for $50 and put a castered base under it.

[sp_clark]

https://housegrail.com/best-table-saw-fence-reviews/

- good place to start.

I bought a Biesemeyer decades ago for my venerable Craftsman 10"-er.

Not sure if this latest iteration is better or not but it sure is more $$$!!

A lot may depend on what provisions your Menards saw has for mounting whatever you decide to go with.

With that Bessy I bought I didn't like how it touched my saw's table so the backside angle iron that came with served as a fine platform for a small caster (just visible in one of the pics in that post I linked to above) I fitted to carry the fences's back end just clear of the table surface.

[ron ll]

Unfortunately Biesemeyer is no longer in business. But they established a style of tee square type fence that is used by many others. If you are at all interested in building your own, take a look at VerySuperCool Tools. A really awkward name for a pretty nice product.

https://youtu.be/wEHkTncb3Wc

[sp_clark]

Yep, agree 100%. There’s better stuff out there now (need to check out vsctools.com!) and watching YT videos following the one your link brings up really shows how ‘economics’ affected tool design specs since I bought my stuff decades ago.

My Bessy’s front tube is heavy-walled, not the 1/16” wall stuff he’s talking about. Obviously later production had some cost-savings that affected durability & performance until whomever last ‘owned’ the brand gave up on it.

And thanks for that link! The vid that followed it gave me an idea for a transparent blade guard / dust-catcher I want to look for more about. Seems to be hinged at the right side, drops down over blade when needed.

[TerryLL]

I bought a Powermatic 10" saw about 15 years ago and it came with a T-square Accu Fence. It's ben perfect since day one. They can be bought separately but are a bit spendy.

IMG_1152.jpg

[ESP71]

I bought an “Accusquare” for my old delta contractor saw about 15 years ago. Been very happy with it. It’s an aluminum extrusion with a t-track on both sides and the top. Makes it very easy to add jigs, sacrificial fences and so on. I have a router table built into the rightside extension table and the fence easily serves that too.

https://www.mulecab.com/tablesaw.html

[David G]

Only aftermarket fence I ever installed was another brand now defunct.

But I've used several of the Vega fences with good result.

Here's a selection to consider -- https://www.woodworkmag.com/aftermar...le-saw-fences/

[Edward Pearson]

Here in the UK, Axminster sell replacement fence that's got good reviews. Seen them on bandsaws and table saws. Runs on ball bearings! And it's in stock.





https://www.axminstertools.com/axmin...xoCmPIQAvD_BwE

I see Kreg also makes one for bandsaws that you could use.

Here in the UK we're supposed to have an auxiliary fence that stops just after the first teeth to avoid kickback rather than use a fence that goes all the way across.

I think for the amount you're using your table saw, a new one is probably overdue. The Dewalt seems to be built around a great rack and pinion fence. I think it's the battery ones that have a quiet induction motor? but more spendy. They're alot cheaper in the USA than here though I think.

[nrs5000]

I have one of the DeWalts with the rack and pinion fence, I think the 745. It probably wasn't much more than $300 new. The rack & pinion fence works very well and it is not difficult to tune the saw up up so the fence and blade are parallel to each other.

[DosRenshos]

I recently purchased a fence to retrofit to my old Atlas table saw. Tried a setup built out of 80/20 extrusions from a company called JBuilds (you can find him easily searching 80/20 table saw fence). I like the modularity of the whole thing but it has too much flex in the clamp area for my taste. I’ll be modifying it to replicate a more robust beisemeyer style clamping method.

[Nicholas Scheuer]

Many Thanks to ron II and to y'awl: I watched the vsct videos and will go with one of their T-square saw fences. I like that it does not have to clamp to the back of the table as the original fence presently does on my saw.

[oldsub86]

It might be less expensive to buy a different used table saw with a better fence and sell your saw. I bought a Powermatic "Artisan's" saw last summer for $150. The fence is quite decent.

[sophi32]

I bought a 47' Tannewitz Type U last year that was mechanically in good condition. The paint is rough, but everything works very well. The fence wasn't in very good shape either.It came with a Biesemeyer fence and rails. The faces were done. The standard Baltic Birch is screwed into the steel tube with plastic laminate over the face. They had seen better days, were not straight, and the laminate was peeling off.I was just going to make new faces like the originals since they wear well and are quite slippery when waxed up. A piece of plate aluminum was an option as well, but I didn't have any good ideas other than having T-slots machined into it for attachment. I'm a big fan of 80/20 extrusions, the stuff is like LEGOS with practical application. I looked through their catalog and found something that I thought would work.

Extrusion #3075 looked like it would do the trick. It's a little tall at 3", I would have preferred it being 2-1/2" tall, but they didn't have anything that would fit the bill that I found. This saw is in the cut out area and is used almost solely for ripping plywood, so I don't think the extra height will have that much of an impact. Generally the narrowest thing that is ripped on this is 2-1/4", and I just ripped up a bunch of drops for stretchers to that size, and it wasn't bad.I came up with four carriage bolts as being adequate. I don't know if I'm right or wrong on this. Three didn't seem like enough, five seemed excessive. I marked out the elevation of the holes, spaced them out where it seemed right and drilled a 3/8" hole for the 5/16" carriage bolts. Being that the underside of the fence is all enclosed I needed to cut some access holes to get at the bolts with a death wheel in a grinder.

My access holes are kinda sloppy looking, but they won't be seen very often and the best tool I have for cleaning them up is a file. Screw that noise. It does make me think I should buy one a pneumatic speed file though.It didn't take long. About an hour and a half from start to being done putting things away. Twenty minutes of which was probably spent looking at it and coming up with a game plan. "Plan the work, work the plan" kind of deal. They look decent and I think the long way they are pretty straight, though I haven't thrown a straight edge on it to verify that. I will say that vertically they are not that flat. Putting a straight edge on it shows a little bit of bow up and down across the face. I have not checked that since installing them though. Pulling it tight against the steel tube likely took a little bit of that out.

I ripped maybe 100' of plywood on it quick, it felt good for whatever that's worth. The fences are also 3/4" thick. There isn't enough adjustment in the site glass to accommodate the change in thickness, which is fine. I anticipated that and a new peel and stick Starret tape is supposed to be here today.The original wear parts that the fence slides on the rail and the deck of the saw were also in rough shape. I took a piece of 1/4 thick UHMW plastic and used double sided tape to stick it to a piece of lumber then ran it across the jointer a few times to make it thinner. This actually worked quite well. I was positive something was going to FAH-WANG! but it went super smooth. I eased all the edge of the plastic piece after cutting them to size to keep them from snagging on anything and just used double-sided tape again to hold them in place where the fence contacts the deck and where it contacts the rail.

That took a little time. I think I did that Monday.One of these days I'll get around to making a new wing table. The one that is on there is fugly and falling apart, but for now it works and it's not a priority. I also wanted to repaint the fence tube since it's covered in some sort of adhesive, but didn't have time for it.

[sp_clark]

Had to Google up 80/20 as it was unknown to me (at least by that name!) though I remember building trade show displays with similar stuff three decades ago.

[L.A Marche]

The Biesemeyer and other t-square fences are very easy to fabricate with or without welding, they’re just angle iron, rectangular tubing nuts and bolts . I’ve worked in a number of shops were an old cast iron beast of a saw was upgraded with a shop made copy.

[sophi32]

The Biesemeyer and other t-square fences are very easy to fabricate with or without welding, they’re just angle iron, rectangular tubing nuts and bolts . I’ve worked in a number of shops were an old cast iron beast of a saw was upgraded with a shop made copy.

How long have you been working?

[L.A Marche]

How long have you been working?

About forty years, but I’ve worked with equipment that was old when I was young.

[pez_leon]

Like the rest of sophi32’s posts, this one was copied verbatim from another forum

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....aw-fence-faces

sophi32, please take a minute to tell us what you’re up to. Product placement scams? Romance scams? Building a net presence for a false identity? I would love to know.

[Nicholas Carey]

Unfortunately Biesemeyer is no longer in business. But they established a style of tee square type fence that is used by many others.

Delta bought Biesemeyer some years back. This Delta fence is the re-badged Biesemeyer fence.

https://deltamachinery.com/accessories/biesemeyer/

[Whether the MBAs at the conglomerate that currently owns Delta have "value-engineered" it into junk is, of course, another matter entirely.]

[Dusty Yevsky]

Delta bought Biesemeyer some years back. This Delta fence is the re-badged Biesemeyer fence.

https://deltamachinery.com/accessories/biesemeyer/

[Whether the MBAs at the conglomerate that currently owns Delta have "value-engineered" it into junk is, of course, another matter entirely.]

Sorry for the thread drift but I clicked on the Delta link and.......OH-MY-GAWD!!, What has happened to Delta?! I have several American-made Delta machines, bought new 30-40years ago and still going strong. Where is all the big iron? I can't imagine the current offering matches the quality of my Deltas in any way. Anyone know what happened?

[Nicholas Carey]

Sorry for the thread drift but I clicked on the Delta link and.......OH-MY-GAWD!!, What has happened to Delta?! I have several American-made Delta machines, bought new 30-40years ago and still going strong. Where is all the big iron? I can't imagine the current offering matches the quality of my Deltas in any way. Anyone know what happened?

Stanley/Black+Decker bought Delta, Porter-Cable and DeWalt and dumped them down.

Chang LTD (Taiwan) bought Stanley/Black+Decker and dumbed it down further.

MBAs are why we can't have nice things any more.

[Dusty Yevsky]

MBAs are why we can't have nice things any more.

Good one!


I hope Chang has taken a bath and serves as a warning for all other venal corporations.

[Nicholas Carey]

For what it's worth, this is the [now expired] Biesemeyer patent.

"An ordinary person, skilled in the art" should be able replicate the invention from this document (at least, that's the requirement).

https://patentimages.storage.googlea.../US4206910.pdf

[ron ll]

Vcstools provides plans and parts to build your own Biesemeyer.

https://vsctools.com/shop/product-ca...ble-saw-fence/

[timber_cruiser]

I have an older 10" Grizzly table saw that needed a replacement rip fence. I went with a Shop Fox table saw rip fence kit from Amazon. I think it was around $300. This is a decent fence that works well.

However, I really like my new Festool Track Saw system. I find this to be a much a better tool to use for ripping long stock. It provides an accurate clean edge ready for edge glueing. Nothing Festool sells is inexpensive, but I feel it was a worthwhile investment.

[L.A Marche]

As much as I like my track saw (Mikita) it will never replace my table saw and they’re not designed to.

[Sandlapper]

In the 1980's I bought a Biesemeyer and was happy with it mostly although attaching stuff to it is not he best. I need a bigger saw and bought a Delta 3HP model with the Unifence. It has features the I use that none of the others have like the ability to move the fence forward or back. Works very well for making safe measured cut offs or adjusting to the length of some lengthy pieces. The reverse extrusion for doing cabinet work is great is you need that.

What is does not have is a vernier lateral adjustment which I would like. Tapping the fence for accurate movement works but is not as useful as an adjustment fitting would be. I know of no other fence that has such a graduated adjustment either. Had one on a Ryobi bandsaw and made good use of it regularly. Wish a table saw fence had one as well.

I like a strong fence that will hold its setting with heavy work from only the front end mounting side. Some of the well rated fences do not do this and depend on fixing both fence ends to the mounting. Could be OK but I like the Unifence.

[john welsford]

Over the years, as a machinery repair tech I've fitted probably 20 late model MBS series fence systems to older saws, they're very good.

John Welsford

[rbgarr]

Just curious and I like catboats also, but why do you limit yourself to one of them? There are so many other designs which meet your criteria.