Thread: Deluxe Saw Fence

Robert

I had a look at the fence last weekend (at Timbercon). I had also seen the brochure and was curious, particularly since it offered a fine adjustment device.

In person I thought that the fence was flimsy (flexible) and certainly no competition for the Biesemeyer (that I aspire to) or even the standard fence on my Carba-tec 12" saw table (which is a solid if unspectacular performer).

It looks better than it performs. Just a budget fence. I would not waste my money on it if you already have a relatively decent one.

Derek (in Perth)

Thanks Derek.
You have saved me a trip to Perth.
I have the equivalent of your 12" saw with its original fence. I picked mine up 2nd hand from a bloke who could not get it set up right and got frustrated.
The fence is just adequate and I hanker after something better, like you.
The Biesemeyer is very nice but expensive.
I will be in the US in May/June/July and may go shopping there. Their prices and choices are better than ours.
Robert.

Hi Robert

The Carba-tec 12" saw is reasonably good. I do a lot of work in seasoned Jarrah and reclaimed Karri. Most of the time I use a 10" 80-tooth crosscut triple chip blade for everything (including ripping), and the 2 h.p. motor copes fairly well. I hated the 12" combination blade that came with the saw - it laboured and just did not cut as well, even on rips. Well, 5 years on and I have just have the 12" blade professionally sharpened. It is now cutting Karri (which is a resinous wood, as you know) like a hot knife through butter! Suddenly the 2 h.p seems very adequate.

Overall, I find this a good saw table. The table is flat, although the cast iron wings were not ground as accurately (but OK). I have the sliding table as well, and this combination is great.

I, too, have been wanting a better fence. The original one is solid and I get accurate cuts. No deflection (it locks back and front). But I dislike the lack of smoothness of movement, particularly as you get closer to the blade, and I would like a fine adjustment mechanism (because the fence gets sticky/notchy and tapping to set it is a pain). A Biesemeyer does not have the fine adjustment but it rides very smoothly (I don't mind tapping, per se - I have to do this with some of my woodies).

The Timbercon fence is not good enough. It may not have been set up correctly the day I saw it (but a display model is expected to sell itself, not so?). Where my fence has extruded aluminium rails and main section, the locking mechanism is cast iron. It is big and heavy. Locked down it will not move if you hit it hard. This new fence was a light aluminium extrusion throughout. It was a T-design (locking from the front) but does also have a rear rail on which the fence end will ride. (Much like the aftermarket fence I recently purchased for my new band saw). It deflected when I pushed on it, even when I made a few adjustment of my own.

I will save up my pennies and wait to afford a Biesemeyer.

Regards from Perth

Derek

PS I have posted a few websites for you.

Thanks again.

My existing, standard, fence is solid enough when locked down, but I don't trust it to be absolutely in line after it is moved.

When I first used it, it was really hopeless and, on examination, I discovered that the back was locking before the front when the lever was operated. The result of that was that there was no opportunity for the fence to align itself to the chosen front position.

I tinkered with the adjustments but could not get the locking process to work front first. Finally, I tore it apart and did some grinding of the cam at the front and I was able to get the front to lock first.

That resolved the problem to some extent. I could see the fence trying to align itself as I moved the locking lever.

While it is better, it is still not quite right and I don't have enough confidence in it to just set it and go ahead and rip. I always measure the alignment before I cut. Frankly, if I have to measure for alignment, I might just as well have a 2 x 4 clamped onto the table.

I think I will do the same as you and save my pennies.

Apart from the fence, and since I got everything set up properly, the saw is great. Mine was a 2nd hand one that the original owner had abandoned as a lost cause. When I checked it out, I found that the blade was almost a mm out of line. Once I got that sorted, and got the pulleys properly lined up, no more problems.

Robert

Derek. Below is the text of an email I have received from Timbecon. I thought you might be interested.
I will be in Perth again in the forseeable future as I have 2 daughters living there, and I will, like the blowfly to rotten meat, be drawn to the Timbecon premises. I will have a look at the fence but, based on your assessment, will just look.

"It can be fitted to any standard width table saw (approximately 835-850mm width table). It is correct that it is significantly cheaper than most other fences. The reason for this is it is not classified as a spare part by our manufacturer and hence does not have the extra price tag normally associated with spare parts, and we have also purchased a significant quantity of them to achieve that price. It may be worth making a trip to have a look as it is a universal fence. I hope this information helps, if you require any more, please feel free to email us. Thank you for your interest."

Robert

You may want to try this little strategy with your current fence, if you have not done so already:

Since there is always a little gap present between front and rear cams (if there was not, the arm would not move!), the act of locking may shift the fence arm off course. This is what I think you are referring to. It did so with my fence as well, although not to the degree you describe. Still, a millimeter off over 1/2 meter adds up when you cut long boards.

What I automatically do BEFORE locking the cam is to push FORWARD on the cam lever, effectively pushing the locking mechanism flush up against the rail (note that there is no outwardly noticeable play). THEN I lock the cam.

I find this produces a reliable accurate set.

Incidentally, I find that my bandsaw fence works the opposite way. I have to pull back on the cam as I slide the fence. This has a T-lock and, while is sets accurately, feels sloppy until that point. I plan to tap in a few set screws on either side of the lock mechanism so that it rides more tightly and evenly against the rail. I wonder if this would work for your fence (and mine)? Thinking aloud now, the set screws here should go against the rear locking end, holding it slightly away from the rail, permitting the front cam to ride closer to the rail.... What do you think?

Regards

Derek

That sound like a very good plan.

I wonder if it needs to be set screws. Would glueing in a strip of thin nylon, or something else slippery, to hold the rear locking piece slightly away from its rail and, accordingly, force the front locking piece relatively closer to its rail have the same effect?

I would be a bit worried about the rear piece riding only on the heads of set screws and I could see myself spending some time adjusting them to get the rear piece to ride true.

To quote you

"Since there is always a little gap present between front and rear cams (if there was not, the arm would not move!), the act of locking may shift the fence arm off course. This is what I think you are referring to."

This is not quite the effect I am getting. What I was trying to describe, not very well, was:
I move the fence to a new position by applying pressure to it close to the front.
That process allows for some distortion of the sliding T structure at the front and puts the fence out of line.
I operate the lever, which takes up any distortion at the front locking piece.
I see the rear end of the fence move as the fence is squared up at the front.
The process of squaring up is stopped when the rear piece locks up.

If the rear locks up before the distortion caused by moving the fence is corrected then the fence ends up out of line.

The real problem with the fence is that the design of the front carriage component allows for it to give a bit on the front rail, so that there is some distortion.