Expert: Jamie Yocono - 10/21/2004

Question
I am soon moving to a newer home. The move will involve leaving a large (800 sq.ft.)  basement shop and relocating my shop (home woodworking only) to an oversized garage and sharing it with two cars. I am going to replace my large tablesaw and Vega fence with a jobsite saw. I think I'll miss the fence more than the size of the saw. My question is--do you know of any aftermarket fence (comparable to a Beissmier or Vega) made for a smaller saw?

Thanks for your help

Carl Meyers

Answer
Hi Carl,

First off, I understand you having to downsize, but I think downsizing your tablesaw might be a mistake. It's just my opinion, but the tablesaw usually is the workhorse of most woodshops, so I might try to downsize in another area, like using tabletop (bench) models for your drilling or sanding needs.

Again, just my opinion.  :)

In fact, I just moved from a 2500 SF woodshop to a 1000 SF shop and the only thing I did was sell one of my three tablesaws. I kept my Unisaw and a portable DeWalt saw. They both get PLENTY of usage.

I subscribe to about a half dozen woodworking magazines, and I knew that I had recently seen an article comparing aftermarket tablesaw fences. So I just did a search and found that WOOD Magazine ran an article about just that in their May, 2004 issue.

I know you asked specifically about using these fences on a smaller saw, and I do not know if any of these will specifically work with a smaller saw, but this will give you an idea of who makes what, and how they are rated for precision, quality, value and so on.

The manufacturers are: Beismeyer, Craftsman, Delta, Excalibur, General, HTC, Incra, Jet, Mule, Shop Fox, Vega and Wazee. The article states that many of these manufacturers make fences for the "home shop" or contractor saws, meaning the portable model you mentioned, so at least this will point you in a good direction for your purchase.

They tested 14 models from 12 manufacturers, and it looks like the best ones (for lack of deflection and for locking parallel to the blade) were the Incra LS32-TS and the Excalibur EXTT45/78.  The article states that neither of these is a great choice for working left of the blade, and additionally, Incra's capacity is limited to 32".

Their Top Tool Award went to the Biesmeyer 52" model; it had some slight deflection issues, but over all, just about everything with that model was top notch.  

As far as the best value, the winner was the Vega U50 model, which was of pretty good quality at a great price. The left side of the fence wasn't totally parallel to the right side; it was off .007", which (to me) - who cares? I don't even know what .007 of an inch looks like!

Good luck, I hope this helps. Feel free to write back with any other questions you might have after reading this.

Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV