Some of you may remember that I'm refurbishing an old Sears flex drive tablesaw. I got the rust off, adjusted the trunnion so the blade was parallel with the miter gauge slot, and adjusted the miter gauge stops for accuracy.
I found the old stamped steel fence was just not worth messing with. When adjusted for minimum error at 4" or so from the blade, the error would exceed .030" at around 15". I ordered a Craftsman Align-a-rip 24/24 extruded aluminum fence as a replacement.
Due to the fact that the rod that carries the blade guard and splitter goes right thru where the rear fence rail would be, I was not able to set it up for left-of-blade rip. I had the rails shortened for right side rip only and installed them today. I got the fence alignment error down to about .005" overall.
Using the fence, I cut and compared two plywood panels. They started out as nearly square 18" pieces so I numbered all four edges in pencil on both pieces and ran edges 1 and 2 on both. I reset the fence about 1/4" shorter and ran edges 3 and 4. When finished, I compared the two pieces and they were exactly even all the way around. I even flipped one over (face down) and compared again. They aligned perfectly.
The only thing I have left to do now is reset the front rail slightly. It cuts about 1/16" long. I'll do that after I install a new blade.
When completely finished, I will have a contractor saw with cast iron (open web) extensions, an accurate fence, a very well designed miter gauge with hold-down and a new carbide-tipped blade...all for less than $500.00. And that includes a spare flex drive shaft.