most stable circular saw rip fence

[Dennis]

Hi All,

Want to buy a new circular saw for around $150. I do a LOT of ripping, and wonder if there is a preferred brand or model that does a superior job fixing and holding its rip fence. Any views on this? Thanks, Dennis

[Joe]

If you're talking table saw. all you get for $150 is junque. The wussey aluminum tables get all scratched and scarfed up and mark the wood badly (like maple floor planks, for example). Pay $600 or so for a decent Delta or Grizzley left tilt and it will last you a lifetime. Do a little sleuthing over in rec. woodworking to get the real lowdown. Obviously, if you rip a lot of lumber, you don't want a cheap toy saw. If you're not ready to buy a decent saw yet, find an old Craftsman radial arm saw on eBay that for sure will fit your budget and set it up pemanently to do your ripping chores. Good luck.

Joe

[dadiOH]

You're talking about a hand saw, right? And the little rip guides that attach to same?

Skill & practice in using is the best answer. If you do a LOT of ripping with them you might try modifying one or making your own. They would be improved much by being longer (24" +) and attached to both front *and* back of the saw. I could see making one like this...

1. Obtain 2 steel rods 1/4 - 1/2 diameter and as long as your widest rip + about 6-8"
2. Obtain 2 pieces of hardwood maybe 2" wide x 3/4" thick x 24-30" long. Make sure they are straight and square.
3. Weld or braze 2 pieces of steel to the top of the saw plate - 1 as far forward as possible, 1 as far back as possible (they could be attached by a small, counter sunk bolt from below too, not bad if they pivot). They should be big enough to have holes drilled so the rods in #1 will slip through them and to hold thumb screws to fix the rods firmly. They need to be positioned so that the rods will be parallel to each other.
4. Cut "V" grooves across each piece of hardwood at both front and back so that the center of the grooves is equal to the distance between rod centers. The combined depth of the cuts at each location has to be less than the diameter of the rod.
5. With grooves aligned, drill holes through both pieces so that you can insert a "T" nut in the bottom piece and clamp the top piece to it using fixture knobs.

Now you can slide the wood fence along the rods to whatever rip width you want and hold it there by tightening the fixture knobs. The length and two point attachment to the saw should assure pretty good rips.

[dadiOH]

Or you could just buy this...

I have something similar but *much* bigger...works OK but there is still flex. What I outlined above would be close to rock solid.

[willshak]

on 9/3/2007 1:16 PM Dennis said the following:

If you are talking about ripping small width pieces, the blade guide supplied with the saw does a pretty good job. My Craftsman saw's guide width is fixed with a set screw. I cut about 8 1/2" x 4" x 8' strips from a piece of 4' x 8' plywood with no trouble. For wider pieces, I have built two T shaped fence guides from plywood. 1 about 50" long by 5" wide, and the other 8' x 5" with a 2" wide x 8" long plywood strip glued and screwed squarely on the end that butts against the work (similar to a drywall T-square). When using the 8' one on 8' work, it is short by the width of the butt strip (the T top end), but not enough not to accept a clamp, and the blade will cut the work as long as most of the saw's plate still contacts the guide. I haven't done it, but you can tack the measuring tape of a carpenter's tape measure (you probably have a broken tape measure that you can steal the tape from) along the top of the guide to measure a saw stop point within the work, or make your own markings.

[Dennis]

Thanks fellas, this has been all useful information.

Dennis

[Father Haskell]

Delta contractor's saw, paid $600, new, industrial supplier (the home center Delta CS is more cheaply built) Cuts better than most Powermatic 66's I've seen. That's AFTER I spent time fine tuning it.

Buy a package deal, including upgrade fence. I have no experience with the Unifence, but have only positive things to say about Biesemeyer. Could have saved $200 if I bought it with the saw.