Why are there no accessory tracks or even tapped holes to add accessory
tracks to the Biesemeyer fence? Even the Biesemeyer auxilary fence is just
a larger fence with no accommodations for accessories. Many woodworkers
build their own Biesemeyer covers with tracks to accommodate featherboards
and other accessories, but I'm puzzled why there are such elaborate add ons
for systems such as the Bench Dog router but not the Biesemeyer. Just
curious. Am I missing something?
Best,
Christopher
Being a product manager myself (in a totally different industry) I can
imagine that because they having a leading product in the industry
they likely suffer a little from "if it ain't broke don't fix it" and
"how many more will you sell if we spend all the cash on a redesign."
The answer to the question is they probably can't really sell many
more than they already do. They probably already sell 1/2 of the high
end fences in the market. That is a hard number to increase.
Just speculation.
I can certainly understand that, but what about the Biesemeyer auxiliary
fence? The cost is $139 to add a little length and height. What, that's
it? That's all the design engineers could come up with? Another inch or so
on the length and heigth?
Best,
Christopher
On Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:36:49 -0700, "Christopher Glaeser"
Here's another solution that you can customize quite easily.
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page 821&filter=table%20saw%20fence
I've some home-made versions of these clamps too.
Mike O.
Well just for starters, the fence does not fasten down on the back end.
Hold downs attached to the fence would lift the fence up in the back when
running stock if the hold down was adjusted tight enough to do any good.
That's true. It would take very little lift to negate any pressure applied
by a feather board.
One of the first things I noticed about my new-to-me Biesemeyer fence is
there is nothing clamping the back end. One benefit I see is that you
can add a table to the back without working around any hardware at the
rear.
--
-MIKE-
"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
Snip
I have been using the clone, Jet Exacta fences, 2 of them, in the last 13-14
years and have never really missed the capability of attaching a hold down
to the fence. I have how ever built a tenon jig that is guided by the
fence, BUT I seldome use it now that I have a Domino.
The unifence does the same thing ... but you could always clamp it if
necessary.
But, like you say, I've have to move the bench that has always resided
behind it.
When I bought my saw a few years ago, I agonized over which fence to get.
Eventually, I went with the Unifence and have always regretted it. I
strongly suspect, however, had I gone with the Bies, I would have equally
regretted it. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,
so to speak.
I got the Unifence on my Unisaw and never regretted it at all (my buddy
and my Dad both have Biesemeyer's on theirs, and I like them fine as
well, but still prefer the Unifence). There is an aftermarket fence
that attaches to the Unifence carriage that offers a rectangular shaped
aluminum extrusion with the white slick plastic face and slots to which
jigs can be attached. I have one, but I rarely use it. The stock
Unifence is lighter, which I appreciate whenever I have to remove the
fence entirely (which seems quite often for me), and it's way lighter
than a Biesemeyer.
--
See Nad. See Nad go. Go Nad!
To reply, eat the taco.
Yep, that's the one I have. It's really a very nice accessory, but for
some reason I just don't ever find myself installing it on the saw. I
should go out and do that right now; maybe I'll actually start getting
used to it!
--
"Our beer goes through thousands of quality Czechs every day."
(From a Shiner Bock billboard I saw in Austin some years ago)
SFWIW:
Have the Unifence, love it, especially after a modification.
Glued two (2) 8" x Unifence extrusion lenght x 3/4" (13 ply) birch ply
pieces together, then mounted a piece of T-track about 6" above
table, recessed in the ply.
Finally, bolted ply to extrusion with some 1/4-20 S/S bolts after
drilling mounting holes in extrusion.
Now have place to mount feather boards and since the ply assembly is
exactly 1-1/2" thick, can use the Unifence marking scale directly.
YMMV.
Lew
Never had that regret problem with my tablesaw fence and it is neither
a Biesemeyer nor Unifence. I've got an Excalibur fence that fastens
down both sides. For some inexplicable reason it's shunned by a large
amount of people.
My logic tells me that a fence that fastens down in front only is less
solid and outdone by a fence that fastens down in front and back.Still
results in argument. Guess, it doesn't matter anymore now since
General bought out the Excalibur line and shut it down. That's
business.
I think it's intuitive to have that though, as I did when I got this saw.
But when I was tweaking up everything, including squaring the fence to
the table, I tried pushing the end of the fence. I had to really put
some pressure on it to get it to budge in the least.
I figured, if I'm exerted that much force on the fence during any table
saw operation, I'm doing something very wrong. :-)
--
-MIKE-
"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
I understand that and I guess that's the main reason why my logic
never been challenged in personal experience. I've never had the
opportunity to test the 'deflection' capabilities of a single side
fasten down fence. Suppose it will happen sometime and then my table
saw fence world will be shattered. :)
The Unifence is secured by a three (3) point clamping consisting of
two (2) points on the front rail and a single point pad pushing down
on the table 12"-5" forward in the clamped position.
The extrusion which is the actual fence is simply along for the ride
when it comes to clamping.
Lew
Yup. I've looked at a few during the occasional workshop show I've
attended. That robust 3 point clamping system is also a factor that
has had me a little concerned, especially the Delta fences. It all
adds up to a number of inches in front of a saw table, keeping me that
much further back from a table top when I'm working from my chair.
Agreed, we're only talking about 2"- 5" or so, but it's that much less
control I'd have when needing/wanting to be closer to my work. Luckily
as it may seem, the Excalibur lets me get closer to the table top than
any other aftermarket fence I've seen. I also cut three inches off the
legs of my contractor saw, something I couldn't have done very easily
with a cabinet saw.
The new line of lowered General woodworking tools (one of them being a
cabinet saw) is something that will greatly aid people in similar
situations to me. I even looked closely at a SawStop and there's just
too much internal mechanism for me to modify its height.
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