Biesemeyer fence

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.
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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"
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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.

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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.

Leon wrote:
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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.

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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.

-MIKE- wrote:
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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.

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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.

Roy Smith wrote:
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Why, Roy? Because you can't attach feather boards or another reason?

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Mostly that, but a certain amount of simply the human foible of imagining that the choice not made was, after all, the better choice.

Roy Smith wrote:
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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.

Steve Turner wrote:
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I have one, and it basically stays on the saw, you can see it clearly in this shot:
http://www.e-woodshop.net/images/Spice0.JPG

Swingman wrote:
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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!

Somebody wrote:
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Roy Smith wrote:
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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

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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.

snipped-for-privacy@teksavvy.com wrote:
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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. :-)

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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. :)

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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

On Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:08:26 -0700, "Lew Hodgett"
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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.