Biesemeyer Fence for a Sears TS

I'm looking at buying the Biesemeyer universal fence for use on my Sears TS. I was wondering if I need to buy/build the extension table and legs to go with it.

Thanks, Tom Wojeck

Reply to
Tom Wojeck
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Tom,

My opinion - you would be better off money and quality wise to build your own extension table and legs. If you have a store that you can visit to see the table and legs, then you would know for sure if that's what you want.

Bob S.

Reply to
bs

Yes. You need a smooth table extension for the fence to ride on.

Reply to
Leon

Sell the Sears and buy a cabinet saw with a good fence

Regards, Lewis

Reply to
Lewis Dodd

Reply to
Tom Wojeck

Yes, I agree with you. I too have an old Crapsman and I installed an Accusquare 50" fence. I am now making an extension table with a router table, cabinet, drawers etc. Believe me it is not easy, I have the fence's railings dangling at one end while trying to cut lumber and plywood to size. I believe at the end of the day I will have spent just as much if not more than a new DeWalt DW746. I just found out today the 1hp Crapsman is not powerful to rip a 7/8 hard maple.

I wished I have bought a DeWalt or even Grizzly cabinet saw, save all the hassling and still not knowing if I could complete the job before the cold set in!!!

Reply to
WD

Yeah, I imagine the thing to do is save the $400 or so that it will take to buy the fence, table, and legs and just put that towards the Dewalt or something similar.

Reply to
Tom Wojeck

FWIW,

Grizzly 1023 cabinet saws start at the $800-900 range w/ a 3hp motor...

nuk

Reply to
nuk

How old is your sears? I have one that is about 40 years old that I got from my Grandfather. Great saw the only thing that I didnt like about it was the fence so I bought a Delta Unifence. I built a box to sit it on with a table extension that is flush with the top of the saw. This gives me a lot of storage space. If you want you could put a router in the table. You could also put wheels on the table. It is a good project for a guy just starting out. Scott

Reply to
vmtw

I put a fence like that on my Craftsman TS. I built my own extension table with *no* legs since I got the ~30" fence. Any longer and you WILL need the legs. It's an easy project, I say do it.

Putt>I'm looking at buying the Biesemeyer universal fence for use on my Sears TS.

Reply to
Lazarus Long

Now that's very interesting. If I get the one that's 28" right and 12" left I won't need to put legs on it? That sounds like a doable option to me.

What did you make your table out of? I was thinking about a 3/4" piece of birch plywood with a laminate top. Do you think that would work?

Reply to
Tom Wojeck

That is likely the "best" course of action.

I used to have an old Contractor-style Sears saw (1950 vintage) with a 1/2 HP motor on it, so I can relate. I found though that there are a few things that one can do to get adequate performance out of the saw. 1) Get a good, carbide tipped blade for it. Although not the "best" Oldham has a decent 10", 40 tooth job for about $20.00. It would be better to upscale a bit, and, spent about $50-$70 for a Freud, etc. You will get thicker carbide and a stiffer blade, from my experience. 2) Make sure the saw is tuned well. THis means that the blade has to be set parallel with the Miter slots in the top, and, the fence has to align parallel with the blade. Also, the top needs to be waxed with either TopCote (my favorite) or some other non-silicone type wax. Auto waxes are "bad", floor and shoe waxes are "good". 3) Change your technique. When cutting very hard woods, make an effort to listen to the saw, and slow down to a point that it is NOT lugging down. With smaller, low-powered saws like this, the only way to keep it cutting well is to keep the blade speed up. It might be a TAD frustrating, as it takes a bit longer, but, you will end up with a far better and safer cut. Regards Dave Mundt

Reply to
Dave Mundt

When I looked at the plan that's in the instructions the fence came with, it looked to me like they made no provision for attaching it to the main table of the saw the same way the iron webbed wing I was removing was attached. What I did was first make a thick wooden block that used those screws to attach to that edge of the saw.

Then I made a white oak frame (because I had extra from a previous project) and used that white plastic covered particle board as the top. I used construction adhesive to attach the top to the oak frame. I used lag screws to attach one end of the new extension table to the wooden block I previously attached to the saw.

If you want a sketch I can draw something up and email it to you. I have autocad and solidworks.

the fence comes with angle iron for mounting on the front of the saw and the back of the saw. In both cases you attach the angle iron to the edge of the table all along the front and rear. This is great extra support to hold up your new home made extension wing.

The extension wing has been working fine, staying level ever since I put it on.

I th>Now that's very interesting. If I get the one that's 28" right and 12" left

Reply to
Lazarus Long

Hi Dave, thanks.

Correction, 6/4 hard maple and not "7/8".

Did all that and now waiting for the Oldham "Signature" 10" 40 tooth with blade stabilizers?

Did all these including replacing the arbor, bearings, link belts etc.

I tried using silicon, found it unacceptable. I'm now using a dry lubricant bought locqlly from Woodcraft. I will try shoe wax and see if that is help. When ripping a long board (8' to 12'), toward the end of ripping, the lumber twist so bad and getting dangerous. I decided to rip board as short as possible or using my circular saw to cut lumber to size, than using my jointer and planer to plane to size. This method takes time and waste lot of lumber.

Thanks for your tips and advise. I will definitely replace this Crap with a "Real Saw" next spring. Any advice on cabinet saws?

Reply to
WD

Greetings and Salutations....

On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 18:12:15 -0600, WD wrote:

yea...that is a slight difference (*smile*).

Good deal. The better the blade, the better the saw will perform.

Very good... Especially with marginal tools, it is vital to get it tuned as well as it can be. Also, with my old saw, I found that I had to re-align it every year. One thing that seems to be a common thread about Craftsman power tools (routers, especially) is that they are often "self-adjusting".

Ah...yea...that can be a problem too. I would add, then, that having the splitter in place (if not the guard - which usually is bad enough that it gets in the way more than help) and arrange for an outfeed table or support. I have discussed this in another recent thread, too, about dealing with cutting long pieces like this for fabricating a toolbench top from 2x4 stock.

Always glad to help...sometimes it is really useful to simply hear what works for other folks, and, to compare it with one's own situation, to see if there is a "better way". As for cabinet saws...I have an old Unisaw that I bought at auction some years ago and fixed up a bit. Since it sounds like you are pretty handy with tools and machines, I would be comfortable recommending finding an older Unisaw and refurbishing it. Sometimes excellent deals can be gotten on Ebay. Also, keeping an eye on the local auctions is a good source of machinery. Industrial auctions can be great (that is where MY Unisaw came from) but might require either getting three phase power or (as I did) dropping $250 or so for a replacement, single phase motor. Alternatively, I would not feel badly about recommending one of the cabinet saws from Grizzly

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Even new, they are under $1000, and, are pretty good deals. A friend of mine bought one, and, we have run quite a bit of wood through it. It required a bit of tuning upon delivery (as most saws do), and, one has to be careful to lock in the settings, or the blade hight MIGHT change a bit on its own. However, for the money, it is a really good deal, a very heavy, solidly built tool. Grizzly support is pretty good, too, which is a selling point, since there is a slightly greater chance that you will need to deal with them to get some issues resolved. PUt a good, carbide blade on it and it will produce good cuts day in and day out. If you really want to drop some bucks, and get a higher end saw...consider the Powermatic or General. They are really fine machines, but, tend to be a TAD more expensive and harder to find than Unisaws. Talk about tanks though...Actually, I almost ended up with a 10" powermatic a few years ago (when I was looking for a new saw and before I got the Unisaw). It was at an auction, though, and, either the guy selling out was good friends with a lot of lawyers and doctors or my timing was just really bad. The place was full of suits, and, almost EVERYTHING went for near or more than retail. Actually, the Powermatic saw was available at the time for about $1450 or so... and at the auction it went for over $1600. I have to admit that all my recommendations here have been for industrial strength saws. My feeling is that I want a tool that I am "underusing", as that way I am sure that it will take any abuse I manage to dish out, and, it will outlast me. Regards Dave Mundt

Reply to
Dave Mundt

It's only a year old. It was pretty cheap to be honest. I got it because I was just starting out and I wasn't sure if I would enjoy woodworking or not. Now that I'm completely hooked, I'm looking to either upgrade the saw with a new fence etc or get a new saw altogether.

I'm looking towards just upgrading the Craftsman, as there are still other things I'd like such as a decent jointer.

I've already bought a rolling stand kit from Woodcraft, and that alone made a huge difference.

Thanks for your advice!

Reply to
Tom Wojeck

If you wouldn't mind putting a drawing together, that would be great! I have a few ideas, but I would love to see what you' ve done.

Reply to
Tom Wojeck

I guess on of the factors is the particular model you have. Is it worth upgrading? Or will you just have a mediocre saw with a really good fence?

If a year or so from now you want to upgrade the saw to a newer, better model, if the fence can be used on the new one with no additional cost, it would not be a waste. To see if this is a consideration, price the fence, be sure it is compatible with a Delta, Jet, etc. They ask the dealer what a new saw will cost you with no fence included. Just a guess on my part, but you will probably not save all that much.

The Bies is an excellent fence (that is what I have), but also look at the HTC. From what I've seen, it would be about equal in quality. I've not used it, just played with it at the store.

One thing I like about woodworking is the problems that it solves. I used to have money left over at the end of the month and did not know what to do with it. Not any more. Ed

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Thank you for the explanation. If I have known about under power I would never have bought the used Crapsman.

Would upgrading from 1HP to 1-1/2HP help and do you know of anyone changing to 1-1/2 HP? (Sears manual says 1/2 light duty and 1 HP heavy duty)?

Thank you again.

Reply to
WD

The drawings done and on the way to you.

Reply to
Lazarus Long

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