Most fences are designed to cut from the right side of the blade, though it's possible for many fences to cut on either side. Having the fence on the left side of the blade is less likely with a left tilt saw, and done sometimes for bevel cuts with a right tilt saw.
I strongly prefer the front locking t-square Biesemeyer type fences over most dual locking fences. They're generally easy to use, accurate, and fairly goof proof.
Not to change the subject but I just saw jbay's signature. I went up to look at his projects and I see they've been removed. jbay, have people been pilfering your designs?
Quirky thing about fence design is that they could give more length guidance in front of the saw blade and far less on the feed outside…. I'd like to see one with with a sliding track built in to move the fence back toward the feed side when desired.. Seems like one has to jerry rig the fence for long rips for fence support and block out crosscuts to eliminate making wood projectiles..
Seems like a lot of videos show crosscuts being measured by placing a block between the wood and fence and using a saw kerf on crosscut for repeatable cuts… That itself is not a best practice as I see it.. Just saying that as simple as a fence is,,,basic in it's reason for being that I'm surprised that it hasn't been radically redesigned..
The Unifence slides forward and back, and has different faces, one for thin stocks. It's also very strong and more rigid than the Biesemeyer. To me, it's already very close to ideal.
The incra fence is tough to beat. Accurate, repeatable and fast. Micro adjustment and easy to zero out for different kerf blades/dados etc. No guessing, and the 1/32" increments means no variation if you move the fence and then find out you need another piece at the previous number. Worth every penny.
The Unifence is pretty close to anything I would design if I had to… and it is also considered much safer than full length fences. Here is an article from Popular Woodworking that mentions the Unifence (the 'once available fence on this side of the Atlantic') and the European style fences, as related to safety: Table Saws: Why the British Think We're Crazy
The only time I move my unifence to the left side is when cutting beveled panels, since my saw is right tilt. But if I did that very often I would probably make a dedicated jig.
i didn't pay attention during the edit period and cannot go back to correct my #13 post above saying my saw in "unfenced". Dang autocorrect gets ya sometime. I presume readers knew it was supposed to read as unifence. Typing it just now, I used the pull down menu to tell the software to learn the correct spelling.
I assumed you meant Unifence. Yeah my Android phone has a poor vocabulary. The thing I miss most about Windows Phones is the fantastic keyboard, it's vocab and autocorrect were outstanding. With Google Keyboard I spend half my time correcting the autocorrect. Even when I type a word one letter at a time, it will often later change it to something else. The speech to text is actually way more accurate.
My saw has a Biesmeyer and I like it a lot, but there are several things it could do better. The problem is most of these things would require swapping out or modifying the fence, it is difficult to pack all the features in without them getting in the way during some operations.
1. Longer indeed/outfeed surfaces
2 Lock down in the rear so the fence can better use feather boards. The fence should lock down and still allow for a full width outfield table.
3. Micro adjust. I usually just tap with my knuckles which works perfectly, any micro adjust should also work just as fast and quick (and save my knuckles)
4. Ability to change height as needed
5. Ability to tilt to precise angles would be very cool.
I'd have to agree with Rick's assessment of the Unifence, the only improvements I would make would be a t-track in the top of the thin rail, a magnet hold hold the handle up and some way of keeping the fence down tight to the table regardless of reactive forces coming from a feather board for example.
I keep thinking ai will buy one of those for my setup. It looks like that product would add some of the features that are suggested as ways to improve the unifence. The 43" one is 90 bucks, and I'd also gt the 16" version for $35. The simplicity of changing the fence itself on a Unifence is one of its great features.
Although it has been rarely needed, I find I can hold down the fence to resist horizontal pressure, on my original equipment fence with either powerful magnets on the table, such as using a magnetic featherboard on the back side, or with clamps if the fence strut is off the metal table.
The Unifence could easily be redesigned to have a Bies style ambidextrous fence but I don't think the current Delta management is interested in being an industry leader, it seems they want to be just another machine company.
The Unifence slides forward and back, and has different faces, one for thin stocks. It s also very strong and more rigid than the Biesemeyer. To me, it s already very close to ideal.
+1 on the Unifence for the reasons listed above and the fact that you can adjust the length. I also like the aftermarket Uni-T-Fence for my Unifence because it has a square body and t-slots for attaching jigs. The Biesemeyer style fence on my SawStop is way too long for dimensional lumber and can't be shortened.
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