# Homemade tablesaw fence



## willy3486 (Feb 5, 2009)

This is a question pertaining to homemade tablesaw fences. I am wanting to make a homemade tablesaw fence for mine. I have a 70s? model I think of the powermatic 66 tablesaw. Its a great saw except for the fence on it. It has the old round tubes for rails that the fence slides on. I can tighten it down and many times the fence moves as I am sawing. Anyway I have been looking at Rockler and they have some aluminum multitrack pieces for jigs. I was wondering if anyone had made one using this. Or if you have one you made I would love to see it. I am a hobbyist type woodworker and paying 200-1000 for a fence is way over budget. Anyway I am doing more woodworking lately and was wondering is anyone new a simple homemade fence setup that worked?


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

I have seen some folks making homemade fences using 8020 aluminum extrusions and linear bearings. honestly, for materials and time to build it I am not sure it'll cost you any less than the $200 you mentioned.

you can look into getting the Delta T2 fence or the Shopfox fence which are both a lighter-duty version of the Biesmier fence they are sub 200 as far as I remember.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Compared to paying list, making your own fence might make sense
if the project interests you. I've seen used fences for sale from
time to time for under $150 - look on Ebay and check the different
brands.

Furthermore, I've seen a lot of used contractors saws sold for under
$200 with nice Biesemeyer-style fences on them. People sell them
cheap because they take up a lot of space. I'd buy one of those saws,
switch the fences, and resell it.

I saw a design for a wood Biesemeyer copy and it looked solid. I think
it was in Fine Woodworking. Also there are numerous designs around
that require welding, which you may not want to get into.

Some guys are building stuff with 80-20 extrusions, which look good 
but don't save you much money on such projects.


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## Viktor (Jan 15, 2009)

Here is an example
http://lumberjocks.com/Hutch/blog/2740
ebay is a great source for 8020 components


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## Gregn (Mar 26, 2010)

This what your looking for?
http://www.twistedknotwoodshop.com/tsquarefence.pdf


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## willy3486 (Feb 5, 2009)

I will study those. I would like to make it as simple but accurite as I can. Do you remember which issue in fine woodworking it was in Loren? If not ,no big problem. I don't mind welding some but to mill and stuff I don't have that capabillity. I was thinking of a design that may use "L" shaped angle iron for the rails. I saw one that a guy made from a book . One of the woodworking magazines made a small book they sold that had it in it. I think it was sold in the 90s . Anyway it was one of the fences but it was made out of all wood. It looked really nice and used the "L" angle iron for the rails. I would love to see plans similar to that. I have the ability to do that. I can weld up some but I am limited to a 220 Lincoln arc welder and a CH 110 arc welder. No milling or precise tools to cut parts out of metal. I do have a small bench metalworking lathe but its for aluminum and soft metals. I am setting up my shop to do woodworking more and in no hurry at the present. I hope to redo the tablesaw and redo the cart I have it on. I hope to extend the table out and make it wider. Thanks for hte ideas out there.


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## brianinpa (Mar 16, 2008)

There are designs and step by step instructions for a wooden Biesemeyer in a book titled "Shop Tested Woodworking Tools You Can Make." Made mine a few years ago and have had no complaints with it since I built it.


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## willy3486 (Feb 5, 2009)

Hey brianinpa. I looked at your profile and I think your tablesaw is the one set up I saw years ago. It was on a personal site and had a lot of good stuff on it. I was wondering if that was your site and do you still have it online? IT was a good site I had bookmarked but I lost it. It had a lot of good ideas on it. Thanks.


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## Lochlainn1066 (Oct 18, 2010)

I built my own table saw fence. My saw (bought at auction) came with 2 fences, neither of which fit it.

There are plans for Biesemeyer style fences out there. If you are handy with a welder and can get steel stock, they can be cheap to put together.

I don't particularly like mine, not because it doesn't work (it works perfectly well) but because of some design shortcuts I made to use steel I already had. If I get the free time (and money) I'm going to do it over.

If you have a 27" table, I still have the Shop Fox Classic fence that came with my saw, minus rails, which are still available through Grizzly. I'd sell it.


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## brianinpa (Mar 16, 2008)

Wasn't my site, but I know which one you are writing about.


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## cutmantom (Feb 2, 2010)

could the existing fence be worked on the fix the problem


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## mpounders (Jun 22, 2010)

Here is a link to mine . I used angle iron and squared block for the front rail and turned the angle iron upside down for the rear rail. The fence itself is just a large T-square that uses a cross dowel and threaded screw to push a lever that clamps it to the front rail. The back rail has a toggle clamp to lock it down after the front is locked. I built in some adjusting screws in the T-square so that I could make it perfectly parallel to the blade, but I haven't had to change it in 20 years. I added a T track to the top of the fence and use some anti-kickback wheels. Oh , I stuck a ruled tape on the front also. It is very accurate, always square, and adjusts smoothly with one finger.


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## KentS (May 27, 2009)

Before you spend money and time you might try to adjust the fence you have. There should be a screw on the outfeed side that can be tightened for more tension. I have used that fence in production for years, although I do have a Biesmeyer now. It should lock down tight unless something is broken. I will have to look at my old fence to see. I'm not where the saw is right now.

I agree it's not the best fence in the world, but I'm not sure you can build anything better as cheap as you want.


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## TheDane (May 15, 2008)

I would sure second Kent's advice on this … there are a lot of those saws with that same fence still in use in production operations all over the world. Adjusting or repairing what you have could be a lot less of a hassle than building your own.

-Gerry


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

*willy3486* - "Do you remember which issue in fine woodworking it was in Loren? If not ,no big problem."

_ Of course not, but I think it may be in one of the Fine Woodworking
compiliations on jigs or machine modifications. I'll have a look. It did
use an angle-iron for the rail I think. The author made the point that
while the wooden fence may not be up to production-shop standards,
for his use it was reliable and accurate enough.


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## lilredweldingrod (Nov 23, 2009)

For a bout $150 you can get a Delta T-2 fence. Cheaper and faster than trying to make one. I love mine. Check out Amazon.


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## rnickelson (Jan 10, 2011)

I just installed the Delta T2 on my old Crafstman saw, it was well sorth the money, $150.00+$12.00 shipping. If you decide to go this route I can give you a few pointers. Good Luck.


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## willy3486 (Feb 5, 2009)

As far as the fence on mine here is the problem it has. My dad had it and got it years ago when it was almost new. He made stakes with it and used a jig not the fence. Well he gave it to me about 20 years ago and when I got the fence I had to search around to find the fence. The fence even though that it had not been used much was in bad shape. He had it in a barn that was open on three sides and that let the weather in. Now the saw works excellent but the rails are chipping in places. In addition to that the round dial for fine tuning so to speak is worn or chipped bad. The locking movement has some issues being either worn or stripped. What happens is that when you lock down the bolt that adjusts the tightness it doesn't stay. You can set it and it works fine then after a few or many cuts it gets off and wile cutting it will wiggle then. So in addition to it getting cuts off it tends to be dangerous. I have worked on it a few times and was wondering what I can set up. I collect older tools and rebuild them for my shop. I enjoy rebuilding them as much as using them.

As far as getting metal I can get some really good pieces at good prices. There is a scrap yard near me that gets in scrapped metal from factories. Its new metal that is ends or scrapped due to tolerences. So I could probably get all the metal I need to make one for about ten bucks. The only issue with that is I do not have access to milling macines to make parts. So I would have to have that done and that can run me as much or more than finding one already made. I still may try to fix the one I have but if I can make one I wouldn't mind that either. I also wanted to change the layout a little. It has the usual steel top and I am thinking about extending it on the sides so it will be easier to cut wider stuff. I am thinking of making it twice as wide and then put it on wheels. And if I can maybe make cabinets under it to store stuff. Mpounders is similar to what I was thinking about. A little wider and with cabinets to hold blades and other stuff. As far as my shop goes its a hobby now. I got into woodworking as a stress relief so its not a job so to speak. But I have done some woodworking and made a little.

I have little time now as I am busy with the small farm I live on so to speak. We live on my wifes small family farm and the state is taking part of it to widen the road. Its not getting our house but it has got her brothers already and will get her mothers house,another house on the place and a few other outbuildings . So for the last couple of years I have been planning on the move and cleaning up for it. I have almost all the stuff out side moved that needed to be moved and I have cleaned around the building not being torn down so we can get in them. I should be done by the summer and thats when I plan to do more woodworking. I also have a 18 inch powermatic planer I am moving to my shop from one of these buildings. So right now I am thinking ahead so I can get it in my mind to get the shop set up like I need it. And I have wanted to try another fence on this one for years. I can work on it and tinker and it will work fine but then all of a sudden it gets off and I ruin a cut. So I am looking at what I can do to fix it up. And since it is just a hobby I am trying to do it as economical as posible. I have been keeping a eye for fences out there. I may just try to buy the parts on this fence that I think needs replacing but I don't know where to get the parts. And the funny thing is the original factory is about 20 minutes from my house. If it was still there I could drive over and get all I needed. I had a lot of family member that worked there. Well thats my situation for it. Thanks for the suggestions.


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## Metrotek (Jan 19, 2011)

Your fence is really cool; would you mind if I use the basic concept to built the one for my little saw? Do you have any sturctural or detailed drawings of it you would share? 
Please email me and let me know.


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## JimDaddyO (Dec 20, 2009)

http://lumberjocks.com/JimDaddyO/blog/12688

Another home built fence with no welding. The blog is mostly the TS refurb, but the fence build is in there. I made it for less than $100


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