# Delta 36-T30 T3 Fence and Rails



## NormG (Mar 5, 2010)

*Delta 36-T30 T3 Fence and Rails*










Well it arrive just like they said it would. Unfortunately, I came early from work under the weather so install and/or even looking at it will have to wait.

Purchased from Tools-Plus, $195.00 including shipping and it is the T3 updated syste. I have seen them advertised for a lot more. I will try to take pictures along the way (I only have a cell phone) fir pictures.

This is tthe first upgrade to my Craftsman 21833 TS. If anyone has already done thus and would like to share their experience I would appreciate it. It is my understanding there are more holes for mounting.


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## PhilBello (Jan 5, 2013)

NormG said:


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Hope you are soon feeling better! It will be interesting to hear what you think of the new fence compared with the old, once you have had time to try it out


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## matt352 (Aug 14, 2014)

NormG said:


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Hi Norman, I found your question while I was searching for tips last night and didn't find any so I thought I'd chip in.

I installed a T3 on my 21833 today, here is what I did:

(1) Rails

The holes line up on the right side of the table but you need to drill the rails for the left side.

I found some good pictures on Reddit by bewitchthemind:



http://imgur.com/jbFxp


I drilled these holes as accurately as I could using my drill press (measure, scribe, center punch, center drill, step drill to final size, countersink).

According the included gauge, my front rail is 1/16" high, my back rail is dead on. That worked out fine.

(2) Power switch

I modified the bracket and mounted it under the front rail (in the obvious spot). The support fins block the best hole locations, so I drilled one hole between the fins and cut the right hole into an open slot with my dremel. It feels solid.

(3) Align fence sides

I found this helpful tip here by ajosephg: The fence is supposed to float about 1/16" above the table. On the underside of the fence, there are six bolts. Loosen these to give the sides of the fence some play, adjust on the saw, clamp in place, turn it over and tighten the bolts.

(4) Checks

Paste wax on the rails. Fence is 90 deg to the table, toes out 0.018 to the right (the way I like it) but is adjustable, rides 1/16" off the table and the scale is zeroed. All is well so far.

Take care, Matt


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## EndGrained (Jan 17, 2015)

NormG said:


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Hi,

Please help!!

I just retrofitted my King Industrial (KC10-GC) table saw with a Delta 36-T30 fence. Aside from damage in shipping from poor packaging, I found the user manual less than adequate. The set up instructions were fine, but there isn't a parts list and diagram. As is, the manual refers the user to the company web site where (after an hour of exploring) a parts list/diagram of the T3 does not exist.

My concern is with the locking mechanism on the fence. First, the handle will not stay up. Is this to be expected? Second, is the locking action a metal arm(fence) forced against metal (guide bar ) or is there supposed to be a Teflon type pad on the locking arm? As is, it's metal to metal but I see where there are two round holes on the locking end of the arm where it contacts the guide bar, and I'm wondering if I'm missing a part here? This brings me back the frustration of not being able to answer this question for myself by simply looking at a readily accessible parts diagram.

The reason for my concern is due to the excessive amount of 'play' that now exists between the fence and the guide bar when unlocked and moving it along the guide bar.

Your comments are appreciated. As I'm new to this forum and really don't want to miss your responses please email me as well as post them here. Maybe when you post them here, I get an email notifying me of such…I don't know! I do know I need some help and appreciate it.

[email protected]

Thanks,

George


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## matt352 (Aug 14, 2014)

NormG said:


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Hi George, my handle rests near horizontal when unlocked (it does not stay up). It takes about 1" of movement down to lock the fence.

I found a parts diagram here:

http://www.deltamachineryparts.com/shop/36-t30-1/

The locking mechanism squeezes the rail at 3 points, each has a nylon pad.

Two are on the fence body (#225) and one attaches to the back of the lock (#227).

Good luck, Matt


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## EndGrained (Jan 17, 2015)

NormG said:


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Thanks, Matt for your prompt response….greatly appreciated

Cheers,

George


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## MrSplinter (Apr 25, 2016)

NormG said:


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I just bought and installed a T3 fence on my Craftsman 113X, and I have one concern. The two sides of the fence are not parallel to each other. I can adjust the fence to be perpendicular to the table on one side, but the other is way off. I guess I could live with only using one side of the fence, but I just bought this thing and out of the box it already has an issue. Does anyone else have this problem? Should I contact Delta/HD for a replacement?


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## EndGrained (Jan 17, 2015)

NormG said:


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Not parallel….Ouch!!

Definitely, I would phone Delta.

When mine arrived, it was damaged due to very poor packaging. I called Delta and they replaced the broken parts quickly and free of charge.

Good Luck


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## MrSplinter (Apr 25, 2016)

NormG said:


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Ok, thank you for the response.

If you get bored and would like to do me a favor, measure the fence width at the top and bottom of the fence rails (distance from left side of fence to right side of fence) to see how parallel yours is and let me know. I was getting easily 1/16 difference, maybe more.


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## EndGrained (Jan 17, 2015)

NormG said:


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Hi,

I have never taken notice….never thought to look!!

As is, my fence is out .1200" or ~1/8th"


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## noone (Mar 6, 2012)

NormG said:


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Can anyone else provide any further comments on the parralelism of the two sides of the fence? Is anyone else's perfectly parallel? Is the left side of the fence plumb and a perfect 90 from front to back the entire width of the fence? I guess I could live with the non-parallelism as long as the fence faces themselves are a plumb 90 and not wavy, since the right side of the fence will only be used for my built in router table.

Can anyone confirm if they can do a 90" rip on this and be the same width at both ends of the cut?

Thanks for the honest feedback.


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## djbeede (Sep 29, 2016)

NormG said:


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I'm also having trouble with non-parallel fence sides. [Just arrived and I'm installing it on an old Rockwell Unisaw]
When I square one side the other is out by as much as a 1/16".
In addition the face of the rails are concave in a pronounced way. 
And another issue is even though the rails are set with the included template, the nylon bearing block on the far end of the fence doesn't touch the rail making it a metal to metal contact at that end. 
So much about this seems iffy I'm pretty disappointed in the quality control. I guess I'll just call Delta and see how willing they are to rectify any of this.


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## djbeede (Sep 29, 2016)

NormG said:


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Well, it doesn't look great. When I call the number provided for Warranty and "Technical Service Manager" [800-223-7278] It rings about 20 times then I get disconnected. I see in the fine print of the warranty that they state I would be responsible for paying for return shipping.

The one upside is that I got this from Home Depot with free shipping, and I see their return policy will let me turn it in at a local store front. At the moment that's sounding pretty appealing.

Well, Delta made pretty fine tools a few decades ago. Glad I have one of those.


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## noone (Mar 6, 2012)

NormG said:


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David - Don't feel bad. The perfection you are seeking will not exist. I just bought a used SawStop ICS from Craigslist (a $5000 new saw), and bought new faces for it's T-fence from SawStop, and they are also not flat by any means. They curve on the ends by as much as 6/1000 of an inch. There are also small 3000 inch dips along the way near the screws. And the right side face and left side face are anything but parallel to each other. Probably off by 1/16". I don't care much about that because I will rarely if ever use the right side of the saw fence. Because I am a perfectionist, I will probably throw these away and buy some Corian scraps from a counter top dealer and see if I can fix those to the T-square tube. There are some posts about people doing that here on this forum. Corian should be nice and slick and flat. I tried shimming my faces to perfection and couldn't get it there. I gave up. Haven't had a chance to cut with it yet since i put the new faces on, but I imagine the accuracy as is will suffice, even though I don't like it…....


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## djbeede (Sep 29, 2016)

NormG said:


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Thanks for the reply. I would like to end up with a highly precise fence, and I'm willing to do some work to achieve that, but it's hard to believe that the fence I received is within specs. It's not only concave on both sides, when it's square at the front left is is out at the rear left, at which point the right side is out by 1/16" at both ends. I guess if I was adding this fence to a contractor saw and I was mostly shoving plywood through it might not be an issue. I guess I was hoping since Delta bought out Biesemeyer they'd retain at least some of that quality Still can't get Delta to answer their phone. Next I'm going to try to email Delta's customer service with some photos of the issues.

I'll post those pix to illustrate.
Thanks again for your input.


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## noone (Mar 6, 2012)

NormG said:


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That's pretty bad. Since you bought it from Home Depot, I would call them and arrange a replacement and drop off the defective fence at your nearest HD. If the replacement has the same issues, return it and move on to a different fence.


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## NormG (Mar 5, 2010)

NormG said:


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Now I have to go check mine after work Monday. I checked mine when I installed it and again after the move. Will have to revisit


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## djbeede (Sep 29, 2016)

NormG said:


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I did hear back from Delta but only to say they referred my question to tech and would be in touch in 72 hours.
Probably HomeDepot will be my best option of getting this straightened out. I really would like this to work. I'd rather not un-install it. Hopefully they'll swap out the fence, and it will be better.


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## noone (Mar 6, 2012)

NormG said:


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It's probably even easier to buy another new one and return the old fence after you get the new one.


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## rbrjr1 (Nov 2, 2017)

NormG said:


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Did anyone ever just shim the (removable) sides to get everything parallel against the steel fence body?


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## djbeede (Sep 29, 2016)

NormG said:


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> Did anyone ever just shim the (removable) sides to get everything parallel against the steel fence body?
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I did end up doing that with feeler gauges and a machinist square metal tape for shims. Due to the twist in the core of the fence I had to let go of getting both sides exact, but succeeded in getting one almost spot on. I didn't expect to have to do that with a new fence but maybe you get what you pay for. Hope the folks who pay big bucks for the original Biesemeyer don't have to do that kind of tweaking.


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## EndGrained (Jan 17, 2015)

NormG said:


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David,

I suspect the 'originals' were better made; there exists a demand for them.


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## Jmdo (Nov 26, 2017)

NormG said:


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David - 
I know i'm probably responding a little late, but I have experienced the same issue. I purchased a Delta T3 online from Home Depot; and I thought my biggest problem was going to be drilling the holes to match my Craftsman contractor saw, but that turned out to work out just fine. I've being trying to tweak the fence adjustment, but I can not get the fence face square to the table. It seems that I can get one side pretty close then the other side is way off.
I am going to call Delta, I really don't feel like taking it off. Maybe they will send me just the fence.
I am preparing myself to shim the one side.


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## rbrjr1 (Nov 2, 2017)

NormG said:


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Thought I'd update this in case anyone (present or future) was wondering.

In order for the fence to be used without a rear rail on a tablesaw with an outfeed table, you'll have to remove the rear glider block and angle (duh). You'll also have to grind down flush the plate welded to the bottom of the T-Square fence.


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## ohtimberwolf (Dec 17, 2011)

NormG said:


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NormG this how I fixed mine. if the writing is too small to read just enlarge your view. Hope this helps.
larry
http://lumberjocks.com/topics/34286


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