Homemade Tablesaw Fence Rails

[Tarhead]

After reading a few postings about making your own rails for a Biesemeyer fence I decided I would attempt it.

Background:
Prior to this I found a Unisaw without a fence or rails. Then found a Biesemeyer commercial fence but no rails. The cost of new Bies. rail set was more than I had in the saw and fence. I had never done much with metal other than sharpening a mower blade. Needed a tap and die set, grinder and abrasive wheels which Harbor Freight, my favorite place for buying seldom used tools, just happened to have on sale. Pieced together measurements and specs for barstock and pacement of the rails from Biesemeyer's website.

Here goes:


Raw bar stock from Foil's in Harrisburg.
2X3X60" Rectangular Tube
2X3X60X1/8" angle
2X2X60X1/8" angle

$27.00 for all 3 pieces

Rough edges, welds, foundry trash ground smooth. Primed and sprayed with Plasti-Kote Industrial Enamel #2359N Machinery Dark Gray (almost exact match to the Delta/Rockwell dark gray) found at Tractor Supply. 2 spray cans at $4.99 ea.

Measured, marked and drilled mounting holes. Front rail requires countersunk machine screws. Rear rail uses the tapped holes in the back of the table. Both front and rear rail require 2 notchs for access to the miter slots. I plan to use an over table blade guard so I did not notch for the OEM blade guard/splitter. The OEM blade guard/splitter require that the rear rail is notched for ~6" to allow for tilting the blade. Holes in bottom of tube are tapped to accept 1/4" hex bolt.
2 hex bolts for back rail: $.50
4 Machine screws w/hex nuts, washers for front: $2.50

Mounting detail. 1/4" hex bolt through bottom of front rail into tapped hole in bottom of tube. Holes in bottom of the rail drilled large enough to allow fine tuning of the position of the tube.
6, 1/4" hex bolts: $.25

Finished assembly, waiting on extension table w/router insert. Boy, I need to clean up that place!

Total cost: $40.25
Satisfaction value: Priceless

Thanks Bruce (junquecol) for the motivation!

[zippymbr]

That is Fantastic! I love to see someone make someting themselves and save alot of money. How well does it work? I would love to do the same thing for my saw if I could find a Biesemeyer fence. I hate the Jet fence I am using now.

[toolferone]

Well done! Will you be putting a self-stick tape measure on the tube?

[Canuck]

Looks fantastic, Mark! Sure looks like OEM equipment! Hope it works out well for ya!

Great job! You will have to post a followup of the fence in action!

Wayne

[Tarhead]

Thanks guys!

Zippy, It works ok but the position of the front face of the tube needs a little tweaking and some wax to get it as smooth as I want.

Tom, Yep, I have a ruler to put on it. Waiting for the paint to dry.

[erasmussen]

Great job
I think you like something a lot more when you make it yourself

[NZAPP1]

Nice going Mark That is cheap at twice the price. I hope it works well for you

[cpowell]

Mark, that looks great.

Kudos for taking the initiative and making your own. I could learn from you and Bruce. I'm too quick to go buy a solution rather than make it myself.

Chuck

[jmauldin]

Looks great. I know you can't wait to get it up and running. I ran across a Vega Professional 50" on E-Bay for $60.00. Guy tried to put in on and couldn't so he sold it.
Works great. I even made extension tbles for both sides - 50" on right and 40" on left. Now no problem with plywood or anything else.
Jim in Mayberry

[McRabbet]

Great thread, Mark -- Nicely done and I'm sure you're anxious to put it to use.

Rob

[FredP]

Originally Posted by zippymbr

That is Fantastic! I love to see someone make someting themselves and save alot of money. How well does it work? I would love to do the same thing for my saw if I could find a Biesemeyer fence. I hate the Jet fence I am using now.

try here zippymbr. check often. things change pretty often. had a link to make the entire beis fence system but i guess i lost it. sorry..

Biesemeyer Closeout Specials

fred p

[junquecol]

Good looking fence. Here in Raleigh, Dillon Supply only sells tube and angle in full lengths. Now you have her made, a few tips which I learned the hard way. On front angle, drill holes the size for a 1/4-20 thread tap. I'm not sure what number drill that is, but 13/64 works. Using three pieces of NEW 5/8" particle board as spacers, clamp angle to tube. This will give you correct spacing. Using same drill bit, drill into tube. Unclamp and tap tube. Drill out holes in angle to 1/4". Assemble fence to saw. The actual fence is a piece of the 2X3, 16" piece of 1/4X2X2 angle, 2 pieces of 1/4X1 flat iron, a piece of 5/8X2X3 flat iron, and a piece of 1/8X16 flat iron. For the cam, I use the cam out of an old Delta jet lock fence. It is 1 5/8" in dia. Agri-Supply in Garner sells a spindle for trailer axles that is the right size. Simply slice off a 5/8-11/16" thick wafer. Hardest part to find locally is the 5/8X2X3. I have a piece about 10' long left over from a job. You will probably want to change front angle to either 3/16", or 1/4" angle to resist torque of fence. Again- great job. I'm glad to know that my being in this world has made it a better place for someone else. My neighbor has a Bridgeport, which I built him a three phase converter for, so he drills my parts. All of them are then interchangable. Maybe one day, I can get one of the techno wizzards here to transfere my "measured drawings" to this site. I don't have that capability.

[Travis Porter]

That is nothing more than awesome.

[sapwood]

Great job Mark, especially since you didn't have metal work experience. Look forward to the final pics of with the fence mounted

Roger

[ashley_phil]

those look great! amazingly what you can accomplish when you want to.