Excalibur Fence Users

zdorsch

Zach
Corporate Member
Does anyone use an Excalibur fence (not the sliding table)?

I recently acquired one and it did not come with the drill guide for the table top. The instructions do not provide measurements for the guide either.

Thanks!
 

PhilCK

Phil
Corporate Member
Sorry, could not find the thread again.

The rails attach via carriage bolts and t-nut washers so there is infinite lateral adjust ability. I assume that you are asking about vertical location. Measuring the holes, they were 1 1/8" on center below the table top. with teh bolts, there is some vertical adjust ability also- maybe 3/16". There is a slight chance I have the guide around- I will look for it tonight.
 

Attachments

  • Excaliber fence manual.pdf
    980.6 KB · Views: 469

zdorsch

Zach
Corporate Member
Thanks Phil!

Yes I was talking about the vertical distance. The original fence holes on my unisaw seem like they will work in the main table, but there seems to be no room on the extension wings. The wings taper up, get narrower, toward the outside end. I really wanted to confirm measurements with someone about the hole placement prior to drilling holes in my saw.

Thank you for looking for the guide!
Sorry, could not find the thread again.

The rails attach via carriage bolts and t-nut washers so there is infinite lateral adjust ability. I assume that you are asking about vertical location. Measuring the holes, they were 1 1/8" on center below the table top. with teh bolts, there is some vertical adjust ability also- maybe 3/16". There is a slight chance I have the guide around- I will look for it tonight.
 

JCW

New User
John
I used to have an Excalibur on my Unisaw and may still have the drill guide. I will look tomorrow when I’m at the shop. You should be able to temporarily clamp the rails to the saw with bar clamps and mount the fence to the rail. As I recall there was about 1/32” clearance from the fence to the table. That should give you a very close placement of the holes. The clearance in the rail slots and mounting holes would allow for at least 1/16” if not more of vertical adjustment.
I’ll let you know if I find the guide.
 

JCW

New User
John
I found the drill guide. The center of the hole is 1" from the table top. The hole size is 3/8". Bolts are 5/16". Hope that helps. The Excalibur is a great fence with a couple of quirks. The extension table will move with seasonal humidity. I made mine of baltic birch laminated with formica on all exposed surfaces and it still moved 1/32" or so with the seasons and had to shim the rail in the winter. The second quirk is the micro dimples that the locking mechanism puts in the "hardened" steel guide rails. After a few years it will be difficult to get an exact setting (in the heavily used area of the fence) when clamping down. The solution is to swap the front and back steel guide bars, to put the dimpled area in a different place.
 

zdorsch

Zach
Corporate Member
Thanks John!

The measurements and insight about the extension table definitely help. You’re actually the second person to mention issues with wooden extension tables.

I’m leaning toward making a angle iron “skeleton” the the outfeed table and setting the mdf on top of that. My thinking is the angle iron should move similarly to the rails and the wood top can shift as much as it wants without affecting the rails.

One more thing, did you use the original fence holes in your unisaw? My ‘73 unisaw seems to work on the front, but I have to remove the top to access the back holes. Based on the measurements you provided I’m going to see if there is room for additional holes in the table wings (eyeballing the taper seems to much on the wings to drill any holes).
 

JCW

New User
John
The angle iron is the way to go, just cross brace it, as the fence does exert quite a bit of clamping pressure. I don’t remember exactly why, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t use the existing fence mounting holes. I did drill the wings, but it was pretty close to the main table. Stay far enough away from the ribs so you can get a wrench in there. I did a complete realignment of the top after the fence was all set up. As I recall it was a lot of fiddling to get the rails aligned. I had to do some filing/grinding and shimming to get them parallel. Once it was set up it was perfect (other than shimming the extension table) for nearly 20 years.
 

PhilCK

Phil
Corporate Member
I found the drill guide. The center of the hole is 1" from the table top. The hole size is 3/8". Bolts are 5/16". . . . . The second quirk is the micro dimples that the locking mechanism puts in the "hardened" steel guide rails. After a few years it will be difficult to get an exact setting (in the heavily used area of the fence) when clamping down. The solution is to swap the front and back steel guide bars, to put the dimpled area in a different place.

When I asked about the "dimple" problem some years ago, Excalibur said to file the rails to smooth them out.
 

PhilCK

Phil
Corporate Member
Doing some organizing in my loose item container, found the excalibur drill guide if still wanted.

I have a baltic birch extension table covered with Formica and it works well- I don't get any significant expansion but it is the basement that runs a dehumidifier constantly during the summer so (I hope) the humidity does not greatly vary through the year.
 

zdorsch

Zach
Corporate Member
Doing some organizing in my loose item container, found the excalibur drill guide if still wanted.

I have a baltic birch extension table covered with Formica and it works well- I don't get any significant expansion but it is the basement that runs a dehumidifier constantly during the summer so (I hope) the humidity does not greatly vary through the year.

Yes, thank you Phil!

Please PM me and I’ll get you money for shipping.

I’ve dragged my feet on this because it’s a snowball project. New saw cart, bench table and build out feed table.
 

Premier Sponsor

Our Sponsors

LATEST FOR SALE LISTINGS

Top