# New Table Saw Fence



## MikeMa (Jul 27, 2006)

Hello All,
As mentioned in the safety thread, I ordered a Delta T2 36-T30 fence system for my 25 year old Craftsman Contractor saw. I bought the saw for $100 via craigslist earlier this year, and overall have been happy with the saw, except the fence was stock and it was shot. (I had no expectations at getting an older table saw with a good fence at the time of purchase) As much as I would have liked a Bies or Incra fence, the T2 @ $155 (that is including shipping) it seemed like a smarter purchase for the saw. 

I took a few pictures along the way of installation, as there are a few obvious challenges of getting a Delta fence to fit on a Craftsman table saw. I am going to break this down over a few posts so that I can better explain each step. 

The first picture is the before picture. As you can see the fence would only go right of the blade. Honestly it wasn't that big of a limitation, but there are times when having the fence to the left of the blade is usefull. Also the power switch points down towards the floor, which can make it hard to get to when trying to turn the saw off. The second picture has all the T2 Fence parts layed out for inspection.


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## MikeMa (Jul 27, 2006)

*Part 2 - Demolition*

Before I could go any further I had to remove the old fence. Despite the bolts for the old fence rails being a little rusty, they came out fairly easily. I found however that the wings had bolts that had rounded heads that needed to come out as well, otherwise the angle irons for the new fence would not be able to sit flush to the TS. Out 9 of these bolts 1 came out easily. Using some WD-40 and slotting the bolt heads with the dremel, I was able to get 6 more out. The last two..... Well they were a bit stubborn. The picture speaks for itself as to what it took to get those suckers out. (Fear not, none of theses tools were used anywhere near the cast iron table.... yet) :fie:


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## MikeMa (Jul 27, 2006)

*Part 3 - Planning*

So, if this had been a Delta table saw, this fence would have very easily bolted up to the saw. However, since the saw is a Craftsman, none of the holes in the saw lined up with the holes in the angle iron. I could potentially use the closest matching hole, but the tape measure would be about an inch off. So I need to drill some holes. But before I do that, I need to figure out where. First thing I did was put the blade up so that it was taller than the new fence, and then placed the fence right against the blade. Looking at the indicator line on the fence told me where there rail needed to line up so zero would be reasonably accure. I marked that on the saw using a red china pen. I then attached the tube rail to the angle as it would be on the final installation, and the lined up zero on tape measure. Using my combo square, I used my red china pen to mark where I needed to drill.


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## MikeMa (Jul 27, 2006)

*Part 4 - Drill baby drill!*

So in much of the research I had done, most folks used a drill press to drill the new holes into the angle iron, thus revoking the warranty of the fence. My plan was to do this as well. I did test the functional parts of the fence to make sure it clamped down, and inspected every part to make sure I wouldn't be burned by not having the warranty. I quickly discovered that my small bench top drill press was not up to the task of safely drilling the holes, plus I was risking damaging the angle iron.

After thinking through and remember that the table saw itself hasn't been under warrenty in over 20 years, and I can easily replace it via another craigslist purchase should I damage it beyond repair for less than the fence itself, I made the decision to drill through the approximately 1/4" thick cast iron. While I did not come to this decision lightly, I figured I could use a jig to more accurately and more safely get the holes I needed. The other benefit was I was able to use the specialized screws that came with the fence for a more solid fit. I made a drilling guide using a scrap piece of hardwood. The width was about 1.5" close to the width of the front of the saw. I marked as best I could where the hole should be on the guide, and drilled the guide hole using the drill press. From there I used trial and error until I was able to drill a hole that I could stick a bolt through to a whole in the saw, and the tops would be flush. You can see in the picture where I marked the successfull one. I then lined up the hole to the red mark on the table and clamped it down good and tight.

You will also note in the picture the bottle of machine oil. I coated the drill with the oil before I started to drilling, and several times during drilling. After taking a good deep breath, I started to drill. The first hole took about 5 minutes to cut through. Now, this is the first time I have drilled through cast iron. I was therefore taken by quite the surprise when the drill bit finally cut all the way through, and instead of sliding further in like normally happens, the bit caught in the cast iron, yanking the drill out my hands. I was very fortunate that I did not get hit by anything, and nor did the drill or bit break in this process. The second hole I drilled took quite a bit longer to drill as I was concerend about the samething happening with worse results. I did discover that just before punching through there is a lot more vibrartion which is a warning to slow way down. I was able to drill through this time without incident. For the back rail, I decided it was best to use one existing hole and only have to drill one more hole. With the difference being only one inch I was not really loosing anything by having both rails being lined up. The third and final hole I was able to drill the quickest, and was able to drill through without incident.

The second pic shows one of the newly drilled holes.


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## MikeMa (Jul 27, 2006)

*Part 5 - Final installation*

I didn't take any further pictures during the install process, except for the final product (as shown) as from this point the installation was exactly as described in the manual and it went in fairly quickly. Much of the time spent was with tuning the fence. Which I did even further the next morning as well, until I was happy with the setup. 

One unexpected benefit was the power switch placement. It no longer faces down, but instead faces up. I did move out a little bit further I was fearful I would accidently turn the saw off mid cut by leaning into it. However the bracket mounted right onto the angle iron by using one of the bolts that hold the tube rail to the saw. 

For the cost of this fence (being less than half of many of the popular high-end fences) I was really impressed with the feel of it. It glides over the rails with very little force, despite it being fairly heavy. The measurement guide is very easy to line up, and leaves very little doubt to the accuracy of the cut. Finally, since it use a similar clamping mechanism to the Bies, it ALWAYS locks down square. Even though the saw itself is 25 years old, this upgrade has made the saw feel like it is new. All said, I am very happy with the end result, I had fun installing it, and I am having even more fun using it!


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## Tommyt654 (Apr 5, 2009)

Thats a great fence btw ,I have it mounted on my Ridgid 4511


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## MikeMa (Jul 27, 2006)

I am finding that it is as well too. It really gives a lot more confidence in the tool know that it has made the saw more accurate and more safe to use.

It is making it tempting to put a router table wing on my saw, rather than building a free-standing one.


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## Tommyt654 (Apr 5, 2009)

I contemplated that for a while as well but decided against it as I already have a router table. If I didn,t I woould still prolly get a router table tho


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## MikeMa (Jul 27, 2006)

After a couple months of useage, the new fence is working out great! One issue I noticed immediately was after removing some of the bolts from the wings to make the new rails fit, the wings were no longer stable. Plus with the longer rails, I felt like I was missing out on additional work area. So to the solve that problem I made two new wings. The left wing is roughly the same size as the old wing, while the right wing takes full advantage of the new rails. The first pic shows the wings installed on the TS.

Construction was very straight forward. The second pic, while fuzzy, should give an idea of how it is constructed. The bulk of each wing is two pieces of 3/4" mdf laminated together to make a surface that was 1 1/2" thick. Notice all the screws on the bottom. Before any glue touched the MDF, I predrilled and prescrewed each screw to make the pieces lined up properly, and to make sure that the top piece didn't lift away from the bottom during glue-up. After glue-up came the edge banding. The edge banding serves two purposes here. First it makes a clean looking edge. Second, and much more importantly, it provides the structure to bolt the wings to the saw and rails. I intentionally made the edge banding wider than 1.5" and initially attached them proud of the top surface. I only attached two bands at a time using glue and nails. Once each two bands were attached and the glue was dry, I took a flush trim bit on the router to the edge band to make sure they were dead flush with the mdf surface. After completing the edge banding, I covered the top of each wing with a sheet of Formica, using contact glue and a j-roller.

Finally came time for installation, and this was actually the most time consuming part of the project. After getting a wing lined up as close as possible, I would mark the two outter bolt holes. I then drilled the through hole. If you look in the picture around the edge you will see large holes in the bottom. These were drilled using a forstner bit, and then using a chisle and hammer, made a flat surface for the nut & washer to bite into. After cutting each of these (8 in all) a lot of time was spent with lining up with wings. This included widening the through holes with a rasp, tightening and loosening bolts, and finally some brute force with the rubber mallet. After finally getting everything even, I did a finally check to make sure all the bolts were good and tight.

I may still yet further utlizile the space on the right side of the table saw. It is still very possible drop a router on the larger wing, but with the T-Square fence, the starting edge of the fence for the router will be on the opposite end of where the fence clamps down. I am thinking more along the lines of putting a couple legs on it and put a small storage unit on it. That however is a future project!


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## DaiCa (Nov 10, 2010)

*T-square fence interchangable?*

Whqt size is the guide tube on your T30 fence? I'm wondering if all T-square type fences are interchangable regardless of guide tube. I have a Steel City contractor saw and want to swap the original T-square fence with Delta T30 fence or Jet ProShop fence.


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## MikeMa (Jul 27, 2006)

I do know SOME are interchangeable. I saw a post awhile back were someone bought a biesmeyer fence and powermatic tube and rails from a woodcraft inventory clearance, and it worked just fine. I do know the tube on the T-2 is smaller than the bies. Looking at the end of the tube, it is a square, probably about 2"-2.5" each side. I believe the bies is more of a rectangle shape. I wouldn't expect a bies fence to work on a T2 tube or the reverse.

If were you, get the T30 with rails and put the rails on the saw. You can get the fence rails for right around $150 shipped. You may need to some drilling in the metal like I did, but done right with patience, it isn't that big of a deal. If you do drill metal, word of advice, when you feel the drill bit getting ready to break through, ease WAY off on the drill speed. If going at full speed the bit will catch and spin the drill out of your hands.


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## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

That's the best $155 I've seen in a long time............ There's nothing like a Table saw with a fence that's easy, true and precise everytime...... I hope Santa drops one off in my shop


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## cdnick (Mar 19, 2014)

One unexpected benefit was the power switch placement. It no longer faces down said:


> Hey, did you modify the switch or do you have a part number? I was looking at doing this my self and found this forum. I have it all installed, and working but my bracket on the power supply won't mount like yours. I was curious if anyone knows of an after market or if you just just have a different craftsman switch than i do.
> 
> Thanks for your help. :wacko:


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## MikeMa (Jul 27, 2006)

No real modification to the switch was needed, as the switch was mounted in a similar manner on the old fence. The only thing extra I did was I did have to bend the back of the switch a little more so that it wouldn't interfere with operation of the fence. Since I bought the saw second hand, I don't have a part number for the switch that was used.


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## MikeMa (Jul 27, 2006)

Since this thread got bumped back up, wanted to note I still have this table saw and fence, and it most definitely has proven itself. Unfortunately the source that sold the fence at $150 with the $5 shipping no longer sells the T2. Looking on Google, doesn't look like there are many who have it any more, and those that do have it much higher priced. 

The good news is there are several other after-market T-Square fences that are just as good, if not better, than the T2. The install process for most of those would be similar, especially if needing to drill new holes for the fence rails.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Likely due to Delta's rather bumpy ride in the last while, Mike.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I put an Accusquare (aka Mule) on an old Sears saw similar to yours except aluminum top. I highly recommend them. Very robust, very accurate, similar install. The fence on the Accusquare is a box section aluminum extrusion which makes it easy to attach a feather board to, unlike the Biesemeyer or the Excalibur I have on my Unisaw. They will also sell you extra angle irons that it mounts on so you can use it for band saw or drill press.


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## JIMMIEM (Apr 4, 2010)

*Delta Fence on Sears TS*

I put this fence on my 35+ year old Sears Contractor Table Saw too. I also installed the PALS product sold by Inline Industries and have gotten my blade alignment down to .001". Have had good luck with Delta products but have had recent problems with lack of replacement parts.....makes me think twice before buying Delta.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

JIMMIEM said:


> I put this fence on my 35+ year old Sears Contractor Table Saw too. I also installed the PALS product sold by Inline Industries and have gotten my blade alignment down to .001". Have had good luck with Delta products but have had recent problems with lack of replacement parts.....makes me think twice before buying Delta.


I always thought Delta and Porter Cable were the way to go but I don't buy either one anymore. I never bought a Delta tool that I didn't have to take in for replacement or replacement parts from brand new including my unisaw. I've had way better luck with the Taiwanese tools I've bought.


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## JIMMIEM (Apr 4, 2010)

*Delta / Black and Decker*



Cherryville Chuck said:


> I always thought Delta and Porter Cable were the way to go but I don't buy either one anymore. I never bought a Delta tool that I didn't have to take in for replacement or replacement parts from brand new including my unisaw. I've had way better luck with the Taiwanese tools I've bought.


Seems when Black and Decker buys a company they seem to give up on the older products. I have a really good older Delta miter saw...the handle broke but Delta no longer makes a replacement...don't have brushes either. Makes you think twice about spending money on B & D tool brands.


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