# Craftsman Tablesaw Fence



## craigwbryant (Jan 22, 2012)

Greetings all. I am new to the forum, and fairly new to woodworking. My father gave me an old Craftsman 10" Contractor style Tablesaw for free (really it was so he could "justify" getting a new cabinet saw to my mom). The problem that I have, is after cutting some stock, I have realized that the saw doesn't cut true. 

I was in the process of creating pieces for a project when I discovered this. I had planed some stock to thickness, then use the table saw to rip it to slightly more than the width (to provide excess for the joiner to remove). When I laid the piece on the joiner table I noticed that it was not coming out true, one end would be 3" wide, the other end would be 3 1/8" (or more) wide. I of course at first thought this was a fault in the joiner. Being an engineer I came up with a method to determine the problem. I took a piece of milled 1"X4" stock that I purchased from a small local hardware store. Using a square I ensured that the piece was uniform width all the way down the length of it. I then ran the piece over the joiner several times, and measured the width, the piece was still a uniform width. This eliminated the joiner as the problem.

Once I discovered that my tablesaw was likely not cutting true, I started looking around on the forum for any information on folks having similar problems. Of course I found many folks discussing issues with the fences on these older craftsman saws. I also see folks recommending replacing the fence, but no one recommends a particular fence system to purchase to replace the fence. Does anyone have any recommendations? 

I would really like to make this saw "workable" for several reasons. First, I don't really have the money for a new one right now (wife's due with first baby later this year, so saving every penny we ca). Secondly, this saw was one my father's most prized possession. I remember going with him to the Sears in Ashville, NC in 1984 to purchase it. It was a big deal to get to go to Ashville as we lived in Cullowhee, NC and it was a pretty long drive (or at least to a 4-year old it was). But I remember going with my father when he bought it, and there are several pieces of furniture from my childhood that he used this saw to produce (I was obviously oblivious to the issues). I would really like to use the saw to build items for my children now that they are on the way. Any recommendations/help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


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## tcleve4911 (Dec 16, 2006)

You'll get a lot of responses about replacing the fence with products like the Beismeyer and others that run into $300-500 bucks.

Have you tried adjusting the fence yet?
Before I invest in a whole new fence system, dig into the saw setup threads and take Dad's old saw through a thorough setup procedure.

I'll bet it worked perfect at one time in it's life.


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## cocheseuga (Dec 15, 2010)

tcleve4911 said:


> You'll get a lot of responses about replacing the fence with products like the Beismeyer and others that run into $300-500 bucks.
> 
> Have you tried adjusting the fence yet?
> Before I invest in a whole new fence system, dig into the saw setup threads and take Dad's old saw through a thorough setup procedure.
> ...


Agree with this. You may need to pull forward on the fence while locking it down to get it true to the blade.

Welcome to the forum. Have a friend from Cullowhee, graduated from WCU.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Delta T2*

This one gets more recommendations than any other here, for the quality and for the price, it's hard to beat:
DELTA 36-T30 T2 30-Inch Fence and Rail System: Amazon.com: Home Improvement  bill
There are others on the page for reference.


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

There are many variations of older Cman contractor saws with many different fences. If yours is an older Emerson made saw with their notorious steel fence, adjusting it might be possible on an individual hit and miss basis, but in the long run would be better off being replaced with something like the Delta T2 (good bang for the buck). If your saw has a better fence than the Emerson version, like an aluminum "Aligna-a-rip" fence, adjustment would be the easiest and cheapest approach. 

Here's an old Emerson steel fence:









Here's a better Align a rip fence:









Here's an even better Delta T2 fence:


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## robert421960 (Dec 9, 2010)

my craftman saw is about 20 yrs old and lately i could never get it to cut good
there was No adjustmet on it so there was no way to get it right
i bought the Delta t2 fence a couple months ago and i cannot believe how nice it is
i can use the measure guide on it and cut a board exactly what i want it to be with no fuss at all


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## robert421960 (Dec 9, 2010)

i bought mine here
http://www.tools-plus.com/delta-36-t30.html
and i read alot and watched videos 
only took me a couple hrs and it is perfect


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## Bob R (Sep 22, 2010)

"Before I invest in a whole new fence system, dig into the saw setup threads and take Dad's old saw through a thorough setup procedure."

I'd take this advice before i invested in a new fence, be sure your blade is parralell to the miter slot.


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## Eric13 (Jan 15, 2012)

I have one with the older steel fence, here is the manual for it in case it is the same as yours: (The site has some manuals for other versions too.)

http://powertool.manualsonline.com/manuals/mfg/craftsman/113298721.html?idRes=11424792

You might just need to give the saw a tuneup. When I bought mine on Craigslist everything was quite a bit out of adjustment. I did the alignment of the blade to miter slot, and fence adjustments and it cut much better. (This is all covered in the manual.) It didn't take but a couple of hours, but I also took time to clean up and lubricate parts as well.
I put a thin kerf blade (I think CMT) in it and now it cuts beautifully. I've not bothered with the machined pulleys or link belt as I don't notice any vibration like I've heard from others. The fence isn't perfect that's for sure, but until a new one is in the budget it has to make do.

My father in law's family has a cabin on Cullowhee road just past Speedwell. It is just beautiful country, I'd move up there in a heartbeat.


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## craigwbryant (Jan 22, 2012)

Thanks to all for the many replies. I'm going to give the tuneup route a chance first. I'm not sure how old the blade is, and based on knowing his schedule I doubt any kind of tuneup/maintenance was done recently! I did do some cuts tonight with it and changed my method of holding the material to ensure I was maximizing pressure against the fence and it seemed to help a good bit actually, so I'm thinking hope is not lost. Strange, but this saw feels like a member of my family, not ready to let it go yet!


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## Phaedrus (Jan 18, 2012)

I have the same fence on my saw. I have been in the habit of putting a bar clamp on the back end of the fence when I am making cuts where it is important that it is precise. The way that the fence works, even when it is locked in place, the back end can swing some. I'd recommend not pressing work hard against any fence, that sounds like a recipe for disaster--particularly if the fence has any play. 

I second the others w/ the Delta T2 recommendation. It seems to be the best bang for buck and I plan that same upgrade eventually.


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## yocalif (Nov 11, 2010)

craigwbryant welcome aboard WWT!

I really enjoyed reading about your dad's saw is now your saw, and you want to respect dad and saw by restoring it and make some furniture the same as dad did for you.

Most of us can easily relate also to first baby and tight money, most likely the baby part gets a little easier the second time, but it seems like money is always tight. 

So your options are make do, first trying to fix the problems with the existing fence, or buy a replacement fence. The advice to do a general tune-up on the saw is great advice, and it will help eliminate other problems as well, plus familiarize you completely with the workings of that saw. If you can fix the fence, then you are set. If the fence can't be restored to be part of your precision system, then buy one. One consideration, you can end up buying more lumber due to the inaccuracy of the existing fence, also there is a lot of time lost if you are not confident with your fence's accuracy because you will be repeatedly checking.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*fence design varies*

The T 2 , Biesemeyer, Unifence and others slide along the front rail and are secured to it when the the "lock" lever is pressed down on the fence head. The locking action is a cam that presses on a shoe that slides on the face of the fence bar or on the Unifence a bar is contained in a slot and drawn up tight. The fence is not locked at the rear, but relys on the rigid connect on the front rail.
http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f12/delta-unifence-sacrificial-board-11670/

Other fences like the old Craftsman have a draw rod that runs down inside the fence bar and applies pressure across the entire table depth, from front to back to secure the fence. The fence head itself is not retained against the bar securely and can get skewed to the rail. So it's inherently less accurate. 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/sears-craft...317?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a7075147d
I had a few of these back when and found that a thin strip of laminate glued on the backside of the head track would remove some of the slop in the fence head. Even that didn't work very well and I eventually replaced the stock fence with a Delta Unifence, a multi-position sliding fence which I really like. I don't think it's available any longer. 
This is a good deal on E Bay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Craftsman-T...815?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19cdb82cf7

If the table saw is the "heart" of the shop, the fence is the "right arm", so it should be reliable and stout. I would have stopped woodworking years ago if I had to measure both front and rear of the fence to the slot for an accurate rip.
 bill


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

craigwbryant said:


> Thanks to all for the many replies. I'm going to give the tuneup route a chance first. I'm not sure how old the blade is, and based on knowing his schedule I doubt any kind of tuneup/maintenance was done recently! I did do some cuts tonight with it and changed my method of holding the material to ensure I was maximizing pressure against the fence and it seemed to help a good bit actually, so I'm thinking hope is not lost. Strange, but this saw feels like a member of my family, not ready to let it go yet!


Definitely get a decent blade regardless of what you do with the fence. The Onsrud blades clearanced on Ebay are still offering amazing values on German industrial blades. The Freud Diablo, CMT ITK Plus, and DeWalt Precision Trim series are often good values for decent thin kerf blades.


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## David Peebles (Feb 17, 2012)

My dad had that saw, or maybe an even earlier one (about 1948, I think). It's the one I learned on. He and I fought that saw for years. He was always adjusting the arbor, truing the fence, and sending his blades out for resharpening about every 2 weeks (this was pre-carbide, you understand). It would burn its way through anything more than 3/4" pine. There were times when it was doubtful whether we'd make it through an 8' rip in a doug fir 2X4 (granted, that old growth fir was hard as nails). I was amazed to eventually learn that there were saws that would cut, and fences that didn't require jury rigged clamps to keep them true, etc. So when somebody trying to sell one of those old timers on CL says "they don't make them like they used to," I say thank god. It's true that junk tools are still made (and some of the big names make them as their homeowner-oriented lines) but many of the tools nowadays are much better than the old stuff. That being said, I still am a sucker for used tools. Means I can make whatever modifications I need without worrying about the warranty, which as some of us know, is often not worth much anyhow. Take a look at the customer comments on Amazon re the Dewalt 735 planer. Some people had bad luck with those, and couldn't seem to get any satisfaction from Dewalt. Others, of course, loved them.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

I do not believe that you stated how many pieces of wood you cut that had the width problem. To me it reads like this happened on one board and you then started looking for the problem.

When you rip a board the width of that board is normally fixed by the distance of the fence from the front of the blade. If the fence is parallet to the blade or is farther from the blade at the back this distance cannot change. The only thing that will make it change is if the fence is moving away from the blade. For there to be a uniform taper to the board the fence would have to be moving in a continuous and smooth rate.

If the back of the fence is closer to the blade then front of the fence then this is the point that fixes the width of the board. This condition is usually easy to detect. Again, the only way for the width of the board to change is for the fence to be moving away from the blade.

Old model Craftsman table saws generally came with a poor fence. I have an older moder and changed the fence not long after I got the machine. So, regardless of why your board is changing width, you probably need a new fence.

OK, somebody tell me why my theory is wrong. In what other manner can the width of a board change while be ripped on a table saw.

George


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