Category: Table Saw Upgrades

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 it out a little bit further I was fearful I would accidentally 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 Biesemeyer, 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.

Before I started drilling holes, I did a bit of research on how others had done it, namely drilling holes in the angle iron or into the front and back sides of the saw’s cast iron top.  While many had drilled into the angle iron, I was concerned about revoking the 2 year warranty, and also realized my little bench top drill press was not up to the task of drilling.  I decided it would be much safer to attempt to drill into the cast iron.

While I did not come to the decision of drilling through a 1/4″ of cast iron 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 being about 1.5″, which matched the width of front and back 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 successful 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 bit with the oil before I started to drilling, and several times during drilling.

Finally, 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 through like drilling into wood, 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 did not want this to happen again, with potentially more disastrous results. I did discover that just before the drill bit broke through there is a lot more vibration as a warning to slow way down and therefore 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 losing 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.

Before I could start the install 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)

At this point, 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. Therefore I needed to drill a few new holes, I just needed to figure out where. First thing I did was raise the blade up so that it was taller than the new fence, and placed the fence right against the blade. Looking at the indicator line on the fence indicated approximately  where there rail needed to lined up so zero would be within the adjustment zone of the scale. I marked the position on the saw using a red china pen.  Next I screwed the tube rail to the angle iron, and then aligned the zero point to the red mark on the saw.  From there I was able to mark the hole positions in the table saw top based off the positions in the angle iron.  I then knew where I needed to drill.