Craftsman table saw cast wing/Unifence

[jason mowery]

Good Morning-

I've installed a Delta Unifence system on my older Craftsman 113XXX table saw. The factory extension wings are crappy stamped steel, with dished out centers, which cause the little round foot the Unifence glides on to to either fall down into the wing, when sliding the fence off the cast iron part of the saw to the right, or you have to help it hop over the lip going the other way, which makes the whole operation tedious and annoying, and far from smooth. I realize these saws are nobody's favorite, but I've got what I've got, and would like to make it work as well as I can. Are there any aftermarket cast (or at least steel that are not concave) wings that would fit this saw, without a whole lot of jerking around? It's 27" deep. Also, to anyone really familiar with the Unifence, is it normal to have slop in the gizmo that rides along the track until you clamp the fence down? In other words, I can take each side of the part of the fence assembly that rides along the rail in each hand and move it a little either fore or aft. When I lock it down, it's good, but it just seems sloppy getting to where it needs to be. I can take the slop out with the big adjustment nuts, but that seems to create too much tension, and then the aft (outfeed most) end of the fence lifts off the table 1/4" or more (depending on tension). Is this just normal for the Unifence (the sloppiness)? Sorry this is so long-winded, I just want to try and describe the problems as clearly as I can. Thanks in advance!

[Rod Goodin]

Jason,
I was in the same boat as you about two years ago when I upgraded my 113XX with the lowes $80 biesemeyer. Because I run on a tight budget and ww is "hobby only" for me I made torsion boxes out of 1/2" baltic birch ply and scrap, had about $30 total in them. To make them slick I applied several coats of oil poly and wax they are slick, flat, and cheap. As others have pointed out in other threads I would love to have ground wings out of steel or cast but if I had those $$ I would get a used Uni :) but selling that to the wife would take more time than it is worth for a hobby

Rod

[jason mowery]

Thanks for the reply, I had considered that avenue, so it's good to know it's a serviceable option. I wonder if a cast iron extension wing from some other saw company would fit without too much modification? Something used (or at least cheap)? I'm not about to pay to have one fabricated. Thanks again for the idea and the reply.

[john matthews 50]

Have you tried Grizzly

[David Christopher]

Jason, I have a cast iron wing off of my unisaw if you want it....dont know where you live but you can have it for shiping only

[Lee Schierer]

I think you can still order ther cast iron extension wings from sears. The stamped steel and cast iron wings were optional accessories at one time. I have the cast iron wings on my craftsman and merely needed to relocate the glide on the under side of my Biesmeyer fence so it aligned with one of the ribs.

[Dave Sharpe]

I had the craftsman cast-iron wing - the kind that is a sort of grid rather than a flat surface - and found a unifence on closeout at woodcraft. I had the same problem you have, so I removed the right wing and mounted the saw on a stand that was built onto the side of a workbench and extended the workbench top - made of 2 layers of 3/4" MDF - up to the edge of the saw top itself. With a little shimming here and there I was able to get a nice, even transition between the cast iron saw top and the MDF to the right. As another poster mentioned, a little paste wax made the surface slick enough for the fence to work just fine.

My only problem now is that I recently upgraded to a contractors SawStop that I mounted in a similar fashion in the same workbench. I pu the old Craftsman on the SS stand for the time being, but haven't yet decided if I want to keep it or sell it. Either way, I must have discarded the old wing, so I may need to make one using the torsion-box idea in order to remoount the unifence.......

Dave

[Chip Lindley]

David's offer of a Unisaw CI wing (for FREE) sounds like a Winner! Drill the Sears saw top to match the Unisaw's 11" hole spacing if needed. The CI wing is probably worth More than the Sears saw IMO!

Those Sears CI wings were open-grid design and "FINGER-GETTERS!" If *solid* CI wings are available, I am totally unaware! I suffered with a '70s Sears "Top-Of-The-Line" TS for far too-many years until I moved UP^ and refurbished a old Rockwell Model 10 CS, and then UP^UP to a PM66!

[Lee Schierer]

Those Sears CI wings were open-grid design and "FINGER-GETTERS!" If *solid* CI wings are available, I am totally unaware!

I've heard that comment made before, but I can't recall having gotten my finger pinched more than once on my saw and I have cast grid type wings on both sides. I really don't see how you get your fingers down through the open grid if you are cutting a board and have your hands on the board where they belong. I like the open effect becasue I can clamp things like feather boards to the table surface easily using the gids.

[David Christopher]

Jason, here are the pics.....you can see this wing came off of my saw...it is flat and solid

[Jason White]

Look at the cast-iron wing from Bench dog. They're wider than a standard wing and you can use it as a router table (great tool by the way!).

Jason



Thanks for the reply, I had considered that avenue, so it's good to know it's a serviceable option. I wonder if a cast iron extension wing from some other saw company would fit without too much modification? Something used (or at least cheap)? I'm not about to pay to have one fabricated. Thanks again for the idea and the reply.

[Matt Follett]

I have a 1980ish 113. saw from sears, I bought this extension from sears and love it, it is cast iron, 12 inches wide (most are only 10) and bolts right on. I got mine with free shipping, but it is still a good deal at regular price, great quality.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00918637000P?vName=Tools&keyword=table+saw+wing

[jason mowery]

Thanks so much to you all for taking the time to reply! I think I'm leaning toward either the Unisaw extension one member very generously offered, or perhaps investigating the option from Sears that one member suggested. I really appreciate all your help. To those of you who've used a Unifence system on a non-Delta saw, can anyone comment on the sloppiness issue I tried to describe? Is this just par for the system, or what? If I need to try and re-explain the problem, let me know. THanks again!

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Did you try Bondo on the dished out portions? Just kidding.

The Bisemeyer type fences offer a lot of adjustment. I would fiddle and adjust until you get most (if not all) of the sloppiness out. That would also probably help the movement on and off the wings. BUT I'm not familiar exactly with what you have, YMMV. I just prefer when you clamp down on the fence that it don't move from where you set it.

I just had to throw the Bondo joke in.... No offense intended.

[glenn bradley]

I've installed a Delta Unifence system on my older Craftsman 113XXX table saw.

The 113. indicates that it is an Emerson saw (the folks who make the Ridgids for HD and a lot of other stuff). they made some nice machines depending on the vintage. The rest of the part number would tell for sure but check your hole pattern. Telling us that would help as well.

If you have four holes that are centered 3/4" from the top surface and spaced 8-1/4" on center, the odds are that the wing for the C-man 22124 or 22114 (http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00918637000P?vName=Tools&keyword=tablesaw) will fit. Measure the 'on center' positions and the distance in from the edge and go check a floor model at your local store to be sure(?). Even if the holes don't line up, one edge is solid an CI drills real easy. I have four wings on my saw and due to how the RT attaches and all that, I had to drill all but one of them somewhere.

Ooops, I missed the fact that Matt already posted that link . . . sorry.

[John Bell]

I was searching Google for this very topic and I couldn’t believe it when I saw this thread.
I’m in the exact same boat. I just bought a Jet Xactra fence for my Craftsman table saw and just got it installed when I discovered that the slide under the fence gets hung up on the table. I just bought a cast iron extension for $37.99 at ebay, but its not going to help much because its only one extension and I need one more.
I just got back from Lowes where I bought some sliding door wheels. I’m going to mount them on the end of the fence so that they will ride on the rear rail. They have a wheel set with two small nylon wheels with a ¼” threaded rod. I’m going to drill a hole through the fence and feed the stem up through. I will be able to adjust the height and since it rides the rail, I don’t have to hassle with the slot or the holes in the table. I'll post a photo tommarrow after I get done.

[Angie Orfanedes]

I installed the Delta Beis clone fence on my Craftsman table saw, and I really like it. I did have to drill a whole new set of holes to install it, because nothing lined up where it should be.

The wings on my saw are an open grid pattern made of cast iron. Yes, before the fence is locked down, there is some slop, but once it is locked down, it is solid. And while there is slop in moving the fence left-right, when I slide it to a reading on the scale and lock it down, it stays on that reading. I consider the slop to be necessary clearance to make the fence easy to move before locking it down.

I don't really understand your comment about the fence hanging up on your stamped steel wings. I installed the 57 inch rails as recommended, so that the zero point on the scale is really zero on a saw cut. That makes the fence stick out beyond the right wing about sixteen inches. On the left wing the rails are about two inches shy of the the end. Now, with all that, as I move the fence to the right, the far end of the fence also "drops off" the right wing. So I cut a strip of 1/2" plywood and slipped it under the far end of the fence, and attached it to the rail. That way, when the fence goes to drop off the cast iron wing, instead it rides the plywood strip.

It took me most of a day to install the fence and get it right, but that may be related to my drilling holes in the wrong places the first time. But this fence has eliminated my former procedure of measuring the old fence in two places and bumping it with my hand to get it lined up.

[John Bell]

Hi everybody, I’m back to add photos and to say my solution worked great. :)
Fence Problem
The Problem with the fence is that the slide under the fence fall through the open space in the Craftsman Table Saw shown from underneath.
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh176/SleeperN06/WoodWorking/FenceProblem_4.jpg

Parts needed for problem
Parts needed to solve the problem: Package of shower door wheels and a curtain bracket.
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh176/SleeperN06/WoodWorking/FenceWheelParts_2.jpg

Aligning up the wheel
I had to use a 1/8 piece of plywood as a spacer between the fence and the bracket. A spring clamp held it in place until I could fasten it.
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh176/SleeperN06/WoodWorking/FenceWheelAlignment_3.jpg
Mounting the Wheel
Mount the wheel to the bottom of the fence with self taping screws
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh176/SleeperN06/WoodWorking/MountingWheel_1.jpg

[Mark Hultzapple]

Jason,
I have a Craftsman Contractor saw I put the Unifence on and experienced the same difficulty with the wings. My problem was with the cast wing open grid style. I considered ordering the cast wings from Sears at $69.00 but have already put enough money in my Craftsman. My solution was to put a scrap pc of 1/4 in plywood in the grid to take up the space. It worked well for me. My next step is to install a Rockler wooden extension with Router mount eliminating the extension. I have limited space in my shop and combining the router table and table saw would eliminate the router table sitting around in the way.
Your other problem with the play in the fence and rail. I don't have any play at all to speak of. It seems very stable. The large adjustment nuts are for adjusting fence to be parallel with the table. There is instructions in the manual to adjust these if I recall. I would think adjusting them just enough to remove play should do it. If you have any other questions email me. I'm not on the forum daily but would be glad to discuss this further.

Mark