Xacta Fence Installation

[Thomas Syrotchen]

I picked up an Xacta commercial Fence II (Biesemeyer clone) off of E-bay. It didn't come with rails, but from what I've read and seen its nothing more than 2 pieces of angle iron and a 2x3" square tube. I had an old "Jet Fence" which utilized the rear rail as part of the fence system. While the instructions for the Xacta Fence show a rear rail, the only use I see for it, is support for a table extension. It appears that the fence rides on the cast iron surface and the front rail only. I use a router table as my extenstion that I've leveled to the table saw surface so I really see no use for a rear rail. Is there another use I'm missing? If the rear rail has not other use, I'm not planning on purchasing a piece of angle iron for it.

[Angie Orfanedes]

Some Bies clone fences uses the rear rail to support the fence when it slides, but the fence only clamps on the front rail.

[Cliff Furman]

The rear angle rail, is just for the extension table support.

You will love the fence.

I also picked up just the fence part of an Exacta fence a few years ago. I went to a steel supplier, and bought 2 pieces of angle, and a 2 x 3 tube. I bought a thicker than orig. tube, as the orig tubes looked as thick as sheet metal, and looked like it would compress when locking down. I bought 3/16 thick tubing. It doubles as an anvil!
They cut it to my 60" size. IIRC it was about $60.
Fence is rock solid.
As a note, I found the Genuine Biesemeyer curser was better quality than the Exacta, and I put one on my Exacta. It made a difference.
Rips are within .005" even with my old eyes!

[Thomas Syrotchen]

Thanks Cliff, I'd been debating on using 1/4" thick tubing might be overkill. Did you paint your rails? I'm thinking that they wouldn't last long if I just used some spray paint.

[Cliff Furman]

I just waxed the tube. Bought a Starret stick on tape.
1/4" is real overkill. I got the 3/16 because the supplier didn't have 1/8"

[Jamie Buxton]

The front rail (that piece of rectangular tubing) should be straight. The fence sets itself at a right angle to the front rail. If the rail is not straight, the fence will not stay parallel to itself as you put in different positions on the saw.

[Thomas Syrotchen]

Jamie,
not being an expert in metals by any stretch, is there something I'm missing? I'm assuming a 1/4" piece of rectangular steel tubing should be relatively straight. Are you saying that it may not be adequate for that purpose?

[Joe Spear]

I think that "straight" may be referring to how the rail is mounted on the saw. You have to make sure it is completely parallel to the table. Make sure that any brackets and bolts that hold the rail to the saw mount it evenly so that it doesn't skew in or out and allow the fence to ride back and forth at a slight angle instead of perfectly parallel to the blade.

[Mike Cutler]

Jamie,
not being an expert in metals by any stretch, is there something I'm missing? I'm assuming a 1/4" piece of rectangular steel tubing should be relatively straight. Are you saying that it may not be adequate for that purpose?

Thomas.
Don't assume that a piece of commercially available square stock is straight and true. It needs to be checked.

Now onto the fence;
I've had an Xacta II fence on my jet tablesaw since I bought it over 12 years ago. I like it, it's been a good fence and a reliable piece of equipment.

Some things to consider about the original design;
There is/was a piece of nylon material on the face of the locking cam that used to come loose and was so slippery on that enamel paint that the fence could move. I solved it by gluing a piece of 400 grit paper.

The square tube stock is slotted where it bolts to the L stock for alignment along the length. Set the square stock square to the miter slots, then square the blade to the miter slot, then set the fence to square on the blade, or miter slot if you prefer, and move it in and away from the blade measuring as you go to ensure that the fence travels square to the blade the entire length. There are nylon adjuster screws on the fence that can fine tune it, but it should be be fairly close.

When you bolt the front rail to your saw use countersunk screws. If you use a blot with a head on it's an odds on bet you will catch that bolthead with your finger repositioning the fence.DAMHIKT.:( It really hurts too!

The Jet doesn't use the rear rail and utilized only as a fence it won't need it. Some People though have adapted their fences to some fairly exotic, very specific setups and locked the fence to the rear rail for stability of larger jigs, ie. a raised panel cutting jig.

[Thomas Syrotchen]

Thanks for all the great input, I'm hoping to replace that old Jet fence this weekend.

[Dave Lehnert]

I think that "straight" may be referring to how the rail is mounted on the saw. You have to make sure it is completely parallel to the table. Make sure that any brackets and bolts that hold the rail to the saw mount it evenly so that it doesn't skew in or out and allow the fence to ride back and forth at a slight angle instead of perfectly parallel to the blade.

You will want to make sure the front rail itself is straight. When you mount the front rail you will of course want it as parallel to the blade as you can get but not 100% necessary to be exact. You can make the fence exact to the blade with the fence adjustment.
My JET saw came from the factory with the threaded holes in the front rails drilled straight but at an angle in reference to the edge. Must be a good 1/4" off. But my fence will adjust it out with no problems.