Need help from 1023 owners

[Jerry Ingraham]

As I mentioned in an earlier post/stealth gloat, I just acquired a 1023s and plan to couple it to my craftsman with a router table in between. To do this, I need the long rails. As I look at the Griz catalog I am wondering why I need their whole kit which comes with legs i won't need and the two pieces of angle iron for the front and back. The actual fence tubing is machined on one side but other than that appears to be standard rectangle tubing. My questions are (1) why do I need their angle iron when I can buy it locally much cheaper and then drill and tap as necessary? and (2) can i actually use local tubing if it proves to be straight down the fence guiding edge?
If any of you bought the saw with the longer rails or added the longer rails to yours, would you please examine them and reply? Thanks folks.

[Scott Coffelt]

Precision is one reason. Also the back rail will help provide support for the table. Buy the kit save the xtras or sell.

[JayStPeter]

My questions are (1) why do I need their angle iron when I can buy it locally much cheaper and then drill and tap as necessary? and (2) can i actually use local tubing if it proves to be straight down the fence guiding edge?
If any of you bought the saw with the longer rails or added the longer rails to yours, would you please examine them and reply? Thanks folks.

It's all pretty much standard stuff. I don't see a reason you can't make your own if you have the tools/skills. The paint they put on there is pretty nice durable stuff. But, if you have the means, or will be happy with whatever you can do there, I say go for it.
There are a number of people on the web who have seen how simple the design of Bies style fences are and have made their own. I don't have any links right now, but they appeared to be pretty nice when I looked at them.

Jay

[Jerry Ingraham]

Hi Jay, They do appear very simple, especially the angle irons. The rear one serves virtually no purpose other than to allow a place for the rub pad of the fence to ride on and to tie together any table combination. The front angle iron does support the guide tube but still doesn't seem much more than standard iron. I did call Griz and the seven foot tube is available as a replacement part for $45.00 and I'll probably buy that since it does have a machined face for the fence to ride against.

[Steve Clardy]

Yea. For 45.00 it wouldn't hardly be worth messing with trying to run down the iron, doing all the drilling, painting, etc. Cheaper in the long run, it would bolt right on.
Steve

[JayStPeter]

Good deal, let us know how it works out.

Jay