Can I cheat my fence?

[Dennis Lightbourn]

Greeting all from the land of sun, sand and sea!

I am in the middle of setting up a new workshop and am looking very carefuuly at the general layout of the space. The building is only 12'x24', so space is at a premium.

My tablesaw, a Powermatic 64A fitted with a 30" Bessimeyer clone fence, has a ripping capacity of 30" to the right of the blade and 12" to the left. Herein lies the heart of my question. As I have never (in 25+ years) used a fence on the left of a tablesaw blade, can I safely remount the fence and rails a further 6" to the right of the saw? This will increase my right ripping capacity to 36" while still leaving 6" on the left?

I think that I had better leave this 6" left capacity because I KNOW that as soon as I make this modification, I will need to make a critical cut that can ONLY be made with the fence on the left :)

Any thoughts?

Dennis

[Scott Coffelt]

I see no reason why it would be an issue, I have never needed to put my fence on the left. Besides, if you every need to make a cut to the left you can always move the fence, a pain, but at least it is movable. I on the other hand have needed the space on the right far too often. I've not moved my because I have the same constraints as your and can not afford the additonal 6-12" of space required.

[Donnie Raines]

Sorry....I refuse to answer any question from someone who is loacted in a place that I only dream of visiting...let alone live there........ :p :cool:

I will tag along with Scott on this one....

[Mark Rakestraw]

I did that to a Sears fence with no ill consequences. It is a Sears 24/24, I mounted it so that I have about 39 in on the right and 9 on the left. If I had it to do over again I'd probably shift it even a bit further to the right.
Mark

[Tom LaRussa]

As I have never (in 25+ years) used a fence on the left of a tablesaw blade, can I safely remount the fence and rails a further 6" to the right of the saw? This will increase my right ripping capacity to 36" while still leaving 6" on the left?
Absolutely no problem.

I have done it with both of my table saws -- one Craftsman and one Ridgid.

Just make sure that the end of the rails is well supported, and that the weight of the stock is not resting on the rails.

[Greg Narozniak]

I used to own the same saw and you can remount the frnce without a problem.

When I bought my Unisaw (only reason I got rid of the 64A) Before I mounted the Biesemeyer tube rail I cut approx 6" off the left end for 2 reasons;

1. The Tube sticks out past the saw wing and is a major "Hip Bumping Hazard" :D

2. My unisaw (same as your 64A) is a left tilt saw so you really will never have a reason to move the fence to that side of the blade.

http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/users/540f25b2/a335/__sr_/d178.jpg?ph2kTkBBS8pLc5ot

Go For It

Greg

[Norman Hitt]

I agree with the others, in that with a left tilt saw, there is absolutely no reason to ever have to move the fence to the left side of the blade, or at least I have never encountered it in the last 60 years, and believe me, that If there was ANY Reason to have to do that, then Mr. Murphy (of Murphy's Law, who resides at my house permanently) would have found a way fome to have to do that.

I would suggest that when you remount it to the right, just move your fence up against the blade, and then mount the tube so it extends past the fence rail bracket on the left end, about 1/2" to 1" so the fence tube has plenty of strength and will not inadvertantly be distortorted at the end when you clamp the fence lever down. Proper support legs on the right end will be a necessity to both keep the saw from tipping, and from bending the tube, should a heavy load be placed on the saw.

[Dennis Lightbourn]

Thank you all for your replys. I've got a couple of days "off" that I can use to work on the shop - tomorrow I move the fence!!

Dennis

[Jim DeLaney]

Rather than move it just 6", and having to re drill the mounting holes in the tube, just shift it 'one set of holes' to the right, leaving the angle iron base right where it is. That way, there's no drilling involved, and you'll gain about 10" of cut to the right (and have none to the left). I did this with my ShopFox 26" fence to net a 36½" capability.

On another note, and on a previous saw, I shifted a 52" Biesemeyer to the left, centering it so as to have about 30" left & right. On that one, I shifted the angle irons, too, and had two router tables - one on each side. The routers were actually an afterthought. I shifted the fence to accommodate some space constraints in the shop I had then.

[Mark J Bachler]

Thank you all for your replys. I've got a couple of days "off" that I can use to work on the shop - tomorrow I move the fence!!

Dennis

I could fly down & help ya. Shouldn't take more than a week or two.