Best Fence for a 34-450 Unisaw

[Rich Huhra]

I was wondering which fence to put on the Unisaw I'm rebuilding. It's a model 34-450 from the sixties. What fence and rails would you guys recommend?

Thanks
Rich

[Paul McGaha]

Hi Rich,

I have a 52" Biesmeyer on my Unisaw and like it a lot. The Unifence is a highly regarded fence also. (2) good choices at the very least.

PHM

[Cary Falk]

I had a Shop Fox Classic on my old 1970 Uni. The Delta T2 is a good fence also for $150. Alot of people like the Vega and the Incra. HTC also makes a Beisemeyer clone but I have never heard of anyone that has had one.

[ken gibbs]

Go with the Biesmeyer. Its sweet and easy to use. Keep it lubed and waxed per the owner's manual. Use a good paste wax to prevent corrosion.

[Frank Drew]

I like the Biesmeyer fence a lot, but any of the good new fences would be an improvement on the original; same goes for the Powermatic fences from that period, IMO.

[Chip Lindley]

Go first-class with a Biesemeyer! The Delta Uni-Fence is also a fine fence, but it's all-aluminum construction bothers me just a bit. Give me STEEL!

Regarding older fences, the original Delta JetLock fence served me well for many years. (forget the later iterations) I adapted the old fence from a 1947 Unisaw to a Rockwell Model 10 CS.
161083
The original tubular rails were replaced with a nice, almost new set. That particular fence head has a knurled knob up front, that locks the rear to it's rail. Once set up, that fence never needed adjustment again. I allowed perfect rips!

[Mike Wilkins]

I had one of that same model for many years, a 1964 model. Great machine, but like you have found out, the original fence is lacking. I bolted a Unifence to the machine with no problems. The tables already have the holes in the correct locations so it is a bolt-on upgrade. You will love it.
I'm not sure, but I recently heard that Delta is going to discontinue the Unifence, and only offer the Beisemeyer. So if you want a Unifence you need to act fast.

[Norman Pyles]

I would go with a Biesemeyer style, so you can move the fence to the left for bevel cuts without any modifications.

[Josiah Bartlett]

I run the Shop Fox classic 54" on my 34-450 Unisaw as well. It is completely bolt-on, and is a Biesemeyer clone with UHMW faces. I'm pretty happy with it. Its a good fence for the price. The only thing I miss about the old Jetlock fence is the rack and pinion fine adjust. The mechanism in my Jetlock wore out and it couldn't lock after a while. I still have a set of perfectly straight Jetlock tubes somewhere.

[Harvey Pascoe]

The Unifence is a great fence for the small shop where space is a problem because it is so easily removable for those who like to cluster machines but the fence gets in the way. If you do a lot of cutting to the left of the blade, moving the fence to the left is more time consuming. Its the best fence for cutting small parts but less good for large material such as sheet goods.

[Frank Drew]

Aside from ease of use, for me the great thing about the Biesmeyer and clones is the dead-on accuracy of the measuring scale; nothing is more tedious than measuring from the blade to the fence each time you set up a cut, as you had to do with the old-style fences.

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

I have used dozens of fences, including half a dozen different Bies, and a couple of Unifences.. I haven't used any made in the last 10 years though.
My hands down favorite for accuracy and ease of use is the Paralock. I don't believe they are being made anymore though.