Unisaw purchase question

[Jonathan Goldstein]

Hi everyone,

I'm going to be buying a Delta Unisaw and I have my choice on either a Beisemeyer or Unifence for the same price. Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Bruce Page]

Hi everyone,

I'm going to be buying a Delta Unisaw and I have my choice on either a Beisemeyer or Unifence for the same price. Any recommendations?

Thanks,
JonathanHello Jonathan, both fence styles have their fans. I chose the Beisemeyer and have not regretted it for a second. http://sawmillcreek.org/images/icons/icon14.gif

[Ted Shrader]

Jonathon -

Welcome to the Creek.

As Bruce said, they are sort of a personal preference thing. Have you used (or touched0 either? Either is a good choice, I prefer the Bies style.

Ted

[Mike Vermeil]

but I wish I had a Bies. The hastle of flopping the actual fence back and forth on the main body of the fence is just wearing on me as of late. Today for instance, I had to change it back & forth at least 6 or 7 times. Now it doesn't take very long to do so, but it just gets to be a hastle after awhile.

If you mount a router into the saw's extension table like I and many other people do, you'll have to flop the fence to use it with that set-up. I use my router table quite a bit, and it's often a pain not being able to rip a board on the saw while the router table is still set up.

Also, many common table saw jigs are generally much easier to design and build for a Bies than for a Unifence, believe me.

[Russ Massery]

I've had a beisemeyer longer than my current saw,I liked so much I sold the stock fence with the old saw. A freind of mine bought the unifence and wishes he didn't. So two votes for the Beise.

[Jim Becker]

I've owned both types of fences and like both. I really miss the UniFence and have actually considered buying one to put on my Jet cabinet saw; not because the Bisesmeyer-type I have is bad, just that I really liked the flexiblity of the UniFence for certain kinds of cuts. That said, the Biesemeyer-type fences are much easier to "jig up" with...in other words, both have advantages and both have tradeoffs. But the Mighty-T folks have solved the "jig up" problem with the UniFence with their very reasonably priced fence add-on that provides all kinds of ways to deal with jigs while still allowing you to use the standard UniFence when it has the cutting advantage you want or need.

Try them both if you can...

[Jimmy Tallent]

I have the unifence and like it so far.

[joseph j shields]

Hey Jonathan,

Good choice on the unisaw..... I've had mine for 20 years & love it. It is the only tool I have not replaced over the past 20 years.

My saw came with the unifence. And as many have pointed out both fences have their pros and cons.

Here is what I did.....

I got the Unifence and the Mighty-T-Track (http://www.ttrackusa.com/unifence.htm).

The mighty is only $70-80.

With this solution you have the best of both worlds.... and changing fences takes all of 20 seconds.

With this solution you actually have 3 "fences":


Unifence up
Unifence down
Mighty T
With this set-up you should be able to do it all.

Hope this helps!

-jj

[Alan Turner]

I have the Unifence, and like it. You can retract the fence back so it does not extend past the blade, which for ripping reaction wood is much safer. I screw on a sacrificial board, then joint it in place, and it works well. You could do this on the Bies also, I suppose. One nice thing about the Unifence is you can flit it so the fence is only about 1/2" tall, so if you are resizing a door, for example, that is laminated with formica or another veneer, you can undercut it. I don't do this type of work, but thought I would mention it.
Alan

[Bill Lewis]

I just purchased a X5 Unisaw (52") with the Unifence. I also bought the T-Track fence the same day. As I have yet to take delivery of the saw, I can't tell you how much I like it, but I know I will.

This debate has been raging for years and it seems to me that it really come down to a personal decision. Both are good, both have their perceived pros and cons. I like the versitility of the Unifence over the Bies. so that was my choice. I had a tougher time deciding on the tilt direction. I ended up getting a right tilt even though I'm right handed. It's what I am used to, and I think the tilt handle is more accessable from the left side than under the right side.

[Greg Narozniak]

Hello Jonathan, both fence styles have their fans. I chose the Beisemeyer and have not regretted it for a second. http://sawmillcreek.org/images/icons/icon14.gif

Agree 100% with Bruce. I love My Beis

[Bart Leetch]

Here is another choice you can have the Unifence & add this & it will be much like the biesmeyer.

http://www.ttrackusa.com/sawextension.html

[Jonathan Goldstein]

I've decided to go for the left tilt with Beisemeyer.

Thanks again for all the advice :)
Jonathan