Unifence aluminum chewed up

[jeff vanek]

Recently bought a new unisaw, it has a unifence that is pretty dinged up, and the guy even hit it with the saw blade. Is it possible to get it resurfaced or sanded ?

[Cary Falk]

If you try to sand it youwill probably run the risk of making it worse as far as it being straight. As far as I know Delta does not make them anymore. A lot of people have this and like it.
http://www.ttrackusa.com/unifence.htm

[Rob Sack]

I would use bondo or similar type epoxy filler on all the damage and carefully flat sand it smooth. I am not familiar with the Unifence, but what about bonding a piece of sheet of metal, such as stainless steel to the existing fence and re-calibrating your measuring system?

[Larry Komroff]

I dont know the exact model of your unifence but Delta shows a replacement aluminum fence as available http://servicenet.deltaportercable.com/Parts/Detail/259026 It is not cheap though.

[Chris Harper]

Friend of mine is in the same situation and I found an old forum post where somebody payed $35 to have a machine shop grind their aluminum flat. He never got to that point since he found a new in the box 30" Unifence with the Beismeyer side table extension. He still plans to have the original fence machined but it's not as pressing now.

[David Kumm]

If you grind the face you will have to anodize and the reference for the low side position may be screwed up. does anyone know if any Grizzly slider extrusions would be compatible? There old 12" table saw was a pretty accurate copy of the Delta 12-14. Dave

[Thomas Hotchkin]

Jeff,
If you can clean up the high spots without cutting below aluminum surface. I would bond a formic like material to the aluminum fence face, with slow set epoxy. You would need a very flat surface to clamp glue up to, Tom

[Alan Schaffter]

One thing you need to know if you mill the face of the fence to remove scratches or add a sacrificial face- you reduce the usefulness of the cursors and measuring scale. The plastic cursor window on the Unifence casting has two cursor lines to account for the different fence thicknesses. One line is used when the fence is vertical and the other when the fence is rotated to the low, horizontal position. Once the blade has been placed against the fence and cursor zeroed to the measuring scale, in either fence position, you can rotate the fence and the other cursor corresponding to the fence position will be correct also.

If you change the thickness of one or the other face they will no longer both be correct. You will need to zero the cursor and scale each time you rotate the fence.

This is not a problem if you never use the fence in the low position- I do.

[Keith Pitman]

One thing you need to know if you mill the face of the fence to remove scratches or add a sacrificial face- you reduce the usefulness of the cursors and measuring scale. The plastic cursor window on the Unifence casting has two cursor lines to account for the different fence thicknesses. One line is used when the fence is vertical and the other when the fence is rotated to the low, horizontal position. Once the blade has been placed against the fence and cursor zeroed to the measuring scale, in either fence position, you can rotate the fence and the other cursor corresponding to the fence position will be correct also. If you change the thickness of one or the other face they will no longer both be correct. You will need to zero the cursor and scale each time you rotate the fence.This is not a problem if you never use the fence in the low position- I do.Or, you could replace the measuring tape on the fence rail with one positioned to match the new thickness of the fence.

[Carl Beckett]

I had this on a Jet fence I owned for years. After a while the anodising wears off exposing the softer aluminum, and then it galls up into a mess.

My solution was to sand off the high spots, and then apply a strip of self adhesive 'slick strip' - was either UHMW or Teflon based. But it worked beautifully for years.

Another option is this:

http://www.amazon.com/Rockler-Universal-Fence-Clamps/dp/B001DSZFMG/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1319653262&sr=1-1

J (http://www.amazon.com/Rockler-Universal-Fence-Clamps/dp/B001DSZFMG/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1319653262&sr=1-1)ust clamps on a sacrificial piece of wood to the fence. I have this on my current setup and just leave it on all the time. Wax the board (a good plywood works as well), and you can always change it out if damaged. Yes - you have to adjust the tape to compensate.

[Alan Schaffter]

Or, you could replace the measuring tape on the fence rail with one positioned to match the new thickness of the fence.

Won't make a difference- one cursor will be right and the other still wrong! Have you seen the dual cursor on a Unifence?

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk147/Fbranco/Img_0162.jpg

[Alan Schaffter]

That is the same one Cary Falk posted earlier. Its a nicely made fence with T-slots for jigs and hold-downs.

[Jerome Hanby]

Deleted redundant post


That is the same one Cary Falk posted earlier. Its a nicely made fence with T-slots for jigs and hold-downs.

[jeff vanek]

i think i like the after market fence cary mentioned, that looks like the best option

[Mike Heidrick]

Build a Bigafence designed by christopher Merril. http://christophermerrill.net/ww/shop/bigafence.html

[Charles Lent]

Here is another alternate for a replacement fence. I use both the original fence and one of these, as they both have unique features that I like for certain jobs. This one has T slots for attaching fixtures and featherboards.

http://www.ptreeusa.com/uni_t_fence.htm

Charley

[Larry Edgerton]

There was a article in the West System newsletter this past month on how to repair a tablesaw fence. It may be online at West Systems website.

Larry

[cliff smith]

saw a unifence on ebay few days ago

[Harvey Pascoe]

You bought a NEW Unisaw in this condition? Then why aren't you returning it unless you were the "guy" who done it?

[Cary Falk]

You bought a NEW Unisaw in this condition? Then why aren't you returning it unless you were the "guy" who done it?
I understood it as new to him.