Unifence vs biesemeyer

[Sam Beagle]

Hi,
I have a new unisaw, prob 8-9 years old. Bought it used, barely used. Here's my question, if I want to install a biesemeyer, what is entailed in the process. And is the biesemeyer that much better than the unifence. I will admit, I'm not totally thrilled with the current fence.

[scott spencer]

It always boils down to a matter of opinion....neither is definitively superior to the other in every aspect. I will say that the Biese is more popular, and is the most copied fence on the market. It should mount directly to a Unisaw.

[Cary Falk]

As Scott said, the fence will bolt right up since they are both Delta products. I personally hate the Unifence but I am in the minority. FYI, The Unifence is no longer made.

[Tom M King]

The Bies is easy to put on a Unisaw. It comes with a little gauge to get the height of the rails just right. Instructions call for drilling some extra holes, which might make it more stable, but we've moved mine all over the place as our portable table saw for a number of years, including in the bucket of a front end loader, and without drilling those holes the thing is still dead on. Take time to align the top perfectly with the blade while you have just the single main top part on the cabinet, and then bolt everything on.

[Rod Sheridan]

The unifence is a far better fence than the Bies.

The unifence can be used as a short fence for ripping solid lumber (fence ends at the start of the blade), or it can be used as a traditional long fence for ripping man made material.

The fence can also be used a crosscut stop in the short position.

The modern Euro machines have this type of fence, safer and more versatile than the long single function fence................Regards, Rod.

[Loren Woirhaye]

I like the Unifence style fence because I like to use a sliding table and a retractable fence lets me have stops on both sides of the blade. If you don't have a crosscut fence with a stop on your miter gauge, this may not make sense.

The T-square style fence was a revelation to cabinetmakers when it came out because it was more trustworthy than anything available up to that point except for the rack and pinion fences on 2000 lb. industrial saws like Oliver. It could also be ordered with a big capacity and if you could square one end of a pantry side, you could use the fence to cut it to length. This was a big deal because this is an annoying cut to make in the workflow of building a bunch of cabinets. So, in a nutshell, the fence could be used to save time and that (imo) is what led to its widespread adoption in cabinet shops. I suppose you had to use a factory edge of a cut-off box to square the first end. One could also rip a sheet of ply in half, set the fence to 30" and whip out 6 cabinet sides in a jiffy. Technically having 66" of scrap to the left of the blade while using the fence to cut 30" of 24" wide material is an unwise cut (imo), but it was done and still is.

[Thomas Canfield]

A Biesmeyer fence is easy to install. I bought a commercial Bies for my little Delta contractor saw about 10 years back when the cost was only $50 more than the standard. At that time there were several that had strong preference for the Uni fence. The commercial fence and rails are heavier and make for a real solid fence. I am always amazed how accurate the fence is and easy to add additional guides, feather boards, etc. Maybe visiting with someone that has and loves their Uni will help you to understand its advantages.

[David Eisenhauer]

I bought a new Unisaw with the Unifence option in the 80's and have adjusted it's settings (very, very slightly) once since the original setup long ago. I had the choice of the Unifence or the Biesmeyer at the time of purchase, but was doing lots of laminate gluing then and liked the 1/2" tall fence option available on the Unifence. The Biesmeyer (due to the rectangular shape) would seem to be easier to make/fit TS fence jigs to, but as far as square and stay square, I have had zero issue with the Unifence.

[fRED mCnEILL]

I recently replaced my beis fence with an Incra. Best move I ever made. I gave my beis to my neighbor who replace his unifence. Unifence went in the garbage as did the Wixey DRO that was on the beis. I think the Incra is priced similar to the beis.

[Don Huffer]

Ive used both. Bies is a good fence but you can build one just like it for half the cost. I don't like the sloppy way the Bies slides back and forth. The Uni doesn't do that. I also like the adjustable aspect of the Uni.

The only reason the Uni is not offered is the cost. Bet they don't have $50 in the Bies.

[Mike Heidrick]

Google christopher merril's bigafence. For about $5 in hardware and wood ($10 if you want t track) you can have a fence styled like a bies on your unifence. They are nice.

[Loren Woirhaye]

Personally, I'm looking for a Unifence. I just acquired a Tannewitz slider and it's missing the extension table that supports extended ripping with the stock fence. Bummer, but it's a good saw and the Unifence comes closest to format slider compatibility of anything available to the N. American market.

[Rick Potter]

I've had both, and prefer the Unifence. I have two brand new Beis fences in the box, and have no plans to replace the Unifence on my Unisaw with one. My new SawStop has a Beis clone, and I will probably leave it on there. I don't dislike it enough to change it. They both have advantages.

Rick P

[John Downey]

I always liked the Unifence over the Beismeyer style. Manufacturers like the Beismeyer fence because it is cheap to make and stupid simple, but the Unifence has a lot better options and is more easily adjustable for the user.


I recently replaced my beis fence with an Incra. Best move I ever made. I gave my beis to my neighbor who replace his unifence. Unifence went in the garbage as did the Wixey DRO that was on the beis. I think the Incra is priced similar to the beis.

If you tossed a real Unifence in the trash, you're out quite a bit of change you could have had selling it on ebay or a forum. I suspect it wasn't one though, more likely one of the two rail fences that Delta used as a cheaper option.

My 1950's saw has the old Jet Lock two rail fence. I'd take a Unifence over that any day of the week :D

[Judson Green]

Personally, I'm looking for a Unifence. I just acquired a Tannewitz slider and it's missing the extension table that supports extended ripping with the stock fence. Bummer, but it's a good saw and the Unifence comes closest to format slider compatibility of anything available to the N. American market.

Back when biesemeyer was beiesemeyer they would make semi custom fences. I had this one on my Tanny.

289067

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Sam, why don't you like the unifence?

I bought a used unisaw to be used in the new woodshop construction, and it came with the unifence. At first I hated it, it was installed wrong, the tape was between 5 and 6" off, it needed cleaned up, and it didn't slide properly. I tried to find a sanely priced Bies to put on it, but while I was waiting I adjusted, tweaked and used the unifence. Turns out, I kind of like it. The ability to slide the fence back to the end of the blade is nice for the construction lumber it's being used for, it slides well, and with the fixing of the tape issue, its accurate now too. I'm still not a huge fan of the way it "locks" to the rail, as you can unintentionally unlock it pretty easily, but I think I'll keep it.

[keith micinski]

Another vote for the unifence. While I will say the Bies is by no means a bad fence I don't agree with the statement "neither one is much better then the other." The unifence is better for all of the reasons that rod mentioned plus the other feature of not sliding around like a sloppy mess while adjusting.

[Bill Space]

Like many others I love my Unifence!

One enhancement is to buy a Uni-T-Fence from Peach Tree Woodworking. The original rail has its uses, but the Uni-T-Fence rail adds tremendous functionality.

I have only recently started pulling the fence rail back when ripping and do not know why it did not occur to me to do that before reading it here!

A Unifence with the Uni-T-Fence rail is unbeatable in my humble opinion!

Bill

[Charles Lent]

I have a Unifence on my Unisaw and love it. I also have the Uni-T-Fence accessory from Peachtree and also bought a short Uni-T-Fence section that I use mostly as a cross cut stop and I frequently switch back and forth between the original Unifence extrusion and the Uni-T-Fence depending on the types of cutting that I will be doing. Where I work they have a Biesmeyer fence that I used before getting my Unisaw and Unifence for home use. I bought my Unisaw used and it came with the Unifence and at first I wasn't happy with it, but I quickly grew to love the Unifence as I gained experience with it. I now very much prefer the Unifence over the Biesmeyer fence.

Charley

[Jim Becker]

Very much a subjective decision.

I'm a fan of the UniFence and am glad that the fence on my MM slider has some similar qualities. It's harder to "roll your own" jigs, however...at least with the stock fence face. But there is an aftermarket fence that fits onto the UniFence structure for when you want to accommodate that need. The most endearing quality of the UniFence and similar is the ability to move the fence parallel to the cut line or use a smaller piece for what you only need it as a stop. (Clamping a block to a "standard" fence certainly works for that, but it means you have to remember to account for the thickness of the block when setting the fence position) I also like that the face of the UniFence 'is' the measure point on the scale.