New, Compatible Fence and Rail System for Older Rockwell Unisaw

[jeff friedman]

Looking for a completely compatible fence system capable for 50+ inch. I don't want any surprises (drilling into table). What are your experiences? I have a older unifence but missing pieces. Thinking of just starting fresh.

[Doug Garson]

No answer to your question but why the hesitation to drilling into the table? Drilling and tapping cast iron is easy or in many cases you can drill thru and use a nut and bolt. A no drill criteria may eliminate a good solution.

[mike stenson]

Sure, but there's really no reason to drill. A bies would bolt up, so would most of their clones (might have to drill the mounting bracket, rather than the table)

Looks like you're missing the unifence itself. Bummer, it's pretty much my favorite fence.

[Doug Garson]

Agreed, you can drill the table or the angle iron bracket. No need to rule out either.

[jeff friedman]

So441431 i have attached a picture showing the Unifence parts i did receive. It is the front rail, the right stand, and the actual fence. I feel like it is missing something? How about a back rail?

[jeff friedman]

Mike - see the photo of the three parts i did receive for the Unifence. The front rail, the actual fence, and then the right legs. Is there anything missing, like a back rail for great stability?441432

[Jim Becker]

Personally...I'd find a way to get that UniFence working. Best fence style ever. I'd never want to leave a high/low design fence and I use that low position most of the time. IMHO, of course. That said, pretty much any quality fence will work and don't fret about drilling the table if it's necessary.

[jeff friedman]

what is meant by a "high/low design"?

[Bill Dufour]

He means the fence can be used on its side in a lower position. This gives more room for finger clearance and to see what is going on. Peachtree WW makes a replacement fence extrusion if yours is scared up.
I belive there is no back rail as such. I installed a piece of angle iron the same length as the fence rail. Drilled holes to suit. Ground a notch at the mitre gauge slots with a angle grinder. I used this to attach a hollow core door as an auxiliary table to the right. I made brackets from short pieces of angle iron with a hole in each leg
On my unifence as purchased ,used, it had just a carriage bolt as the support pad. I replaced that with a scrap of trex decking about 2x3" with a counsunk bolt. This wide enough it spans over the mitre slots and does not fall into them. A piece of hardwood would probably been fine.
To install the nuts in the front rail I used an electrical fish tape, fishing rod. small bamboo and gravity to get the nuts where they had to be. put a screw driver in the first hole and slide the nut down until it hits. then level the fence and remove the screwdriver. tip it up a bit and use a pick to walk the nut over. Put in a bolt and repeat until all the nuts are located. The carefully remove the bolts and offer it up to the table and install the bolts from behind with out losing position.
Bill D

[Bill Dufour]

It took me days of thinking to realize the back angle iron should be placed so the horizontal leg points away from the saw. You will have to make brackets to attach the top but that is easier and more solid then trying to space the rail out facing the other way.
Bil lD

[Ray Newman]

I sold my 52" Uni-fence equipped circa 1986 Uni-saw in 2006. No back rail is needed! The original table warped and I replaced it with a shop fabricated table. After attaching the table to saw, I just screwed the rail to the table to prevent it from sagging on the far right end. .I wish I would have kept the Uni-fence and installed it on my SawStop ICS.

The hi/lo Uni-fence position is very handy and most of the time I utilized the lo fence position. One of the Uni-fence best features is that the adjustments for adjusting the fence to the miter gauge slots are in front of the Uni-fence head. Just turn the nylon screws in/out to move the fence from the saw to adjust it. Very quick and easy.

The Peach Tree Uni-T fence will not have the Uni-fence hi/lo positioning ability. It will make utilizing fence mounted jigs easier. I had one and it is easy to swap between the original Uni-fence and the Uni-T fence. Just loosen two nuts on head body and slide it off. https://www.ptreeusa.com/tablesaw_unifence.html
Same applies to using the fence to the left of the blade -- just loosen and remove the fence holding plate and move it to the other side of the head and slide on the fence.

Speaking from experience, be very careful with the plastic cursor on the head. Replacements are just about impossible to find. To prevent misreading the cursor two positions , I tapped over the cursor for the fence position not in use.

Not sure what model Uni-fence you have, but the basic design was not changed over the years. Manual is at: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/37651/Delta-Unifence-36-902.html#manual

[Jim Becker]

what is meant by a "high/low design"?
Bill described it well...the actual fence can be mounted "tall" or "short". It can also be pulled back to mid-blade for more relief post cut or to before the blade for crosscutting measurement without trapping the workpiece. Pretty much all Euro type saws have this fence format and the UniFence was Delta's contribution to the cause many, many years ago. The singular downside is for folks who like to clamp things to the fence...but as has been mentioned PeachTree solved that years ago with an alternative fence that can slip right on when that function is required or desired.

[mike stenson]

Yep, that looks like everything but the hardware. You can connect the extension table to the saw by various methods, the fence came with 'z-clips' (they're actually still available as spare parts, but the L shaped brackets aren't.. go figure, they're both easy to fabricate). I'd totally suggest keeping and using the Unifence :)

The 'stock' clips

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-rPzMvKw/0/1f80d387/XL/i-rPzMvKw-XL.jpg

[Andy D Jones]

I agree, keep and use the Unifence. I've had mine for almost 30 years, and I wouldn't trade it for any other fence!

The high/low fence face capability, and the ability to slide the fence face forward of the blade, makes it extremely versatile and safe.

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[glenn bradley]

Another vote to keep. Looks like all the parts are there. The back rail just reinforces/ties the wings to the saw top. It is not required for the fence itself to work other than assisting in keeping the tables in plane. Biesemeyer and clones work the same way. The fence never touches the back rail.

[mike stenson]

yea, but unlike the bies.. there never was a back rail. The bies the rail also mounts the extension table as I recall.

[Jim Becker]

A back rail can still be used with the UniFence, but it's like has been mentioned...not impacting the fence at all and primarily for support of the right side table and, if one wants to, to support an outfeed surface at the saw edge.