Improving the rip fence on Dewalt 746

[Liem Tran]

I need some suggestions on how to improve the fence on my dewalt 746 table saw. I'm sure most of you guys already know it's impossible to add accessories to this fence. I'm hoping to get some advice from someone that owns this saw or has any ideas on how to improve it. Any info. will will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Liem

[John Wilson]

If funds will allow, change it out for an Incra TS-LS system. I no longer have a Dewalt saw but when I did the fence was the first thing to go. I purchased an Incra fence replacement and loved it. Accuracy and repeatability was my goal and thats what I got. I just upgraded to a Grizzly cabinet saw and again I installed an Incra fence. This time though I have a 49" cut capacity on the right side of the blade instead of 32". The DeWalt served me well, especially with the upgraded fence.

[Liem Tran]

John,
Thanks for the advice. I saw lots of good reviews on the Incra TS. Unfortunately, my budget won't allow me to do so at this time. I'm trying to find a more cost effective way to improve it and I think I've found it. Now I just need to find the time to work on it.
Once again thank you. :)



Liem

[Jim Bills]

I need some suggestions on how to improve the fence on my dewalt 746 table saw. I'm sure most of you guys already know it's impossible to add accessories to this fence. I'm hoping to get some advice from someone that owns this saw or has any ideas on how to improve it. Any info. will will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Liem

Liem, I built a baltic birch cover for mine, 1/2" baltic birch sides, 3/4" baltic birch center. It closely resembled the Biesmeyer. I made the first one to be a friction fit over the steel cross tube. I took off the actual aluminum fence face and put it aside. I cut dadoes down each side of the 1/2" fence face materialfor the 3/4" separator strip, the cross section is like a high waisted "H". If you do some real careful measuring you can get a real nice fit. I did the actual glue up of the three pcs right on the steel fence tube. You can then add miter slots, or what ever you wish. You can use some press in inserts, and long through bolts if you wish to have a more secure attachment to the orginal fence tube. Food for thought anyway. I am sorry I don't have any photos. PS I now use an Incra TS-LS and love the repeatability, but I did like my DeWalt fence better after I did the fence modification. I just wanted the Incra, still can't justify the expense, but I'm old and don't have any other expensive vises.

Jim

[Dan Cameron]

Liem,
Here is what I got for my 746. I really like it. It is made for the Unifence, but it exactly fits the 746.

http://www.ttrackusa.com/unifence.htm

[Liem Tran]

First off, I'd like to thank you guys for all the info. They all sound like great ideas. But after some tinkering, I found a very simple way to improve my fence. It's surprisingly accurate too! All I needed to do was cut a 3x36" 3/4" piece of birch plywood, laminate it and route a groove for a 3/8"x3/4" t-track. Thats how I mounted the new fence face to the main unit. I also did the same on the other side. It works pretty much the same way as the original fence did, but now I have a t-track for accessories. (oh, and at least it's not warped like the original :mad:) Maybe, I just got lucky on the accuracy, but hey it works fine. :) I'll try to post pics later. It might be helpful for other 746 owners.
As far as upgrading to the incra, that will be on my list of things to buy.
Dan that uni-t-fence looks tempting, but I think I'll save up for the incra ts. I appreciate you sharing that with us.

Thanks Guys!

[Russ Prechtl]

Liem,
Here is what I got for my 746. I really like it. It is made for the Unifence, but it exactly fits the 746.

http://www.ttrackusa.com/unifence.htm
Dan:

I'm interested in getting the Uni-T Fence for my DW746 saw as well. My question is - How did you adjust your existing fence cursor to work with the new fence face? It appears that the new fence face (at 2" wide) is wider than the fence cursor can adjust for. Can you tell me what you did? I really appreciate any help you can give me.

[Jason Beam]

THREE YEAR OLD THREAD ALERT! :)

I can't help with Russ's question, but wanted to make sure everyone knew this thread is actually 3 years old. Nothing wrong with that, but many people reply without reading the other replies and answer the OP instead of the reason the thread is revived.

[Dan Cameron]

I pulled the measuring tape off and re-mounted it with contact adhesive.

[Russ Prechtl]

Ahh. That explains it. Thanks for the help!