Problem with PM2000 fence?

[Rob Bodenschatz]

OK, this is my first cabinet saw so maybe it's me but here's the thing. I followed the fence installation instructions to the letter. How much pressure should it take to move the fence along the rail. One finger? Two fingers, One hand? Two hands? Mine takes two hands applied with significant force. It is not smooth. Is this typical? I don't have access to another PM2000 to compare. There's a small rubber pad attached to the bottom of the fence and it is creating heavy drag along the table. The attached picture will attempt to show this. Before you ask, the sides of the fence are not dragging at all. It is this pad that's creating the drag. Also, I did wax the top.

I contacted Powermatic and the tech support guy hung up on me twice. This surprised me considering all the good things I've heard about them. I wasn't being rude at all. In fact, I was very pleasant. My third call produced a promise to look into it. Any feedback would be appreciated.

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[Rob Bodenschatz]

Here's a closeup of the wear on the rubber pad:

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[Tim Morton]

I have only had one opportunity to deal with calling powermatic and was equally unimpressed with the customer service...but...

two hands is not right....I have a beis fence whihc is very similar to the PM. I can move mine with 2 fingers...its a heavy fence, but it should move smoothly. My guess would be the rails are not installed at the correct height. Try searchign for your problem as it pertains to beisemeyer fences and you might find more answers. Good Luck!!

[Jamie Buxton]

On many fences, that pad is some sort of very slippery plastic. It's function is to make the fence slide smoothly. My guess is that you're looking at the adhesive which was supposed to hold the slippery shoe to the fence, and that the shoe has gotten lost someplace. If I'm right, you can make the fence run smoothly by any of the following....

* Fight with Powermatic until they send you the little part. That may be a long aggravating path.
* Attach your own piece of slippery something. You could use plastic (for instance an old charge card), or wood. Well-sanded maple slides well, especially with a little wax on it. You can use carpet tape to stick it to the fence.

[Jim DeLaney]

Sounds like your fence may be too tight in relation to the front bar/tube.

I haven't seen this actual fence, but since it's a Biesemeyer clone, I'll assume that it has a set screw on either end of the angle iron piece that rides one/behind the front tube. These set screws are actually for alignment purposes, but if they're screwed in too far they can cause the front release handle to be too tight. This will cause the problem you describe.

Try loosening these set screws a little bit - like a quarter to a half turn each. To maintain alignment, (assuming the fence it in perfect alignment now) be sure to loosen both screws exactly the same amount. This should loosen up the head enough to let is slide easily across the bar.

As for the rear pad riding across the back of the saw's table (and leaving a mark), this is pretty much the norm for this type of fence. Yours apparently has a rubber pad on it. Some of the others of this style have a metal tab there and make metal-to-metal contact with the saw table. They usually leave a pronounced (but harmless) mark across the table.

Once you get the biesemeyer style fence properly adjusted, you'll find it to be rock solid reliable. It's a really good design.

[Rob Bodenschatz]

Thanks guys for your speedy responses. Jim D, you are my hero. Loosened the set screws a quarter turn like you said and now I could practically blow the thing across the table. :D

Now why couldn't Powermatic just tell me that from the get-go??? :mad:

[Norman Hitt]

Thanks guys for your speedy responses. Jim D, you are my hero. Loosened the set screws a quarter turn like you said and now I could practically blow the thing across the table. :D

Now why couldn't Powermatic just tell me that from the get-go??? :mad:

Probably because since all the different company buyouts and consolodation of a lot of departments a lot of the old timers that really knew the equipment are no longer there, and PM like many other co's seem to be heading toward writing answers on a computer for the CS people to read when a customer calls. With that in mind, If it's not in the answer sheet, they haven't got a clue. Remember, we are no longer a manufacturing giant in this country, we are just computer users.

[Steven Wilson]

On many fences, that pad is some sort of very slippery plastic. It's function is to make the fence slide smoothly. My guess is that you're looking at the adhesive which was supposed to hold the slippery shoe to the fence, and that the shoe has gotten lost someplace. If I'm right, you can make the fence run smoothly by any of the following....


No that's the correct pad on the fence - you're way, way off. It's more substantial than the cheap plastic on other fences. Oh yeah, it slides nice too.

[Kyle Kraft]

Rob,

I have a Jet cabinet saw with a clone fence which is probably like yours. Mine has the two nylon set screws which touch the back of the front fence tube. As another creeker stated, loosen the screws equally to relieve the pressure a bit.

As far as the slippery (UHMW) pad on the underside of the fence, I didn't like the pretty scratches on my table so I made an appropriate sized delrin roller and used ball bearings and a shoulder bolt to attach the roller to an angle iron bracket. I threaded a couple of mounting holes to the underside of the fence and installed the support roller so that it runs on the angle iron fence support across the back of the saw. The bracket was designed/built so the pad is about .010" off the table....no more scratches and the fence glides effortlessly across the saw.

Kyle in K'zoo

[Rob Bodenschatz]

Kyle Kraft from Kalamazoo. Love it. :)
I hope your middle name isn't Karl. :eek:

Thanks for the tip. I'm going to try to buff out those marks and see what happens. It really is sliding smoothly since I loosened those screws so I'm thinking the marks will be less pronounced.