Anyone have a shop fox Classic Fence?

[Bob DiGiacomo]

Just wondering what your thoughts are on this fence. Wood Magazine Oct. 2003 talks about how this fence has some deflection up to 1/16th of an inch, and how when adjusted parallel to the blade, it didn't slide along the rail easy. Do you know if there have been any improvements made to this fence since Oct. 2003? And, anyone that has this fence how has it been for your table saw?

[Cary Falk]

I put the 53" version on my 1970 Uni and love everything about it except the magnifying curser. It rode two high off the scale to be accurate and the magnification played with my mind. It is a little tight fitting on the front tube but not much more than any biesemeyer I have played with. It binds a little if you dont slide it from the front. If you want a truely smooth fence buy the Steel City industrial fence. It is by far the smoothest I have played with. I don't notice any deflection. It is a beast compared to the Delta T2 on my old contractor saw which I was happy with. The wood just glides along the plastic faces. I think it is a great fence for the money. I love mine now that I replaced the curser.

[Bruce Page]

I put one on my old Craftsman; it was a big improvement over the Sears piece o junk but not nearly as nice as a Bies. It got me a couple more years of use before I sold the Craftsman and bought my Unisaw. This was back in the late ‘90’s so I don’t know if it has changed. It looked like this one except it was anodized shiny black.

[Robert Payne]

It is standard equipment on a number of Grizzly saws -- I have one on my Grizzly G1023SLX 10" cabinet saw and my only complaint has been that the reference tape has begun to peel off the rails in one pot (which may have been my fault whaen I installed it in 2004). It is plenty solid and has maintained it's accuracy for me -- no deflection of any significance. I mounted a piece of hardwood on the top and the special t-track for a pair of Board Budies -- great hold-downs.

[Bob DiGiacomo]

Robert,
I am asking because I just bought the Grizzly tablesaw SLX, and am waiting for it to be delivered. How do you like your saw?

[Ron Jones near Indy]

No problems with mine.

[Brian Kent]

Wood magazine reviewed 14 fences in May, 2004. Their comments on the Shop Fox Classic were "Earned high marks across the board with low deflection." Sides parallel to .002".

Their only reservation was the cost, which isn't an issue when it comes with the saw you just bought: Comparable performance to the Biesemeyer, but costs $50 more.


My experience: Excellent. I can't force any deflection. 100% satisfied.

[Jim Podsedly]

I had the classic on my saw for three years and had nothing but great success with it.

I got a great deal on a Beis so i thought i would put that on my Grizz. I haven't completed any projects yet so no comparisons yet.

One thing i like about the Beis is the extension table.

Jim

[scott spencer]

I've used a friend's and thought it worked great. He has a Biese sitting in the corner and isn't inclined to replace the SF with it.

There should be no discernable deflection in use. Push against the fence just in front of the blade and see what happens....don't grab it from the tail end b/c that's not representative of the actual forces applied in use. Waxing the rails will keep it sliding easily.

About the only legitimate complaint I hear from owners is the UHMW plastic faces not being completely flat, and it's not an overly common issue. They can be shimmed or face planed on a jointer to flatten them if needed.

[Rob Blaustein]

Saw and fence are both great. I haven't felt the need to upgrade to one of a similar design. I think the only reason to change would be if you wanted a totally different design (eg Incra). I agree with Scott's comment re the UHMW face--I doubt that's unique to Grizz though. Mine was a bit wavy--probably not enough to matter but I ended up replacing it with a strip of phenolic coated baltic birch.

[Robert Payne]

Robert,
I am asking because I just bought the Grizzly tablesaw SLX, and am waiting for it to be delivered. How do you like your saw?
I like the saw a great deal. It has plenty of power, has stayed well aligned for a long time, the fence is very stable and, if the UHMW faces are out of flat, I wouldn't know it, because it is miniscule! I have Forrest WWII blade with a 5" stabilizer on it and it cuts very well, even ripping 8/4 oak. Very good price/performance.

Rob Payne

[Bob DiGiacomo]

Thanks for the information. I just got my new saw assembled it only took about 4-5 hours (book says 90 mins):eek: but I loved every minute of it. So far the fence seems awesome. I have a delta unisaw with a bies fence at work, and I can't tell the difference. Besides when I get to the point that a .002 fence deflection is screwing up my wood working projects, I will have to take up a new hobby like metalworking.

[glenn bradley]

Saw and fence are both great. I haven't felt the need to upgrade to one of a similar design. I think the only reason to change would be if you wanted a totally different design (eg Incra). I agree with Scott's comment re the UHMW face--I doubt that's unique to Grizz though. Mine was a bit wavy--probably not enough to matter but I ended up replacing it with a strip of phenolic coated baltic birch.

I think there have been a few posts here where folks have cured the waves by loosening or tightening the face mounting screws.

[Gary McKown]

... just clamp the rear to the saw or outfeed table. I have one on a 5-YO 1023SL, and when properly adjusted it clamps square and rigid, yet slides quite freely on a waxed tube and table top. Mine has very smooth faces, too, although I often use an auxilliary face and that becomes a moot point.

For those rare operations where I think unusual forces will be applied against (or would tend to lift) the fence, I clamp a length of 2X3, inserted into the far end of the fence tube, to the outfeed table.

[Rob Blaustein]

I think there have been a few posts here where folks have cured the waves by loosening or tightening the face mounting screws.

Glenn,
Yes, that does work, as does judicious placement of some masking tape. The reason I ended up replacing it with a wooden one was because I wanted to attach a steel plate to it via screws (for the magnetic featherboard gizmos) and I figured that wood would hold the screws better. Though frankly, it's possible that UHMW plastic holds screws just fine. OH, I think the other reason was that I wanted to make a taller fence since the steel plate is taller too. Not sure those are great reasons, but I made the new one anyway.

But I recently ditched the steel face and ended up going with board buddies so modified the fence further by attaching some bb with a T-track to the top.
--Rob