Biesemeyer commercial fence extension

[Jack Clay]

I have a 30 inch Biesemeyer commercial fence that I have had for several years. I bought it from the factory blemished that they had on there website. I wanted a 50 at that time but thought 30 would be fine. Now I have the room and need for the 50. I went to check with the site and they no longer have there blemished department or a stand alone site. It now goes to a Delta site with Biesemeyer equipment. Now that they are owned by Delta I guess this make sense. Back to my problem, I have seen on this site were people have made there own fence system. I would just like to change out or extend the rail to 50 inches. Has anybody added or changed there rail or some one that has mad there own fence system what did you do for the rail. I know you could by the square tubing but is it true enough for a fence system or would it need to be milled. I would appreciate any input.

[Matt Meiser]

Jack, in a previous thread someone said that they found standard tubing was straight enough. The back rail is easy--just 2-1/2"x2"x3/16" angle. The front rail I haven't measured.

You can get an extra 10" out of the 30" rails by shifting them to the right. You loose the ability to do much to the left of the blade, but if you are like me, you never do anyway. It won't quite let you split a sheet of plywood in 1/2, but I've found that I usually wanted just a couple extra inches so this should meet my needs nicely.

[Jim O'Dell]

I'm in a similar situation. But I haven't mounted my 30" Biese yet. I've even wondered if maybe another 30" section could be "tagged on" and aligned up with a new longer angle iron piece to get the extra length. The thinking is more people would have an extra 30" rail they'd want to get rid of than a 50" one. ;) I know it wouldn't be ideal, but thinking it might work. Jim.

[Matt Meiser]

I don't see why you couldn't do that, but alignment would be critical. I think it would be easier to just buy a longer length of tubing.

[Jack Clay]

I read somewhere that someone had put tubes together and they made a block of wood that fit inside the tubes and drove screws in were the fence did not ride. I would like the longer fence because I have my router table on the left side of the saw so I cannot just slide it down. That is a great idea if I did not want to use the fence for my router.

[Keith Pitman]

Not responsive to your question, but I've seen 50" rails on Ebay before.

[Dick Brown]

Stock 2x3" x 1/8 or 3/16 rectangular tube from any steel company will work fine. Run over it lightly with your belt sander just in case there is a small burr or nick, drill and tap for the mounting bolts and you are good to go. Have left them unpainted and also painted them even where the pads ride on them. If you keep them waxed, both work fine. The angle that the tube bolts to doesn't have to go to the end of the tube except for the right table to mount to unless you need the table for the far end of the fence to ride on. I like the system like the T-2 fence and several other makes where they support the far end of the fence on an angle across the back of the saw table with the horizontal flange up and just below the miter slots with a block on the bottom of the fence that rides on that flange. To do that, you would replace the complete stock back angle with a whole new one. I use 1-1/2 x 3/16 angle for a 30" fence but if I wanted a 50" I would use 2" for extra stiffness. Also you will need to address the blade gaurd issue dependent an your saw make and such.
Good luck,
Dick

[Josiah Bartlett]

The Shop Fox fence is a Biesmeyer clone and the 50 inch rails are available separately through Amazon or Grizzly. I have the Shop Fox fence, if you want to post the measurements of your box section rail I could see if mine is the same. The inner edge of the box section has a nice machines section which keeps the fence square, so unless you can duplicate this just adding a square box section isn't going to work as well.

[Dick Brown]

Hi,
I have the Shopfox fence on my Shopfox saw and used 2"x3" rec. tube when I went to a 50" cut cap. I would like to say that it is every bit as good as my Biesemeyer fence IMHO. One thing you need to be aware of at least in my and a friends case who canged to a 50" cut is that the Shopfox rail is apparently metric as it took a bit of "adjustment" with a drill and file on the cam hole to make the 2x3 work with the shopfox fence. Therfore, if you ordered a shopfox rail, you would find it a wee bit smaller O.D than the Biesemeyer. I would also add that the SF fence with standard 2x3 tube rail and no machined face works every bit as smooth as the Bies. with machined tracks. Need to keep them both waxed to work best.
Dick

[Jack Clay]

So it sounds like what everybody is saying the problem might be how the fence will ride on the tube not that it would be out of square. Is that correct?