Delta UniFence Upgrade

[CPeter James]

People either love or hate a Delta Unifence. It has many features that no other fence has and can be set up for many different cutting options. I like the ability to slide the fence back off the leading edge of the saw table to better align a long board when ripping. One thing I did not like was the fact that almost all the weight was cantilevered and carried on a nylon foot in the middle of the fence and that when you adjusted the fence position, it was dragged across the table surface. When I moved the fence to my new-to-me PM72 from the PM66, I gave this some thought and came up with the following solution, simple but it works like a charm. The rollers are #608 bearings used in skateboard wheels. The aluminum is ¼" and the fasteners are all 5/16"x18. The stud that the bearings are mounted on are threaded into the aluminum and super glued in place. There is a small spacer washer between the bearing and the mounting plate for clearance.

This upgrade makes the movement of the fence extremely smoooooth!
CPeter

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[Bill Space]

I remember a recent(?) thread I read somewhere, perhaps here at SMC, where someone else came up with pretty much the same solution.

Looks good!

i love my unifences! May have to make a similar improvement!

Bill

[CPeter James]

Probably mine on OWWM.
CPeter

[Jim Becker]

The fence on my Minimax S315WS slider has the roller setup integral. Your mod is a nice improvement on what is otherwise about the best fence every provided for a North American design saw...IMHO, which I know some folks don't share.

[Mike Kees]

I agree with you Jim.That is a great idea. I have a 1' long fence piece that came with a saw that I bought. It was a factory piece. When I used a crosscut box on my saw I used it all the time.Now with a slider in the shop not so much. This upgrade is the final piece to perfect an already great fence. Mike.

[Bill Space]

Probably mine on OWWM.
CPeter

Yes, it was your threads at OWWM that I remembered. Enjoyed reading the evolution of your design. Hope they combine the three threads you posted. Great reference for unifence owners!

Like Jim, I think the Unifence an excellent design. At some point I may copy your modification. Right now the bump over the miter slot is not a biggie for me. But after 20+ years of using the Unifence I probably am just used to it!