Bandsaw Fences

[Jon Grider]

After 30 years of using a home made fence on my 14" bandsaw with riser block, I've decided to purchase a commercially made fence. The online giant store has two I'm interested in, The Kreg KMS 7200 and the Carter fence that attaches to the table with magnets. Any feedback with pros and cons on these two fences from owners? Thanks in advance.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I bought a Kreg fence to go on an 18" Parks bandsaw and it works fine. The only downside I see is that I have to take the fence rail off the table to change the blade, but it's just two bolts and I change blades very infrequently so it's not a big deal. If the blade slot goes to the side on your saw you wouldn't have this problem anyway. The scale is easy to read and the fence stays square and is adjustable if it ever needed to be changed.

[Jay Norton]

I have the Kreg fence on my Rikon 14” and it works well. I also had it on a 14” Delta Clone

If your saw is a Delta Clone, the Kreg will likely bolt on using existing holes on the table.

Kreg provides a cross reference list of compatibility and mounting modifications needed (if any)

https://www.kregtool.com/on/demandwa...lity-chart.pdf

[Steve Eure]

If your saw has any blade drift, I personally would shy away from a magnetic base fence. You would have to readjust and make test cuts each time you moved the fence. If your blade cuts square to the fence, then that's not an issue. I've had three saws in my 48 years of WW and have never had one cut square to the fence. Others may have different opinions on this. Once I have my fence where it cuts straight, I've never had to change it even when changing blades of different types.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I refuse to accept a bandsaw that won't cut straight and I keep messing with them till they do. So far it's worked with the three I've had fences on. I did have to drill one extra hole in the rail to mount the Kreg fence on my saw, but it's aluminum so it drills pretty easily.

[Frederick Skelly]

Here's another vote for the Kreg fence.
Nice tool.

[Dave Sabo]

Mag fence is idiotic in my view.

every time you want to change the cut width , you’re gonna be futzing with the alignment , drift , ect…..whatever you want to call call it because there’s no way you’re gonna keep the fence parallel to the cut line with two mounting points.

[Lee Schierer]

Mag fence is idiotic in my view.

every time you want to change the cut width , you’re gonna be futzing with the alignment , drift , ect…..whatever you want to call call it because there’s no way you’re gonna keep the fence parallel to the cut line with two mounting points.

If your saw has any blade drift, I personally would shy away from a magnetic base fence. You would have to readjust and make test cuts each time you moved the fence. If your blade cuts square to the fence, then that's not an issue. I've had three saws in my 48 years of WW and have never had one cut square to the fence. Others may have different opinions on this. Once I have my fence where it cuts straight, I've never had to change it even when changing blades of different types.

I have an earlier version of the Kreg BS fence and it works pretty well, but the Kreg KMS 7200 looks much more precise. If you adjust the table so the miter slot is aligned with the cut line, you can eliminate blade drift entirely even when you change blades. I can change to different blades and still get no drift when ripping. I followed the techniques identified in this video and I can now use my fence for ripping/resawing and square making crosscuts.

[Rick Potter]

Thanks for posting that video Lee. I am one of those people guilty of using the 'handles'. I seldom use my Delta 14" for resaw, but I am gonna check it to see if I have moved the table.

[Jon Grider]

I watched Michael Fortune's video, thanks Lee, it's very informative. I've settled on the Kreg for my Delta 28-203. Looks like I'll just have to drill one hole per the chart Jay gave the link to. Thank you all for the input.

[Alex Kapl]

I have a 14" Porter cable bandsaw and carter magnetic fence. My blade and table are not alligned well, not sure how it happened. I tried to fix it, got it close but don't have enough adjustment range to allign it. Maybe I'm doing something wrong but it just doesn't allign. I'm using carter fence with FAST magnets and it works ok for alligning fence to blade. The big problem i ran into is the shitty cast iron in the porter cable table. its not magnetic enough so when I engage the magnets on the fence, when i resaw wood it pushes the fence away from the blade. So What I have to do now is get everything alligned lock the fence with magnets and then clamp it. Very annoying. I ordered an extra magnet and it should arrive today. hopefully adding extra one will get the fence to stick.

[Zachary Hoyt]

That's an interesting approach. I've never tried to change the alignment of the table to the frame on a bandsaw, but have been able to get the blade to cut parallel to the miter slot by adjusting where the blade runs on the wheels, by changing the blade tilt. Maybe I've been lucky that all the bandsaws I have had had the table already where it needed to be. They have all been well used before I got them.

[Lee Schierer]

That's an interesting approach. I've never tried to change the alignment of the table to the frame on a bandsaw, but have been able to get the blade to cut parallel to the miter slot by adjusting where the blade runs on the wheels, by changing the blade tilt. Maybe I've been lucky that all the bandsaws I have had had the table already where it needed to be. They have all been well used before I got them.

I used to do that type of adjustment as well, but it was pretty hit or miss. After adjusting the table on my Delta 14", I simply center the blade on the upper wheel, tension it to almost any level and I get good straight cuts. I can switch between 1/4" and 1/2" blades with very little tilt adjustment and get straight rips using my fence. I use my band saw a lot more now than I did before.

[Dave Sabo]

I have a 14" Porter cable bandsaw and carter magnetic fence. My blade and table are not alligned well, not sure how it happened. I tried to fix it, got it close but don't have enough adjustment range to allign it. Maybe I'm doing something wrong but it just doesn't allign. I'm using carter fence with FAST magnets and it works ok for alligning fence to blade. The big problem i ran into is the shitty cast iron in the porter cable table. its not magnetic enough so when I engage the magnets on the fence, when i resaw wood it pushes the fence away from the blade. So What I have to do now is get everything alligned lock the fence with magnets and then clamp it. Very annoying. I ordered an extra magnet and it should arrive today. hopefully adding extra one will get the fence to stick.

Doubt you're doing anything wrong - you've just subscribed to MF's and other's new view (erroneous in my opinion) that you should align the blade to the table. Your table just doesn't have enough adjustment to get you there.



A fence that adjusted for drift would though.


Which, yours does except that it's a total PIA and doesn't hold well.

[Cary Falk]

I haven't used either fence but I would avoid the Carter magnetic fence for all the reasons stated.