1. Is this saw worth investing in a aftermarket fence?

IMHO, absolutely. a delta t2 or a vega 40 will greatly enhance it's level of precision.

2. Will a link belt and machined pulleys make a noticeable difference?

yes, but i'd check the existing pulleys for coplanarity first. even with machined pulleys adn a link belt, pulleys that are non-coplanar can generatea significant amount of vibration.

3. Is having the blade .015 out of parallel with the miter slots too much? Will it only effect crosscuts?

IMHO, yes, it's too much. if the blade is nearer to the miter slot at the outfeed side of the blade, it could result in kickback as the work piece is pinched between the fence and the blade as the work piece is fed through the blade.. the arrangement that hold the trunions to the underside of the table is a simple one. i have two similar (113 series) saws, one a c-man and the other a ridgid. a little patience can result in the blade (or arbor flange) being dead parallel to the miter slot:

infeed side of blade:

outfeed side of blade:

the key is to loosen the trunion bolts just enough , with one of the front corner trunion bolts jjuusstt loose enough to act as a pivot point for the trunion assembly. once the rear trunion is tapped left or right into alignment, careful and slow "star pattern" tightening of the bolts will affix the trunion in place.

4. Since the motor is only rated at 1hp, can I effectively cut thicker wood by cutting half way thru one side then flipping it over to cut the other to complete the cut? Or simply raise the blade incrementally?

with the proper ripping blade(sharp carbide teeth, aggressive hook angle and 24 or fewer teeth), that saw will rip 8/4 hardwoods in a single pass. at least mine will. you can't shove it through like you would on a 3hp cabinet saw, but with a properly modulated feed rate, that saw will handle almost anything a hobbyist will encounter. and, if raising the blade to complete a cut, be sure to use a featherboard to keep the work piece firmly against the fence.

hope this helps.

 

toolie,

thanks for your comments they are very helpful. I'll give adjusting the trunnion another try over the weekend to see if I can get the blade to be parallel with the miter slot.

Btw, when I did some searching recently for a Delta T2 fence, they seem unavailable everywhere I looked?

 

@Targa-+1 to toolie's comments. He knows what he's talking about re: C'man 113 saw rehabs. That is a good saw. I also did one over a year ago, and I put the link belt on it with the factory pulleys. It's smooth and pulls well. If you can get cast iron wings, that will get you a little extra weight for stability. I put the Delta T2 on mine too. Good luck finding one-you might luck out finding the same or a similar saw for sale and get a better fence as part of the deal.

 

The fence is definitely worth an upgrade.

Get the alignment within +/-0.003" if you can. 0.15" is too much.

I'd hold off on the link belt and pulleys until you see if you need them. Replacing a belt and pulleys that are working great won't make much difference, but if they're the cause of any vibration, then a link belt could help. When and if you decide, I'd try the belt first, and only add the pulleys if needed.

 

I also have a 113 Craftsman saw I bought new in '82. Mine has the CI webbed wings and the 1 1/2hp motor. I can rip 8/4 stock with ease. The only modification I've done is a link belt from HF. Follow toolie's instructions for setting the trunions and you can really dial the blade in. I've made do with the original fence for so long, I have no problems with it at all. You learn to adapt to the fence inconsistencies over time. Lol.

Btw, when I did some searching recently for a Delta T2 fence, they seem unavailable everywhere I looked?

This seems to be the norm lately. The new owners of Delta, for whatever reason, are having problems. Nobody knows exactly what, but there are no tools or parts getting to the market. Even the eBay market for T2's has dried up because of the demand!

 

if t2s are too hard to come by, the vega 40 also gets good reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=vega%2040%20table%20saw%20fence

also, don't overlook these OEM fence systems.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Craftsman-Professional-Align-A-Rp-24-12-Rip-Fence-System-for-table-saw-/161080425164?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2581243acc

i have a similar one on a ridgid 2412 and it's every bit as accurate and reliable as the delta t2 on my 113 series c-man. it's not a t-square fence, but when properly dialed in, it'll do everything the t2 will do AND, the rails can be shifted to the right for greater right of blade rip capacity very easily. it renders the front rail tape measure useless, but that's a small price to pay for the added rip capacity.

 

I made some progress aligning my table saw blade to the miter slot. Using toolie's suggested approach I was able to get the infeed side of the blade to within .002 of the outfeed side of the blade.

Instead of rigging up my dial indicator somehow and taking much more time, I made a quick jig (pictures are hopefully attached) that utilizes measuring the relationship of the end of a screw and a tooth on the saw blade with a feeler gauge. I marked one tooth rotating it 180 degrees to measure the infeed and outfeed sides. Its not pretty, but it's adjustable and works pretty well. Some day after I get my shop up and running I'll make something more elaborate. Btw, I'm not used to Photobucket so the pictures may not be correct.

Patent pending. lol

 

I was looking on EBay as well as the Grizzly and Amazon web sites for Table Saw fences to upgrade my original craftsman fence.

I saw the Shop Fox W1410 fence which looks similar in design with the Craftsman-Professional-Align-A-Rip fence toolie suggested for consideration as a alternative to the more expensive T2 and Vega 40 fences.

Grizzly has it on sale at $152.95 + $16.95 shipping with no sales tax which looks like a pretty good deal.

One question about fences is whether having a longer T Square type design that extends past the back edge of the saw's table is better than one that clamps at both ends but is only the length of the saw's table like the W1410?

Anyone have any experience or opinion on whether this is also a good fence to consider?

Thank you

 

I also have a 113 Craftsman table saw. Mine had the OEM micro adjust fence. The fence when properly setup worked will. However moving it was difficult and the fence length is very short. I managed to purchase a Vega pro 40 on Ebay for $160 and have never looked back. The longer fence produces much smoother and straighter cuts.

A tip for adjusting the trunions. I loosen the bolts on the trunion and then move it using a bar clamp. I adjust the clamp to zero out the deflection and then tighten the trunion bolts.

 

looks like a nice fence, but i wonder about the bearing surfaces against which the fence registers. it looks like the fence rests against the thin edge of a length of angle iron. just not sure if that's enough surface area for the fence.

 

I have a lead on a new Biesemeyer model 78-902 42" fence and wonder whether it too would be a reasonable fence to consider for replacing my stock fence on my 113 craftsman table saw?

Have not been able to find many reviews of it. Is it an oddball or one that is less desirable than a Delta T2 or Vega 40?

 

The Delta T2 and Vega 40 are based on the Biesemyer fence. Biesmeyer was owned by Delta. I don't know if it still is after the sale of Delta by B&D to Chang Type Industrial. Any of those fences would be great to have.

 

Is it an oddball

doesn't appear to be:

http://www.deltamachinery.com/accessories/biesemeyer/item/78-902

looks like a nice unit. i assume the one you're chasing also comes with the fence rails? looks like it will work just like a t2 will. here's a good article i found on mounting a delta tsquare to a c-man contractor saw:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Retrofitting-A-Delta-T2-Fence-to-a-Craftsman-Table/#step1

 

Toolie asked the same question I had….does that Biese come with rails? It's a great fence at the right price, but it will need rails to function.

 

Amazon has them for sale, but they're sold seperatly. $209.12 for the fence from Amazon and 139.95 for the rails from Grizzly. The fence price is the best I could find anywhere.

http://www.amazon.com/DELTA-78-902-42-Inch-Table-Fence/dp/B0006OHG48/ref=pd_bxgy_hi_text_y

http://www.amazon.com/Biesemeyer-78-130-Delta-Table-Guide/dp/B000RFPJSQ/ref=pd_bxgy_hi_text_y

 

knotscott said - Toolie asked the same question I had….does that Biese come with rails?

I haven't seen it yet, so I need to find out. Thanks for the heads up that the fence and rails seem to be sold separately.

 

Btw, do most aftermarket fences like the Vega's and Biesemeyer's have an adjustment to insure the face of the fence is perpendicular to the saw's table top?

 

to insure the face of the fence is perpendicular to the saw's table top?

i've not seen a TS fence that make that face adjustable relative to the table top. where fence faces are not perpendicular to the table, all i've ever seen is an added fence face shimmed to be perpendicular to the table.

 

If the fence is not perpendicular to the table top and there's no way to adjust the fence itself, you can likely shim or adjust the fence rails in some way to make it perpendicular. There's only a couple of things that can cause the fence to be out of square with the table top, after all.

 

My Xacta II fence has adjustments to square it with the table….they're incredibly simple, so it boggles the mind that Biesemeyer would omit such a simple feature. They're generally really close, but I used tape to shim my Biesemeyer.

 

My Xacta II fence has adjustments to square it with the table

any chance for a pic or two of the part of the fence that facilitates that adjustment?

 

Sure. This set up is a Jet Xacta II fence (basically an HTC fence made in the USA) with a router fence attachment mounted on Shop Fox Classic rails, on a Shop Fox W1677 saw. The adjustment screws are simple nylon threads that use a hex wrench to tweak it square to the table….pretty much the same type screws used to adjust parallelism.

 

those adjusting points appear to be on the fence head. won't those adjustments also change the space between the bottom of the fence and the table top?

 

Increasing that distance by a few millimeters won't matter at all. There's always a small gap there anyway.

 

I have a lead on a new Biesemeyer model 78-902 42" fence and wonder whether it too would be a reasonable fence to consider for replacing my stock fence on my 113 craftsman table saw?

Well, this lead didn't pan out because it was for just the fence and the price was too high.

Now I'm trying to decide which new T-square fence to buy and I'd like a little more input.

The leading choices are as follows:

- Woodstock's Shop Fox Classic W2005 with standard rails giving a 25" rip capacity (available to my door for $325.00 )

- Vega U26 with standard rails giving a 26" rip capacity ( price is somewhere around $350ish but not available for a month or two)

- Vega Pro 40 with 40" rip capacity (available to my door for about $310 )

- Delta 78-902 fence with 78-130 rails having a 30"rip capacity for about $400.00 w/ sales tax and shipping from two sources to my door

I've been scanning EBay and Craig's list for used ones but they seem hard to find so I'm going with new.

I think I prefer the standard size rails because they will fit better in my shop plus I do not seeing myself ripping beyond 25" or 26".

The Shop Fox Classic W2005 with standard rails seems to be the best match, but the Vega Pro 40 appears to be the best value if I used the extra rip capacity.

Anyone have any experience with the Shop Fox Classic? Good or bad.

I would appreciate your thoughts.

Thank you