"Dale Lorenzen" wrote in message ...
Thanks to everyone for responding. Hope no one minds if I pick up the
thread here.

This particular saw is one of the new Craftsman hybrid saws. The one I'm
looking at is the middle of the line model #22114. It has the all cast iron
table top but has the Craftsman fence instead of the Beismeyer. It also has
the hybrid style cabinet instead of the closed cabinet like the saw with the
Beismeyer fence. I went back to Sears today to have a look again and even
though the fence looks like similar to the Align-a-rip (from what I can tell
from pictures of the Align-a-rip at least) I think that's maybe where the
similarity ends. I tried everything I could think of to look at to see why
it may be flexing. The fence is made from extruded aluminum and I'm
thinking it just isn't stiff enough not to flex under pressure. The lock
down on the rear of the fence only seems to be there to keep the fence from
lifting off the table top. I was a little disappointed after seeing how
solid the Beismeyer is. I'm was hoping it it was possibly a less than
enthusiastic setup by the Sears sales staff, but I've looked at it at a
number of different stores in the LA area (I'm up to 5 now) and seem to be
getting the same results. I even opened up the machine and thumbed through
the manual and couldn't find anything in it to suggest a solution.

Cheers,

Dale

I've had a ryobi bt3000 for a few years, it has an aluminum fence that
does not deflect at all. Rock solid. There is a rod that runs down the
inside to the back that actuates a lever that locks the back end down
tight. IIRC, this saw or a version of it is/was being sold by Sears,
you may be able to see one when you are there.
One of the very most important things I looked for in a saw when
buying it was a stable fence, and in several stores was dissappointed
with most of the saws, until I realized most of them were not set up
and adjusted correctly. How any business could expect to sell
something like that, I'll never know. Sorta like a car dealer
displaying a car that does not run, or with the wheels so loose
they're falling off! The Ryobi was one of the few that were correctly
adjusted...