been looking for a good used cabinet saw

two have come my way

2003 unisaw w/ 52" unifence
2003 unisaw w/50" bies

both are priced about the same..

I have a Delta contactors w/ 40" home shop bies. I like the bies, but have
never worked with a unifence.

Is there a dollar point where you'd take one over the other? I assume it's a
commercial bies, but not sure yet. I have pics of the unifence - looks like
new.

The rails on the unifence look like all Aluminum. Is that a pro or con?

I guess I need to run down to the store and kicks the tires on a Unifence.
The Bies is no frills, but no spills either.

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:19:12 -0700, "Kevin"
wrote:

been looking for a good used cabinet saw

two have come my way

2003 unisaw w/ 52" unifence
2003 unisaw w/50" bies

both are priced about the same..

I have a Delta contactors w/ 40" home shop bies. I like the bies, but have
never worked with a unifence.

Is there a dollar point where you'd take one over the other? I assume it's a
commercial bies, but not sure yet. I have pics of the unifence - looks like
new.

The rails on the unifence look like all Aluminum. Is that a pro or con?

I guess I need to run down to the store and kicks the tires on a Unifence.
The Bies is no frills, but no spills either.


The shop I used to work at had a Unifence. I had nothing negative to
say about it. 10 years later when I bought a bunch of tools fom that
shop I noticed that someone lost the pointer to the fence. They had a
bunch of butchers in that shop after I left. If I recall correctly it
had an acrylic plate with a hairline. I seem to recall it worked well.
That fence had a 10 foot to the right of the blade guide. I don't know
why someone would want that but I guess maybe it had some value when
cutting large sheets of formica.

Hello Kevin,
I have used both in my shop at home; I had a unifence on a Craftsman
TS and I got a Biesemeyer when I upgraded to a Unisaw. Both have
their merits and I really missed the Unifence for the fist few months
but now I like the Bies better. One of the best features of the Bies
is its rectangular fence rail. I think that feature lends itself to
more home made jigs and fixtures, especial clamp on sacrificial fences
and sliding mortising jigs. It is heavier than the Unifience- a trait
I first disliked - but if you wax your table the bulk is less
noticeable.
I did like the fact that the Unifence could be set "off" the table and
its two position rail height was a nice feature but the Bies'
uniformity, as mentioned above makes it more user freindly now.
A good feature of the Unifence is its versatility as a cut off fence.
Simply "shorten" the rail by sliding it towards you (or buy the short
rail at an obscenely high price for a "stubby piece of aluminum").
Only draw back there is that the protruding rail can be a hazard to
your abdomen, etc. On the Bies, a cut-off short fence can be easily
affixed by a clamp.
Either way you'll be happy but if you already have a Bies, I'd suggest
you stay consistent. No "learning curve" to deal with.

Marc


On Jan 29, 7:19*pm, "Kevin"
wrote:
been looking for a good used cabinet saw

two have come my way

2003 unisaw w/ 52" unifence
2003 unisaw w/50" bies

*both are priced about the same..

I have a Delta contactors w/ 40" home shop bies. *I like the bies, but have
never worked with a unifence.

Is there a dollar point where you'd take one over the other? I assume it's a
commercial bies, but not sure yet. *I have pics of the unifence - looks like
new.

The rails on the unifence look like all Aluminum. *Is that a pro or con?

I guess I need to run down to the store and kicks the tires on a Unifence.
The Bies is no frills, but no spills either.

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:19:12 -0700, "Kevin"
wrote:

2003 unisaw w/ 52" unifence
2003 unisaw w/50" bies
both are priced about the same..
I have a Delta contactors w/ 40" home shop bies. I like the bies, but have
never worked with a unifence.

I've owned both and prefer the Bies. I sold my Unifence about a year
ago but it had been removed from my saw about a year before that.
Since you have a Bies, you already know what to expect.

The Uni is accurate enough but to me the biggest drawback is the need
to remove the fence from the arm and put it on the opposite side if I
needed to cut from the other side of the blade. Granted that was a
rare occasion for me but still it seemed a pain to take it off, bolt
it to the other side and then have to move it back when I was
finished.

You can also lay the fence down on the Uni to cut thin stock but I did
that once just to look at it and I don't believe I ever made a cut
with the fence in that position.

The rails on the unifence look like all Aluminum. Is that a pro or con?

Assuming you're not going to beat it up, it'll be fine.

I guess I need to run down to the store and kicks the tires on a Unifence.

That's your best bet.

Mike O.

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:19:12 -0700, "Kevin"
wrote:

been looking for a good used cabinet saw

two have come my way

2003 unisaw w/ 52" unifence
2003 unisaw w/50" bies

both are priced about the same..

I have a Delta contactors w/ 40" home shop bies. I like the bies, but have
never worked with a unifence.

Is there a dollar point where you'd take one over the other? I assume it's a
commercial bies, but not sure yet. I have pics of the unifence - looks like
new.

The rails on the unifence look like all Aluminum. Is that a pro or con?

I guess I need to run down to the store and kicks the tires on a Unifence.
The Bies is no frills, but no spills either.



Have both, used both, have sold both and like both.

The sales pitch when asked to compa

Unifence has a few more features. Fence can be pulled back to use as
a cuttoff guide with the scale still in use. Fence can be laid over
on the short side to let laminate hangover ride over the fence, scale
still good at secondary witness mark. Later models have stops that
are really nice when you have to break a setup to do another operation
but want to go back. Unifence has adjustment in all planes, including
perpendiculariy.

Biesmeyer is a little tougher with steel guide rail and HPL laminated
baltic birch over steel tube fence. Biesemeyer can be used on both
sides without switching the fence to the other side of the fence block
as with the Unifence. A little easier to attach feather boards, space
blocks and temporary sacrificial faces to the Biesemeyer. Scale is not
accurate with the attachment of a cuttoff space block. Biesemeyer, at
least in my day, did not have a perpendicularity adjustment, but the
factory took pains to get it right.

All the above while doing the side by side demo.

Good news is you have a choice and can't really go wrong either way.

If your primary use is throwing up boards and panels and ripping all
day long, I might suggest the biesemeyer. If not either way.

Frank

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:53:56 -0600, Frank Boettcher
wrote:

snip
Biesmeyer is ...... A little easier to attach feather boards, space
blocks and temporary sacrificial faces to the Biesemeyer.
snip

So just how do you attach feather boards, spaceblocks, and sacrificial
faces to a Unifence?

I have a Unifence and thats the most exasperating thing about it. Its
got that damned curved backside that prevents you from clamping
anything to it.

-dickm

"dicko" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:53:56 -0600, Frank Boettcher
wrote:

snip
Biesmeyer is ...... A little easier to attach feather boards, space
blocks and temporary sacrificial faces to the Biesemeyer.
snip

So just how do you attach feather boards, spaceblocks, and sacrificial
faces to a Unifence?

I have a Unifence and thats the most exasperating thing about it. Its
got that damned curved backside that prevents you from clamping
anything to it.

-dickm

You consider that a cute handle?

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...=fence%20clamp

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:54:22 GMT, "George" wrote:


"dicko" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:53:56 -0600, Frank Boettcher
wrote:

snip
Biesmeyer is ...... A little easier to attach feather boards, space
blocks and temporary sacrificial faces to the Biesemeyer.
snip

So just how do you attach feather boards, spaceblocks, and sacrificial
faces to a Unifence?

I have a Unifence and thats the most exasperating thing about it. Its
got that damned curved backside that prevents you from clamping
anything to it.

-dickm

You consider that a cute handle?

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...=fence%20clamp


And that really works with the Unifence's curved backside?

-dickm

On Jan 30, 1:45 pm, dicko wrote:
On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:54:22 GMT, "George" wrote:

"dicko" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:53:56 -0600, Frank Boettcher
wrote:

snip
Biesmeyer is ...... A little easier to attach feather boards, space
blocks and temporary sacrificial faces to the Biesemeyer.
snip

So just how do you attach feather boards, spaceblocks, and sacrificial
faces to a Unifence?

I have a Unifence and thats the most exasperating thing about it. Its
got that damned curved backside that prevents you from clamping
anything to it.

-dickm

You consider that a cute handle?

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...=fence%20clamp

And that really works with the Unifence's curved backside?

-dickm

When I was researching Bies vs Uni for my fence purchase last year, a
lot of folks said that they preferred the Unifence with the Uni-T-
Fence from T Track USA to a Bies fence. I have no experience with it,
but for $90, you can get enough Uni-T-Fence to give you a nice regular
fence and a little extra to trim off and use for a cutoff fence or
something similar.

http://www.ttrackusa.com/unifence.htm

-Nathan

"dicko" wrote in message
...

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...=fence%20clamp


And that really works with the Unifence's curved backside?

-dickm

If you put the matching fill strip in place, certainly. Though the fence is
really made to use these things, as memory serves.
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...lter=t%2Dtrack or at least
the design referenced modified to be held with T-track stuff.

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:26:42 -0600, dicko
wrote:

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:53:56 -0600, Frank Boettcher
wrote:

snip
Biesmeyer is ...... A little easier to attach feather boards, space
blocks and temporary sacrificial faces to the Biesemeyer.
snip

So just how do you attach feather boards, spaceblocks, and sacrificial
faces to a Unifence?

I have a Unifence and thats the most exasperating thing about it. Its
got that damned curved backside that prevents you from clamping
anything to it.

-dickm


I have to admit to having an extra fence where I have permantly
attached a wooden face that has cuts for a dado and molding
cutterhead. Slide the primary off and this one on.

I have a set of griptite magnetic featherboards and holdowns and have
installed the supplied steel plate to my primary fence, resetting the
face to the scale.

There is a flat on the extrusion that will take a block and provide a
good clamp surface. A little trouble but works fine.

Frank

Hmm.. interesting.. since the fence is replaceable.. that does lend it to
being somewhat flexible.

Now if only the cost for that aluminum extrusion was $35.. instead of
what? $150?




"Frank Boettcher" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:26:42 -0600, dicko
wrote:

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:53:56 -0600, Frank Boettcher
wrote:

snip
Biesmeyer is ...... A little easier to attach feather boards, space
blocks and temporary sacrificial faces to the Biesemeyer.
snip

So just how do you attach feather boards, spaceblocks, and sacrificial
faces to a Unifence?

I have a Unifence and thats the most exasperating thing about it. Its
got that damned curved backside that prevents you from clamping
anything to it.

-dickm


I have to admit to having an extra fence where I have permantly
attached a wooden face that has cuts for a dado and molding
cutterhead. Slide the primary off and this one on.

I have a set of griptite magnetic featherboards and holdowns and have
installed the supplied steel plate to my primary fence, resetting the
face to the scale.

There is a flat on the extrusion that will take a block and provide a
good clamp surface. A little trouble but works fine.

Frank

What about drilling 5 or 6 1/4" holes in the fence for afixing sacrificial
fences, etc?

I was thinking to do that with my Bies also, but never got around to it. I
was going to imbed inserts.

Is there for certain a flat on the backside of the Uni? That's important,
or I guess at least enough room for a 1/4" washer to span.

I'm gonna try to find a Uni to look at.

"Frank Boettcher" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:26:42 -0600, dicko
wrote:

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:53:56 -0600, Frank Boettcher
wrote:

snip
Biesmeyer is ...... A little easier to attach feather boards, space
blocks and temporary sacrificial faces to the Biesemeyer.
snip

So just how do you attach feather boards, spaceblocks, and sacrificial
faces to a Unifence?

I have a Unifence and thats the most exasperating thing about it. Its
got that damned curved backside that prevents you from clamping
anything to it.

-dickm


I have to admit to having an extra fence where I have permantly
attached a wooden face that has cuts for a dado and molding
cutterhead. Slide the primary off and this one on.

I have a set of griptite magnetic featherboards and holdowns and have
installed the supplied steel plate to my primary fence, resetting the
face to the scale.

There is a flat on the extrusion that will take a block and provide a
good clamp surface. A little trouble but works fine.

Frank

"Frank Boettcher" wrote...
[snip]
Biesmeyer .... Scale is not
accurate with the attachment of a cuttoff space block.

While this is true it is easily compensated for by making a 1" spacer
block and attaching it to the fence, then setting the fence 1" longer than
the needed cutoff length. Even the most severely math challenged can
manage this.

Biesemeyer, at
least in my day, did not have a perpendicularity adjustment, but the
factory took pains to get it right.

Mine was dead nuts on from the factory for both sides.
Art

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:37:04 GMT, "George" wrote:


"dicko" wrote in message
.. .

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...=fence%20clamp


And that really works with the Unifence's curved backside?

-dickm

If you put the matching fill strip in place, certainly. Though the fence is
really made to use these things, as memory serves.
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...lter=t%2Dtrack or at least
the design referenced modified to be held with T-track stuff.


Ok, maybe this explains my confusion. What matching fill strip???????
Am I missing some pieces?

Is this something that comes with the fence or the clamps?

I've been wrestling with this ever since I got the saw. I watch Norm
on TV and he has all these neat jigs and such that he attaches to his
Beisemeyer fence and I just never saw how to do that kind of stuff
with my Unifence. So maybe this is a good reason to get the Beis,
you dont have to mess around to attach a sacrificial fence to it.

-dick

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:15:05 -0700, "Kevin"
wrote:

What about drilling 5 or 6 1/4" holes in the fence for afixing sacrificial
fences, etc?

I was thinking to do that with my Bies also, but never got around to it. I
was going to imbed inserts.

Is there for certain a flat on the backside of the Uni? That's important,
or I guess at least enough room for a 1/4" washer to span.

I'm gonna try to find a Uni to look at.

"Frank Boettcher" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:26:42 -0600, dicko
wrote:

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:53:56 -0600, Frank Boettcher
wrote:

snip
Biesmeyer is ...... A little easier to attach feather boards, space
blocks and temporary sacrificial faces to the Biesemeyer.
snip

So just how do you attach feather boards, spaceblocks, and sacrificial
faces to a Unifence?

I have a Unifence and thats the most exasperating thing about it. Its
got that damned curved backside that prevents you from clamping
anything to it.

-dickm


I have to admit to having an extra fence where I have permantly
attached a wooden face that has cuts for a dado and molding
cutterhead. Slide the primary off and this one on.

I have a set of griptite magnetic featherboards and holdowns and have
installed the supplied steel plate to my primary fence, resetting the
face to the scale.

There is a flat on the extrusion that will take a block and provide a
good clamp surface. A little trouble but works fine.

Frank


My unifence has this big concave extruded backside surface that
precludes attaching anything to it without a lot of monkeying around.
I guess I'll go on record as saying I regret not getting the beis.
when I bought the saw.
-dick

"Kevin" wrote
What about drilling 5 or 6 1/4" holes in the fence for afixing sacrificial
fences, etc?

I was thinking to do that with my Bies also, but never got around to it. I
was going to imbed inserts.

I was going to do that to my Bies too, but procrastination won out and
then Rockler came out with these:
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...=fence%20clamp
They work great and are easily moved from one aux fence/jig to another. The
only minor gripe I had was that when attached to a Bies the screw and knob
stick waay out away from the fence. I cut off the knob and some of the screw
then used locktite to secure new threaded knobs to the screw. Now I just need
to find some clamp pads which will fit so the metal cups don't dig into the Bies.
Art

maybe another way to look at it is..

everyone cloned the Bies...

noboby cloned the Uni.. (though it may be under tight enough patents)

or.. Delta bought Bies..

pound for pound, I'm probably going to lean towards the Bies...

but I have photos of the saw w/ uni and mmm.mmmm.. sure looks nice..

haha..

Yeah, this spawns some great ideas.. and gets me close to justifying the
welder I "need" ;-)

need a custom made 'clamp' sized for the fence.

again. this looks to be Bies only fixture..

"Artemus" wrote in message
. ..

"Kevin" wrote
What about drilling 5 or 6 1/4" holes in the fence for afixing
sacrificial
fences, etc?

I was thinking to do that with my Bies also, but never got around to it.
I
was going to imbed inserts.

I was going to do that to my Bies too, but procrastination won out and
then Rockler came out with these:
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...=fence%20clamp
They work great and are easily moved from one aux fence/jig to another.
The
only minor gripe I had was that when attached to a Bies the screw and knob
stick waay out away from the fence. I cut off the knob and some of the
screw
then used locktite to secure new threaded knobs to the screw. Now I just
need
to find some clamp pads which will fit so the metal cups don't dig into
the Bies.
Art

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:05:33 -0700, "Kevin"
wrote:

Hmm.. interesting.. since the fence is replaceable.. that does lend it to
being somewhat flexible.

Now if only the cost for that aluminum extrusion was $35.. instead of
what? $150?


Don't know. Mine was cosmetic assembly line reject. Cost exactly
what we got for clean aluminum scrap by the pound.

Frank



"Frank Boettcher" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:26:42 -0600, dicko
wrote:

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:53:56 -0600, Frank Boettcher
wrote:

snip
Biesmeyer is ...... A little easier to attach feather boards, space
blocks and temporary sacrificial faces to the Biesemeyer.
snip

So just how do you attach feather boards, spaceblocks, and sacrificial
faces to a Unifence?

I have a Unifence and thats the most exasperating thing about it. Its
got that damned curved backside that prevents you from clamping
anything to it.

-dickm


I have to admit to having an extra fence where I have permantly
attached a wooden face that has cuts for a dado and molding
cutterhead. Slide the primary off and this one on.

I have a set of griptite magnetic featherboards and holdowns and have
installed the supplied steel plate to my primary fence, resetting the
face to the scale.

There is a flat on the extrusion that will take a block and provide a
good clamp surface. A little trouble but works fine.

Frank

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:15:05 -0700, "Kevin"
wrote:

What about drilling 5 or 6 1/4" holes in the fence for afixing sacrificial
fences, etc?

That's what I did on the second fence.

I was thinking to do that with my Bies also, but never got around to it. I
was going to imbed inserts.

Is there for certain a flat on the backside of the Uni? That's important,
or I guess at least enough room for a 1/4" washer to span.

1-3/8" approx. for the whole length.

I'm gonna try to find a Uni to look at.

"Frank Boettcher" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:26:42 -0600, dicko
wrote:

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:53:56 -0600, Frank Boettcher
wrote:

snip
Biesmeyer is ...... A little easier to attach feather boards, space
blocks and temporary sacrificial faces to the Biesemeyer.
snip

So just how do you attach feather boards, spaceblocks, and sacrificial
faces to a Unifence?

I have a Unifence and thats the most exasperating thing about it. Its
got that damned curved backside that prevents you from clamping
anything to it.

-dickm


I have to admit to having an extra fence where I have permantly
attached a wooden face that has cuts for a dado and molding
cutterhead. Slide the primary off and this one on.

I have a set of griptite magnetic featherboards and holdowns and have
installed the supplied steel plate to my primary fence, resetting the
face to the scale.

There is a flat on the extrusion that will take a block and provide a
good clamp surface. A little trouble but works fine.

Frank

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:36:27 -0700, "Kevin"
wrote:

maybe another way to look at it is..

everyone cloned the Bies...

Yep

noboby cloned the Uni.. (though it may be under tight enough patents)

Much, much more expensive to tool up. Most biese clones use off the
shelf structurals with very little post processing. Unifence has
expensive dies, machining fixtures, and machine tools for the body,
porthole extrusion dies for the guide and fence.

or.. Delta bought Bies..

Yep, gave Delta the best two fence systems at the time.

pound for pound, I'm probably going to lean towards the Bies...

Good choice

but I have photos of the saw w/ uni and mmm.mmmm.. sure looks nice..

Another good choice.

haha..

Frank

"dicko" wrote in message
...

Ok, maybe this explains my confusion. What matching fill strip???????
Am I missing some pieces?


Find a woodworker to make one.

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:27:05 GMT, dicko
wrote:

My unifence has this big concave extruded backside surface that
precludes attaching anything to it without a lot of monkeying around.
I guess I'll go on record as saying I regret not getting the beis.
when I bought the saw.

The Uni's are pretty easy to sell. A little more difficult to ship.
I sold mine locally in 2 days.

Mike O.