Good time to upgrade the whole TS fence vs just getting long rails?

[kooshball]

I have the G1023Z saw with the 25" rail Shop Fox Fence listed below:
http://www.grizzly.com/outlet/Fence-w-Standard-Rails/G4722

I currently don't have issues with parallelism but just don't have enough rip capacity and have ordered the 49" rip length rails. Unfortunately, the rails arrived looking like bananas and have been promptly returned / exchanged.

The more I think about the length of these rails vs. their thickness and lack of cast iron for support at the far right of the saw, the more I am concerned that I will never get a set of perfectly straight rails long enough for a 49" rip. my other concern is that this fence locks on the back rail and as a result won't allow an out feed table to butt against the saw. In fact it won't get any closer than around 7.5" to the table which is less than ideal but with a small chamfer to prevent binding could be worked around.

So now for the questions:
-Which commercially available fences allow an out feed table to butt up right to the back of the table saw?
-Has anyone had success with the 49" rip rails on this exact fence / saw setup?
-Is the 7"-8" gap formed by the "free standing" out feed table really an issue (if I chamfer it to give a ramp effect)

As always, thanks!

 

[McRabbet]

Re: Going for longer rails (~50") good time to upgrade the whole fence?

I have the Grizzly G1023SLX which comes with http://www.grizzly.com/products/The-Classic-Fence-w-7-Rails-Legs/G92207' rails and the Shop Fox Classic fence (a Biesemeyer clone) that is sold separately by Grizzly as item G09220. The rails are very heavy and have outer support legs for the table that came with the saw. The fence and rails you have are much lighter weight, I believe.

I also built an outfeed table that overlaps the angle iron on the outfeed side of the saw and works very well. I adapted the design from an article by Paul Anthony in Taunton Press book on Shop workstations. PM me with your email address for specifics if you are interested.

View image in gallery​

 

[kooshball]

Re: Going for longer rails (~50") good time to upgrade the whole fence?

How is the deflection on this; can I assume that it is heavy enough to lock and smartly and not deflect under the usual side pressure applied during ripping to keep the material against the fence?

Has anyone ever measure the force vs. distance deflection on a modern collection of fences (by modern I mean more recent than the FWW article in 1998)?

Thanks

I have the Grizzly G1023SLX which comes with http://www.grizzly.com/products/The-Classic-Fence-w-7-Rails-Legs/G92207' rails and the Shop Fox Classic fence (a Biesemeyer clone) that is sold separately by Grizzly as item G09220. The rails are very heavy and have outer support legs for the table that came with the saw. The fence and rails you have are much lighter weight, I believe.

I also built an outfeed table that overlaps the angle iron on the outfeed side of the saw and works very well. I adapted the design from an article by Paul Anthony in Taunton Press book on Shop workstations. PM me with your email address for specifics if you are interested.

View image in gallery​

 

[McRabbet]

Re: Going for longer rails (~50") good time to upgrade the whole fence?

I have found this fence to be very stable with minimum deflection. It has remained parallel to the miter slots and blade for several years. I have not noticed any deflection when cutting sheet goods or hardwood, but then I tend not to try to push stock in that direction except to maintain it against the fence.

 

[hockey1]

McRabbet
I have the aluma classic fence system and its has a foot attached to the bottom fence that rides along the aft rail to support the back of the fence. Does the fence you own have this same foot? If so how well does it ride on your outfeed table? Does it bind up on your miter slot grooves? I hope that wasn't too many questions but I am interested in building my own outfeed table and don't want to have that doh! moment in the process.
Thanks

 

[McRabbet]

The Shop Fox Classic is like a Biesemeyer -- it clamps to the front rail and is adjusted so it floats over the table and a teflon glide sits on the rear rails. It does not have a clamping foot on the rear. The front clamp is adjustable for squareness and height. I have not had problems with it catching on the miter slots, but that can be adjusted for if it occurs. Here is link to the manual for it. My outfeed table has a four inch overhang and it extends over the rear rail and under the fence overhang. I have height adjusters on my outfeed table legs and adjusted the table to be about 1/16" below my tablesaw top so binding is not a problem. As noted in the picture I included above, I routed some stopped dados to accept my miter gauge or the runners on my crosscut sled. If you email me your email address, I can send you plans for the outfeed table (I sent a copy to Kooshball earlier today).

 

[hockey1]

Thanks for the reply, I will have to retro fit my existing fence with that teflon glide as the one I have is not large enough to span the miter slot, thusly getting stuck.