Hello,
I thought I would post some notes I have after installing a Biesemeyer 30” commercial fence on a Dewalt DW746X with the Dewalt DW7461 Sliding table installed. There were several technical issues that had to be overcome.
Let’s start with what the finished product looks like I didn’t take a photo of the saw before I started..
First removing the old rails and mounting hardware necessitated removing the bolts that held the sliding table in place. Fortunately through a design by Dewalt the table is did not need to be removed, the bolts server to secure the mounting hardware but are not actually under and stress. They server to tighten the table in place. The sliding table bolts protrude through the table and were in the way of the Biesemeyer L-bracket. They had to be removed while attempting to find a solution.
Next it became obvious that no matter what was done with the L-Brackets they would be too high to allow the sliding table to move. The options were to modify the L-Bracket by cutting the necessary material off or shifting the entire rails setup to the right. It also, eventually, became clear that the fence rail (square piece attached to the front L-Bracket that the fence slides left and right on) would also prevent the sliding table from moving. Sigh. This meant that the only way to use the Biesemeyer fence would be to shift the entire system to the right almost 20”! No piece of the L-Bracket or the fence rail could in the way of the sliding table or it would prevent movement.
I have to say that I was a bit irritated. Biesemeyer had no information on their site, had no suggestions about how to mount this and they didn’t call me back when I left a message for tech support. I was hoping they might have an insight that would save me time. As it was I ended up repositioning the front L-Bracket four separate times (with holes being drilled etc). I feel a little thick but I didn’t expect the fence to ride so close to the table. The stock DeWalt fence sits fairly low. Anyway, I hope this post will save someone some time.
I figured out that I cold use the front rail mounting hardware to secure the sliding table (i.e. bolt it in place. And I shifted the L-brackets to the right of the mounting hardware. Now while this worked in the sense it took care of aligning the front and rear L-brackets it did cause an unexpected issue (see photo below).
The front fence rail has pre-drilled holes that mate with holes on the front L-bracket. These holes are perfectly aligned to keep the front fence rail parallel to the L-bracket. I didn’t want to drill new holes as any deviation across the length of the L-bracket would throw the fence off parallel with the table. So I had to shift the front rail an additional 3 ½” to the right of the forward mounting old for the sliding table. Otherwise the fence rail would sit too far to the Left and interfere with the sliding table.
Lastly, the front (operator side) mounting hardware used to attach the sliding table interfered with the travel of the Biesemeyer fence, preventing cuts close to the blade. The photo above shows the rear bolts. I used two of the flush bolts and nuts included with the Biesemeyer fence kit. Use the largest flush bolts. This did solve the problem.
I have to say that overall I would have expect a bit more from Biesemeyer and had I paid full price for this kit I would have been irate. Since I got the set on discount I won’t complain too much. The last issue that I have is that the fence will not function if there isn’t a table below it. The old Dewalt rails ran on both the front and rear rails so they could be used beyond the cast iron table even if there wasn’t an extension table installed. The Biesemeyer is not functional beyond the end of the extension table. So ultimately I have to add another extension table (and probably the support legs) to use the full length right of the blade.
Also, since I had to move the fence rail it sticks out beyond the ends of the L-brackets. Not ideal. Perhaps I will have to remove some material from the L-brackets, the Fence rail to get the sizing correct. The saw now takes up significantly more space than it did before.
I hope this long post helps someone else avoid the frustration I experienced trying to make this system work. Overall I am please with the fence upgrade and I can’t wait to finish calibrating it and get to making some sawdust.
Best,
Mark
I thought I would post some notes I have after installing a Biesemeyer 30” commercial fence on a Dewalt DW746X with the Dewalt DW7461 Sliding table installed. There were several technical issues that had to be overcome.
Let’s start with what the finished product looks like I didn’t take a photo of the saw before I started..
First removing the old rails and mounting hardware necessitated removing the bolts that held the sliding table in place. Fortunately through a design by Dewalt the table is did not need to be removed, the bolts server to secure the mounting hardware but are not actually under and stress. They server to tighten the table in place. The sliding table bolts protrude through the table and were in the way of the Biesemeyer L-bracket. They had to be removed while attempting to find a solution.
Next it became obvious that no matter what was done with the L-Brackets they would be too high to allow the sliding table to move. The options were to modify the L-Bracket by cutting the necessary material off or shifting the entire rails setup to the right. It also, eventually, became clear that the fence rail (square piece attached to the front L-Bracket that the fence slides left and right on) would also prevent the sliding table from moving. Sigh. This meant that the only way to use the Biesemeyer fence would be to shift the entire system to the right almost 20”! No piece of the L-Bracket or the fence rail could in the way of the sliding table or it would prevent movement.
I have to say that I was a bit irritated. Biesemeyer had no information on their site, had no suggestions about how to mount this and they didn’t call me back when I left a message for tech support. I was hoping they might have an insight that would save me time. As it was I ended up repositioning the front L-Bracket four separate times (with holes being drilled etc). I feel a little thick but I didn’t expect the fence to ride so close to the table. The stock DeWalt fence sits fairly low. Anyway, I hope this post will save someone some time.
I figured out that I cold use the front rail mounting hardware to secure the sliding table (i.e. bolt it in place. And I shifted the L-brackets to the right of the mounting hardware. Now while this worked in the sense it took care of aligning the front and rear L-brackets it did cause an unexpected issue (see photo below).
The front fence rail has pre-drilled holes that mate with holes on the front L-bracket. These holes are perfectly aligned to keep the front fence rail parallel to the L-bracket. I didn’t want to drill new holes as any deviation across the length of the L-bracket would throw the fence off parallel with the table. So I had to shift the front rail an additional 3 ½” to the right of the forward mounting old for the sliding table. Otherwise the fence rail would sit too far to the Left and interfere with the sliding table.
Lastly, the front (operator side) mounting hardware used to attach the sliding table interfered with the travel of the Biesemeyer fence, preventing cuts close to the blade. The photo above shows the rear bolts. I used two of the flush bolts and nuts included with the Biesemeyer fence kit. Use the largest flush bolts. This did solve the problem.
I have to say that overall I would have expect a bit more from Biesemeyer and had I paid full price for this kit I would have been irate. Since I got the set on discount I won’t complain too much. The last issue that I have is that the fence will not function if there isn’t a table below it. The old Dewalt rails ran on both the front and rear rails so they could be used beyond the cast iron table even if there wasn’t an extension table installed. The Biesemeyer is not functional beyond the end of the extension table. So ultimately I have to add another extension table (and probably the support legs) to use the full length right of the blade.
Also, since I had to move the fence rail it sticks out beyond the ends of the L-brackets. Not ideal. Perhaps I will have to remove some material from the L-brackets, the Fence rail to get the sizing correct. The saw now takes up significantly more space than it did before.
I hope this long post helps someone else avoid the frustration I experienced trying to make this system work. Overall I am please with the fence upgrade and I can’t wait to finish calibrating it and get to making some sawdust.
Best,
Mark
