Est. 1998 — 28 years of woodworking knowledge
Is a Biesmeyer fence adjustable?
Barry Irby
Years ago Lowe's discontinued Beismeyer fences and sold off the existing stock for $80. One of my better purchases.
I had it off the saw and it fell over. Now it seems to be about a few thou too close to the blade on the outfeed end. I really can't believe that fall messed it up, but I don't remember it being mis-aligned before. I looked at it and don't see any adjustment.
Any help would be appreciated.
Re: Is a Biesmeyer fence adjustable?
Ralph Lipeles
I just checked my manual. There are not any adjustments on the fence. Adjustment is achieved by shimming the left to right steel angle bar that attaches to the saw table.
Re: Is a Biesmeyer fence adjustable?
Brad Chenoweth
Barry,
My Bies has 2 adjustment screws inside the "T" that rides against the front rail to adjust the fence for alignment. Make sure your blade is parallel to the miter slot first.
Brad
Re: Is a Biesmeyer fence adjustable?
Jim DeLaney, Austintown, Ohio
Ralph (and Barry):
Mine also has the set screws on the angle iron base that rides on the bar. The adjustment is very sensitive - an eighth turn of one of the screws will move the back edge of the fence considerably.
Got to do more checking....
Barry Irby
Got out a set of calipers that cam measure to .001" and checked the saw blade for parallel to miter slot. Using the same tooth far and near I can't detect any misalignment. Checking the fence against the same slot, it is as parallel as I can measure.
Before I made the measurements, I cleaned the rail and the pads on the fence. Perhaps that "fixed it". Or I suppose the blade could be sightly damaged and pulling a bit. If the problem persists I will try another blade.
Another thought is it might be good to tip the fence away from the blade on the outfeed end. ???
Re: Fence Rant!
William Duffield
tip the fence away from the blade on the outfeed end
Why???
I've always gotten the best performance when I have the fence adjusted as closely as I can to parallel to the blade. I know I've seen all sorts of people over the years suggesting adjusting the far end of the blade away from the fence, but I've never seen a rational explanation for it. The only things I can theorize are that someone started this "tip"
• after ripping a batch of case hardened wood,
• who didn't know how to adjust the blade parallel to the miter slot,
• had a helper on the outfeed with a gimp leg
• didn't know to adjust his outfeed roller parallel to the back edge of the table,
• had a dull blade and burnt some cherry, and didn't recognize that it was burning on the down cut, not the up cut,
• burnt some cherry while ripping with an 80 tooth crosscut blade,
• blade set so low that the carbide teeth weren't clearing the stock at the top of the arc,
• making a miter cut with the trunnion out of parallel with the top of the fence front to back,
• etc.
There are lots more reasons for rough or burnt cuts or even kickback, but all of them have better fixes than intentionally putting the fence out of adjustment.
Re: Fence Rant!
Garthfromsandiego
Just a personal observation, but I think the advise only applies to old saws with fences that clamped from the back. I used an old Craftsman contractor saw many years ago. It was, at least for me, near impossible to set the fence parallel to the blade. Used to clamp, check blade to fence measurements front and back, adjust and repeat. The safest approach was to set the fence parallel or a little wide at the back to prevent kickback. The invention of the Bessimyer fence and clones was a godsend. You could now take the time to set the fence parallel to the blade and it would forever remain so. No more fiddling and playing it safe by allowing clearance on the outfeed side of the blade.
Re: Fence Rant!
William Duffield
Aha! That makes a lot of sense. I never experienced that problem, even though I was well aware it existed, because all the fences I ever remember using were either Beisemeyers or Beise clones or Unifences. I guess I led a sheltered childhood, or have successfully suppressed my memories of what I used in high school shop class back in the '60s. 
(The Beisemeyer fence was invented in 1978.)
