DELTA 36-T30 T2 30-Inch Fence and Rail System

I bought this to replace the original fence that came with my Delta 650-C Pro table saw. This fence was a bolt on replacement that needed no new holes or anything. Once it's dialed in, the fence remains straight and true to the blade. My only criticism of the fence and rail is that the rear mount (hook the rail type) was a bit sloppy. Some thin HDPE tape strips placed under the tail end of the fence and in the hooking gap flushed everything nicely and made the travel much more smooth.

I had almost convinced myself I needed a Biesemeyer but finances eventually won out and I'm glad it did. The Delta T2 fence is a really nice fence. I've been a serious woodworker for over 30 years and this fence does everything I ask of it. I understand the extra mass in the Biesemeyer compared to this fence, but unless you are doing production cutting it just is not necessary. If you slow down a bit and relax, this fence is more than adequate.The fence came in one box and was well packaged. Setup on my old Unisaw took an afternoon but I was careful to make sure everything was square and plumb. The fence slides with just finger pressure and locks solidly. Adjustments are easy and the tape is easy to read and dead accurate. It also allows you to adjust the tape gauge readout slightly over so cuts are always within spec. This is not necessary so much with sheet goods but if you cut as much solid wood as I do, it's nice to have an extra 1/64 to 1/32" over to compensate for board tension, etc.

I purchased the Delta T2 fence system simply because it was the cheapest "quality" fence system I could find. I recently picked up really heavy old cast-iron top Hitachi C12Y cabinet saw for cheap. The rip fence that came with the saw was a complete joke so I just trashed it. The Delta T2 arrived to my doorstep in 4 days for a total of 190.00. The fence and rails all come in one large box with thick styrofoam inside to protect everything. I was almost 100% positive (well before I even ordered the rip fence) that the holes on the rails would not line up with my saw...and I was right. There seemed to be a lot of negative feedback in the reviews in terms of having to modify the holes. I don't really see what the big deal is? No matter what rip fence system you get chances are the holes won't line up. I really took my time so I'd say it took around 3 hours or so altogether. (Measuring, drilling, adjusting along with taking pop and food breaks. The factory threaded holes on my Hitachi table saw were 15-3/4" apart center to center. The mounting holes on the rails of the Delta T2 were 16" apart center to center. I didn't feel like drilling through 3/4" of solid iron in my saw. I ended up just drilling new holes on both the front and rear rails. If you have never drilled angle iron (the rails are roughly 1/4" thick) make sure to start out with an 1/8" bit and work your way up to the final size. I added pictures to show what the fence looks like on my saw and how I made the new mounting holes. My pictures should be next to the main picture of the rip fence.Front Rail: It was soooo tempting to just ream out one of the holes on the rail to match my table saw. I decided not to do that and ended up drilling 2 brand new holes directly to the Left of the existing holes on the rail. Please note that the mounting holes on the Front rail "must" be countersunk. The fence supplies the countersunk bolts with nuts. I ended up drilling both holes to 7/16" in diameter and then used a 3/4" counter sinking bit till the supplied countersunk bolts were flush. The supplied countersunk bolts were smaller in diameter than the threaded holes on my saw so they simply slide through. I used the supplied nuts and washers to secure them from behind. The smaller diameter bolts created a little slop to adjust the rail parallel to the table top. See Picture)Rear Rail: I drilled 2 new holes on the rear rail as well. I ended up making 1/2" diameter holes for the rear rail. No countersinking is needed for the rear rails). However, make sure to use round "allen wrench" style bolts to hold on the rear rail on. Since the holes are close to the top of the rail there's not enough room to use a "hex" head bolt. The fence supplies you with the "allen wrench" style bolts and nuts. If the supplied bolts won't thread into your existing threaded holes on the table saw use the smaller diameter allen head bolts with nuts. (See Picture)Fence: Once the rails were installed adjusting the fence is a piece of cake. The fence uses metal set screws to adjust for parallelism to the blade. Slotted plastic screws are used to adjust the fence 90-degrees to the table top. make sure to use a large flat blade screwdriver that fits across the "entire" slot of the plastic screw. If you use a small screwdriver it will round out the slot. There's roughly about a 1/4" of movement up and down on each of the 2 aluminum fence sides. Three 14mm bolts hold each one on. This is how I adjusted the fence level to the top of my saw. The fence slides very smooth left to right on the nylon pads and locks tight.(See Picture).

Ordered this to use on an old 70's vintage Craftsman 12" direct drive saw. Used one of the existing holes for the rails, and drilled all the others in the saw table to match the fence rails. Fence was correct height off the table using the existing hole as a starting point for each fence rail. Drilling the holes took a bit of time, but this fence is well worth the time and effort! The original fence is awful. Can't believe I waited this long to replace. It's a very well made fence, and cost effective for retrofitting an old saw.

Nothing but LOVE for this fence. I was lucky, I guess. Mine isn't bowed out like some of the others I've read about. Works great, but I had to modify the holes on my table extensions a bit to make everything work right. Totally worth it, though. GREAT FENCE!

I had a Biesemeyer fence several years ago but unfortunately sold it with the saw. I've been looking for something comparable to the Biesemeyer to replace the fence on a PC table saw I bought about five years ago. The Delta fence has the same basic design as the Biesemeyer and it does a good job lining up square to the blade consistently. It has welded steel where it counts just like the Biesemeyer.The 'feel' of the fence is not the same as the Biesemeyer--it uses aluminum where the Biesemeyer had melamine and the lever doesn't have as sure a feel as the Biesemeyer did. On a more minor note, the plastic knob on the lever is not particularly comfortable. It took about two hours to drill the holes and mount the fence to the PC saw (I also have an Excalibur cast iron router table attached to the table saw--it worked fine). I had to use a couple of bolts that I already had laying around in the shop in addition to the ones Delta supplied. The fence fits like it was made for the saw. I used a combination square to make sure everything was level with the table. The instructions were basically worthless, but I didn't have much trouble figuring it out. By the way, there's a helpful You Tube video someone posted about how to install this fence on a non-Delta saw. Plus, some of the other reviews have helpful advice.I made one modification to the fence that really helped: I replaced the round plastic knob with a piece of rounded-off 2x2 stock. I epoxied the wood handle to the rod and reinforced it with a pipe clamp. This makes it easier to tighten the fence down.