Delta Unifence Question

[Von Bickley]

I have a Delta contractor table saw with the 30" unifence. This is a right tilt ts and I hate the right tilt, but this saw and unifence was a gift. I hate that the right tilt traps the wood between the blade and the fence.

Question:
Has anybody that uses the unifence traded sides? Put the extension table on the left and the cast iron wing on the right. This would allow my work piece to move between the fence and the blade and not be trapped.

Has anybody done this????????

[Sean Nagle]

I think I ran accross a tablesaw with this setup in American Woodworker's Home Workshops magazine. First I'd ever seen a reversed arrangement.

I have a right tilt Unisaw w/ Unifence. When ripping bevels, I have to reconfigure the Unifence and secure it to the left side of the blade. It is a nuisance but it doesn't take too long.

[Chris Rosenberger]

I had 2 Unisaws set back to back & had the long side of the fence mounted on the left side of one of the saws. I used it that way for several years until I expanded my shop & had room to separate them.

[Jerome Hanby]

I think reversing things sounds like a fine idea. Be interesting to hear how much trouble it was.

I'm sure there is some good reason, but why make left and right tilt saws that aren't reversed? Sounds like you would always have that trapping problem...

[Fred Hargis]

I had a Delta CS with a 30" Unifence, and a good friend of mine (who is left handed) and I went over it looking to see if that could be done. He ws thinking of buying one and making it a southpaw. There was not a reason we could come up with to not do it. IIRC, there would have been a few holes to drill, but otherwise looked fairly simple. As a righty, I find sawing with the fence on the left a little awkward....but that's what I do on my current RT saw. I suppose that could be overcome over time. You would have to find a right to left scale for the fence.

[Jerome Hanby]

You would have to find a right to left scale for the fence.

Not sure how the rule is attached or how wide it is, but Incra makes right to left rules...

[Sean Nagle]

I had 2 Unisaws set back to back & had the long side of the fence mounted on the left side of one of the saws. I used it that way for several years until I expanded my shop & had room to separate them.

Nice setup! I seriously considered picking up one of the $700 leftover Unisaws to create a similar back-to-back configuration... then I got control of my senses.

[mickey cassiba]

Von,
My saw is also a RT Delta with a unifence. I'd really like to know how it turns out for you, I'm considering the same thing.
Mickey

[Chris Weishaar]

Von,

I have the same saw and fence. When I need to rip on the angle I move the fence to the left of the saw. It takes about 30 seconds, it is two knobs that I unscrew to take the fence off. The piece that hold the fence on flips and I put the fence back on the other side. I see no reason why this couldn't be set up permanently except for the ruler. I may have to look into doing this on my saw!

Chris

[Josiah Bartlett]

I have a right tilt Unisaw with the fence set up so that I can get about 20" to the left of the blade. It works very well, and since I am fairly ambidexterous I don't feel unsafe doing it. The main problem, though, is that the arbor flange is on the right side of the blade, so when sawing to the left you have to be careful about fence setup. If you use the pointer and scale on the fence, it will be off when you change to a different blade or tilt the blade.

Also, with some saws the miter slots aren't necessarily perpendicular to the fence rails or parallel to the blade on both sides. This means that if the fence is slightly off you can pinch the work on one side of the blade but not the other. With a Biesemeyer style fence you can just shim the fence face, but switching left to right may not be so convenient with a unifence unless you do it on a more permanent basis.