Rear Support wheels for unifence

[Brian Boru]

Some time ago ..... there was a reference regarding replacing the "Rear Support Foot" on the Unifence with wheels. A gentleman in Florida? was selling/making replacement rollers in place of the adjustable foot.
Any information would be appreciated.

Sláinte
Brian Boru

[Alan Schaffter]

Some time ago ..... there was a reference regarding replacing the "Rear Support Foot" on the Unifence with wheels. A gentleman in Florida? was selling/making replacement rollers in place of the adjustable foot.
Any information would be appreciated.

Sláinte
Brian Boru

I was going to do that at one time, may still do it.

I couldn't find the thread, but I believe a small, low profile, dual wheel refrigerator caster can be used to replace the foot at the end of the fence head casting. Any big box or hardware store will have them, but you gotta use small ones or they won't fit. Something like this from Amazon:

[Bill Space]

Hummmm.....

Just wondering why?

I did notice that I get slight marking on my new Grizzly table saw table with the Unifence pad... But other than that, I don't have any issues. Actually I don't have a rear rail for wheels to run on, so eliminating the Unifence pad for me would be a project.

So I am wondering what drives the desire to eliminate the Unifence pad...

Bill

Edit: OH! You mean replace the pad with rollers that run on the top of the table rather than on a rear rail! OK...I see...That sounds like a great idea! Why did I not think of that???? I guess this is the idea....

[Chris Rosenberger]

The rollers work great if you do not get any saw dust on your saw table in the area that the roller rolls.
The rollers do not roll over saw dust very well & if there is enough saw dust, the rollers will not roll at all.
The pad just pushes the sawdust out of the way.

[Alan Schaffter]

I really don't have any issues with the foot at the tip of the fence casting, which is probably one reason why I never replaced it with wheels.

What I have issue with is the end of the aluminum fence scraping or catching on the table. If you raise the fence so it 1/16" or so above the table and lock it there it won't scrape the table or catch on the edge of the CI or the miter slot. Once you loosen the knobs to slide the fence forward or backward, however, it will settle back on the table again. You must temporarily shim it all over again before tightening the knobs.

[Brian Boru]

I have no problems with the adjustable foot, it works as intended.
Just wondering if there is a better mousetrap.

Thanks for the reply's, and wheel suggestion. It had not occurred to me about the sawdust and rollers.

[Charles Lent]

I also prefer the foot and it's ability to sweep sawdust aside and not ride up on it. I don't change things that work good.

Charley

[Jim Tabor]

Okay, with all this talk about Delta Unifence someone must have a spare 30" rail for sale. Please see my WTB post in SawMill Creeks Classifieds.

[Alan Schaffter]

Or how about at spare fence extrusion?

I have a spare casting so need another fence extrusion so I can have two complete assemblies- one for left and one for the right of the blade.

[Bill Geibe]

Back to the OP, I was unhappy with the effort it took to move my Unifence back and forth. Aside from waxing the rails and all, I glued a furniture slide/glide over that adjustable nylon foot that slides across the table - the one the OP was talking about replacing with rollers. It helped a lot and I've never noticed any problem with sawdust.

The roller sounds like a great idea but I wouldn't have thought of sawdust getting under it.

As far as the fence dragging on the table like Alan mentioned - I figured that's the nature of the beast. I just keep a steel scale handy to throw under the fence for whenever I loosen it and tighten it again.

Bill