Will Just Any Biesemeyer Fence Fit my Biesemeyer Rails?

[Jason White]

You're overthinking this.

The fence is just square steel tubing with plywood or plastic faces screwed onto it, so just cut a bit off the end! You can rent a metal-cutting chop saw (or buy one cheap at Harbor Freight like I did) or use a hack saw. Just remove the faces first and cut those down to size with a regular wood-cutting miter saw. You might have to do a bit of cleanup with a file or sandpaper after you've made your cuts.

My old Powermatic 66 has a Biesemeyer fence 48" long. I think that's overkill. It's heavy and in the way. I'm not totally sure why it's that long, but I'm sure there is a reason. I would like to set it aside and get a shorter fence which will cover 99% of the things I do.

I saw a 30" fence on Ebay. I notice that Mike's Tools distinguishes between regular and commercial Biesemeyer products. My best guess is that I have the commercial version. The rails are 96" long, and it came from a shop where they made long Corian counters.

Question: will just any Biesemeyer table saw fence work with my rails, or does it have to be commercial? They look the same to me.

Also, the plastic doodads under the fence are grinding into the table at the far end. I think the fence is too heavy to have so few of them. Is there any reason why I shouldn't drill the fence and install more of them?

Thanks.

Edit: well, now I'm bummed out. It looks like the 30" figure was not the length of the fence. It's 42", and it appears to be a lower-grade product.

[Steve H Graham]

Again, I do NOT want to get rid of the long fence. I want an ADDITIONAL short fence.

[Lornie McCullough]

There are at least two sizes of Biesmeyer fences and Biesmeyer rails..... I have one of each. The 30 inch fence likely requires the smaller rail size. (The smaller rail is 2.5 x 1.5, and not 3 x 2 )

I have no idea if Biesmeyer still makes both sizes, but they used to.

Lornie

[Steve H Graham]

I'm giving VSC a try.