Craftsman Table Saw with Exact-I-Rip FenceQuestion

[Jeff Walters]

I have a 20 year old Craftsman table saw with the Exact-I-Rip Fence on it that was given to me. It was never used and still in the box. I put it together and spent a lot of time tuning it up and making sure the blade was parralell to the miter slot. Also put a linked belt on it to stop vibration and upgraded the motor. I really like the saw. It does a great job. My only complaint is the Exact-I-Rip Fence. While I am one to use a measuring tape to make sure the cut is right, I noticed a couple of things with this fence.

1. If it is 10' or less from the blade then the built in tape measure is accurate. If it is more then 10" then it is off by as much a 1/8". What is odd is if I put my tape measure along it, they both match up. What causes this?
2. I also notice that when I lock it down that the back end is not aligned with the front so it is cockeyed. Is there any way to adjust this so I don't have to fight with it?
3. Finally, there is a micro adjustment on it where you press in the knob and turn it to adjust it, however the gear on the knob is about 1/4" below the teeth it is supposed to make contact with and I can not see any way to correct it.

I got a PDF manual on line but it was pretty much usless. I cannot afford to buy an after-market fence at this time so I am stuck with what I have.

Anyone have this fence and if so can advise me on correcting the issues?

Thanks,
Jeff

[Lee Schierer]

I have a craftsman saw and the best investment I ever made was to replace the stock fence with a Beismeyer fence. My original Craftsman fence would never clamp down parallel to the blade and miter slot and I wasted a lot of time checking and rechecking before every cut. I no longer have to worry about the fence not being square to the table with the Beismeyer.

My father had the Exact-I-Rip fence and it had the same problems you are experiencing. The fine adjust knob basically would move the front of the fence, but didn't always move the back.

[Clay Crocker]

It has been almost a decade since I had a Craftsman saw with an Exact-I-Rip, oh the memories! The Exact-I-Rip is a usable fence as long as you understand it's limitations and follow consistent procedures when you are setting it up for a rip cut. First off, the Exact-I-Rip secures itself by clamping across the width of the saw table; when you engage the locking lever a clamp arm is actuated at the far end of the fence, applying pressure against the rear fence rail effectively "clamping" the fence to the saw. The key is to make sure the fence is parallel to the blade BEFORE you clamp the fence down. I seem to recall that if you apply rearward pressure to the front tee assembly (pushing it against the front rail) while adjusting the fence left or right it will be pretty close to parallel when you clamp the fence down. I never trusted the built in measuring tape on that fence. I ALWAYS measured the distance from the front of the blade to the fence with a high quality tape measure before clamping the fence down. Then, I would measure the distance from the rear of the blade to the fence to confirm that the fence was parallel to the blade. If the fence was not parallel, then I would unclamp the fence and lightly tap the REAR of the fence in the direction it needed to go, and then clamp the fence back down and recheck all measurements and adjust again if necessary. I don't recall using the micro adjust knob on the Exact-I-Rip very often; in fact, I think it tended to just get the fence out of square unless you kept rearward pressure on the tee assembly while using the knob. FWIW, I used this Craftsman saw with an Exact-I-Rip fence for nearly a decade with good results by following the above procedures. With that being said, I would never want to go back to all that fiddling. In '06 I upgraded to an General 650 with their licensed copy of a Biesemyer T-square fence and all I can say is the difference is like night and day! The fence clamps square every time without the Exact-I-Rip's fiddling and the built in tape measure is always dead nuts. If a new fence is not in your budget at this time, then just learn to use the fence you have; it may take a little extra effort, but in the end you can still get very good results. Good luck. Clay

[Dan Rude]

Just sold mine and had the same problem, the fence was still better than the stock one I had. Remember it was about $275, wish I had gone with the Vega for $75 more at the time. I got to be pretty good at clamping it correctly, but always checked my measurements. Then I started keeping a cheap plastic construction square that was true. I get my measurement, I hook the square where I wanted the fence to be. Then push the fence flush to the square, pushed it towards the opposite rail and lock it down. Always checked it the other side to, but stopped that after awhile. This solved it for me. I did like being able to slip bolts in the T- slots to secure various jigs though. Still setting up my sawstop with a the T-Glide now. Was delayed due to illness. My old saw, making someone happy that was using a old circular saw table mount. I plan on going out and tuning it up and showing him the same trick. I do have some saw Pals for setting it up if you want to buy them, never needed them. Dan

[Curt Harms]

It's been years but if that fence is the one I had, my experience was like Clay's. Set the width, push the 'head' toward the back of the saw then lock down. I know you said $ is an issue but I'd keep an eye out for Delta T2 fence sales. Tool Barn has 'em for $199 and with patience you might beat that.

[Dave Cullen]

Mine is an older model, and the fence has a knob that tightens rather than a clamping lever. I'm not sure what Sears called that version.. Align-A-Rip maybe? Anyway, what always worked for me was to loosen the clamp completely and move the fence using my thumbs against the T-bar. The fence rides along the front rail and will stay parallel to the blade as long as the back clamp is free to move. Never really had any trouble with it. I've only recently replaced it with a Vega that I got a good price on, but used the stock fence for 30 years with no real problems.

I put an auxiliary fence - 1" oak with laminate - on it long ago so I could clamp stuff to it and use board buddies. Gonna be putting the fence and rails on eBay this week.