Should I bother with a new fence for my Delta 34-670?

[Al Yanchak]

I have an 20+ year old Delta 34-670 table saw. It has served my well enough for DIY around the house projects, but I am getting interested in taking more intricate projects. The stock fence is horrible, so I have been thinking about upgrading to a Vega or a MuleCab AccuSquare.

I know that this saw not the best platform to build on, but spending $300 on a fence is a lot more appealing than $1500 - $2000 on a new saw. Not to mention that this is already in place in my basement.

Has anyone added an aftermarket fence to this saw? Would it be worth the investment, or should I just move on?

Thanks,
Al

[David T gray]

if the saw works for you why upgrade i think i would go with the vega over the other fence

[Al Yanchak]

Well ... while I feel like I have gotten my money's worth out of this saw over the last 20 years of "hacking" stuff together, I just can't get the precision out of it that I am now looking for. I am really hoping that a fence upgrade will allow me to stretch the life of this old beast a bit longer, but I also don't want to just throw money away.

[glenn bradley]

A new fence can be a tremendous improvement for a saw. If I was trying to decide on an upgrade versus a replacement of a contractor format saw I would lean toward replacement if that were possible. Your DIY projects may be in a different category that the items you plan to move into making.

If you already hate the fence you will despise it if trying to make furniture. A tablesaw is valued for its ability to make clean precise cuts of many types. I would want to be sure the saw was capable before I dressed a sow in silk.

Ignoring the fence, can you get your blade aligned well with the miter slot at 90*? Knowing the limits of a direct drive saw alignment at bevel angles can be a challenge so to get past this go / no-go test, a good 90* alignment should do.

Manually assure that the fence is aligned, mount a good blade and make some test cuts. This will at least tell you the best your saw will do with a new fence. If the result is good, move forward. If you can not achieve good results with the fence manually set to a proper position, a new fence will not magically fix that.

If you're good to go, I would take the Vega over the Mule. The Mule is a good fence but, not a great fence. The design of the locking mechanism and the need to slide the fence to the end of the rails to remove it sour this one for me.

A square tube mounted T-square style fence is my preference but, the Vega is a fine round rail mounted fence system. If I were in that price bracket I would look to a Beis clone but, some folks favor the Vega and I don't know that I have heard anyone sorry for their choice.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Being a "direct drive saw" you are living on borrowed time. To add another fence is "good money after bad," IMHO. For about what you will spend on fence, from CL you can pick up a used belt drive with better fence. As a "rub it in your face," there was a mid nineties Unisaw with Unifence recently on CL here for $600. Set a browser to monitor CL around you, have CASH, and be prepared to drive a couple hours on short notice, and you can land some bargins. There are several you tube videos of how to make a Biesmeyer clone. You only need someone who can do simple welding, the ability to make square cuts in steel stock, a drill press and a tap set. I've probably made a half dozen over the years.

[Al Yanchak]

Thank you all for your replies!

I can get good cuts with the saw, but not consistently. My biggest frustration has been the ability to accurately set and adjust the fence. Every time I lock it down, it shifts a bit in some random direction. Small precise adjustments are just not possible.

Buying a used saw is an interesting idea, but I'd have no practical way to bring it home. With a new saw I could get it delivered, but even then I'd have quite a chore getting it down into my basement (I was 25 years younger the last time I moved a 200+ lb tool down a flight of stairs ).

[keith micinski]

A new high quality fence will make that saw more then usable to build just about anything and will also make your life a lot easier. Plus if you get a new fence and your still not happy you can probably sell the saw and the fence for what you paid for the fence and then get a new saw if you have to have one.

[Bruce Page]

My personal experience; I had a Craftsman that was underpowered and wasn't accurate, to put it nicely. I got tired of double checking EVERY fence move and mounted a new Shop Fox fence. The SF was a big improvement but still not 100% trustworthy. I finally bit the bullet and bought a good cabinet saw and never looked back. I've had the cabinet saw for 17 years now and it is still dead accurate and never underpowered.

[Dennis Peacock]

I put a Vega fence on my TS that I had years ago and what a dream it was to use and it increased accuracy tremendously!! I loved my Vega fence. I sold the saw and bought a Jet 10XL and while I do like the Jet fence? I am still considering buying a new Vega fence and putting it on it. Did I happen to mention that I really loved my Vega fence?

[Al Yanchak]

I took some time today to measure the saw blade to the miter groove using a dial indicator clamped to the miter gauge. I was very pleased to find that the blade was within 0.001 to the miter slot. As I have never felt I had a situation where my saw was under-powered, I am just about decided to go ahead and buy the Vega fence.

My last question, is there any reason why, if I did decide to buy a new saw in the future I couldn't move the Vega fence to that new saw?