Harvey new Big Eye rip fence system

[Warren Lake]

have over 40 years on the besmeiyers and the fine adjust works well, its called a hammer.

Now on a slider I cant get uised to the magnifier for one inches is above that other system and a bit hard to see but more so what bugs me is I can see measures but now am looking at a thing where 1/8" proportionally is more like a quarter or more. Its easy enough to screw up. There is a turn handle for left and right movement and that works fine, if I need to tap I can as well hammer again no issues. Small ball peen has a really nice feel and sensitive. this will work for now.

[Alan Lightstone]

I have the General International micro adjuster (works similar to the Rockler one shown above), as well as a Accurate Technology DRO on my Sawstop Biesenmeyer fence. Works well for me. But I have an add-on fence with a pusher that pushes thin pieces through my saw instead of using a push stick that is better than all of them. It was called a Duelen Safety Fence. The company only made about 34 of them, then stopped making them due to financial issues. It was a 2015 Wood Magazine Innov8 award winner for the year, which is how I heard of it. I spoke to him in 2020 - he was talking about making an automated version of that which would be sensational to use, but it never seemed to happen.

Duelen Safety Fence 1.jpgDuelen Safety Fence 2.jpgAccurate Technologies Digifence 1.jpg

Now build those features into that Harvey fence, and wow. Someone get to work.

[Steve Demuth]

The one issue I see for me would be that you can't easily remove/ lift it off like you can with a Beisemeyer

that w

I'm not at all sure that's true. I think that with the clamp released, the front lifts off the rail, and then with a slight forward movement of the fence, the whole think lifts off. Would be nice to see in a video review to be sure.

[Steve Demuth]

I think the 8" Craftsman my Dad bought when I was a kid locked the fence at both ends. My DeWalt portable had rack and pinion to keep it square. Worked pretty good, but I kinda remember doing some work to get the fence face square to the table.

I've got a Porter Cable branded (made by Hitachi, I think) saw that has a much more cheaply manufactured version of the Harvey bearing guided, doubled-ended locking fence. For some reason Lowes has the saw on their website, even though I don't believe it's been manufactured or sold in the US for over a decade: https://www.lowes.com/pd/PORTER-CABL...le-Saw/3161103

So, the double rail / double locking idea is hardly new to the table saw business.

[Patrick Varley]

Tangential to the original post, I also saw this one come up as a new startup.

https://rip-itfence.com/

Personally I just see something that may break and become useless, plus potentially loses some of the added functionality of a Bies-style fence with sub-fences, etc. However it does look cool. Seems like something that could be nice if you had a two-saw setup.

[Robert Hazelwood]

have over 40 years on the besmeiyers and the fine adjust works well, its called a hammer.

Yeah, a hammer, block of wood, or heel of your hand is capable of making .001" adjustments if you need to. Trouble is knowing how far a particular tap actually moved it...1 thou or 10 thou? A dial indicator on the fence solves that issue and so I don't see any need to add other mechanisms.

A sturdy and accurate DRO is the only thing I'd consider as an upgrade, to allow accuracy in absolute positioning instead of just accuracy relative to the previous fence setting. But I'd have to be doing a particular sort of high $$$ production work to really justify it as it wouldn't save any noticeable time at my hobby scale. It takes one extra test cut, measurement, and measured fence adjustment with my method to get the same result. And most parts won't need that special level of accuracy.

[Michael Burnside]

Michael,

I have the rip-flip and I think you'll find it does exactly what you're looking for.

Cliff

Thanks Cliff, installed the rip-flip and did a few tests. It’s the perfect addition to an otherwise great setup. The dado adjustment was cool, will even work for drawer bottoms.

[Warren Lake]

its choosing the right hammer, ive used the wrong ones enough times. Small quality ball peen now nice feel to it. When I tap my left hand is on the base of the fence. I feel if it moves or not and can tell how much force. Two machines fences have different weights. One is locked the other is not engaged. Im often running a test cut on scrap same time, its fast. I can figure out some turn screw add on when there is more time for now this works fine.

[Ronald Blue]

When doing segmenting or anything where extremely small measurement are necessary, I use this fro micro-adjustments.
Attachment 505331

This fine adjustment tool was very appealing but it seems they no longer market it. Oh well....

[Alan Lightstone]

This fine adjustment tool was very appealing but it seems they no longer market it. Oh well....

Hmmm.... Bummer. I love my General International version of that. Similar design. It looks like that one may no longer be made either.

It sounds like this is a build your own task now. Shouldn't be too hard with magnets. Need the right screw/handle.

[George Kasten]

I just installed a Big-Eye 36 on my Harvey 2HP saw. It's certainly not cheap, but it's an amazing piece of engineering; elegant design work and precision machining; new useful features that I have never seen anywhere else.

To answer your question about fence removal, the front AND rear of the fence cannot be lifted off either rail, even with the locking handle in the release position.

There is a small red flip stop at each end of the front rail that prevents fence over travel --- i.e. you can't accidentally push the fence off the saw on either side. If you lower either of those right or left side flip stops, the fence will easily glide off either end. (These two flip stops are different and separate from the four red moveable flip stops that can be adjusted for repeat cuts.)

Brilliant!

[Cary Falk]

I had the Wixey table saw DRO and hated it. Trying to move the fence .001" without a micro adjust was a nightmare. Why chase .001" you ask? If I have a DRO that can measure 3.000" I don't want to cut a board at 3.001" I ended up getting rid for the DRO. I love my DRO on my planer though.