smorgasbord
Member
Happy to answer questions, @luvmytoolz
Here's the setup for measuring fence deflection:
Each tick is 0.01mm. When I push with my thumb near the blade, the dial indicator at the top shows between 0.1mm and 0.2mm of deflection. Now, to be fair, I'm measuring at the very top of the fence, and I suspect the bottom of the fence, which is closer to the attachment cast iron, will deflect less. Definitely deflects more than my tablesaw fence, but if you want that you'll have to shell out really big bucks ($1200!) for Harvey's new "Big Eye" fence. I'm sure it's better but the DriftMaster is "only" $350, so ¼ the cost.
While it's called "DriftMaster," the drift adjustment just isn't that big a deal to me - I've done that with every bandsaw fence. What's nice about this fence is the geared wheel for making small adjustments without the "tap-tap-tap" of most fences. It's got a ruler, which can be flipped over for Imperial or Metric (yeah - no combo here!), but there's no scribed, much less a magnifying cursor. you just line up with the edge of casting - yeah, it's not even milled. I stuck a small magnet since that at least has a polished surface, and it can be attached very close to the ruler to avoid any potential parallax.
The gear wheel is fine, but there's plenty of slop, which is a problem if you change the direction of travel. So, if you're sneaking up on a measurement, if you go a bit too far, you can't just back off the hand wheel a bit - you've got to back off a lot and then re-sneak up. Sigh.
And there are a ton of knobs on the back of the fence - hard to remember which is which if you don't use the fence often. There are knobs for drift adjustment, for vertical perpendicular to table, to lock the aluminum extrusion to the cast iron head, and, of course, to lock the fence in place. There's a prominent knob up front, but that just engages/disengages the gear wheel, and requires not just loosening, but pulling the thing out ⅜" or so. And, as TWW points out, as you lock the fence it moves, so I do what he does, which is to have the lock level positiioned at the end of its travel so at least I'm locking with the same force and deflection each time. At least attaching the fence to the saw is pretty easy with a thoughtful design there.
So, would I buy it again? Ugh, I don't know. For $350 I expect more. This is more like a $199 fence in my book.
Here's the setup for measuring fence deflection:
Each tick is 0.01mm. When I push with my thumb near the blade, the dial indicator at the top shows between 0.1mm and 0.2mm of deflection. Now, to be fair, I'm measuring at the very top of the fence, and I suspect the bottom of the fence, which is closer to the attachment cast iron, will deflect less. Definitely deflects more than my tablesaw fence, but if you want that you'll have to shell out really big bucks ($1200!) for Harvey's new "Big Eye" fence. I'm sure it's better but the DriftMaster is "only" $350, so ¼ the cost.
While it's called "DriftMaster," the drift adjustment just isn't that big a deal to me - I've done that with every bandsaw fence. What's nice about this fence is the geared wheel for making small adjustments without the "tap-tap-tap" of most fences. It's got a ruler, which can be flipped over for Imperial or Metric (yeah - no combo here!), but there's no scribed, much less a magnifying cursor. you just line up with the edge of casting - yeah, it's not even milled. I stuck a small magnet since that at least has a polished surface, and it can be attached very close to the ruler to avoid any potential parallax.
The gear wheel is fine, but there's plenty of slop, which is a problem if you change the direction of travel. So, if you're sneaking up on a measurement, if you go a bit too far, you can't just back off the hand wheel a bit - you've got to back off a lot and then re-sneak up. Sigh.
And there are a ton of knobs on the back of the fence - hard to remember which is which if you don't use the fence often. There are knobs for drift adjustment, for vertical perpendicular to table, to lock the aluminum extrusion to the cast iron head, and, of course, to lock the fence in place. There's a prominent knob up front, but that just engages/disengages the gear wheel, and requires not just loosening, but pulling the thing out ⅜" or so. And, as TWW points out, as you lock the fence it moves, so I do what he does, which is to have the lock level positiioned at the end of its travel so at least I'm locking with the same force and deflection each time. At least attaching the fence to the saw is pretty easy with a thoughtful design there.
So, would I buy it again? Ugh, I don't know. For $350 I expect more. This is more like a $199 fence in my book.
