Table saw fence systems? Unifence or Beismyer or other

[Drewskeez]

I know it's not Festool, but I'm sure most of us still use a table saw.   It's time to replace mine and i'm wondering about fences.  I have been using my grandfathers old Rockwell forever with the standard knob to tighten the fence.  It's steel and cast iron and just as accurate as the day it was new...unfortunatly the bevel and blade depth adjustments don't stay where they are supposed to anymore. 

I'm rambling...on to my question.

Which fence?  The only one of the two I have used is a Unifence.  I like it, but the Besimyer's shape seems easier to make jigs.  Anyone know anything about Deltas T2 fence?

Any other sugestions?  I've always had good luck with Delta, but i'm open to other brands.  I'm going to go with a hybrid based on price.  The motor is the same size as my current saw it it cut's 8/4 Jatoba fine and thats about as hard as I get.

Long term, I would like a cabinent saw and to switch the fence over if possible. 

Thanks in advance
Drew

 

[Scott W.]

I have had an Incra  TS fence for 9-10 years and love it.

Scott W.

 

[chrisrosenb]

I have been very happy with the Unifence. I added a Uni-T-fence rail to it. The Uni-T- fence rail has T slots built into it so mounting jigs is very easy.
My dado saw has an Incra LS fence on it. It is very nice also.

 

[joraft]

I've had a Powermatic Model 66 with the Beisemeyer fence for almost twenty years. The Beisemeyer is rock solid, never any problems with holding accuracy.

John

 

[JayStPeter]

I have a Beis on my Unisaw.  It's a real solid fence.  But, it does have some weaknesses.  Both the original fence I got and the replacement that was sent have slightly bowed faces.  I'm talking about the ply/laminate fence face being slightly warped in both directions.  The second one works OK, but isn't as perfect as I'd like (but probably within Delta specs, which the first clearly wasn't).  These faces on the Bies are not removeable.  From what I've seen, most of the Bies copies have replaceable faces that can be shimmed to tweak the fence face to your specs.
I'm not sure if I'd be happier if I'd gone with a Unifence.  There are replacment fence bars for them on the aftermarket that turn the odd shape into a rectangle that should make it as easy to make jigs for as a Bies (easier actually since they have t-slots in them).  Every time I consider making the change though I go to a store or show and play with a unifence and come away disappointed because it doesn't slide as smoothly as the Bies for fine adjustments.  I think it's a combination of improperly adjusted demo saws and just getting used to it, but still deters me from dropping the cash to try it out.
Personally, if I was looking at a brand new saw right now, the Unisaw would be out of the running.  There are enough saws around with riving knives now that I wouldn't bother with an old school saw.  There's the PM2000 (and I think the new Jet Xacta, but you'll have to verify), SawStop (would be my top pick if I could swing the cash), and a new Grizzly saw that looks pretty darn nice.  I wound up investing a bunch of cash in an aftermarket splitter and overhead blade guard because the stuff that came on my saw was trash.  That stuff is built into the new saws.  If you search around the forums, it is trivial to adapt the Felder blade guard with DC port to most of the new riving knife saws.  Since I'm not in the market, I don't keep up entirely, but a few of these newer saws also have blade shroud dust collection under the blade.  Anything that helps DC is a bonus.

 

[Jesse Cloud]

For what its worth, I have a Biesemeyer fence at home and use a unifence at school.  I was surprised that I prefer the unifence.  It seems more solid and easier to set.  Like another post above, my Biese is not flat, so I have an auxiliary fence shimmed onto the Biese.

Having said all this, the difference is not huge.  If you have a lot of jigs already, you might want to stay with the same type of fence.