Utility 26 Saw Fence

The fact that I waited so many years to upgrade to the this fence makes me really dumb. For years I struggled with my old (30 plus yrs.) Sears 10in. table saw fence, adjust, measure, tap tap, repeat and hope that the feance didn't move. Screwed up hundreds of board feet of wood. Out of frustration went to YouTube and built a homemade biesemyer style fence out of 1/2in plywood. Great improvement but still not what I was looking for. All this time I had the Vega fence on my Amazon Wish List but never pulled the trigger. I was also a little hesitant after reading some of the criticisms about the finish and installation. A couple of months ago I finally took the plunge. I waited to write this review until I had the ample opportunity for the 'honeymoon period' to wear off. Well it's been several months now and I'm still madly in love! First, it arrived in pristine condition. packaging was great and handled with care. Second, the finish on the parts was fine. A little overspray on some of the painted parts but you reall had to look to find it. The complaints about rough edges and having to file parts smooth are not what I found. Third, installation was so easy that I thought I had to have made a mistake after reading some of the negative comments. Including taking off my old fence, I guess it took about and hour to install. And that includes really taking my time. I didn't install the rear hold-down beacuse it's something I could do later if it was needed. So far it hasn't been. I did have to fool around a little to get plastic peice used to line up the measuring tape to zero. Rounded over the edges to to move it a little further to the left to get it directly over the zero. Moved the bar over to the blade to see if everything lined up correctly and the first cut was perfect. Now the most important part, performance. Ecstatic may be a little strong but I'm pretty darn close. I still will pull out my tape to see if the measurements are accurate but that's more about 'Old dogs and new tricks' issues. Never to to adjust the measurements after locking down the fence. Speaking of which, after you lock the fence, it ain't movin'. Talk aobut rock solid. Needless to say I could be happier with this purchase. I just have to stop kicking myself for waiting so long.

I own a 1947 Unisaw and at 73 years old it was time to replace the cranky old OEM fence. The Vega U26 was pretty straightforward if you have any mechanical ability but here’s a few tips for older Uni owners. Tip #1: The bolts that come with the Vega are 5/16”. The bolts that hold the original rails are 3/8-24. Go to the hardware store and buy 2 - 3/8-24 x 1 1/4” for the front and 2 - 3/8-24 x 2 1/4” for the back. The holes are drilled and tapped into the table and the front brackets and rear rail will bolt right in. Tip #2: Re-drill the holes in the rear bracket to 1/2”. You will need the addition clearance to let the rail drop below the miter slot. Tip #3: There is a plastic bumper that attaches on the underneath side of the fence. This bumper slides along the top of the rear rail. Remove the Phillips head screw and remove the flat washer from under the bumper. Removing the washer will allow the rear or the fence to drop down to the table. Tip #4: When you bolt the fence to the front mount you will have to remove the rear plate on the fence and slide out the Formica cover to access the four mounting screws. Leave the plate off until you adjust the front and rear rail. The instructions tell you to adjust the fence leaving a 1/16” gap between the bottom of the fence and the top of the table. The rear plate you removed is 1/16” thick. Lay it under the fence, drop the rails to get your clearance, re-tighten the rail bolts and remove plate from under the fence. A perfect 1/16” clearance. Tip #5: Before you lock down the four cap screws that hold the head in take a 3 foot 1 x 4 and drop it into the miter slot. Slide the fence flush up against the 1 x 4 and then tighten the four cap screws. If your miter slot is parallel with the blade then your fence will be parallel with the blade. Tip #6: If you’re going to add a sacrificial fence to your Vega don’t use 3/4” MDF because it’s too thick. Use 1/2 oak or another hardwood. I made an MDF fence and attacked it but there’s not enough adjustment in the rails to allow you to adjust the zero mark on the scale. Not that it’s perfect but here’s what I did. You need a way to attach the sacrificial fence to the Vega fence so I tapped the existing hole to 1/4-20. The pre-drilled hole is the perfect size of the tap. Then I planed a piece of white oak to 1/2”, drilled the fence holes and drilled a countersink for a 1/4-20 flathead screw. Works perfectly. Hopefully, these tips will help all the Unisaw owners out there.

I decided on this fence based on multiple good reviews. I have no idea what people find so wonderful about this product. I could not believe how horrible the finish was on some of the installation parts. It literally looks like somebody let a 3 year-old run an angle grinder on the mounting brackets while smashed in a vise (the vise marks are clearly visible). The same illiterate 3 year-old wrote the installation instructions. Now over to the paint booth. Give the blind, illiterate 3 year-old a rattle can of Rustoleum gloss black and stand back. Areas of bare metal are visible where the confused, blind, illiterate 3 year-old missed the target. The fence piece itself has a piece of thin cardboard with the Vega logo printed on it (with an inkjet printer) placed on the top of the fence loosely fitted in the fence edges. What's that supposed to be? The front tubular rail had absolutely NO protection for shipping. It was simply thrown in the box with a couple pieces of styrofoam on the ends. Guess they couldn't afford a little plastic wrapping to protect the finish even a little. For me, the worst part about the entire experience was the time I spent researching and comparing different fence systems. I read reviews for this Vega fence going all the way back to 2006 complaining about the quality of the hardware and the horrible finish on the rest of the parts. Fast forward to 2022 and NOTHING HAS CHANGED!! How a company producing this kind of garbage stays in business is beyond me. I never even made it to the installation because I figured if they couldn't even produce a decent $2 mounting bracket then lord only knows how horrible the rest of the quality control is. The likelihood of this fence system actually being accurate or even working as advertised is past 'low'. I hope this review helps somebody make an informed decision. Don't give this company another penny until they can address their quality concerns. They need to consider moving their facility out of the 2-car garage and into a legitimate manufacturing atmosphere. I've seen much better quality come from Harbor Freight. It sure makes a quality boat anchor though. Returned with disgust.

I recently purchased a Delta Contractor Saw 36-979. This is a great saw that did not come with a fence. After much research I chose this fence based on other peoples opinion and price. The setup was easy and it bolted on to existing holes without any additional holes needing to be drilled. The fence was easy to align and setup. Once it is set square to the table it works like butter. Very accurate and such a smooth movement with one hand. My only negative, and it is a small one, is that the fence comes with the tape already applied on the rail. The issue here is that it did not lineup with the correct measurement from the blade. It would be nice if they just gave you the tape and let you set it at the correct position. I would recommend this fence to anyone. I have used it to cut, hardwood floors, rip long boards and even to cut trim. The fence and saw combined are a great combo.

I bought a Jet JWTS-10JF table saw. The JF stands for Jet Fence and it was lousy. It didn't rest anywhere near the table top (better than 1/8" from the top) and only the rear is adjustable. The front rail was as low as it would go, so I was out of answers - until I saw the Vega fence. I lost a little cutting space on the right (30" down to 26"), but since I'm working out of a single car garage it didn't really matter. Every review I read had indicated that the Vega fence worked on Craftsman and Delta saws, but not a word about Jet. Well, I ordered it anyway even though I would probably have to drill holes to make it fit. Surprisingly, it fit in the Jet's original holes. I even left the chromed Jet rear rail in place instead of replacing it with the shorter black rail from Vega. Installation was pretty straight forward except for the final adjustments. Maybe I was doing something wrong, but I don't see where. Everytime I tried to adjust the front rail and then tighten the bolts up, it raised the rail up and so the fence would be too high. I had to play around with it for about 30 minutes before I got it to my satisfaction. It is because of this that I gave it a 4-star rating. After final adjustments, the fence performed as promised. I set the fence to the tape measure and all cuts have been "on the mark". Locking the fence in place algins it perfectly. The fence removes from the rails just by picking it up. If, like me, you wind up with a less-than-satisfactory factory fence on your new (or old) saw, check into Vega fences. Their accuracy is outstanding and the price is right too. I got mine through Amazon.Com for about $178.00 with free shipping. I had it in about a week.

After 40+ years of using a Sears 10" table saw with the OME fence I upgraded my saw to a Vega U26 fence. Wish I did it 40 years ago. The design is well thought out. However the quality of some parts is poor, there are many sharp edges and burrs from their manufacturing processes that need to be sanded or filed smooth. The instructions are ok but should be read through a few times. Installation is pretty straightforward. For my saw I only had to drill one new hole in the table. And then relocate the measuring tape to the left about 2", which was very easy to do. Operation of the fence is very easy and smooth. The fence locks with little effort and is very stable. The micro adjustment works well. Having a fence that extends to the left of the blade is a new feature I will have to try out more. ONE NOTE FOR SEARS TABLE SAW OWNERS: After using the saw with the Vega fence for a few weeks I had the need to tilt the blade to 45 degrees. But it wouldn't tilt past about 35 deg. So after spending 2 hrs throughly cleaning all the guides, drive screw, disassembling and manually moving the mechanism I found the problem. The saw originally came with a blade guard / anti-kickback device. I haven't used it in years. However the mount for it on the back of the saw mechanism was still there. So when the blade mechanism was tilted the blade guard mount ran into the underside of Vega fence back tube rail. All in all I highly recommend this upgrade.

Pluses: 1. The primary fence is rock solid strong metal. 2. The round main rail is good quality. 3. Fairly easy to install. 4. Compatible with most table saws. 5. Works perfect with JessEm Clear-Cut TS Stock Guides, a safety and performance accessory that I like. Even color matches. 6. The fine adjust for the fence position is nice. Cons. 1. Vendor still hasn't learned how to ship. Parts were just thrown in a box with no packing material so they bang around while shipping, producing dents and scratches. Unbelievable this continues with as many complaints about this. 2. Just two brackets hold the main rail. I would think at least one more bracket on the far end would help support it better. 3. The rule comes pre-attached to the main rail. They should ship it separately so that you can attach it yourself. The location it comes shipped on may not be exactly right for you. Suggestions on installation: 1. Vendor suggests drilling 3/8" holes. The bolts are 5/16". The oversized hole is so there is some "slop" if you don't drill perfectly. But there is already plenty of slop already in the bracket. Oversizing the hole is overkill on the slop. I suggest drilling holes 5/16". 2. The two main brackets come with secondary height tweak adjust brackets. I didn't feel those were necessary and didn't use them. 3. I didn't use supplied rear rail. I am using a wood rail of my own making which works with my outfeed table. Other options one might consider is either getting biesemeyer fence or building your own wooden fence. I wish I had done one of those myself.

I fought the fence that came with my Craftsman contractor saw for 2 1/2 decades. Simply clamping it misaligned it by 5 degrees. This Vega 26 right fence was aligned to the table on initial installation. It took me about 20 minutes to install it, including having to drill a mounting hole in the extension table. The only con I found was the measuring tape was to far off to calibrate by moving the bar. I removed and replaced the tape and it is now dead on. What I set using the sight glass is what I measure at the blade front and rear. Clamping the fence does not change the reading at all. A plus not expected was the fence moves like it's greased. It's very easy to set precise measurements. A cautionary note: The saw blade needs to be precisely aligned to the table to achieve the results I got.