Anyone here made their own Biese fence tube?

Jim O'Dell

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2,783
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Between Aledo and Fort Worth, TX
I'm looking for a less expensive alternative to the 250.00 Delta 78-055B fence tube. I'd like to use my Biese fence that is currently on my Ridgid 3612 TS and be able to use it on my G0691. Hopefully I can make adjustments on the rail so that I can keep the same fence adjustments and switch machines as needed without additional set up time. I can use the current Grizzly angle iron to mount a new tube to.
I've located a local steel supplier that has the required 2" X 3" steel tubing in various wall thicknesses. But my question is will the tubing be straight? I sent an email last weekend to the company with what I was going to use it for and asked that question, but haven't received any reply as of yet.
Next question is the Biese unit has the sliding/clamping surfaces polished, and the remainder powder coated. I can easily paint the non contact parts, but how do I polish the sliding/clamping surfaces?
Thanks for any help and insights you can offer! Jim.
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I built one several years back. Since I built mine from a couple of pictures, I didn't realize at the time that they had machined the faces of the factory ones. I didn't have any issues with the fence being loose or too tight and it seemed to be parallel to the blade no mater the placement on the rail.

The factory ones I've seen look like they were ran through a surface grinder on each side to make them parallel to one another. You may be able to treat it much like a plane iron and flatten any imperfections with sandpaper glued on a flat surface. You may also check with a machine shop to see what they would charge to run it through a surface grinder or mill too.

Here are the pics of mine...

https://plus.google.com/photos/118439887436548433410/albums/5230854449145905057

I ended selling the TS in a garage sale shortly after, so not sure how well it held up long term. The handle cam was a piece of 1" cold roll steel rod that was drilled off-center. You can see the area where it rubbed on the face of the tube. I did later place a piece of flat brass between the two to keep it from rubbing and make it do more of a clamping action.
 
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