new Paralok TS fence impressions
Douglas Rhodes
I received my new Paralok TS fence last week and would like to pass on
my impressions with it. Mounting it to my Rockwell Contractor's Saw was
fairly easy but required drilling the rails. I had a little difficulty
drilling the heavy angle iron exactly where I wanted but got it close
enough. (I don't have much experience drilling metals--just wood!) I
ran the cables and mounted the fence. Took 10-20 minutes to align to
the miter slot. The fence glides very easily because of the cable
system. Fence flatness/straightness is claimed to be less than 0.002"
and I believe this to be correct with the tools available to me. A
quick measurement of the squareness to the table revealed that the top
of the fence was out by about 0.006". I called the company (Quintec
Manufacturing) on New Year's Eve and was told that Daryl Waters
(inventor/president) would be out until Friday or Monday but he could
answer my concerns. I was somewhat disappointed but figured it WAS New
Year's Eve. Well, within 10 minutes I got a call back from Daryl and we
spend some 15 minutes discussing the squareness issue among others. I
must say I was impressed! I doubt Delta or Biesmeyer would call on New
Year's Eve!
He recommended I place paper shims under the locking blocks. I did so
and had the fence perfectly (as close as I could tell) square within 10
minutes. Overall, I am very satisfied with this fence and only wish I
replaced my Jet-Lock fence sooner. The scale is extremely accurate and
repeatable. I was using the fence as a "stop block" to cut tenons with
the miter gauge and had to re-cut one after moving the fence for a
different cut and found the fence was exactly back to where it
previously was positioned using the scale. I'll throw away my tape
measure for sure for measuring the distance from blade to fence.
I build my own version of the infill table rather than use the suggested
plans. I figured mortise and tenons joints for the table's support
would be more appropriate than 1X2's and plywood bracing.
Negatives....yes a few.
1. I was mis-led (not by Daryl and Quintec) by the Bridge City
Toolworks catalog which carries the Paralok. They say to take the
biggest cut you want to make and add 3" and select the fence rail
lengths from a chart. This is wrong. I ordered the 6' rails assuming I
could cut almost 6' to the right of the blade. The 6' rails ARE 6' feet
in length...total. The catalog should have said: add the left and
right distances that you want to cut and add 6" and order that rail
lengths. I discussed this with Daryl and he agreed that the discription
is incorrect in the BCTW catalog.
2. I wish the railed were pre-drilled for the more common table saws.
This would save the consumer the trouble of drilling fairly thick steel.
3. A minor point. The fence does not include mounting bolts. I feel
for this price range they should. The Paralok's instruction manual
claims that for so many different models of table saws, it would be
difficult to determine the correct bolts. But, for common TS, like the
Unisaw and Contractor's saw, I say include them. I had to really search
for 3/8" fine thread bolts for my TS. Everyone (including HD) only
carries the course thread. The manual DOES state that if you really
have trouble finding the bolts, to call them and they will assist in the
procurement of them.
Note: I have no affiliation with Quintec other than a satisfied
customer. YMMV.
--Doug Rhodes
Chris Pohlig
Is Bridge City Tool Works the only place from which the Paralok fence
is available?
Douglas Rhodes
No. You can order it directly from the manufacturer, Quintec
Manufacturing, Inc in Portland, Oregon.
Let me know if you need the address and phone number. They don't have a
Web site.
--Doug Rhodes
DR
cpo...@mindspring.com (Chris Pohlig) wrote:
>Is Bridge City Tool Works the only place from which the Paralok fence
>is available?
Chris, you can call Quintec at 800-423-9611 or 503-281-6096 and order
direct. They pack the fence and rails so well that even UPS can't
screw them up.
-Bob Dykeman
DR
Douglas Rhodes <do...@webspan.net> wrote:
>I received my new Paralok TS fence last week and would like to pass on
>my impressions with it. <snip>
>--Doug Rhodes
Doug, I agree with you. I'm also a very satisfied Paralock user. I'll
never look at another fence! And Daryl is indeed very helpful if you
have individual setup problems (though he does keep weird hours
sometimes).
Just a couple of comments:
As far as not including the bolts, I think there are just too many
possible combinations of bolt sizes and threads that may be
pre-drilled in the table already for Quintec to include them all. I
just used the holes (non-threaded) in my Delta Contractor's saw and
bought a couple of 3/8 inch bolts and nuts (I left the ones Delta
supplied with the old fence for whoever buys it from me).
By the way, the very thing I like about the rails is that they're NOT
pre-drilled. That let me place my 5-ft rails just where I wanted them,
with so much on the left and so much on the right.
Anyway, it's a superb fence!
Bob Dykeman
WingedA
I bought my Paralok from Quintec directly, in 1985 or there abouts. At that
time, I was asked to send a sample of the kerf from the blade I used most
often. Mr. Waters then sent me fence and curser callibrated for my saw blades.
I put them on a Cman TS. Sold that TS w/o the Paralok, and bought Unisaw.
Paralok fit just fine. To make the fence slide REALLY nice, glue some of the
UHMW (slick strips) to the bottom glides. They are impervious to saw dust and
non stick. Way cool!
win...@aol.com-no spam
ted...@gmail.com
> I received my new Paralok TS fence last week and would like to pass on
> I received my new Paralok TS fence last week and would like to pass on
Thanks for any help you can provide..Tom Dotta Hollister Calif. ted...@gmail.com