A new fence for an old saw

Last summer I bought a 25-year old imported tablesaw, equivalent to the Delta/Grizzly/HF of the same era, to replace my Ryobi BT3000, which is a fine saw, but it is too light and doesn't have miter slots. The new (old) saw is very heavy, has a cast-iron table and extensions and 3-HP motor,  but the fence was broken beyond repair.

After disassembling and thoroughly cleaning everything, I dry lubricated and reassembled it. Aligning the table to the blade was rather tricky. The trunnion castings were rather thin, causing the whole assembly shift out of place and drop when loosened for adjustment. I got it back together and aligned the blade to within .005" -- good enough.

Now that I had a "new" workhorse with miter slots, I needed a few accessories. I bought the Incra Miter 5000 Miter Sled -- what a gem! I also added a mobile base to it. They are indispensable when you are short on floor space.

I used the saw for several months until I actually needed a fence. I began researching fences, including building a Biesemeyer clone. I finally settled on the Shop Fox W2005 Classic Fence with Standard Rails because the price was right. The package arrived in rather poor condition, due to its weight, but the heavy-duty packing materials kept the contents safe. This beast weighs nearly 80 lbs! Each rail weighs about 25 lbs, so I was a little concerned about attaching it to the rather frail-by-comparison tablesaw.

Installation required enlarging and tapping existing bolt holes on the table with the included drill bit and tap. This was the most difficult part of the process. Once I mounted the rails flush to the table surface, the fence slid right into place, and it only took a few minutes of tinkering with the set screws to square it up. My only regret is that I probably should have purchased the 7' rails -- maybe when I have more space.