Vega U26 Table Saw Fence System: 36-Inch Fence Bar, 26-Inch to Right

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.

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 would have given this 5 stars if they would have only done a few minor tweaks to the parts. The spacers provided to mount the fence to the square look like sawed off sections of 1/2" aluminum pipe that do not fit snugly around the 5/16" mounting bolts. The laminate insert with the company logo was cut too narrow to fit properly into the channel provided. If you turn the fence over, the laminate falls out. The sighting glass with the line to set the fence distance from the blade is so far from the tape measure that it leaves too much chance for error. Also, there should have been a nylon insert or bearings that would keep the square snugly against the tube. The fence, when un-clamped and moved, comes away from the front tube just a little so that when you get it into position and clamp it down again, the far end of the fence moves because it is now being clamped against the front tube to square it up. All in all, it's probably as good as another rip fence at this price point.Here's and update: Same amount of stars. Fixed most of the issues easily. Steel bushings to replace the cheap aluminum pipe cutoffs. Removed the sight line (which was only scotch tape with a line on it) and glued a 1/4" clear piece of plastic under the original and used a fine point sharpie to put another sight line on it. This put the line about 1/32" above the tape measure. Now when you look down at it, there is very little room for error. The play at the back end of the rip fence when moving it really is not much of an issue after all. When I move the fence to the location based on the tape measure on the front rail it does not move off the mark on the tape measure when I lock the fence down. On the very positive side: the micro adjust is fantastic and makes this rip fence better than all the others that don't have it.