Vega PRO 50 Table Saw Fence System: 42-Inch Fence Bar, 50-Inch to Right

Precision, plain fence – just what I wantedI have an old Craftsman model 113.298762 table saw. I got it for a great price since it had been neglected. But after rust removal, new blade, bearings, belt, a thorough cleaning and judicious lubrication it works as well as it ever did. It came with the original fence, splitter and blade guard as well as a DeWalt blade, stand, mobile caster and welded steel tube adjustable work support.The splitter and blade guard are really clunky, even after TLC so I have to find a better option. The original fence worked reasonably well after refurbishing but had three problems refurbishing could not fix: 1) the fence itself was wavy varying as much as .030” along it’s length; 2) the best it could hold in parallelism to the blade after moving to a length was on the order of .050”; and 3) the rip capacity was 24 inches maximum. While I could have fixed the waviness by adding a new fence surface, the other issues would still remain. So I did a lot of research before settling on the Vega Pro 50. I wish I could have tested each but could only go by other’s reviews of the Incra and the Biesemeyer. Unfortunately, the Biesemeyer reportedly has suffered from inadequate production quality control; and the Incra price premium was excessive. So that led me to give the Vega Pro 50 a shot.Here is my review of the Vega Pro 50:Function:The top three things I was looking for are reliable parallelism to the blade every time, easy to cut to length, and ability to use jigs and fixtures. This fence completely satisfies all expectations.I did take my time in deburring (see notes below) , installation and setup, but even so it did not take more than about 2 hours.In testing parallelism, I mounted a dial indicator in the left miter slot and measured the ability to stay parallel after release of the clamp, moving the fence all the way out to the 50 inch mark and back again, reclamping and measuring. In ten repetitions the parallelism was within 0.0015 from the front of the saw to the back of the saw (about 24 inches of travel along the fence) – pretty much exactly the tolerance I had on set up. Forcefully pushing on the far end of the fence with my thumb (10 – 20 pounds of force) yielded very small deflection of about .004. Pushing on the near end of the fence with my thumb yielded no movement. Happy with that.The fence moves smoothly along the rails and I had set it up so it was about 1/16th to 3/32nds above the surface of the table. The indicator for length is a thin red line etched into a small adjustable piece of clear plastic. The problem in getting repeatable cuts to length is parallax generating reading errors. While Vega used good practice by putting the red line on the bottom of the plastic window to get the line as close to the tape as possible, the bottom surface of the line is still about .120”above the tape. Fortunately there is an easy hack (see Hack #1 below) to fix this issue. With the hack, I was getting cuts within a few thousandths of desired length. Happy with that.Note that the fence comes with a micro-adjusting feature to move the fence just a bit when looking to dial in a really precise cut. It works by having a small outboard clamping segment that then allows a thumbwheel to drive a threaded rod to slightly move the main fence to an exact location. And then you engage the main clamp to lock into the dialed in location. Sounds good in theory. But not so useful in practice. Here’s why: The micro adjust thumbwheel has about .013” of backlash, some due to the 3/8-16 threaded rod and some due to the clearance between the thumbwheel and it’s mounting slot. Additionally, I measured about a .010 movement of the saw closer to the blade between the time the micro adjust was set and after the main fence clamp was engaged. However after clamping parallelism to the blade was still excellent. What is happening is that the micro adjust is pushing that part of the fence nearest the operator which ever so slightly skews the fence but then clamping corrects this skew. Parallelism is preserved but you cannot measure precisely at the blade only at the micro adjust. Not happy with that.I could minimize this issue by using my left hand to squeeze the carriage to the rail when adjusting the micro adjust to make the gap between the blade and the fence wider. Note that when using the micro adjust to make the gap between the blade and the fence narrower, this fence movement effect is largely diminished. But see hack #2 for a simple, easy fix I think will work well.The fence itself comes predrilled with 2 holes and 2 screws are provided to mount an auxiliary fence. The fence itself is 3.997”wide and very precise across it’s length. It will be easy to add a wood slab with t – tracks to the top of the fence. With the top label removed, there is about a .620”deep channel to hold the wood slab. Happy with that.Other observations:The rails are long enough to support a 50” cut and have brackets to mount an extension table and out board leg support. Nice extra.The fence comes with a holddown clip to keep the rear of the fence rising up when using holddown clamps or fence mounted stock pushing jigs. It is robust. I had to add some washers for spacing so it would clear the extension table brackets. It seems to work well but requires about a 4” gap from the back edge of the saw table and the front edge of the outfeed support.Fit and FinishAs other reviewers have noted, the fit and finish is rough. I suspect this is to keep costs down and I am okay with doing my own deburring for a lower price. It really did not take much time, just be careful and easy and it will be a worthwhile investment. But you really ought to do it to achieve the full potential and smooth movement this fence can deliver.The main parts are painted smoothly but there is overspray on adjacent surfaces. The aluminum rail mounts slots and mounting holes are just not quite carefully placed or aligned but this does not impact mounting or the ability to dial in setup to achieve high precision. And this is mostly hidden after installation. But yes, it does look sloppy.I debated knocking off a star for fit and finish but decided just to note that here in the review so you can make your own determination how important this is to you. Chances are that those of us who care enough to purchase an add on fence to get better results would also care about our tools.PackagingThe fence came well packaged in a robust design with minimum waste and either reusable or recyclable parts. Impressed.InstallationBefore starting the install, take 15 to 30 minutes to carefully deburr and clean all parts. Well worth the investment of time. I also used white lithium grease on the micro adjust threads and a very thin wipe on the front rail to make the glide super smooth. Be careful not to get any lubricant between the lacking cam and the brass locking tab.I used a 1/16th shim to help set the gap between the fence and the top of the saw table. To set the fence perpendicular to the left miter slot (reference for setting the blade) I used a dial indicator. First I engaged the fence clamp and then moved the rear of the fence to achieve as close to perfect alignment as I could. Then I used a quick clamp to hold the rear of the fence to the rear rail over the riser tab while I tightened the fence to the carriage, carefully checking that the fence did not move the dial indicator.The rail mount system is thoughtfully designed to make dialing in the height of the tables relative to the saw table surface very easy. Clever.I did take it slow and careful but I did get really good results in about 2 hours. It took longer to measure performance and write up this review.ReliabilityHaving just installed the fence and only used it for test cuts I cannot measure reliability. But I can assess the materials and design to come up with some engineering assessment as to what to expect. The fence is a heavy duty box extrusion and should be stable unless subjected to apelike excessive stresses in attaching jigs and fixtures. Normal use is unlikely to have any wear and tear.The front carriage assembly is quite robust and has plenty of contact area for long term performance.The main cam lock has a brass wear tab to minimize wear on the front rail. The front rail is plated to have a very smooth surface for an easy glide and is heavy duty. The rear of the fence rests on a plastic tab that slides along the top surface of the rear rail, a square tube. I was surprised that this glides so easily and smoothly. Perhaps this might wear, but early evidence suggests not.The mounting brackets are all heavy duty.HacksHack #1 eliminating parallax when reading tape.I removed the plastic indicator from the carriage and then using a machinist square to make sure I was looking pretty much straight down, I used a straightedge and a scribe to scratch a thin straight line into the top surface of the plastic directly above the red indicator line. Then I replaced the plastic indicator and used a spacer block to set the fence a known distance from the blade and to calibrate the fine positioning of the indicator and carefully screw it into place. Now when I look down, I center this scribed line in the middle of the lower red line. The scribed line is so thin compared to the red line it is easy to line up the scribed line is in the middle of the red line. Then aligning both lines with the indications on the tape below I can get cuts within of few thousandths of the measure on the tape. Happy with that.Hack #2 micro adjust measurementAs I mentioned above, measuring the movement you get with the micro adjust is challenging due to backlash and skewing. I would like to tap a ¼ - 20 mounting hole in the outboard part of the carriage so I can mount a dial indicator to it. The when adjusting the main fence I can quickly and easily measure any adjustment. I have not come up with a final design yet but plan to do something here eventually. That will have to wait until I finish the extension table and other projects. But the concept is simple enough.Hack #3 adding top t-trackI have not done this yet but will be very easy to do and will provide a great option for jigs, fixtures, or accessories like holddowns.SummaryI am very happy with this fence. It exceeded expectations in fundamental performance and has plenty of adaptability for anything I could envision needing. It is a precise and easy to use tool and a big upgrade. The fit and finish were meh, but did not impact performance in any way. A good thoughtful design for easy installation and likely to be reliable and long lasting. No longer will the fence be an impediment to precise woodworking but a joy to use and a benefit to developing craftsmanship.

Ordered from Amazon box arrive in about 2 weeks. Opening the box and inspecting the pieces I did not have all the rough edges and metal flash as the other did, everything was in good shape.InstallationI watched some video and read some write ups, several differentiating ways to install and some people drilled holes and some did not. For my experience I only needed to drill one hole for the rear and that was in the square rail not my table saw. In the front they want holes at 8" from center of the blade, the left hole (facing the saw) lines up perfectly to 8 inches, however the second front hole is 9". Fortunately that hole can be used, you will just need to move the bolt in the circular front rail to the furthest hole back. This will give you 0 on the measuring tape at the blade. For this I did not use the longest bolts (they wouldnt fit) but the next size of included bolts.For the back, (facing the back) the left bolt (where the rails would extend) also line up, I used the included long bolts for the back of the square rail. For the second back hole, I did drill the rail to feed the long bolt through. NO NEED TO DRILL YOUR TABLE.One note, when sliding out the long logo paper on the fence, make sure you unscrew the end caps, I tried to force mine out and broke it (this is just a logo onto of the fence, it has no actual purpose.)This was a very easy install, I took my time since it was a precision piece and finished installing in about an hour. After fine tuning this cuts perfectly straight with no flex in the fence. I move the table all over the grade and re locked the fence again and it stayed perfect.Only other issues was mounting the power box, since you dont want to drill holes in the rail, I simply installed a 2x4 under the left wing and mount the box there.At $430 it seems excessive, but when comparing similar products like the Shop Fox, Incra, and Delta fence, the price is similar with little to no table modifications. I really wanted to go with the Incra, however there is a 4 month wait time and I wanted something much sooner.You will see a world of difference from the stock Ridgid Fence. As you know the stock fence is completely garbage of an other wise good table saw.The other nice fact, if I do decide to get another table saw or sell this one, I would keep the fence.

Received my Pro 50 a day early. Took a while to install and I still have work to do to extend the table and add an outfeed table to it, but so far so good. It would be great if it also came with a pair of adjustable legs to support the weight, for the price that doesn't seem like a lot to ask for. Overall it seems to work very well for the few cuts I've made with it so far.

Well great fence! Except for the fact that it’s a figure it out as you go fence! The rails on the right side are way out of square and the hardware was of your good at measuring you’ll be fine setting! But it’s acgreat fence when you set it up!