Jet 708917 JWBS-12RF 12-Inch Band Saw Rip Fence

 (7 customer reviews)

I am a little displeased with this item. Installation is no big deal, but lining up the rear rail clip vertically such that the fence smoothly glides across the table, yet locks smoothly, is nearly impossible. Pliers required to fine-tune the fit. Moreover, the needle indicator is sufficiently long to allow an accurate read on the cm side of the fence scale rule, but not the inch side. On my front rail, the stick-on rule is actually not parallel to the rail and table, and it came this way. So the upshot is use a conbination square to measure your cuts for this one. Finally, I have seen much better online deals for this fence. On the plus side, it does permit a very stable cut - I have shaved 1/8" veneers from 6 inch tall maple with reasonable precision, and it really helps, along with a featherboard, for resawing to make bookmathced cabinet door panels.

The fence for the 12" band saw doesn't meet Jet's normal high standard. I had trouble with the rear hook assembly. Some detailed instructions would be helpful (none exist with the manual). The parts come in a bag, and you're on your own. The front clamp doesn't work smoothly. This, combined with the poor rear hook assembly, make the fence less than I'd expect from Jet. I'll use it until I can find a well-made substitute, then in the can it goes...

First of all the fence works fine once you tune it up, the table of the saw is predrilled to accept the rails and their assembly is pretty straight forward. The fence itself is not assembled and there are no instructions provided, but its fairly obvious when you look at the CAD drawing on the parts list what goes where. TIP: if you don't already have one buy a feeler gauge or better yet a set of setup blocks. This makes setting the fence height from the table a lot easier. My only gripe is the sick-on ruler that came pre-attached to the rail is not square to table and is full 3/4" off the mark. Easily replaced with another stick on ruler but its a bit annoying that its that far off. Having to pay over 50$ for such a critical piece of equipment that is standard on most other band saws the least they can do is get the tape on straight and true. Since there are no other fence systems out there for the Jet your stuck with this one. But it does work fine just plan on...Read more