Wixey Planer DRO Rocks

[Steve H Graham]

Earlier this week I stuck a Wixey digital readout on my Dewalt 735. I thought it was just a fun impulse buy; the scale that came with the planer was perfectly easy to use. But when I fired the planer up, I realized I had made my life WAY easier. I never have to bend over and peer at the scale. I can knock off a few thousandths with ease. I can repeat settings reliably. It's fantastic.

I thought the instructions were a little weak. One thing appears clear: you should ignore the bit about how the foot of the DRO can be slightly higher than the top of the infeed ramp. When you use the DRO to measure wood (not a great feature, if you can spring for a pair of cheap Chinese calipers), you'll get a bogus reading if the wood isn't level, and a discrepancy between the foot height and ramp height will cause the wood to sit at an angle and throw everything off.

I just found out they make a router DRO that will fit my Plungelift, so I'm getting one. Yesterday I drove myself up the wall, trying to repeat cuts to the same height. The bit was under the wood, so I couldn't see it, and I had to resort to things like counting turns on the lift crank. I also made a gauge from scrap. Pretty lame, compared to reading big numbers off a screen.

I also have their table saw angle gauge. Hasn't been useful so far. At 45 and 90 degrees, my saw was already within a tenth of a degree. I'm sure it will be more useful for odd angles.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

The first Wixey product I bought was the Digital Angle Gauge -- I love it!

The next Wixey product I bought was the Planer Digital Readout -- I had some trouble with installation (see below).

The next Wixey product I bought was the Digital Caliper with Fractions -- I love it even more! I think it's my favorite Wixey product.

The next Wixey product I bought was the Digital Protractor -- I love it too! Though the locking mechanism does kind of suck a little bit.

I've been thinking about picking up the Digital Height Gauge too.

I can't say enough good things about Barry and the products he makes!

On the other hand, I did have tons of problems with the Planer Digital Readout -- I've tried three times to install it on my Ridgid R4330. The problems were caused mostly by me, but the design of the PDR and mounting brackets left a lot to be desired. It's still in the box and is now missing some parts that I tried unsuccessfully to modify. Maybe one of these days I'll buy some spare parts and try again.

[Barry Rowland]

I have the Planer readout on my 735 also. Kinda of an impulse buy for me,
but turned out to be something I really love now.

Once calibrated correctly I can now dimension my pieces very quickly to
a couple of thousandths of an inch.

As for the angle gauge, the first one I got did not lock tight enough
for me. I sent it back after emailing Barry, and he sent another one.

The second one locked much better. Although the lock will never be tight enough to keep the blades from completely moving, it does secure them so that I can move around the shop without fear of loosing my setting.

[Danny Burns]

I wish they had a DRO for the drill press!

[Larry Prince]

I agree that the planer DRO definitely makes things easier.

CAUTION: Thread hijack in progress. Sorry about that :D

But you havent lived until you get a DRO for your tablesaw fence. I got mine from http://www.proscale.com/products/woodworking.htm but Wixey also has one that is cheaper and would probably work ok for most home shops.

I see Wixey has added the auto shutoff feature to most(ALL?) of their products and believe me with Wixey you need it. They really should get rid of those steenking expensive watch batteries and go to AA's.

At any rate I hadn't realized how much time was spent futzing around with the fence until I got the DRO. Now its just a matter of sliding it over and locking it down. Mine reads to 1/64ths but with a little of the aforementioned futzing I can easily get 1/128ths. Havent found a use for that yet but its nice to know its there ;)

[Steve H Graham]

I'll tell you what. I get such precision with the Biesemeyer, I just can't see spending money on a DRO. Maybe that will change when I do more complicated things.

[Mike Goetzke]

I'll tell you what. I get such precision with the Biesemeyer, I just can't see spending money on a DRO. Maybe that will change when I do more complicated things.

I thought this too until I snagged one on sale. The relative mode on the gauge is worth the price by itself. You can zero your cut anywhere and incrementally move the fence by the DRO amount. Great for grooves/dados etc that take multiple passes...

I also have (and use):

angle gauge
protractor
TS gauge
remote gauge for my PRL-V2
calipers

[Paul Johnstone]

. When you use the DRO to measure wood (not a great feature, if you can spring for a pair of cheap Chinese calipers), you'll get a bogus reading if the wood isn't level, and a discrepancy between the foot height and ramp height will cause the wood to sit at an angle and throw everything off.
.

This is a valid point, but the reason they have that spring operated measuring thing is to calibrate the DRO. You run a piece of wood through the planer, and then calibrate it. Then, in theory, you can recalibrate it months later and get the same thickness. Of course, you are right, you introduce a little bit of error in the recalibration process, but after the battery runs dead, it's nice to get the DRO at least close.

[Peter Quinn]

I see these Wixley DRO for portable planers, anybody know if they work on 15" iron planers or if they make one that does? I have delta DC-380, I would like to have a DRO, I'm spoiled on the planer at work which has DRO and power adjust table. I think I can still crank the home unit by hand but it sure would be nice to have an accurate depth of cut scale on that thing.

[Larry Prince]

Sure it'll work. You may have to get a little (or even a lot) creative on how you mount it, but as long as you come up with something that will slide the scale thru the readout you're golden.

Mine is on a Grizzly 15" planer and once I figured out where to fit it all I had to do was fabricate a couple of brackets (from aluminum angle stock) and drill/tap a few holes.

On my Grizz the readout is fixed and the scale slides thru it. Depending on your planer and where it has to mount you may want to fix the scale and make the readout move with the table.

Most of your effort will be in figuring out how to get the thing attached. The rest of it is pretty fast.

[Eric Gustafson]

But you havent lived until you get a DRO for your tablesaw fence.

I had the INCRA postioner on my CS saw and loved it. I wasn't as happy with the fence and rails combo that came with it, however. When I got my cabinet saw I put the Beise fence I got when Lowes liquidated their inventory on it and really like that. So I got the Wixley DRO for it, but decided the INCRA is a better way to position a TS fence. Mainly because it eliminates bumping the fence to get it to where you want it. I am going to put my INCRA positioner back on the cabinet saw, but am going to marry it to the Beise fence and get the best of both worlds.

[Peter Quinn]

Thanks Larry for your response. The Delta 15" planer has a fixed table, the head moves up and down. I'm spoiled by a 24" casadei planer with a DRO at work, I'd like to move beyond hunt and peck for repeatability purposes in the home shop. I think its time to get a Wixley.