DRO for POWERMATIC MOD 15 PLANER

[Lonnie Stephens]

Any experience with either factory DRO option on this planer or aftermarket retro-fit? Looked at Wixey and iGage websites. Powermatic version favors iGage hardware but has intregal sensor head and display, no wires or plugs to give problems. What about it guys/gals ? :rolleyes:

[Mark Ashmeade]

Got the factory one on mine, it works just fine. Battery life seems quite good. I must admit though, I'd prefer a simple "depth of cut" gauge. You can do that by passing a board through, noting the DRO value, and then adjusting the table u by the required amount, but it's not as intuitive as a depth of cut gauge.

[Matt Meiser]

I put the iGaging unit on my Jet J/P and am very happy with it. Before that I had a Wixey on a different planer. Wixey's mounting is nice, but Wixey's strip is prone to 0.2" jumps in calibration. I've seen that on both a table saw fence unit and the planer unit. Wixey blames it on static electricity, but I don't see it with the iGaging one so apparently their's is less static sensitive. Battery life on the iGaging seems much better too, but they use 2 CR2032 batteries instead of Wixey's 1 (I believe there is a new Wixey that uses AAA or AA) but regardless, a battery change requires recalibration so whatever it takes to keep it going as long as possible is good with me. The iGaging unit requires you create your own mounting and on my J/P that resulted in a very clean install that looks like it belongs.

[Lonnie Stephens]

Thanks Mark, What I am most concerned about is being able dial in consistent/repeatable finished thicknesses. It is not always convenient to batch machine all your parts for a project and coming back to a matching thickness is fussy work. I am hoping this is the answer.

[Mark Ashmeade]

I'm sure it would be just fine for that purpose, as long as you don't zero it between batches.

[keith micinski]

Mark here is a gauge I made for depth of cut to zero the head to any given board. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?181193-Planer-head-depth-gauge&highlight= I was getting ready to order a wixey for my Grizzly because I love my Wixey fence on my table saw but I will have to look into this iGage

[Van Huskey]

Wixey or Igaging work fine though they do take a few minutes to attach. The Wixey site has lots of pics of their DRO mounted on four post planers.