Table Saw Fence DRO: Is it worth it?

[Roger Feeley]

I use the DRO on my router table height all the time but never for absolute measurement. I fire the thing up for relative measurement when I want to tweak the height a bit for something like a half lap or adjusting the bit for rail and stile work. For that, it works great and I wouldn't want to live without it.

So I'm considering a table saw fence DRO for similar tweaking but I wonder if I would use it for absolute measurement. I change blades fairly often. I didn't use to until I got the Sawstop with those spiffy flats on the arbor. Now I don't have to wrestle the blade.

Any and all advice would be appreciated. FWIW, I have the Sawstop ICS (I love my wife).

[glenn bradley]

I answered this in your other post but, for those who don't find it; I find the DRO very useful and would be loath to give it up. At a street price of about $100 now-a-days, its hard to beat.

[Stephen Cherry]

I find it to be indispensable. Of course woodworking does not require .001 accuracy, but it's nice to set the fence and not need to wonder if your eyes were off a little.

[Marc Burt]

I like mine. I could live without it and wouldn't put it at the top of my purchase list if I weren't pretty kitted out. It comes it very handy when changing blades and having to reset. Although even after after having mine for years now I still reach for a ruler for rips less than 10" or so. Old habits die hard I guess :)

[johnny means]

I dont know about others but, with a good scale I'm good to 1/128th" with my eyeballs. i never have to recalibrate them either. I don't really see how a DRO would improve my table saw at all. I could however see a DRO being the cause of a catastrophic error, if I grew to rely on one. I must say I have never seen one used in a proffessional environment.

Ask me when my eyes are in their fifties and I might feel differently.

[Bill Huber]

This may be one of those things that if I had one I would think a lot different about it.

I use a ruler to do all my blade to fence measurements, I don't even use the scale on the fence rail. When I use the ruler I know what it is and I don't have to worry about something not being calibrated for the blade. I do use full and thin kerf blades so I would have to recalibrate when I change them.

I think if I was doing production work it may be nice but for hobby work I just can't see it.

[Chris Parks]

I guess for a one off cut on a properly calibrated saw fence it is not a necessity as the cut will be close enough. If I wanted to repeat that cut in a few hours and a bit later repeat it again that is where the DRO shines. In short it is the repeatability that is always spot on that is the icing on the cake for me. I use it at all times and never refer to the standard fence because if I set it on a number I can always come back to that number and I know it will be the same. I can well understand that those who have never used one cannot see the advantages but if they used one that would change. I would think that anyone doing production work would have to use one or be wasting large amounts of time and material.

[Keith Weber]

I dont know about others but, with a good scale I'm good to 1/128th" with my eyeballs. i never have to recalibrate them either.

LOL! Believe me, you'll eventually have to recalibrate them!

I love the DRO on my milling machine, but I think I'll pass on one on my TS. Whenever I want to repeat a cut later, I just use one of the earlier cut pieces to set my fence by placing it between the fence and the blade, so that it scrapes the blade, but doesn't turn it when you run the piece along the fence.

Keith
Keith

[Jacob Reverb]

Seems to me that, in contrast to a metal lathe or milling machine, there are far too many variables on a TS (and within the wood itself) for a DRO to be worth it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but for something critical, you still have to make a test cut and check it with a rule or caliper anyway, no? Or do you just trust the DRO at face value? (IMHO, trusting anything short of an actual direct measurement of a cut test piece is a recipe for firewood.)

[Alan Bienlein]

For me it's worth it. It's not about trying to get the cuts down to the .001's but repeatability and the ability to go from sae to metric. I just did two projects where the plans were in metric and with the simple push of a button I was off and running!

There is also a feature on the wixey that will let you zero out and move the fence to what ever dimension you want with out losing calibration. It was a real time saver on this project as I didn't have to worry about doing any math. Just zero it and move for each cut.
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[glenn bradley]

I'm with Alan. Just because you have a DRO, it doesn't mean you're trying to turn a tablesaw into a milling machine ;-) Repeatability, conversion, offset, etc.; all very easy. I recalibrate any time I change blades. Not all full kerf blades are 1/8" and not all TK blades are 3/32". No big deal, slide the fence over to touch the blade, lock it down and push the 'zero' button. Three seconds out of my life? That I can spare ;-)

[Chris Parks]

Seems to me that, in contrast to a metal lathe or milling machine, there are far too many variables on a TS (and within the wood itself) for a DRO to be worth it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but for something critical, you still have to make a test cut and check it with a rule or caliper anyway, no? Or do you just trust the DRO at face value? (IMHO, trusting anything short of an actual direct measurement of a cut test piece is a recipe for firewood.)

If you have a dimensioned plan or a start point dimension then using a DRO just about eliminates the need to use any manual measuring, I learnt this when using a CNC sheet metal machine. We used to plan and custom build trailers with no measurement at all using the same principle, we never at any stage used any tape measure, we knew the base dimension and that is all you need. You know a cabinet is going to be X long so cut from the DRO and don't measure. It does work and speeds up the process and you know the part will fit. I will now duck for cover as everyone will tell me it won't work.

[Cary Falk]

I have one on my shaper for realitive changes in height. I also have one on my planer because the one that it came with sucks and I have to stoop down to look at it. I have never put one on the table saw vbecause I am just use to the cursor and can get an accurate enought measurement. I have made some mistakes of putting the fence at 3 3/4 instead of 4 3/4 for example. The DRO would have eliminated that. So for me it is worth the money on the other 2 tools but I can't really justify it on the table saw though. If I had it I would probably love il. It is not so much about the accuracy as the repeteability for me.

[Ron Natalie]

It's easier to zero the DRO for a given operation than to fix the reticle on the fence rail (or do the mental math to adjust for the fact that it's almost certainly OFF).

[David Kumm]

Like most other things in life you can be totally content without one but once you use a reliable unit you are spoiled and don't want to go back. Dave

[Bill Huber]

This may be one of those things that if I had one I would think a lot different about it.

Well I do......:D

After reading this thread and thinking about it I ordered one from Barry and I will have to say I really like it. I was doing some cuts that were 2" wide and when I got to the point of assembly of the project I found one of the 2" parts had a knot just were I didn't want it, set the fence at 2" and it was spot on with the other parts.

The install was so easy to do and only took about 30 min.

[tyler mckee]

Peachtree just had them on sale for $69, kicking myself for not buying one at that price.

[Cary Falk]

Peachtree just had them on sale for $69, kicking myself for not buying one at that price.

I'm glad I didn't know about that. I would have probably bought one.:eek:

[Stephen Cherry]

here's another reason to use a digital readout.

First, here's how I calibrate:
1. Make a rip cut of an arbitrary width.
2. Take the ripped board, and place it against the fence in front of the blade.
3. Clamp a block of wood against the ripped piece, so that the right edge of the block is exactly at the cut line of the blade.
4. Remove the ripped piece of wood, and bring the fence against the block.
5. Zero the fence.

The fence on my felder saw will return to this zero with pretty amaizing accuracy.

Now here is the added bonus- by using the block of wood clamped to the table and the fence, you can place other objects against the block and use the fence to measure the size of the object, like having super sized calipers.

[Chris Parks]

What a great idea Stephen, any chance of some pics of the DRO and how you fitted it. A K3 is about to come into my life and I am looking for ideas on how to fit a DRO to it.