Digital Angle Gauge & Height Gauge for Table Saw

[Jeff Erbele]

I just spotted a pre Black Friday promotion on the Wixey site for the combo. Do you have and use either one? If so are they worth the price? Quick, easy to use and accurate?

[Jacob Reverb]

I have the Wixey Tiltbox and love it. Seems to be very accurate. If it's not accurate, it's certainly very precise – very repeatable with the same result.

[David Ballard]

I have both and use them all the time. Bought the tilt box first and was so impressed with it I later sprung for the height gauge. I purchased both at my local Woodcraft store when they were on sale.

[Lee Schierer]

I have the Beall tilt Box and love it. It really makes setting up your TS much easier. I place the Tilt box on the table and turn it on. I hit the zero button and once it steadies, I move it to the saw blade and tilt to the desired angle. This corrects for any out of level condition for your saw table.

[Bill Huber]

I have both and use them all the time, I use the depth gauge on the router table more then the table saw.

The angle gauge makes it so easy to set the blade angle on the table saw, just zero it out slap it on the blade and start turning the angle wheel and watch the degrees change.

I have also used the angle gauge to set the angle on my dowel jig for angled dowels and have used it on the drill press with my angle table to drill angle holes.

[Jim Finn]

I have the angle gage and it works well for me. I use it to set my table saw blade angle and to set my scroll saw table angle for doing inlay work. It sure eats up batteries though.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I have the angle gauge & love it.


It sure eats up batteries though
Yep - it does.
I remove the battery when I'm not using it.
That helps a lot.

[Andrew Kertesz]

I remove the battery also. I put it in a little zip lock baggie and then put both on the side of the TS so they are always together.

[Jeff Erbele]

Thank you for all the insightful feed back. I was not aware of the Beall Tilt Box. From further research online I learned it displays a second decimal point, .00 but only a zero or five, expressed as .00 or .05 .

That is splitting hairs considering one point ( .1 ) is 1/10th of a degree but could be helpful in some cases depending on the task.
As a machinist and combat engineer I don't think in fractions of a degree, rather in terms of 60 minutes per degree and 60 seconds per minute,, expressed as for example 2 1/2 degrees = 2 degrees 30 minutes 0 seconds, but I can easily adapt.

In an online search I found one person who tried both brands and took the time to share his experience:
Beall Tilt Box Versus Wixey Angle Gauge
http://www.routerforums.com/tool-reviews/8292-beall-tilt-box-versus-wixey-angle-gauge.html

From that review I think I would probably lean towards the Beall but the Wixey Holiday special includes the mini-depth gauge for about $10 more.
http://www.wixey.com/holiday2013.html

Often when I don't know which choice is right, I sleep on it, literally, and the answer is clear when I wake.

[Robert Delhommer Sr]

I have & like the Wixey angle gage.

[Lee Schierer]

It sure eats up batteries though.

The Beall version uses a standard 9 volt battery and mine has lasted a couple of years so far.

[Art Mann]

My Wixey tilt measurement box works well but, like others have said, batteries don't last very long. I also use a Wixey height gauge on my thickness planer and those batteries don't last either. I now buy batteries in packs of 4 or more. If I had it to do over again, I would look at different brands before buying. By the way, Harbor Freight sells a tilt box that is very cheap on sale. I would not normally look there for precision instruments but I have a digital caliper I bought there for $9 and it works well and has lasted for many years.

[Dell Littlefield]

I have the HF model and it also eats batteries

[Alan Schaffter]

All you guys talking about battery life on the Wixey angle gauge must have the old model. Check out the new one, it uses two AAA batteries which in this application should last 2 years (or more)! In my case it is "more" because I haven't had to replace the batteries yet and it is over two years old. (p.s. the newer Wixey planer height gauges (standard and remote reading) also use AAA batteries which should last up to years.) The new one also has some neat new features- in addition to measuring relative angle like other tilt boxes, the new one also reads absolute "earth" level, has a direction graphic to show you which way it is tilted, has a "hold" feature, and has a flip up tilting display. These features make it well worth the slight additional cost.

Old Wixey (WR300):

http://www.wixey.com/anglegauge/images/wr300_easy02.jpg

New Wixey (WR 365):

http://www.wixey.com/anglegauge/images/wr365_feature02.jpg

http://www.wixey.com/anglegauge/images/wr365_feature01.jpg

Side-by-side comparison:

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/2161/medium/IMG_3600.JPG

Many of you have seen the brackets I made to use the tilt gauge with my tablesaw and mitersaw:

Once calibrated to the table top and blade it reads blade tilt angle. Using the saw's tabletop as a reference, the blade is set to 90° or zero, then gauge is moved to shelf where it is zeroed. It is much easier to see and read for these old eyes than the tilt scale marks on my saw. It mounts by its magnets to a small shelf made from a piece of steel angle attached to the end of a wood bracket. The bracket moves with the saw's tilt mechanism. Though it is not really needed, I usually recalibrate it at the beginning of each shop session and of course if I used it somewhere else. The magnets temporarily hold it to the shelf so it can be removed quickly and easily.

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/2161/medium/IMG_3756.JPG

It was easy to add a small bracket to my mitersaw, too. It must be used with the saw in the cutting (down) position. The tilt scale on my mitersaw has tiny marks and is at the rear of the saw so is nearly impossible to read. This is a great improvement:

A piece of flat bar from the local hardware store attached to the top of my miter saw:

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/2161/medium/IMG_3770.JPG

Angle gauge in place on the flat bar with saw tilted to 34.2°:

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/2161/medium/IMG_3767.JPG

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/2161/medium/IMG_37711.JPG