table and miter saws with digital readouts

[steve swartz]

I have had a Grizzly 1023 SLX for about 10 years and I am very pleased with it. It has served me very well. Of course, now table saws have riving knives, which I wish I had, but it is what it is. I was checking out the Grizzly catalog the other day and saw that they had a few new table saws with digital readouts. I have seen some miter saws with this feature but I have never used or owned one. I was wondering if anyone had a saw with this feature on it and if they would be willing to share their experiences using it.

[Dave Paine]

Two types of digital readout accessories from Wixey, and perhaps others. A box with magnetic mount to a table top or blade for bevel angle, and a digital rule for the fence. I have both. I do not use either very often.

My Wixey angle box works, but it consumes batteries. These are the common 2023 button type, but it is annoying to put in a new battery and then a couple of weeks later find it drained, despite the box being turned off. Supposedly the new models have this fixed.

For setting the blade 90 deg or 45 deg, I prefer my machinst squares. Accurate and repeatable.

If I need an odd angle, I curse at my Wixy box, insert a new battery and use the box to set the odd angle. I reset the blade with my 90 deg machinst square.

I expect the Grizzly digital angle readout in their 10in saw is battery powered. Should be accurate.

The digital fence is accurate - but only if I use it in decimal inch or metric mode. It will also display fractions, but the algorithm to convert decimal to fractions has to round the reading. Not a design flaw by Wixey, just real life. The rounding means I can move the fence slightly either side of the fraction and still display the same fraction. This may sound trivial, but these rounding errors could cause problems for me.

If I ever get accustomed to measuring in decimal inches, I could then use the Wixey digital fence. I am more likely to use decimal inches than metric.

[Erik Loza]

Steve, I can't comment on regular cabinet saws but will tell you that DRO's have been very popular among my customers. In order of quality and price, I would consider Wixey, Accurate Technologies/Pro Scale, then Siko. These are adaptable to any application.

Best,

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Cary Falk]

I have a Wixley angle box thing that I use for my table saw blade when it is an odd angle that I don't have a drafting trinagle for. I have a Thickness DRO on my planeer and love it so I put one on my table saw. I will problably be removing it from my table saw. I just don't use it. I have a great tape scale and cursor that gets me accurate and repeatable enough. The scale is quicker to use than the DRO. I find myself always having to zero it out. I also drive myself crazy bumping the fence chasing that .001 accuracy. It's easier to return to a exact number on the planer because there is a crank. I am just old school when it comes to the table saw.

[Drew Pavlak]

I am in the market for a new table saw and have looked at those as well. I have a Milwaukee 12" chop box with the digital read out and I really like it. I am kind of on the fence with the table saw. It would be nice to have, but I am thinking that it isn't worth the money. I would rather put the money into a good set of machinist squares and drafting angle. That way I would get more use out of them and could use them elsewhere as well. I guess the real question is how often do you really need to set an odd angle on the Table Saw? And then putting it back to 90 degrees, are you the type of person that trusts a DRO, or do you double check it with a machinist square? I double check, it's just what I do. I also don't make a lot of odd angle cuts.

I think I just slipped of the fence onto the non-DRO side. :D

[Brian J Jenkins]

I just ordered the Grizzly G0651 (mainly due to the side and outfeed tables), but it also has the digital angle gauge - which is dead accurate. Seems like a cool feature, especially if you get into doing precision miters - which is something I could never do with my old saw. Haven't had a real chance to use yet though, but I am VERY impressed with the quality of it. It was dead accurate out of the crate. Awesome fence, and high quality all the way around.

[Alan Schaffter]

Two types of digital readout accessories from Wixey, and perhaps others. A box with magnetic mount to a table top or blade for bevel angle, and a digital rule for the fence. I have both. I do not use either very often.

My Wixey angle box works, but it consumes batteries. These are the common 2023 button type, but it is annoying to put in a new battery and then a couple of weeks later find it drained, despite the box being turned off. Supposedly the new models have this fixed.

It is time to give your old Wixey to a friend and get the newer (been out for two years now) WR365 which has both relative level and center-of-the-earth true level. It uses two AAA batteries which will last 2 years or more:

http://www.wixey.com/anglegauge/images/wr365_02.jpghttp://www.wixey.com/anglegauge/images/wr365_feature04.jpg

[Aaron Berk]

I thought the digital bevel on my G0605X would be awesome, and I do enjoy it. But it's not a necessity.

When checked for accuracy against my wixy, it was/is spot on.

I also added a router remote digital height gauge by i-gaging.
It's novelty has also worn out.


The only digital I think would be worth the purchase, is fence mounted.
I'd love to either get an incra fence, or digital


And I've had this saw for 4 yrs now.

[scott spencer]

I have a Wixey digital fence readout on my Shop Fox saw (same as a G1023SL). All's well when it's zeroed out and has a fresh battery.....but, I find I just don't need that kind of precision for what I do, so it's usually not zeroed and usually has as dead battery.

I also have a B0RK riving knife on my saw....that's worth the effort to add to your saw IMO.

[Alan Lightstone]

I have Wixey's installed on my SawStop table saw, combination jointer/planer, router table and drum sander. All finicky in their own ways, but I wouldn't live without them. I do wish they would keep their calibrations longer and not need to be recalibrated. That's my biggest issue with them.

[Doug Richardson]

Also have had a G0651 with the digital angle gauge for over a year now, and it works just fine. No complaints, whatsoever.....

[Dave Paine]

It is time to give your old Wixey to a friend and get the newer (been out for two years now) WR365 which has both relative level and center-of-the-earth true level. It uses two AAA batteries which will last 2 years or more:


I happened to have donated an old style Wixey box to the raffle in last months local woodturning club meeting. This one came with the Wixey fence.

I know the Wixey and Beall boxes now use the AAA batteries. I just do not use the box enough to justify a replacement.