miter gauge selection

[Bob Johnson2]

I'm looking to purchase a miter gauge for my CS and am considering the Incra 1000 Se, the Woodhaven, or the Kreg. Unfortunatly not being able to handle them leaves me without first hand feedback on them.
It looks like the Incra may be lighter duty then the others, the gauge part looks like relatively thin stamped steel. The Woodhaven doesn't look as precise at setting non standard angles, although it looks to be built like a tank. The Kreg seems to have the acuracy that the Woodhaven lacks, and is more heavy duty then the Incra, the only fault I can see on it is the aluminum bar.
For those who own one of these, are any of these perceptions off or are they just not problems? The Incra may be plenty sturdy, just can't tell from a picture, and how often am I going to need to cut 31.7 degrees with the Woodhaven. The Kregs aluminum bar does sound kind of cheesy.

Thanks
Bob

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

I have Incra 2000, and my bar isn't straight. It's very, very close...but it's NOT straight teensy bow over the length). I've also had a very hard time adjusting it to slide in the miter slot. There's a bit of slop...just enough to make a difference when I need a precise cut. I fiddled with another Incra 2000 at the local Woodcraft, on a different saw, and had the same problems with slop in the miter slot. I'm not sure I'd buy it again.

If I can make the cut withe Jointech SmartMiter sled, that's what I use. If I CAN'T use the sled for whatever reason, but still need/want a micro-adjust feature, I use the Incra. Lots of times I still use the factory miter guage.

KC

[Aaron Mills]

I don't have any firsthand experience with any of the mitre gagues and I'm not sure if you put much stock in magazine reviews, but if you haven't already read American Woodworker's (slightly outdated) test results on them, check out this link:

http://www.rd.com/americanwoodworker/toolguide/TT_MiterGauges.pdf

Hope it helps!

Aaron

[Mike Cutler]

Bob. Have you considered the Miter that Jessem has? It looks pretty beefy from what I've seen.
I have the Incra 2000, and the 1000 is the better of the two miters imho, but the miter rail is not heavy enough, it will flex over it's length. I put a solid piece of aluminum bar in mine to stop the flexing. The tape measure is a little bit of a pain, and is free to move in the slot, ergo I still have to measure each cut with a ruler anyway because I won't trust that tape. It also comes in 16" sections, I have no idea why, and you have to align the sections at the 16" mark which induces more error.
Once the 2000 is setup it is very repeatable, but there really is no out of the box accuracy component to it, the design has too many inherent flaws.
I've been looking at the Jessem to replace my Incra.
How far are you from Springfield? There is a Woodcraft store there that should have all these miters. That way you could at least handle them and check them out.

KC. All of that slop can be taken out of the miter bar, but you will have to realign the whole thing again. It's a pain, but it is doable. Swap the black spacers outand only use white spacers and be sure that the split is outside of the machined hole and it should be better. I know that the Incra website states otherwise, but it worked for me. One more thing to check is that the actual miter bar is straight, if it's not you will need to straighten it, or the spring pressure will make the bar non-linerar, and as soon as one set of guides exits the rear of the miter slot the miter will move on you. :mad: damhikt.

[Larry Norton]

If I didn't have the Incra 1000, I would buy the JessEm in a heartbeat! After using their router lift for a while, I'm so impressed with the quality of it that I may buy the miter gauge anyway.

[Corey Hallagan]

I have the Incra 1000SE, very nice, and was bang on out of the box. The protractor is not flimsy at all. I like it. Given that, I might have gone for the Woodhaven which is a rock solid unit and has some optional attachments etc.

Corey

[JayStPeter]

I have the Incra 1000 and a Jointech SmartMiter. I would recommend the SmartMiter in a second. The Incra also works great for me. I don't have any problems with slop in the bar. It is lighter duty than some of the others. If I really yank on it I can flex it. But, that's not what I do regularly. So, for me it works great. I would prefer some sort of too-less adjustment for the fence though.
I'm sure any of the ones you are looking at will work fine. If I had to do it again, I'd get the SmartMiter first and look at the Incra V27 & shop made fence to take up where it leaves off inexpensively.

Jay

[Bob Johnson2]

Thanks all for the opinions so far, I hadn't thought of the Jessum but do recall an ad I saw somewhere, I'll check it and the smartmiter out.

Mike, I can stop by the Woodcraft but from the few stores I've been in they don't exactly keep an overabundance of stock. Seems that whenever I go to one (I drove to the one near New Haven a couple times) they're out of half of what I need, so I gave up on them. Seems like they stock one of everything, once it's sold you have to wait till another comes in.

[Mike Cutler]

That's a shame that the Woodcraft's aren't staying stocked. I live about a 1/2 hour from the store in E. Grenwich RI. They tend to keep a pretty good inventory, which is nice because I hate to buy things sight unseen any longer.
I was impressed with the Jessem Miter. They have it set up on a UniSaw, and you can play around with it a bit, It seemed rugged, well built, and the fence seemed to be taller than the Incra. It wasn't cheap though, I think it was about $220.00.
The Jointech Smart miter is a nice system also. If you have any dips or runs in your table top it will tend to neutralize them. Incra's version, the 5000 seemed nice also.

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

KC. All of that slop can be taken out of the miter bar, but you will have to realign the whole thing again. It's a pain, but it is doable. Swap the black spacers outand only use white spacers and be sure that the split is outside of the machined hole and it should be better. I know that the Incra website states otherwise, but it worked for me. One more thing to check is that the actual miter bar is straight, if it's not you will need to straighten it, or the spring pressure will make the bar non-linerar, and as soon as one set of guides exits the rear of the miter slot the miter will move on you. :mad: damhikt.

Thank you. I never thought about oneathose thingies exiting the track and causing the problem. :(

[Maurice Ungaro]

Bob, I've had the JDS mitre gauge for about 2 years know, and really like it. The repeatbilty is great, and it's one solid unit. Worth checking out.

[Gary Herrmann]

and like it a whole lot. I haven't done a whole lot of non-standard angles, so that hasn't been an issue for me. That said, if I were to buy another one for some reason, I'd also consider the Kreg and the Jessem.

[frank shic]

bob, you sure you don't want to get a sliding table? works much better!

[Alan Turner]

I bought the Kreg, during the time when Kreg bought it from Duginski (sp) so it was on sale. I think it is a bit lightweight, but on lightweight cuts, it is great. The Alum. bar is straight, and it is adjustable to tighten into your miter slot. I oft use it when cutting an odd angle, and set it off my Stanley #18 bevel guage, and it is dead on. Is is also deal on square. No complaints. I bought just the basic unit, no elongated bars, etc. It is great for what I use it for.
For heavier duty use, I turn to my sled. But, the Kreg is light and close, and hence quick.

[Bob Johnson2]

bob, you sure you don't want to get a sliding table? works much better!

Too much $$, too little space. There are some awfull nice units out there though...