Another Wixey Digital RO installation

[John Miliunas]

Some of you may recall, last spring I installed a Wixey DRO (Digital ReadOut) on my Dewalt portable planer. ( http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=20346 ) When I replaced the planer with a stationary one, the DRO went with it, as I figured it wouldn't work with a stationary planer. Well, I was wrong!!! :o I really missed having that DRO on the planer so, I figured I'd give it a try.

I went and picked up the Wixey planer DRO to make an attempt at having it work on my stationary planer. I spent some of Fri. evening staring at the planer and checking out OEM sites for other similar planers. Sat. morning, I stared at my planer some more. While there’s a lot of cast iron on it, I decided that for this to be viable for “most” woodworkers, it needs to be something pretty much anyone can do without having a degree in metallurgy or mechanical design. I finally came up with a mounting system using screws (mounting points) already on the machine. I also wanted to be sure the DRO was in a similar site line to the original scale. I believe I came up with a solution or, at least, one which works for me. The caveat with using the DRO designed for the portable planers is, my maximum planing height is now restricted to 6”, rather than the 8” the machine is capable of. No biggie for me, as in all the years I’ve owned planers, I don’t believe I’ve ever had need for a depth larger than 5” or so.

I went into town and picked up a length of 1-1/4” wide, 12ga. galvanized flat stock, mainly so I wouldn’t have to paint the thing! :) At home, I cranked the planer bed down to 6”, according to the stock scale. After taking some measurements and eyeing things up, I lopped off a 3” section of flat stock and formed an “L” bracket, cutting down the width of it at the point where it needs to attach to the original pointer location. See pic:
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Next came the top bracket. This one was not going to be quite as easy. Again, after some measurements, I figured I needed a 6-3/4” chunk of flat stock. It was to be a modified “L”, in as much as, it really needs two “L’s”. The first bend is a mere ¾” before the 90° bend. I drilled two holes for this one to attach it where the stock scale gets attached. As you can see in the next picture, this setup presents somewhat of a challenge:
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Yes, that big ‘ole nut on there is just a “tad” in the way. I believe that’s the rod going from one side of the machine to the other for the anti-kickback pawls. I marked the area and started hacking away on it with an angle grinder until I got a nice fit. (If I were to do it over, I would most probably try to fit the top bracket a bit higher, thus requiring a little less grinding.) Following the first 90° bend, I went another 4-1/2” to a reverse 90°. You can see in this next shot where that eventually put me. (This is shot from above and just to the rear of the DRO assy.)
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To that particular part of the bracket, I drilled out two holes and used one of the mounting brackets (the one with the two tapped screws) included in the kit. At this point, I realized it will be quite critical to have the DRO mounted on something which would allow for minute adjustment. I used the other bracket included with the kit, though I straightened out the double bend on it, as it’s not needed. I did, however, feel I needed the long slot for adjustment.
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I attached the DRO so that it was right at eye-level with the 6” increment on the DRO scale. Once I had everything tight, I checked the range of motion throughout and, once satisfied with that, I proceeded to zero it out. That process was done virtually the same way as one does with the original system (although now can do it w/o having to reference the instructions! :) ) I zero’d it out with a piece of stock I planed down to just a hair under ¾”, as measured with my digital calipers. In the end, I did end up with about 5/1000<SUP>th</SUP>” difference. For woodworking, me thinks that should be just fine, no?

Here’s another shot of the general installation:
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All in all, a good experience and I’m quite happy with the efforts. It ended up being a pretty clean looking installation. Having checked around, I’m pretty confident this process would work with the Yorkcraft, Bridgewood, the new Grizzly, Sunhill, Jet and similar 15” planers. (At least those having the motor mounted below the table.) In looking at the pictures of others, I also have to believe that a real similar setup would work with some of the larger 20” units, as well. (BTW, as I write this, the DRO is on sale at Woodcraft for @$45.00 and Wixey has it on sale for $40.00!:) ) Thanks for taking a peek!:) :cool:

[Matt Meiser]

In the end, I did end up with about 5/1000<SUP>th</SUP>” difference.

I guess that kind of loose tolerance is OK if you are some kind of hack. :D :D :D

One of these days I need to get the dial calipers I bought mounted in a similar way. This gives me some ideas for mounting.

Are you going to put one on your drum sander?

[Brian Hale]

Great Job John!! I was checking them out at the woodworkers show this past weekend but everything said it was for a "portable" planer. Now that you've done that to your Yorkie, I'll have to do it to my Bridgewood.

Thanks for posting this!

Brian :)

BTW, when are you going to ship a set to me? :rolleyes:

[Bruce Page]

Nice looking install John. I still need to mount mine on my PM, your post has been saved. ;)

Thanks

[John Miliunas]

Are you going to put one on your drum sander?

Thinkin' about it. I need to save my pennies up before I can go buy yet another one, though!:D There are already a couple of similar installs on the Wixey site for that. :) :cool:

[John Miliunas]

BTW, when are you going to ship a set to me? :rolleyes:

Thanks! Sure, I can send you a "set". Of course, it will be in the ultimate "kit form". (Uhhh, that would be a 10" chunk of 1-1/4, 12ga. flat stock!!!:D ) Seriously, if a guy had a decent press, as well as a punch press to slam out the larger indent area for that big bolt, it would be a piece of cake! :)

For me, it was mark my bend, and score a line with my Dremel (w/cutoff disc) and then put it in my vise. Hammer away to get a clean 90°. Clearly, I'm not a metal guy, nor do I have the proper tools for doing it but, that also tells me that just about anyone can do this!:) :cool:

[John Miliunas]

Nice looking install John. I still need to mount mine on my PM, your post has been saved. ;)

Thanks

Bruce, with your background, this will be a cakewalk! You certainly don't need any guidance from this schlep!:rolleyes: :D :cool:

[Frank Chaffee]

John,
And don’t you be saying that you aren’t a metal guy! Heck you moved twice the metal thru your spreadsheets in a day than I got thru the Alum. Dept.

Nice design and install, guy,
Frank

[John Miliunas]

John,
And don’t you be saying that you aren’t a metal guy! Heck you moved twice the metal thru your spreadsheets in a day than I got thru the Alum. Dept.

Nice design and install, guy,
Frank

Yeah, but Frank, you could give anyone the dimensions and specs, right on down to the hardness of all that metal! :) Heck, you'd have had those brackets completely done in the time it took me to stare at my planer!:D :cool:

[Frank Chaffee]

But the fun is in the doin’, right?

Looks like you enjoyed it too!

Good job.

Frank

[Ed Kowaski]

I've had one on my 15" General for several months now. It was any easy install with no new holes in the General. I love the DRO, no going back.

There are some photo's of my General install at http://www.wixey.com/planer/gallery/index.html (scroll down a bit and click general 1 - 7 pics)

While there check the home page, seems there is a sale on now. :)

[Mark Rios]

All you folks have purchased this item? And paid through Paypal? Apparently Paypal is the only way to pay? Their website doesn't have their address or phone number or any way of contacting them except email. Normally I wouldn't do business with a company that was as invisible as this. Kinda scary. How does a person contact them if something goes wrong or the item disappears in shipping or something else? Why are they afraid of letting people know where they are? Email is NOT a reliable way of guarenteeing contact. They just don't have to answer and the addy is not trackable. PLEASE NOTE, I have not missed the fact that you folks have ordered this product and received it and all is cool BUT...................(I'm not meaning to be a PITA or automatically assign bad motives but I like to know a hard address or something tangible associated with a website.)...............Am I missing something?

I really like the table saw DRO that they have coming out in May. Looks to me like something that had a lot of thought put into it and is something that I would like to use.

Please make me feel better about these guys so I make an order and can get the deal on the Planer DRO. :D :D :D

[Andy Hoyt]

Mark - Barry Wixey is an SMC member and a very real person. I spoke to him on the phone the other day about the Table Saw thing that's due out and he came across as very sincere and commited to his product.

[Mark Rios]

Mark - Barry Wixey is an SMC member and a very real person. I spoke to him on the phone the other day about the Table Saw thing that's due out and he came across as very sincere and commited to his product.

Thanks for your encouragement. I truly didn't mean to impune any wrong motives. And, again, if all went well before with everyone else's orders in here then I don't really believe that there would be a problem. I buy alot of stuff online; I'm just a little cautious who I deal with.

Mr. Wixey, I apologize if I offended you. No offense meant. If I may, which Wixey are you on the petent website? There are 5 Barry D. Wixey's in four states. Do you have all those patents pending? Do we get to put other thingys on our tools soon other than the three on your website? :D :D :D

[John Miliunas]

Thanks for your encouragement. I truly didn't mean to impune any wrong motives. And, again, if all went well before with everyone else's orders in here then I don't really believe that there would be a problem. I buy alot of stuff online; I'm just a little cautious who I deal with.

Mr. Wixey, I apologize if I offended you. No offense meant. If I may, which Wixey are you on the petent website? There are 5 Barry D. Wixey's in four states. Do you have all those patents pending? Do we get to put other thingys on our tools soon other than the three on your website? :D :D :D

Mark, et all,

Not Mr. Wixey (Barry) here but, I feel a slight need to chime in. First of all, the Wixey web site is NOT the only place it can be purchased. You can walk into a Woodcraft and buy one or do it online. I also believe that Hartville Tools now carries Wixey, as well. Secondly, if one purchases the planer DRO, one will note that there really IS a real address attached to Wixey and it happens to be located in Sanibel, FL. :) Further, Barry does indeed answer his emails, albeit, sometimes it does take him a while, depending on his commitments. It's not a big operation, so he does a LOT himself.:)

Now, as for that DRO for the TS, it's a sweet piece!!! Yes, I was one of the fortunate few doing some of the installation testing and, to a degree, a little R&D as it applies to the functionality of it on a non-Bies fence. Barry has already taken my findings and is working on "tweaking" the equipment/fixtures before a production release. Let me just say that, if you're looking for repeatable accuracy on the TS, as well as an easier way to visually sight the fence settings, this thing is the cat's meow!!!:D

Also, as is customary for disclaimers, the report on the planer DRO is completely and totally my own doing, with the unit personally purchased by yours truly, with no input or guidance from Wixey!!! It's just something I wanted to do! I'll refrain from further details regarding the TS application until such point that Barry is comfortable with revisions to it, before it goes into production. :) :cool:

[Mark Rios]

Ok, Ok....I already feel like I never should have mentioned it. I buy alot of stuff online and I'm just a little cautious. I will go to my corner now. :D :D :D :D

BTW, I ordered one last night. Now watch, just because I brought it up, the postal service will probably lose it. That would be suitable karma.

I am realy looking forward to hearing and seeing more about the TS DRO. I am particularly interested if it will fit the fence on the G1023sl. I think it's a Shop Fox Classic.Do I understand correctly that the SF Classic is a Beis clone? I should be getting my SL in a month or two.

Thanks again for the affirmation.

[Travis Porter]

You have got to quit posting this stuff. I am going to go bankrupt or get divorced buying all these neat little gadgets. :confused: Automatic start switches for vacuums, now digital readouts for planers and drum sanders and I want them all and of course need (want) more than one of each. Well, maybe one day when NC decides to finish approving the lottery I could have an opportunity to win it.:rolleyes:

[Brad Townsend]

Ok, Ok....I already feel like I never should have mentioned it. I buy alot of stuff online and I'm just a little cautious. I will go to my corner now. :D :D :D :D

BTW, I ordered one last night. Now watch, just because I brought it up, the postal service will probably lose it. That would be suitable karma.

I am realy looking forward to hearing and seeing more about the TS DRO. I am particularly interested if it will fit the fence on the G1023sl. I think it's a Shop Fox Classic.Do I understand correctly that the SF Classic is a Beis clone? I should be getting my SL in a month or two.

Thanks again for the affirmation. Mark,

Like John, I am also doing some beta testing on the TS DRO. I am doing it on a Bies fence. I also am preparing some comments to Barry and will not comment otherwise except to say that I doubt that you will have any problems installing the final version on your saw. As mentioned previously, Barry is a real person and he will do it right.

By the way, I bought my planer DRO directly from his website and as I recall arrived in perfect condition in three days.

[Bob Winkler]

You guys are killing me:eek:! I'm now $45 lighter thanks to John. Like Travis, I gotta stop "keeping up with the Miliunas'". ;)

Although I still do want that turntable sharpener:o.

Bob

[Andy Hoyt]

Okay, wasn't gonna say anything but I'm a tester on the TS version too. My understanding is that there are six of us.

[Barry Wixey]

First of all John, thanks for another great reveiw! The comments from everyone else are also appreciated. You have know idea how much better it is to design great new products when you listen to you guys.

Mark brought up some good concerns that I have heard from other people so I will take a minute explain ( Briefly). I think there is only one Barry D. Wixey and I have lived in quite a few states. I worked for the big guys (Delta... Dewalt...) for years before my wife and I started our own business in 2000. Mostly doing tool design consulting to the old employers, but also some Asian sourcing of miscellaneous<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
"stuff" for other people. Like most wannabe inventors, the pipe dream is to have a great product and just sell the idea to the "big guys" I knew this would not happen so we decided to do it ourselves,design, build it, set up a web site, signed on some good retailers and waited to see what happens.

As I said, we are literally are a Mom and Pop shop. Our grown children with full time carreers pitch in part time. So we do the design work, travel to Asia to over see the manufacturing, run the web site, handle the retailers, ship out the web orders, and all the other miscellaneous<o:p></o:p>
stuff that pays the bills. There is just no way we can handle answering the phone or answereing snail mail so our phone number and address is left off everywhere. We can handle the email and e-commerce from anywhere in the world 24/7. We are having a blast!

So there it is. Again, the best part is just listeneing and talking to you folks. I don't post a whole lot (a little busy) but try to listen in as much as I can.

Keep talkin'!!

Barry

[Jeff Sudmeier]

John, this looks like another great addition! Also, it looks like it will be easy to remove when you get your hands on that 7x14 peice of timber you need to plane!

[John Miliunas]

Ok, Ok....I already feel like I never should have mentioned it. I buy alot of stuff online and I'm just a little cautious. I will go to my corner now. :D :D :D :D

BTW, I ordered one last night. Now watch, just because I brought it up, the postal service will probably lose it. That would be suitable karma.

I am realy looking forward to hearing and seeing more about the TS DRO. I am particularly interested if it will fit the fence on the G1023sl. I think it's a Shop Fox Classic.Do I understand correctly that the SF Classic is a Beis clone? I should be getting my SL in a month or two.

Thanks again for the affirmation.

Mark, nothing wrong with being "cautious"!:)

As for the Grizz TS, I have very little doubt that it won't work! The unit, as designed today, is I believe to be very flexible in its application. My Bridgewood fence is a Bies clone but, where the fence actually meets the rail, it's quite different from the Bies. I don't know if "my" modification will make it to the final revision Barry comes out with but, for me, it was a simple matter of bending a small 90° bracket and double-stick taping it to the fence, near the rail. :) I've also checked other non-Bies saws, including ones with round rails and again, not a whole lot of "inventiveness" will allow the DRO to work on those, as well. More common sense than anything.:) Like I said before, if yours truly can figure some of this stuff out and actually do it, then most anyone can! :rolleyes: :D :cool:

[Mark Carlson]

I'm glad to here all the positive comments.

I always wanted to try one of these things. When Woodcraft sent me a their latest sale flyer I had to get it. I just checked FEDEX online and its on the truck for delivery. I cant wait to get home and install it.

~mark