Question for you Incra 1000-3000-5000 owners

[Barry O'Mahony]

I was in Rockler and giving the 5000 the once-over. One thing I noticed was that, even with one end locked to the surface, I could still get a little "wiggle" in the fence. I tracked the cause down to "slop" in the pivot hole for the semicircular miter part. What I was wondering was, was this just due to bad assembly of this unit, or is is common issue with these products?

I'm not completely convinced at this point I want to get something like this. Just about all my crosscuting has been at either 90 or 45 degrees. Just building a couple of more sleds would take care of most of the things I need. Of course, I often get sick of spending time building jigs in order to build things, rather than just building things. ;)

[Vaughn McMillan]

Sounds to me like the store sample was not fully or properly assembled. I've seen no similar slop on my 1000SE. Like you, pretty much everything I cut is at 90° or 45°, but the Incra has not moved like my 90° crosscut sled did. I'm sure my sled problems were self-induced, but I would get the fence on the sled set perfectly, then within a couple of weeks things would be off a smidgen. I get better, more consistent results with the Incra.

- Vaughn

[Hoa Dinh]

One thing I noticed was that, even with one end locked to the surface, I could still get a little "wiggle" in the fence. I tracked the cause down to "slop" in the pivot hole for the semicircular miter part. What I was wondering was, was this just due to bad assembly of this unit, or is is common issue with these products?
Could be either.

My Incra 1000SE (http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hoa_dinh@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=c7e5&.dnm=7c02.jpg&.src=ph) had the same problem. I contacted Woodpecker (http://www.woodpeck.com/) (where I had bought it from) and in less than a week, had a new protractor and pivot bolt on my desk. The only question they asked was for the shipping address. They didn't even ask me where and when I bought the miter gauge. A Woodpecker technician personally hand picked the protractor and the bolt to make sure they fitted. No more problem ever since.

Bonus: What did I do with the extra protractor? I made an Incra knee switch (http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hoa_dinh@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=5ab5&.dnm=d5e0.jpg&.src=ph) :)

[Brandon Shew]

I put my recently acquired 1000SE through some cuts last weekend and didn't have the problem that you were referring to. I'm inclined to go with Vaughn's thought on this one.

[glenn bradley]

Could be either.

Bonus: What did I do with the extra protractor? I made an Incra knee switch (http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hoa_dinh@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=5ab5&.dnm=d5e0.jpg&.src=ph) :)

The knee switch pic made my day. Ya gotta love that.

Glenn

[Rob Blaustein]

Could be either.

My Incra 1000SE (http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hoa_dinh@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=c7e5&.dnm=7c02.jpg&.src=ph) had the same problem. I contacted Woodpecker (http://www.woodpeck.com/) (where I had bought it from) and in less than a week, had a new protractor and pivot bolt on my desk. The only question they asked was for the shipping address. They didn't even ask me where and when I bought the miter gauge. A Woodpecker technician personally hand picked the protractor and the bolt to make sure they fitted. No more problem ever since.

Bonus: What did I do with the extra protractor? I made an Incra knee switch (http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hoa_dinh@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=5ab5&.dnm=d5e0.jpg&.src=ph) :) Hoa,
Is that a Dewalt miter gauge there in one of your pics (http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hoa_dinh@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=5ab5&.dnm=3a61.jpg&.src=ph)? If so, how does it compare to the Incra?
Rob

[Vaughn McMillan]

...Bonus: What did I do with the extra protractor? I made an Incra knee switch (http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hoa_dinh@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=5ab5&.dnm=d5e0.jpg&.src=ph) :)
Hoa, that's gotta be the most accurate knee switch I've ever seen. :D I'll bet your shutdowns come out perfect.

- Vaughn

[Hoa Dinh]

Hoa,
Is that a Dewalt miter gauge there in one of your pics (http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hoa_dinh@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=5ab5&.dnm=3a61.jpg&.src=ph)? If so, how does it compare to the Incra?
Rob
Yes, it is the one that comes with the sliding table. This (http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hoa_dinh@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=81be&.dnm=860a.jpg&.src=ph) is a another photo of it.

The only better thing it has compared to the Incra is the 22" long miter bar (Incra 1000E is less than 18"). Other than that, it is not so good:

- Short miter fence (24" I think). I replaced it with a 36" Incra fence.
- No miter bar adjustment for miter slot width variations.
- Flex in joints. As supplied, all the bolts at the joints bottomed out. I had to add washers to minimize the flex. It is a lot better now but still not as rigid as the Incra.

I'm still using for the sliding table because the miter slot in the sliding table is a tad narrower than the one on the TS. And I don't want to adjust the fence when switching the miter gauge from the sliding table to the TS top.

[Hoa Dinh]

Hoa, that's gotta be the most accurate knee switch I've ever seen. :D I'll bet your shutdowns come out perfect.
Absolutely. All of my shutdowns are accurate to 1/10 of a degree! :D