ulitimate ts/router depth jig

[HR masters]

I have been and am still in quest of the ultimate ts/router depth guage. It has to stand alone to release that hand for blade adjustment ( I made one that I counterbored the bottom and glued in magnates it worked pretty good but I was unhappy with the precision ) I remember seeing an article about one that had an electric circuit that when the contact bar touched the blade/bit a bulb lit. I am lacking in the electrical expertise to design it but would like to hear from some that is or someone that has an ultimate measuring device for ts/routers. I beleive a lot of SMC would be interested also. HR

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

IT's all a simple question of applying a delicate touch.
It's not brains or brawn it's feel.

[Ken Garlock]

A couple years ago I bought the Hi-Gage (http://www.hi-gage.com/). It works quite well for setting up cabinet saw blade height.

For the router table, I use a set of gauge blocks from Whiteside to get in the neighborhood, and then fine tune with scrap wood cuts.

[Frankie Hunt]

The Oneway Multi-Guage is nice and is worth the price.



http://www.tools-for-woodworking.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=995

[Brad Townsend]

Made my own with a block, magnets and a $22 Harbor Freight indicator. Wouldn't call it the "ultimate" solution, but it works for me.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/btownsend/DSCN0633.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/btownsend/DSCN0634.jpg

[Bruce Wrenn]

Check out current isue of Shop Notes for digital height gauge that uses the cheap digital caliper from HF. Cost less than seven bucks currently. Just an arch of plywood with dial caliper attached. Reads to 1/100 of inch or 1/100 of mm. Metric measurement is about 2.6 time smaller than inch measurement.

[Nissim Avrahami]

Maybe this thread will help
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=37070

niki

[Alan Turner]

JR,
I use the LV taper gage. It is fast, and inexpensive. My choice is in decimal inches, but it also comes in fractional inches, and metric. Starrett makes one as well, with a much narrower range of measurement, but is quite thin for woodworking. I think mine does slightly more than an inch. It is also great for setting a rip fence for a fine cut.

[Dennis Peacock]

Made my own with a block, magnets and a $22 Harbor Freight indicator. Wouldn't call it the "ultimate" solution, but it works for me.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/btownsend/DSCN0633.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/btownsend/DSCN0634.jpg

Well there ya go Brad!!!! Looks good.!! After all...it just has to be consistent in reading and tell us the measurement. It ain't gotta be accurate to well within 0.000000000000000000001 Inches... It's just gotta say "Yup, its the same on this end as it was on the other end". :D Nice guage!!

[HR masters]

My thanks to everyone that took time to reply. After a trip to HF and the friendly auto parts store I am building two guages, one similar to the one by Brad Townsend and my electric circuit guage. If either turns out like I envision you will hear from me, silence will mean I am still searching. Regards HR

[Frankie Hunt]

Brad,

Did your unit come with the flat foot? I stopped by HF and looked at one in the box yesterday, it only had a round pin foot. Was it missing a part? The price had changed to $29. I didn't get one, but it still looked like a bargin. I plan on getting one when it goes on sale and I remember to bring a discount coupon with me.

My Oneway unit came with two feet. One round/domed the other flat.

The other odd bit was that the display would blank out when moving the plunger, even when moving it slowly. Does your unit do that? Or was this unit defective? I have the HF digital calipar and it does not blank out when adjusting it.

Frankie



Made my own with a block, magnets and a $22 Harbor Freight indicator. Wouldn't call it the "ultimate" solution, but it works for me.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/btownsend/DSCN0633.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/btownsend/DSCN0634.jpg

[Alan DuBoff]

Wow, look at all the exotic height measuring tools.

I just use a wood ruler, works ok for me.

Do you folks really need accuracy to 1/1000 of an inch?

This is woodworking afterall... ;)

[Larry Cooke]

Wow, look at all the exotic height measuring tools.

I just use a wood ruler, works ok for me.

Do you folks really need accuracy to 1/1000 of an inch?

This is woodworking afterall... ;)When you consider that this same tool can be used to check/set blade heights for a jointer I'd say it's a great tool to have. Need .001 accuracy for wood? No, having it for tool adjustments and blade height adjustments - priceless.

Larry

[Larry Cooke]

Brad,

Did your unit come with the flat foot?Frankie,

Try this point set: http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1783

And yes, it works with the HF units, though you can also obtain your indicator there too.

Usual disclaimer: I'm not associtated with nor work for them...

Larry

[Frankie Hunt]

Do you folks really need accuracy to 1/1000 of an inch?


I use my guage to set the knives in my jointer after a sharpening. There are other methods, but this is the easiest.

Most of the time to set a router bit height in the router table I just eyeball it. Move the wood over to the bit, then raise the bit for the profile you want.

If a particular depth is needed, I usually just mark the wood and raise the bit to meet the mark.

One nice use for me is when setting the table saw blade height to make lap joints. Measure your wood with a set of calipars, divide by two, use the guage to set the height of your dado blade. Quick, easy, and precise. There are other times it is nice to have too, thats just one example.

Frankie

[Frankie Hunt]

Larry,

Thanks for the link.

Frankie

[Brad Townsend]

Frankie,

Larry steered you to the right place. That's where I got my flat foot, along with a whole set of other points.

Brad

[Larry James]

Frankie,

Try this point set: http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1783



What about this, in addition to Larry Cooke's link? Too good to be true?

http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1260

Larry James

[Alan DuBoff]

When you consider that this same tool can be used to check/set blade heights for a jointer I'd say it's a great tool to have. Need .001 accuracy for wood? No, having it for tool adjustments and blade height adjustments - priceless.Calibration, sure, on a table saw it's critical to have the fence aligned to reduce the chance of having the wood pinch between the blade and fence, or what is commonly referred to as "kickback".

I don't see where I need that same precision in measuring the height of my table saw or router (don't really need it for calibration either). Sure, for table saw calibration or jointer calibration, can't hurt to have .001" accuracy, after all you do it once and leave it for quite a while.

Do you calibrate your table saw and jointer regularly? I do mine about once every 6 months to a year, and it seems I do it more than some other folks. The fact that I even calibrated my table saw more than once might say I calibrate it more often than some...;)

I don't see where this accuracy comes into play for setting the height of the table saw or router. You don't even need a measuring device, just mark a piece of wood and transfer it, you're probably safer doing that anyway, and I prefer to do that in most cases. You can actually calibrate your table saw like that also, but that's for another thread. :D

I loathe the thought of people milling wood on a bridgeport.

OTOH, it's probably good I don't do woodworking as a profession, I'd be pretty lousy at it since most all of my work is not accurate to .001". :eek: (shhhhh, don't tell anyone;-)

[Larry Cooke]

I loathe the thought of people milling wood on a bridgeport.Alan, believe it or not, you're preaching to the choir here. I prefer the methods used in John White's book "Care and Repair of Shop Machines". See, I'm a cheap - well you know... No special tools required.

For me, the best table height gage is my tape measure, it's always on my belt and it gets me close enough and with a test cut or two I'm dead on (usually.)

Larry

[Alan DuBoff]

Larry,

We're completely on the same page, something got mis-translated over the electrons on the net. Accuracy is good, don't get me wrong, it's just not worth fretting over on some things, IMO.

[glenn bradley]

Let's not forget that some of us poor SOB's have a hard time 'eyeballing' 1/32. I'm all for the touch and feel accuracy, I think it is part of the enjoyment of woodworking. I do sometimes though; feel more relaxed having my measurements confirmed. I think we're all aware wood shrinks and swells aren’t we? ;)

[glenn bradley]

As discussed; $6 - 7 at Harbor Freight. A little bandsaw and freehand routing and your there.

[Peter Pedisich]

Inspired by this thread and in particular Brad's depth/height gauge I finally got around to making a version (also similar to the Oneway).
Thanks Brad!

Body is 27mm Russian birch ply. I drafted the design in CAD and spraymounted the print onto the ply and cut with my jig saw.
The Bottom is just 1/8" masonite and the finish is two spray coats of shellac.

The dial indicator is a Tecloc from Enco.

Thanks for looking.

Pete