DRO and Planer?

[Al Willits]

Did the requred search, and am thinking the digital read out that Wixey sells will work on my Yorkcraft 15" planer, just might require a bit of thought to get it mounted, but it looks doable.
I read on calibrating these things and have a question.
Without running a board though the planer, can I set it for say, a half inch with out the board being run though?

I'm thinking I could use several reference boards or pieces of metal to set the DRO, then when ever I needed a board planed to a certain thickness, I'd just use one of the reference blocks.
I'd rather not have to drop the cutter on the block to set the thickness if possible.
Seems when ever I get near anything sharp I need a band aid...:)
tia

Al

[Kyle Kraft]

I would sneak up on the desired thickness and when you achieve it, zero out the DRO.

[Tyler Howell]

I use BB and MDF spacers and angles to set up popular repeatable cuts with GCSaw, jointer and Cab Saw.
I hear the DRO is great, but it just don't register with me:confused:

[Al Willits]

"""""""
but it just don't register with me
""""""

I'm biting my tongue on that one....:D :D


Kyle, what I'm trying to do is, if I have a piece of 5/4 wood and I want it to be 3/4", I'd like to be able to sneak up on it by the DRO.
I'd need the DRO to be zero'd on 0" then I guess.

Probably a easy way to do it, but not thinking of it now.. :)

Al...who seems to be blue now....must be Mr. Evil Tyler ...:)

[Kyle Kraft]

Riiiiiiiiiight. I'm stacking the wood your'e cutting!!!

Ok how about planing down a piece of wood to the exact thickness you want...say 0.750". Zero out the readout. Raise the table/Lower the head bringing the knives to the table on your planer (taking out the backlash in the mechanism) until the readout is at 0.750". Zero out the readout and theoretically this should be "absolute zero"

[Al Willits]

Might work Kyle, I was just wondering how much difference/play I'd run into by using the feel method of dropping the cutter on the wood.
Sounds like a rainny/snowy weekend project. :)

Al

[Steve Jenkins]

It depends on the dro that you are using. I used one from "Accurate Technology" and you simply run a piece of stock then us a dial Micrometer to measure the thickness and set the dro to match. Very simple to use and set up. plus you can zero at any point if your use requires that. It will read in mm or inches and down to thousandths in decimels or 1/64 in fractions.

[Barry Wixey]

Hey Al;
If your thinking about the Wixey. Look at the calibration steps we recommend. It is quite simple and unique. You do not need a set of calipers, your knives don't have to come close to the bed and it sets it exactly to thickness of wood your'e planing. There is also some photos of a Yorkcraft Installation on our site.

Hope this helps.
http://www.wixey.com/planer/how/calibration.html

[Al Willits]

Thanks guys, maybe I should re explain what I want.
What I want to be able to do is start with any sized board, say 5/4 and start running it though the planer, lets say I want the board to be .750", when the DRO says .750 I'd like the board to be that thickness.

So far it sounds like I need to run a board though till it comes out at 3/4" then try ans set the DRO to .750, not sure if I can do that or not...or??

Barry, I looked at your site and can't figure out how to get it to work for what I want, but I'll keep looking at it, thanks

Al

[Jim Becker]

The DRO I have on my planer is set to actual thickness...it's been awhile since I installed it, so I don't recall off the top of my head the process. But I need to get out the instructions anyway...battery replacement time!

[Stan Mijal]

Al,

The Wixey is calibrated by putting a board through the planer---then placing a piece of that board (not moving the cutterhead ) in between the stationary and moveable portions of the Wixey gauge. This automatically sets the zero point on the Wixey --you don't need to get the cutters anywhere near the bed. Fro that pint on, the reading on the Wixey is the exact thickness of the board if you plane it. Its really a neet setup proceedure. I ave one on a Ridgid portable planer, and will be installing another on my Yorkie. The pics on the Wixey site have finally given me inspiration to do that task.

[David Eisan]

Thanks guys, maybe I should re explain what I want.
What I want to be able to do is start with any sized board, say 5/4 and start running it though the planer, lets say I want the board to be .750", when the DRO says .750 I'd like the board to be that thickness.

So far it sounds like I need to run a board though till it comes out at 3/4" then try ans set the DRO to .750, not sure if I can do that or not...or??

Barry, I looked at your site and can't figure out how to get it to work for what I want, but I'll keep looking at it, thanks

Al

Let me try it again.

Take *any* board, whether 3", 2.5" or 0.632" and run it through the planer until the planer is making a full cut. This is all you need to calibrate the DRO, one board at the exact thickness of the last cut. You now take this board and place it between the bottom of the spring loaded DRO scale and the base of the scale and press "calibrate". This takes a direct reading from said board and calibrates the cutterhead. The fact you want to end up with a 3/4" board has nothing to do with it. You are simply starting with anyboard that has gone through the planer and using it to initally calibrate the machine.

Look for a post from me within the next bit as I show the install on my General 130 14" planer.

Thanks,

David.

[Al Willits]

OK, I understand the board thing, and running one though to get the intial measurement is no problem, but don't most of the DRO's go to Zero when you hit calibrate?

I'm trying to read actual thickness like Jim mentioned.

So I need a DRO that if the board after being run though the planer reads .755" I can set the DRO for .755.

I haven't had a chance to look at the two suggested DRO's so I don't know if they will do that or not, but the few I've played with won't.

Thanks all.

Al

[Larry Crim]

OK, I understand the board thing, and running one though to get the intial measurement is no problem, but don't most of the DRO's go to Zero when you hit calibrate?

I'm trying to read actual thickness like Jim mentioned.

So I need a DRO that if the board after being run though the planer reads .755" I can set the DRO for .755.

I haven't had a chance to look at the two suggested DRO's so I don't know if they will do that or not, but the few I've played with won't.

Thanks all.

Al

Al
You are offsetting the sliding portion of the scale on the DRO with the board that you ran through and then zero it so when the board is removed and the slide scale goes back to the bottom the DRO will read the exact thickness. very simple and accurate as long as the unit was installed correctly.
Larry

[Charlie Plesums]

I have a factory DRO on my planer, and it is a joy to be able to make the boards your desired thickness without measuring each pass. I strongly recommend having a DRO.

The Wixley calibration method (done once) is very clever, but not obvious. I had to read the instructions quite a few times before I had a "slap the side of the head - gee that's neat" moment. So don't get hung up on the calibration... if you follow the step by step directions (which includes planing any board once), you will be set to go.

[Al Willits]

I have to READ the instructions???? :)

Thanks, looks like it will do what I need, I just need to figure it out...
More of that learning curve. :)

Thanks all.

Al

[John Hemenway]

Let me take a shot at explaining it...

For Wixey:
Plane some board to consistant thickness. What this thickness is doesn't matter.
Push up the spring loaded scale. Put board under scale, release scale.
Push and hold CAL button. Readout will go to zero.
Release CAL button, remove board from spring loaded scale.
Scale will go to planer bottom plate and read the thickness of the board just used. It measures the distance between the planer bottom plate and the planer head, which just so happens to be the thickness of any board run thru the planer.

As you move the planer head up or down the readout will change, reflecting the size of the space between bottom plate and head, aka, the thickness of any board run thru.

Now I understand how it works, I WANT ONE!! Santa, you listening???

[Al Willits]

Seems I'm forgetting the sliding scale, makes more sense now.
Will add the DRO to my to long a list already, but this should come soon as I have a lot of brazilan cherry and white oak to do soon.

This is third time trying to post this, every time my caompany upgrades it gets worse, hopefully they all won't show up later, if so, sorry.

Thanks again.

Al

[Gil Mitchell]

does any one know if the wixey will work on larger planers where the table moves instead of the head? I have a powermatic 209 20" planer

thanks Gil

[Alan Schaffter]

does any one know if the wixey will work on larger planers where the table moves instead of the head? I have a powermatic 209 20" planer

thanks Gil

Yup. While it is designed to easily mount on planers where the head goes up and down, it will work just as easily on planers (and drum sanders) where the table goes up and down. You may need to fabricate your own mounting brackets. Go to the Wixey site, they have a gallery of pics (http://www.wixey.com/planer/gallery/index.html) of different installations.

http://www.wixey.com/planer/gallery/gallery/sddelta01_01.jpg

[John Miliunas]

does any one know if the wixey will work on larger planers where the table moves instead of the head? I have a powermatic 209 20" planer

thanks Gil

Gil, as Allan suggested, yes, it most certainly will! If you go to the Wixey site, you'll see several installations there, including my own Yorkcraft 15" planer. Not the same caliber as your PM but, same principle and yes, the table not the cutterhead moves on mine. I seriously love my Wixey readouts and so do my aging eyes! :o :) :cool:

[Ed Tubridy]

A couple of points about the Wixley DORO. First, I get the calibration technique fine but when I do the calibration and compare it to a reading taken with a caliper it is always .02 inches off (over sized). Second, it does not seem to have an auto shut off. It was *very* difficult to remove the dead battery.

[John Miliunas]

A couple of points about the Wixley DORO. First, I get the calibration technique fine but when I do the calibration and compare it to a reading taken with a caliper it is always .02 inches off (over sized). Second, it does not seem to have an auto shut off. It was *very* difficult to remove the dead battery.

Ed, not sure what to tell you on the ".02 inches off". I've had two of the planer DRO's now and have found that, when I compare the readings to one of my other 3 digital calipers, I find some slight variation between all four. However, IMHO, if a planer DRO ends up being slightly proud of what the target depth is, I think that's better than being shy of it! :)

I too would like to see an "auto shutoff" feature on it however, in talking to Barry (Wixey) about the battery life thing, the actual visual readout uses extremely little more power than what is normally being used by the unit while it's idle. You need to remember that, in actuality, the unit by design, is always "on" in order to "remember" what it was calibrated to. Kind of like the digital radio in your car; With the ignition "off", the amplifier, tuning section, display, etc. are "off" but, part of the radio is always drawing power to "remember" the time, preferences, pre-selected stations and such. :)

[Barry Wixey]

OK folks;

I may be crazy for doing this but on the point about the auto shut off and battery life. We now have that feature in our latest models ( sold since 8/06) and the battery life is also greatley extended. 6 Months minimum and almost up to a year under light use. I will send anyone a replacement readout free of charge and instructions on how to do the replacement if you go to our web site www.wixey.com (http://www.wixey.com) and contact us thorugh there. I just need your address and you will not need to send the old one back. You do not need to remove your set up from your machine.

Ed on you your .02 off issue. The most common cause of this is if the reference surface on our frame is slightley lower than your table surface or whatever surface you use to rest the board when doing the calibration. If the surface is lower by .02" the reading will be off by .02" If the surface is higher by .02" it will only be off a maybe .005" or less. If this doesn't make sense or you have have other questions email me again through the web site.

Barry

[John Miliunas]

OK folks;

I may be crazy for doing this but on the point about the auto shut off and battery life. We now have that feature in our latest models ( sold since 8/06) and the battery life is also greatley extended. 6 Months minimum and almost up to a year under light use. I will send anyone a replacement readout free of charge and instructions on how to do the replacement if you go to our web site www.wixey.com (http://www.wixey.com) and contact us thorugh there. I just need your address and you will not need to send the old one back. You do not need to remove your set up from your machine.

Barry

You're not crazy, Barry! You just happen to be an above-board OEM and vendor. And a good man! :)

BTW, FWIW, when I do need to replace my batteries on any of my DRO equipment, Wixey or otherwise, I opt for "Duracell" bats and I find myself doing fewer replacements! :) :cool:

[Ed Kowaski]

That's a very generous offer Barry, thank you.

Is the calibration maintained in these auto shut off units? I assume it would be but I gotta ask. ;)

[Barry Wixey]

Ed;

Of course! We may be crazy but were not insane:)

It just shuts the display off but is still measuring like before. I don't know what the electronics guys did. I just told them it had to be fixed to improve the life and to leave everything else working the same.

Barry

[Ed Kowaski]

Excellent Barry, thanks.

[Gil Mitchell]

Barry you just sold two more units I'm going to order one for my planer and one for my sander
Gil