wixey digital fence.

[keith micinski]

I am getting my wixey digital fence tomorrow and was wondering if there were any tricks or special things I should know about before I start mounting it. I have a delta contractors saw with a 52" unifence and it is the older style unifence without the channel on the bottom of the front rail. It seemed like to good of deal to pass up considering I was thinking about getting an angle finder gauge anyway and they give you one for free. As a matter of fact I am worried that it really is to good of a deal and that it really isn't a good product and that is why it is such a good deal right now.

[Craig Thompson]

Kieth,

There was a post about a month ago.. many good replies as I recall. I bought one... like it alot. Make sure you apply the 'digital tape' right side up!

[Jim McDonald]

Keith,
I've got the digital fence...already had the angle gauge (got 2 now and use them both) Great products. Wonderful accuracy. I can now make my mistakes in .001's rather than 1/16ths. About the only Wixey I don't have is the height gauge...maybe for my birthday!
Had no trouble adapting it to the Griz cabinet saw...just had to mount the brackets for the tape the opposite from the way they showed.(However the tape must be installed right side up as shown.) I liked the new angled face on the fence well enough to replace the older style readout on the planer. It's a lot better, and uses a larger battery...don't know if that will extend the life of it over the smaller one or not.
Any how, buy it, you'll like it. And should you need help with it, what other company president will e-mail you back right away?

[Steve Clardy]

Really like mine.

One thing it did do though.................

It made my head spin for several days. Every tape measure I had did not compare with the readings on the tablesaw.:(

I had to upgrade to Johnson tape measures to get the same accuracy.
Throwed out all of my FastCap and Stanley tapes.

[Jim Solomon]

Here is the link to the post Craig mentioned.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=703957#poststop
I have a new Wixey also, plus two angle guages. My Pm 66 has a Biesemeyer fence and the instructions said to use the magnetic mount. I haven't got that far along yet, as I am still making the extension table. I also purchased the Wixey digital planer readout. I can't recall how many time I planed material and some where along the line messed up a board. Now I can return the planer height to the same thickness as the original pieces. When I get to the point of installing mine I'll probably be yelling for help;) with the setup. From what I have read in all the various forums I think you'll be happy with this.
Jim

[keith micinski]

Sounds good, unfortunately it didn't come today for some reason.It seemed pretty straight forward with self tapping screws to hold the track together and then just mount it to the bottom side of the fence rail. My only concern is coming up with a way to attach the bracket to my fence to hold the magnetic measuring head. I saw a picture of on attached to a unifence and I did not like that setup at all. Also I wonder about putting the head back in the same spot every time with the magnet. it seems like a little variation there would throw your calibration off and make you start all over again.

[Brad Townsend]

Keith,

I was one of those who did beta testing on the table saw readout. I did mine on a Bies, so I can help you with the installation, but I think you will be pleased with the accuracy and consistency of it. The magnet is not an issue. Also, the digital angle gauge is very useful in a lot of ways. You are getting good products at a good price and the guy whose name is on them takes good care of you if anything goes wrong.

[Dave Comissiong]

Hi there;
I must be part of the village idiot factor in life but I'm having trouble figuring out how to attach my Xmas (son) present Wixey to my new unisaw with unifence (called channel), based on the Wixey instructions. Does anyone have any pictures that they'd like to post that show such an installation. It would be much appreciated from the Great White North, called Canada.
Regards,

Dave C.

[Jim Solomon]

Keith,

I was one of those who did beta testing on the table saw readout. I did mine on a Bies, so I can help you with the installation, but I think you will be pleased with the accuracy and consistency of it. The magnet is not an issue. Also, the digital angle gauge is very useful in a lot of ways. You are getting good products at a good price and the guy whose name is on them takes good care of you if anything goes wrong.
Brad I have a 1988 PM 66 that I purchased, it was still crated and unused. It came with the gold/musterd color Biesemeyer fence, soooooo you may be getting a "help me" from me also, if it's no problem:D
Jim

[keith micinski]

I have the installation in good. I was wrong it did end up coming today. I will post pics in a little while of how I did it. I am having a problem though. I got everything installed and I went ahead and took my ts aligner and checked the blade for squareness with my mitre slot. I didn't recheck the fence because the blade was right on still. I moved the fence up against the blade and re-calibrated it to zero. When I slid it over two 9 inches it was about a 64th off of my tape gauge that I just installed new on the fence. I then checked 9 inches with my starret 24" steel ruler and it was agreeing with the fixed tape measurement, Which makes sense because that is how I set the fixed tape in the first place. Surely my starret 24" steel rule isn't off by that much is it. I am going to get the calipers out after eating and do some test cuts and find out. Also I am going to check my fence for squareness with the blade and make sure that is right. I am now regretting getting the ts-aligner jr. light since it didn't come with the base I am having to clamp the ts to a piece of wood and my old mitre fence which leaves a lot of room for error.

[Steve Clardy]

I drove myself nuts for several days after I got the wixey fence readout on. :eek::eek::eek:


Out of umpteen straight rulers and tape measures, none of them matched the wixey readings. Most were off by a 1/16" or less.

I finally got my machinest calipers out and checked the wixey. It was dead on.


So I bought a batch of Johnson tape measures. They read correct when compared to a cut made on the tablesaw now.


I was ready to walk out of the shop and not come back for a while.
I was that frustrated.:mad:

[keith micinski]

I think I figured it out. When I lock my unifence down it shifts to the left about .025. When I was butting the fence up to the blade it was locked down. If I hold it off the blade .025 and then I zero it when I measured it with my starret steel ruler it was dead nuts on at 2 inches. I am not sure why my unifence shifts to the left .025 or there about but at least it does it square as near as I can tell. I think I have it but I had to quit tonight otherwise I was getting close to throwing a very big temper tantrum.

[Chris Parks]

Read the previous threads. It is only as accurate as your confirmation instrument. Mine is a digital vernier. Cut something and check it with the vernier. I don't see how it is possible to confirm digital with a rule or tape of any description. That is where the digital user has to make the decision to forget using tapes and rules except to rough out.

[keith micinski]

Reread my thread. I said I used a set of calipers after making test cuts and got the wixey to match the calipers and also my steel rule. By the way I was able to make the wixey exactly accurate with just a ruler and then used the calipers to verify it. I know what the problem is my fence shifts over so there is no accurate way to zero it against the fence. What I will do from now on is make a test cut every once in a while and use my calipers to check the accuracy of my wixey read out.

[Phil Clark]

Don't be foolled by the mounting of the reader on to the rail. There is resitance so you are tempted to loosen the six srews - don't ! You have to completely slide the reader onto the rail and then move it in both directions to free it up. I loosened the screws and then couldn't get a proper reading. Wixey agrees that the instructions need to be improved because loosening these small screws and then tightening them requires a jeweller's philips screw driver. Once installed you will be happy with your investment.

[keith micinski]

I did have to loosen the screws a little with a jewelers screw driver to get the felt over the lip of the magnetic strip and get it to slide good then i fine tuned the tightness to get it to be snug but still slide good. I was a little disappointed with the way the two bars joined together. I had too file and polish them quite a bit and they still aren't perfect.

[Brad Townsend]

Brad I have a 1988 PM 66 that I purchased, it was still crated and unused. It came with the gold/musterd color Biesemeyer fence, soooooo you may be getting a "help me" from me also, if it's no problem:D
Jim
WOW! If there is a thread on that saw somewhere, I would like the link. Twenty years old and new! Would be glad to help if I can.

[keith micinski]

Here is how I mounted it. I just measured in 1 1/2 inches and drilled four holes to attach it to the bottom of the fence. I didn't remove the fence rail from the saw like the directions say because all I had to do was drill 4 holes upside down so it wasn't so bad. I sure wish there was a better way to mount the magnetic tab to a unifence but I made it work.

[glenn bradley]

$99 at Woodcraft right now. I know I'm tempted. . ..

[keith micinski]

It really does feel like a ridiculously good deal if it works like it is supposed to. I tried out the angle finder and it was right on with ts aligner but was a heck of a lot easier to use and also quicker. I feel pretty good about my fence setup and calibration after a little bit of trial and error. I am almost tempted to go back out to the garage and start making some more cuts to test out the fence but if it isn't right on I know I will never get to sleep tonight.

[Jim Solomon]

Keith,

I was one of those who did beta testing on the table saw readout. I did mine on a Bies, so I can help you with the installation, but I think you will be pleased with the accuracy and consistency of it. The magnet is not an issue. Also, the digital angle gauge is very useful in a lot of ways. You are getting good products at a good price and the guy whose name is on them takes good care of you if anything goes wrong.

Maybe me too Brad? I'm still searching for some formica to make an extension table.I have a brand new 20 year old Pm 66. Lowes and HD only have full sheets that are nice patterns for a counter but would look stupid on a saw. I could use Melemine but prefer Formica if I ever find any, black preferably. Would you mind an email or PM if I run into problems? I don't anticipate any, but I may have some of those "stpid" questions:rolleyes:
Jim

[Jim Becker]

Jim both color borgs around here carry black and ivory laminate in full sheets as regular stock.