Digital Miter Gauge

[Dick Brown]

Just bought a Craftsman digital miter gauge yesterday and it looks like a winner! After the stock gauges that come with new saws, it is a welcome change. Checked it out at the store with good drafting triangles and seems to be right on the button. Has the "T" slot washer, extention fence, and adjusters to fit for your miter slot. I have one of the high priced aftermarket ones but would guess it will not see much use from now on.
Any others of you tried them?
Dick

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00929939000P?vName=Tools&cName=Power+Tool+Accessories&sName=Table+Saw

[Randal Stevenson]

What does it use for batteries? Does it say how long they should last?

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Very interesting. I noticed that the fence is only 15". Kind of short relative to the other aftermarket offerings. Also, it looks like it can accomodate a flip stop, but it appears that one doesn't come with it nor even available as an option. Same goes for an sliding extension.

For $79 it seems pretty good though. But, as usual for Sears, it comes up a bit short regarding versatility. Maybe I'm missing something. I'm also not a fan of electronic gizmos, especially something that gets knocked around.

-Jeff :)

[Dick Brown]

Jeff,
I agree that it isn't the answer of all answers but within it's limitations, it looks like the one that will get used for all but the more demanding (such as longer cuts) or very heavy work in my shop. You are right in not being a fan of the gizzmoes and trust me, if the OEM ones were what they should be, there would be no market for this kind of stuff. However, it looks like if I want to cut a 13 segment circle or what ever, it will at least be in the ball park with it's+/-.1 degree accuracy which is closer than most OEM or aftermarket units for that matter. I will be the first to admit it has a lot of plastic on it but the main wear parts do look substantial. Will be interesting to see what I think of it after a few months. If I find it is a bag of ---- I will sure post my findings. By the way, having the Craftsman name was almost enough to give me second thoughts about buying it but I feel they deserve a second chance to prove themselves even after the bad press Sears has had the last few years.
Dick

[Robert Mahon]

I use an Incra mostly but would like to get the Craftsman unit for some additional versatility.
Unfortunately, they are not available in my area and listed as "Out of stock".

I'm a 'touchy-feeley guy and seldom buy anything without playing with it for a few minutes. The last exception was the Wixey TS read-out, with which I'm quite happy.

[Dick Brown]

Well, I said if this thing didn't prove out, I would post the problems. Went out to my shop tonight and cut a 3+ inch wide board on a 45 to check it for square by flipping the cut off and butting the ends, you know the drill. Had a 3/32 gap at the toe. Squared it to the miter slot again, zeroed the readout again, and did the same test. Still off. Tried it the other way at 45 with a good drafting triangle and was off by about half as much. Was cold in the shop and the other company, ProMiter that makes these things says "Teperature compensating" or something like that in the ads for what ever that means. I also noticed that I could set it , lock it down and not touch it but the reading would change over a few seconds of time. All in all, I am disappointed as I had hoped for something I could grab, set, and be sure of the results. Off for a visit to Sears in the morning for a return and refund.

[Eddie Darby]

I would think that you could get more use out of a regular miter gauge, and a stand alone tilt box gauge, since you can use the tilt box to adjust not just your miter gauge, but also other tools as well.

[Brad Townsend]

Ah, once again, Sears is long on ideas and short on design execution. Kind of like that hand drill they had with the laser pointer on it.:D Then when they do get a product right, the 22401 14" bandsaw for example, they discontinue it.:rolleyes:

[Todd Ferrante]

All,
I've been waiting for this miter gauge to show up in the stores since before Christmas. I read this review and was disappointed, but willing to try it out for myself and form my own opinions.

Took it out of the box and the first thing I noticed was the slot width adjuster wasn't as I expected. I expected either a split bar that got pressed against the sides of the slot by a buried setscrew, or wedged open by the taper on a countersunk flathead screw. This gauge has little slotted plastic sliders buried in pockets. You loosen a socket head cap screw, move the slider against the side of the slot and clamp it in place with the SHCS. No fine adjustment possible. I didn't care much for it, but with some fiddling it was usable. Be careful not to overtighten the clamp screw or you'll damage the sliders.

Next I set it next to my current miter gauge and it had a shorter bar by about 6 inches. It was also about 9" narrower than my current add on gauge face. I would have to make a new add on face for it anyway to have sandpaper on the face. The aluminum extrusion is slippy.

I next installed batteries and turned it on. I was also taken aback by the very noticeable whine from the electronics. I've heard similar sounds coming from old tube TVs, but never from a battery powered device. I could probably learn to live with it, since it only needs to be powered on when making adjustments anyhow.

I set the angle of the gauge to the blade using a drafting triangle, pulled the gauge to the front edge of the table, as you are supposed to do, and zeroed the reading. During this process, I really liked the clicking noise the gauge made when changing angles. Sounds cool.

Then, I moved the gauge away from zero and back again. Here came the first major show stopper for me. There is a large time lag between when the blade stops moving and when the display settles to a final angle reading. I'm talking 5 seconds or so. This made it very hard to get the gauge back to reading zero. I'd get it close, tap it into what seemed like the right spot, and the reading would drift past zero in the other direction. It took upwards of 30 seconds to get the darn thing to a desired reading. Ridiculous for a digital instrument. I'm used to using digital calipers at work, and the Wixey digital angle gauge in my shop. I've never seen the likes of the wierdness of this time lag.

I repeated this process several times, each time checking against the triangle when the reading said the gauge was at zero. Strike two, not repeatable. The gauge never checked good against the triangle. The errors were all over the place, and way more than I would call acceptable.

Next I tried using the 45 degree triangle and found the errors to be worse. So strike three, not accurate. Even though I had been prepared by the earlier posts in this thread, I was pretty let down.

I then tried rationalizing, maybe this was just a limitation of the digital resolution of the readout. To check this theory, I set the gauge face down on the table edge with the bar pointing down, and used a Wixey angle gauge, stuck on the side of the bar, to get angle readings. I started by setting zero with the triangle, zeroing the Wixey display, moving the gauge away from and returning to zero. Settling time not instant, but worlds better. Setting the angle back to zero by tapping into place was a breeze. Checking against the triangle was nearly perfect. Repeating several times usually gave a perfect zero reading on the triangle. Occasionally some small error resulted, but it was at max 1/4 of the error given by the miter gauge display. Next I tried the 45 degree setting. Getting to the setting using the Wixey was as easy as setting to zero. Setting the gauge in the slot showed the display reading 44.8 degrees vs the 45.0 from the Wixey. Checking the angle against the 45 degree triangle showed that the gauge was indeed set to 45 degrees with nearly imperceptible error. Repeating this process, using the Wixey to move between zero, 30 degree and 45 degree settings resulted in good settings using the Wixey and large errors using the miter gauge display. Frankly, I was stunned. I am amazed that this thing ever made it onto the shelves as a consumer product.

Summary: While the mechanics of the gauge hardware could be called acceptable, if not inspiring, the angle sensing electronics are a miserable failure. The digital angle readings, the main selling point of this miter gauge, are neither repeatable nor accurate, and get worse the farther they get from zero. Even though it requires the inconvenient step of hanging the gauge over the edge of the table, using the Wixey digital angle finder to set the angle is much quicker and produces repeatable and accurate results. The miter gauge is going back in to box to be returned to the store. The Wixey gauge is going back into my workbench drawer, and I will have no hesitation using it to set the odd angle on my old miter gauge if the need arises.

Todd Ferrante

[Bill Huber]

All,


Summary: While the mechanics of the gauge hardware could be called acceptable, if not inspiring, the angle sensing electronics are a miserable failure. The digital angle readings, the main selling point of this miter gauge, are neither repeatable nor accurate, and get worse the farther they get from zero. Even though it requires the inconvenient step of hanging the gauge over the edge of the table, using the Wixey digital angle finder to set the angle is much quicker and produces repeatable and accurate results. The miter gauge is going back in to box to be returned to the store. The Wixey gauge is going back into my workbench drawer, and I will have no hesitation using it to set the odd angle on my old miter gauge if the need arises.

Todd Ferrante


Thanks for the info, I was thinking about one but then got the Wixey Digital Protractor and like it really well.

[Brian Penning]

I would think that you could get more use out of a regular miter gauge, and a stand alone tilt box gauge, since you can use the tilt box to adjust not just your miter gauge, but also other tools as well.

How can you use the Tilt box to adjust a miter gauge? Unless you're only checking if the gauge fence is perpendicular to the table.

[Barry Nelson]

Dr Wong struck again,ah those inscrutable Chinese?:p

[john bateman]

Ah, once again, Sears is long on ideas and short on design execution. Kind of like that hand drill they had with the laser pointer on it.:D

Fortunately they're not trying to market one these, like Harbor Freight does:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/photos/95500-95599/95566.gif
ITEM 95566

[Bruce Benjamin]

How can you use the Tilt box to adjust a miter gauge? Unless you're only checking if the gauge fence is perpendicular to the table.

Simple. Hang the miter gauge off the edge of your tablesaw with the face of the gauge on the table surface and the miter bar hanging straight down. Place the Beall Tilt Box, (Or Wixey if you went that route) onto the table and zero it. Now stick the Tilt Box onto the side of the miter bar and adjust the miter gauge to the desired angle.

The problem with this method is that it doesn't take into account the slop between the miter bar and the miter slot in the tablesaw. Most have some method of adjusting the width of the miter bar to make it fit snug in the miter slot but just sticking the Tilt Box onto the side of the miter bar doesn't take this adjustment into account. In other words, if your miter bar width adjustments result in the bar being slightly cocked in the miter slot this method will result in the angle being off by the same amount that the miter bar is cocked. Depending on how you adjust your miter bar this won't necessarily be a problem. But it can be for some. I prefer my Incra 1000SE because it's fast and dead on accurate.

Bruce

[William Powell]

Sorry to bump this old thread.
However, I may be in need of a miter gauge that one can adjust the bar for the slot. Now, I've read some "professional" reviews that says this gauge ain't that bad. Just a little touchy at times. Has anyone else acquired one and had a different experience?

Or, how about this one?
http://www.hartvilletool.com/product/12965

Thanks
Bill

[Paul Ryan]

Bill,

I have one of those and like it. It is very accurate and repetable. I bought it because I needed a upgrade from the POS that came with my table saw. I use my miter saw for most miters and a cross cut sled for all of my cross cuts that dont fit on the miter saw. However occasionally I use the table saw. This miter guage works good. It have tested it over and over again and it all ways goes back to zero, and the cuts all come out with no gaps. It is pretty heavy too, nice strong steel. There is not slop in my miter slot. The only complaint I have it the roller balls sometimes take a steady sliding motion to go smothly into the miter slot. But it is very solid and very accurate. I have tested it compared to my wixey angle guage and they both read the same. All in all, I would recommed it. For a better price than a lower end incra, and the digital acutually works like advertised I think it is worth it. I would buy it again.