Bies Fence + Wixey Digital Fence zeroing

[Kevin Ladenheim]

Hello,

When I lock down my Bies fence it moves a good bit and makes it
difficult to zero the Wixey fence. Even if I try to hold the fence
in the position it ends up in once locked, I still can't apply as much
pressure as the cam does once the fence is locked.

The Wixey directions say the Bies fence should lightly contact the
saw blade. If I do that and then lock the Bies it then pushes into the
saw blade.

Has any one had similar problems? Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks a lot.

[glenn bradley]

The Bies is self aligning when locked but of course has to be loose to be positioned. If you have visions of moving the fence to the precise point on the Wixey readout and then locking that position, I think you are setting yourself up for disappointment. I do slide mine while pulling back on the lever and get pretty close when I lock it down. To be precise I almost always have to do a final adjustment.

I would think this would be made even easier with the digital readout to simply read off of as opposed to my standing over the cursor looking straight down and all that. As far as zeroing goes I would apply the same principle; get very close and then tap with your finger and lock with the fence face just touching the tooth. Zero the Wixey and your set till you swap blades or change batteries. I hope it is one of those things that becomes really easy after a bit of doing it. Keep us posted ;-)

[Rob Wright]

Kevin,

I place the fence as close as I can to the blade, lock it down and zero the wixey. I then move the fence to exactly 1.000" on the readout and rip a small test piece. I measure this test piece with my Wixey digital calipers (say it measures 1.01"). Lower the blade, move the fence back to the original zero and then move the fence the additional amount from the measured 1" block (0.01" left), hit zero on the wixey and it is now zeroed correctly to the blade.

That's at least how I do it - takes 60 seconds and I just do it when I have removed the fence...

Rob

[glenn bradley]

Now, Rob has got it going on. Great solution.

[Chris Parks]

I can see what is going on here. Move the fence so you are close to your zero point and lower the cam locking lever a little. The fence is now up against the locking surfaces and basically in position but a little hard to move. Give it a few taps until the fence lightly touches the blade but does not appear to deflect it. Lock the fence down fully and zero the instrument and do a test cut as previously described and re-zero if necessary. With a bit of practise it is possible to zero it first time without the secondary adjustment, well most of the time anyway.

[Kevin Ladenheim]

Rob,

Thanks for the procedure, that sounds like the ticket.

Kevin

[Rob Wright]

Kevin - your welcome. The greatest thing about it is you can get as far away from the blade as you want - just get it rough. I usually start about 1/8" away and hit zero and go through the procedure.

- Good luck and enjoy the wixey - I do!

- Rob

[Bob Wingard]

I have what I believe is a safer, more precise method. I simply set the fence about 3" from the blade .. rip a piece of scrap .. measure the width with a good digital calipers .. set the digital unit to read the same. I don't have the Wixey, I bought the one from Accurate Technologies a few years back. I assume the Wixey will let you adjust the readout in this manner.

[Steven DeMars]

Get a 1 -2 -3 Block. Import quality will be way good for woodworking. Use it for checking all sorts of things . . . . . Be sure to get one with holes, it is easier to hold on to . . . .:)

Steve