Planer depth gage

[Chester Mullins]

This setup is accurate to within .001, and is repeatable, takes about 1 hour
to build install and calibrate. Hopefully pics will say a thousand words.

[Rick Levine]

Chester,

You might want to re-edit you photos. When you click on them they don't enlarge so you can't see any details.

Fortunately, my Steel City planer comes with one.

[glenn bradley]

Pics too small to see. I imagine it works well. I love my Wixey.

[Paul Simmel]

Chester,

If you need help resizing your pic’s (from the originals) getting the file-sizes down to SMC specs, yet large enough to view, you can PM me. I can either guide you through the process depending on what software you have, or do it for you if you email me the originals.

[Bruce Benjamin]

This setup is accurate to within .001, and is repeatable, takes about 1 hour
to build install and calibrate. Hopefully pics will say a thousand words.

Chester, until you enlarge the pictures they are only worth maybe 15 or 20 words. :rolleyes:;). I'd love to see how you did it though. I had the Wixey for a short while but I couldn't live with the poor resolution and lack of repeatability so I returned it. I know many people are happy with theirs but I guess I demand better from my electronic gadgets.

Bruce

[Kyle Kraft]

Recently I mounted a 1" travel dial indicator on my planer and used an adjustable rod to contact the point. It works great and now I can plane some 3/4" wood, switch over and plane some 1/2" then go back to 3/4" and my workpiece will mike within 0.002" of the first piece.

I realize that the 0.002" is a mile but for the woodbutchering that I do it's close enough.;)

Oh, did I tell you that my woodworking has reached a new level of insanity??

[Peter Quadarella]

0.002" is so small, who knows maybe the wood moved that much in the time it took you to switch! There could have been a single grain of sawdust in between to make that difference.

[Lance Norris]

I'd love to see how you did it though.

Chester...I too would love to see more detailed photos of how you mounted the caliper. I would like to use a dial caliper, it should be easier for my eyes to see. Come on Chester, dont keep us waiting...;)

[Lance Norris]

I like when someone posts something like this... It gets me thinking about my situation. Without some type of fine indicator, its hard to get perfectly dimensioned stock out of a planer. I have thought about the Wixey Digital Planer Gauge, but just havent made the move yet, and was kinda put off by the battery life and the idea of making brackets and drilling holes in my planer(not that I wouldnt have). So after looking at my planer and scratching my head a bit, I decided that rare earth magnets might be a temporary set-up for a dial indicator. I tried it and it works great. Now I might have to buy a cheap fractional dial indicator and drill a hole in each finger and into the planer bed and post. Why isnt something like this built into a high end planer instead of the crappy indicator thats on the post? I know Powermatic has digital readouts on some of their planers, but I like the idea of a dial indicator. No batteries, and no electronic device to fail. Simple. Any better ideas from the Creek?

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb97/weblance/woodshop110.jpg



http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb97/weblance/woodshop108.jpg

[Chester Mullins]

Hopefully these Pics are better.
This is simply A piece of wood ploughed out
with A dado and bolted to the planer.
The dial caliper is clamped inside the wood.

[Nathan Barnard]

Cool idea! Can dial indicators be reset to zero, or adjusted? I don't like the idea of something sticking up that could get caught. I would rather use the built-in scale for getting the rough height setting and then refer to the dial gauge to get it exact. What resolution is one turn of the caliper's dial (1/4", etc)?

[Rod Sheridan]

Why isnt something like this built into a high end planer instead of the crappy indicator thats on the post? I know Powermatic has digital readouts on some of their planers, but I like the idea of a dial indicator. No batteries, and no electronic device to fail. Simple. Any better ideas from the Creek?

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb97/weblance/woodshop110.jpg



http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb97/weblance/woodshop108.jpg

Hi Lance, many "high end" planers do indeed have dial indicators built into the planer to indicate height. My Hammer A3-31 has it in the elevation handwheel.

Felder have the same, probably many other planers do as well.......Rod.

[Joe Chritz]

Cool idea! Can dial indicators be reset to zero, or adjusted? I don't like the idea of something sticking up that could get caught. I would rather use the built-in scale for getting the rough height setting and then refer to the dial gauge to get it exact. What resolution is one turn of the caliper's dial (1/4", etc)?

Sort of.

Everyone I have is one full revolution is .100 inches. The dial is adjustable throughout that .100 so it will always stick up.

I may grab up a cheap 4" caliper and try something like this. I bet you could attach it in a way that it wasn't sticking out by using an arm or something to that effect.

Thanks a lot, just what I needed another on the to do list. :D

Joe

[CPeter James]

I downloaded these instructions several years ago. I have not used them, but many others have and say they work well.

http://home.metrocast.net/~cpjvkj/Image1.jpg


http://home.metrocast.net/~cpjvkj/dialcaliper.htm

CPeter

[Reed Wells]

I like when someone posts something like this... It gets me thinking about my situation. Without some type of fine indicator, its hard to get perfectly dimensioned stock out of a planer. I have thought about the Wixey Digital Planer Gauge, but just havent made the move yet, and was kinda put off by the battery life and the idea of making brackets and drilling holes in my planer(not that I wouldnt have). So after looking at my planer and scratching my head a bit, I decided that rare earth magnets might be a temporary set-up for a dial indicator. I tried it and it works great. Now I might have to buy a cheap fractional dial indicator and drill a hole in each finger and into the planer bed and post. Why isnt something like this built into a high end planer instead of the crappy indicator thats on the post? I know Powermatic has digital readouts on some of their planers, but I like the idea of a dial indicator. No batteries, and no electronic device to fail. Simple. Any better ideas from the Creek?

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb97/weblance/woodshop110.jpg



http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb97/weblance/woodshop108.jpg
Lance, Is that the Grizz 24" ? If it is I sure would like to get some preformance comments. I am about 2 weeks away from ordering the same one. Thanks, Reed

[Mikail Khan]

Nice, I will definitely try it on my planer. I recently purchased a $15 digital vernier from Amazon that works well.

MK

[Lance Norris]

Lance, Is that the Grizz 24" ? If it is I sure would like to get some preformance comments. I am about 2 weeks away from ordering the same one. Thanks, Reed

Reed... its the 15" 1021x. I can give you performance info on it. It is a great planer. I have been very happy with it. Im sure the one you order will give you good performance as well. This planer has a spiral head and a 3hp motor. The finish with the spiral head is glass smooth and full width cuts at 1/8" dont even make the motor bog. I dont take that much stock off usually, but did do it a couple times when I first got to see how it would cope.

[Lance Norris]

Well...I dont want to seem like a traitor, but today was at Hartville Tool and bought the Wixey planer gauge. I still think the dial caliper is a great idea, and I like the fact that the dial caliper doesnt use a battery, that is if you use an analog one.

[Chester Mullins]

I am sure the Wixey will do the trick for you.
Let us know how it works out.

[Jerry White]

Lance,

I hope you will post pictures of your installation of the Wixey on the G1021X. I also have the 1021X and have been thinking of the same upgrade. Good luck.

Jerry

[Lance Norris]

Jerry...here's what I've got so far...It took about 2 hours. I used 26 ga. sheet metal and just bent a bracket around the post. The 2 screws you see are run into existing holes and I tapped one hole that you dont see behind the planer readout. It works good so far. I used a rare earth magnet under the foot at the bottom, to help the depth bar lower itself back down after being raised. All in all, a fairly easy install. Now I gotta sleep so I can get up and try it out.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb97/weblance/woodshop111.jpg


http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb97/weblance/woodshop115.jpg


http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb97/weblance/woodshop116.jpg

[Dave Bureau]

I just picked up a wixey for my new griz 454 20" planer. I'll post some pics of that install.
Dave