DRO which one to buy?

[Ron Selzer]

Been reading on here about DRO's getting more confused about which one to buy.
Thought the Wixley due to advertising in catalogs would be the one to buy.
More I read on here seems like they aren't holding up. Cheapest but don't seem to holdup.
Hobby shop use about 1000 bdft a year, buy cherry,oak, popular skip planed to 15/16.
Don't want to spend over a hundred a piece, but will if needed to have reliable lasting equipment. Old enough to retire, but not ready to.
Tools in order of importance to me right now for DRO's
15" wide belt sander
12" planer, Woodmaster
13" Rockwell planer
DeWalt 734 planer
SawStop ICS 36" fence
15" Grizzly drill press
Powermatic Shaper
Looking for experienced users comments, suggestions, etc on which brand holds up and which ones don't.
Thanks
Ron

[Mark Bolton]

Been reading on here about DRO's getting more confused about which one to buy.
Thought the Wixley due to advertising in catalogs would be the one to buy.
More I read on here seems like they aren't holding up. Cheapest but don't seem to holdup.
Hobby shop use about 1000 bdft a year, buy cherry,oak, popular skip planed to 15/16.
Don't want to spend over a hundred a piece, but will if needed to have reliable lasting equipment. Old enough to retire, but not ready to.
Tools in order of importance to me right now for DRO's
15" wide belt sander
12" planer, Woodmaster
13" Rockwell planer
DeWalt 734 planer
SawStop ICS 36" fence
15" Grizzly drill press
Powermatic Shaper
Looking for experienced users comments, suggestions, etc on which brand holds up and which ones don't.
Thanks
Ron

If your not willing to spend on Proscale your next option would be the three pack Igaging the only issue is you will have a short scale in the three pack so not sure which machine you'd run that on. We have these on a few machines. Accuracy has been fine. Not bullet proof but other than a Proscale there isnt much else we've found.

[Ron Selzer]

Thank you Mark. I will spend the money to buy Proscale if that is my best choice. Not interested in buying something that won't last, not wanting to buy industrial quality if a middle of the road will work. I would prefer to only buy these one time and if need be will budget buying them across a year or two. Would prefer one good one now for the wide belt sander and the others as time and money allows. Worked without any for 50 years so don't know how I will like one. Just know based on what you and others have posted I need to explore DRO's at this time.
Ron

[Alex Zeller]

I have a 12" igaging one on my planer. I got the one with an aluminum bar (vs the stainless steel). It's worked fine for me in the 4 months I've had it. The only issue is the display tends to reflect light making it hard to see at a glance. I have it set up for when I'm adjusting it and there's no glare. It's just if I look at it at an unusual angle. I have the remote display set up on a rare earth magnet so if I want I can move or turn it as needed. It would be nice if it was back lit when plugged into a power supply.

[Eric Arnsdorff]

I went with the Accurate Technologies DigiFence for my table saw (Unisaw) and I'm very happy with that choice. The final cost after their discount isn't bad but is more than Wixey.

The other Accurate Technologies DROs were considerably more expensive for the planer and such. I went with the iGaging for the planer and I'm very happy with that choice as well. The Wixey didn't have the resolution and I'm glad I went with the iGaging. I had to be slightly creative in the mount but very minimally so. It was easy and quick to mount. I will be buying another for my drum sander.

I'm happy with both and the DigiFence on my table saw is much preferred for the table saw as it is easier to use for calibrating and such. I don't need the same level of adjustments on the planer (or will on the drum sander) so the iGaging was a great choice for me on it as well.

[Ron Selzer]

Proscale has $100 off offer thru Oct 16th making it over $300 with shipping. Igauge is around $35 shipped. Lots of difference. Used every day would buy Proscale for all. Leaning towards buying Proscale for wide belt and Igauge for DeWalt 734 and see from there what I like.
Ron

[Derek Cohen]

It does come down to price and what you are prepared to spend.

It was difficult for me to rationalise spending 3X the amount on machines where there was an alternate method of measuring, namely the table saw and bandsaw. The Hammer A3-31 has an analogue “digital” reader, which while not as easy to read as a full digital face, does not rely on batteries and has been 100% reliable in the several years I have used it. The one I have is metric only, and the upshot of this is that I have moved over to metric for all measurements. Anyway, measurements on a thicknesser/planer are really about dialing in the last millimetre. I would argue that this is the only machine where a DRO is important.



I added a Wixey to the Hammer K3 rip fence when it came to live with me about 4 years ago. This was taken off my old table saw, and so is now about 7 years old.



It became a little battered (my fault), and about a year ago I replaced the head (these are available on their own) with a new, later version, and moved the old head to a Hammer N4400 bandsaw (the travel beam is available separately as well, but I had a piece over from the original Wixey package).



As an aside, should you add a Wixey or other DRO to your bandsaw, it is advisable to have a stop for the fence for resetting the “zero”. I added this collar (since replaced with a different type) ...



I discovered that I really like the Wixey on the bandsaw, and now have ordered a new replacement head for this. What the DRO does on the bandsaw is make cuts repeatable. Exactly. It makes fine tuning so much easier, too. That is really helpful when sawing veneer. Or tenon cheeks.

A DRO on the tablesaw is the least important of the three machines, yet is the one that we get first. Why least important? Because it is very likely that work from the saw ends up being finished on another machine. There is a scale on the fence that is easily read. The DRO here is for convenience, not for necessity. Perhaps I am less convinced because I use hand tools a lot, and this process is implicit.

The reliability of the Wixey is excellent. I have not had a head fail, although settings will be lost if it is removed from the runner. Settings also need to be zeroed when blades are changed, if the thicknesses are different (this probably goes for all DROs). The battery in the Wixey lasts a long time - for me that is about a year before replacement. They switch off automatically after being idle for about 5 minutes.

I purchased Wixey because they were cheap enough to test out the concept. Now I think that they are cheap enough to replace when/if needed. They are reliable enough to use. I would consider the extra expense of an upmarket version if it also came with ultimate longevity.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Mark e Kessler]

A mag strip DRO like a Fiama https://www.fiama.it/en/indicato-di-...ia/142/f7.html would be my first choice as you don’t have to deal with an encoder rail then a accurate technologies model, i have never had luck with the cheap versions

[Curt Harms]

I only have one DRO on a Jointer/Planer. My primary reason is that I may have to plane, joint then have to back and plane another piece the same thickness. I went with the 12" iGaging and it has been reliable. 2 CR2032 batteries will last about 2 years with light use. The trick for me was figuring out how to mount and calibrate it. This is what I came up with. I can go into the calibration procedure if anyone is interested. It takes longer to explain than to do.

[Cary Falk]

I have a Wixey on my planer. I had a Igauging I believe at one time on it but found calibrating it to be a pain. The Wixey is a breeze to set. I put a Wixey on the table saw and hated it. Trying to make a .001" adjustment with a bump of the fist drove me mad. I find one on the shaper to be useful. My shaper came with one built in. I am undecided about the usefullness for one on the snader because I can run a board through several times without moving the drum and the board will still get thinner.

[Bob Hinden]

I also have the Hammer analogue “digital” on my A3-41 in metric. It's is very reliable and as Derek said, doesn't require batteries.

I also added a Wixey to my drill press. I find it to not be that useful, have gave mostly gone back to using the built in depth stop. The problem is that it has too much precision and while it does have fractional measurements, they fly by very quickly. Maybe a metric version would be better (or I should start thinking in decimal).

I don't use digital readouts (DRO) on my other tools. The built in analog gauge on my SawStop PCS works fine. Once it is calibrated it stays there. Same for my miter saw setup, there I uses a Kreg rail and stop guide.

My conclusion is that DRO's are overrated for woodworking, maybe except for the planer. It's more important to have consistency than an exact number. At least for the woodworking I do. I suspect large scale production is different.

Bob

[Mark Bolton]

Worked without any for 50 years so don't know how I will like one. Just know based on what you and others have posted I need to explore DRO's at this time.

We have the igaging on a 20" 4 post, an old dual drum, and one shaper. You will never, ever, regret having one. They are one of those Homer Simpson D'oh deals where you kick yourself for not having one from the start. The time/speed savings alone is a no brainer but we were in the same boat that a 10x jump from the igaging is hard other than when its not. Never had much issue with mounting but some tech screws, perhaps some aluminum angle, and a little cyphering and its pretty simple. At the price of the igaging you mention its no big deal to toss one on a machine and try it out. If they were $150 bucks then it'd be a head scratcher.

[Jim Becker]

TWorked without any for 50 years so don't know how I will like one. Just know based on what you and others have posted I need to explore DRO's at this time.

The catalyst for me around getting DRO on both my thicknesser and my drum sander is that with the CNC machine in my shop, repeatability on thickness is much more important to me. I also bounce between Metric and Inches. (the former for personal projects and most work I do for clients and the latter for some clients I subcontract work from who prefer and supply specifications in inches) And then there are the eyes...getting precise thicknesses looking at the native scale on a thicknessing tool can be fun, even for folks with young eyes. I can do good work without the DRO, but I'm finding that I can do better work with it for the things that I do these days. Sander is covers...thicknesser is next when I have some spare shekels to put toward it.

[glenn bradley]

Igaging on my 15" planer since about 2010 and it has worked great all that time.

G0435Z DRO.JPG

[Daniel Dioguardi]

I have the Wixey on my 735 and my SuperMax drum sander - They have been very nice to have and I wish I would have done it much sooner. I once had to spray a dry lubricant on the shaft to keep it smooth - other than that it has been rock steady for about a year.