Added a DRO on my table saw

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Finally broke down and spent the money to get a Wixey DRO. Had to create an adapter and reverse the side it is on. As you can see I used a 14 ga piece of metal on the inboard side to attach the head unit. Added an extra magnet to make sure it will track correctly. .... It is accurate to beyond a 1/100 in. Hard to say it is good to 5-thousandth's, mostly because of how you run the wood and where you measure you might get some waver, due to human factor, but this was worth it.

Also got rid of that slide foot on the uni fence and replaced it with some bearings I had. Used a thumb screw as the post.
 

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riggsp

Phil
Corporate Member
I put one of those on my Sawstop and I really do like it...also had to do a slight modification to the mounting brackets, but not a big deal. It is super accurate.
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
I'm curious about this product. Why would you use one on a table saw and what does the digital readout tell you? What's out of alignment on your table saw, etc.
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Pop-pop I normally have wood slats in my mitre slots so, not an issue. I did try it with out them and it does work but you could feel the mitre edge running over.

Jeff - That was my exact sentiment before trying this out. After trying it and now using it ... well it just takes out any guessing and like what Riggsp said it is accurate to beyond your needs.

This makes cutting complex angle setups easier , usually I am doing these on a calculator and you can match to the decimal with this.

Something else I discovered, when you are at a common fraction it also will show that number in fraction to the 64th. So, if you hit 5.3281 it will show that decimal also as 21/64 next to decimal. That's cool feature. You can hit the mm button and it will then change screens to mm. IT also has a feature that allows you to make a cut then hit the button on the left and it will add to that length measure.

Say you have 20" and you want to add 4.5/8" (.625) hit this button @ 20 5/32" (.0562) you it will add it from the point of hitting that button.
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Was a 110.00 on Amazon. Amazon.com: Wixey WR700 Saw Fence Digital Readout: Home Improvement

Being in Hawaii now, Amazon doesn't charge for prime members shipping ........ so, they are my go to for alot of things. Might find it less in NC.

Most other ones were more that I could find in comparison. One thing of note, occasionally the DRO will disconnect when hitting the digital rule @ the seam (each piece is 32" +/-) if you are moving the fence fast, but just sliding it back to engage it does not lose the measure and still reads accurately. This could be that my table saw is older and as such the fence guide is not really straight.... or maybe the installer is weak at installing things like this... (this is my 1st one). :D Now that I know this I just think before moving the fence and I never have had it happen since.
 

NOTW

Notw
Senior User
So with this do you have to recalibrate each time you change saw blades...i.e. from a full kerf to thin kerf?
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Their website explains this in a video just do not rememebr the sequence of it, but what I got was you could have memory for more than one blade if I understood correctly.
 

nn4jw

New User
Jim
Just run the fence up to touch the blade and zero the readout with the cal button is how I do it.
 

Charles Lent

Charley
Corporate Member
Taking care to get the aluminum extrusions perfectly aligned with each other and using a file to true up the joining edges will make a big difference. When all else fails, a piece of Scotch tape across the joint of the PC board strips will help. There are also some slide tightness adjustments on the back of the readout module, but be careful with this, as too loose will cause readout errors.

I attached my Wixey DRO to the bottom of my Unifence rail with short pieces of 1/2" square steel tubing cantilevered out from the underside of the Unifence rail. Then the Wixey extrusions were attached (upside down) to the bottom side ends of these pieces of square tubing (but make certain that you install the PC board strip rightside up). I cut the piece of steel with the rounded ends that came with the DRO in half and attached one piece to each side of the Unifence casting, drilling and threading holes in the casting for attachment bolts, positioning these pieces to align perfectly with the magnets on the ends of the DRO module. I bought an extra Wixey extrusion and PC board strip so I could use the DRO on either side of the saw blade as well as either side of the fence. Moving it from one side of the fence to the other does require re-zeroing it with the fence touching the blade, but that's all that is necessary, and just holding in the button on the DRO module for a couple of seconds, with the fence touching the blade lightly, does the re-zeroing. The magnets on the module do a great job of holding the module attached to the fence casting, if the magnet to metal connection is parallel. Having the DRO extrusion running the full length of the 52" Unifence rail also keeps the readout module from falling off the end of the extrusion if you should move the fence too far past the blade slot as well.

I like the ability to switch between Metric and Imperial, and the ability to have absolute readings as well as incremental readings. I've found that I can cut a board to a specific width, then move the fence and make another cut, then move back to the first position and make a second piece at this same original width, and both cut pieces will measure the same within just a few (.003-.007") thousandths of an inch of each other. I almost never use the Unifence ruler scale any more.

My Wixey DRO is over 10 years old, bought when they first became available, and I've not needed to do anything to it, other than change the battery. I occasionally have fine sawdust get into the gap between the display and cover glass, but just a blast of air, without dis-assembly, clears it out.

Charley
 
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Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Thank you for that Charley, perfect explanation. I did do most of what you recommended. I changed the insert piece in my Jig sled. Used Maple I mic'd it it said .2400 x 1.6250, so I cut a 1.625 rip and a strip of wood @ .2200
Lightly sanded the back, added a very thin bit of glue.......... tapped it ........ and WOW ! 99.5% perfect out of gate. Just had to hit one corner with 10 seconds of sanding to make it true. Proof of performance.
 

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