adjustable fence scale

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Yes, I can buy a wixey ( out of stock) and may, but I was wondering if anyone made an adjustable TS fence scale. On my saw, with the fence flat, upright or my usual MDF fence, there is about 4 inches of offset between them. Of course, never an even inch. It would be slick if there was a track with a sliding scale to retrofit. That way one could quickly reset for any fence or blade thickness. Even a dado. besides +/- .006 over 3 feet is significant, even in woodworking.
 
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tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
No, more accurate, and cost more than my saw! I was thinking of something like a flat tape measure in a guide that could just be slipped one way or the other to zero in a graticule. It would need to be very low profile to fit under the fence T. I have a very good 36 inch ruler in 32nds, but the guide is the issue. If I had a milling machine, I could make one.

Seems like an obvious device. One could have both English and metric scales. A little more care in the graticule, and one could have a center and two 1/64 offset lines under about a 3X magnification.

Guess I will order a Wixey and hope for the best. I do not like having to splice the scale and the tolerance buildup is more than I want but it is what it is. Most accurate cuts will probably be smaller anyway. Just this is a place where a passive method would work fine. No computer needed.
 

Phil S

Phil Soper
Staff member
Corporate Member
The scale on my Hammer K3 is mounted just below the fence. It is adjusted for zero to line up with the right side of the blade and holds true no matter what thickness of blade. In use you set the fence to what rip size you need by looking at the edge of the fence - it does not matter if you are using the tall side vs the short one or have an aux fence attached as you are directly reading the measurement. Now I need to rework my Unisaw to work the same
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
The scale on my Hammer K3 is mounted just below the fence. It is adjusted for zero to line up with the right side of the blade and holds true no matter what thickness of blade. In use you set the fence to what rip size you need by looking at the edge of the fence - it does not matter if you are using the tall side vs the short one or have an aux fence attached as you are directly reading the measurement. Now I need to rework my Unisaw to work the same
I see that idea. Might see if I can do something like that.
 

mpeele

michael
User
Just order the Wixey and live with it till it arrives. I went from a right tilt to a left tilt saw with a unifence. With my right tilt saw with every blade change the fence scale has to be reset. I use 3 or 4 different width fences which causes even more resets. Wixey makes that effortless which means I actually use the fence scale now. I have found I really like the abs/inc mode a lot and the metric/imperial conversion. But I must warn you that they also make one for planers and routers.
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Actually, ordered one this morning.
No question I want one for my DW 735. Not sure on the router. Maybe. Might make setting lock miter bits easier.

I have several of their products. Great they went from button to AAA batteries.
 

MarkE

Mark
Corporate Member
The fence on my Grizzly G0623 slider works the same as Phil describes for his Hammer K3. The leading edge of the fence(closest to the blade), whatever fence or add on fence facing is being used, it reads directly against the scale.

I added a similar scale to my Grizzly Bandsaw so that any fence I use will direct read from the scale. Once you get it dialed in, it works for any fence or fence position, as long as the fence is square to the blade, of course.
 

Charles Lent

Charley
Corporate Member
What saw and fence do you have?
I installed a Wixey on my Unisaw with Unifence. The Unisaw is a right tilt and the fence is a 52" Unifence, both about mid 1980's age. I have pics, if they will help you. I also have a Wixey on my DeWalt 735 planer, but this was an easier fit than the one for the Unisaw. With the planer, the DRO lets you measure the thickness of the work piece, not the height of the cutter.

Charley
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Saw is a Harvey C-300. Basically a very standard T-fence, square tube.
It just makes sense to me that someone would make a very low profile T-slot that holds a flat tape you could just slide around as needed. No electronics.
 

Phil S

Phil Soper
Staff member
Corporate Member
here are some photos of the adjustable scale on the rip fence and the crosscut fence on my Hammer K3
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tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Exactlly what I was thinking about. So, the scale slides in the track. You can set it for any fence face.
 

Phil S

Phil Soper
Staff member
Corporate Member
Exactlly what I was thinking about. So, the scale slides in the track. You can set it for any fence face.
There is no need to adjust it when you change the fence or add an aux fence. You set the zero of the scale to be even with the right side of the saw blade and then use the fence edge, which ever one you are using, as pointer to read the scale. I have owned this saw for many years and have never adjusted it - it is spot on.
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Oh, I see. It has to sit right up to the level of the table to be close enough to the fence bottom edge. Can't use a 2 or 3 X magnifier. I bet I could come up with some sort of magnetic holder that holds a graticule closer. If the same graticule moved between fences, then it would remain accurate. I think my "T" is in the way, but will go look.
 

MarkE

Mark
Corporate Member
The fence and scale on my Grizzly work the same as Phil's K3. The scale is zeroed out to the right side of the blade and the left edge of whatever rip fence is installed reads directly on the scale.

If a dado blade is installed in the saw, the fence has to be offset by 3/4" to the right to adjust for the removal of the 3/4" spacer.

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MarkE

Mark
Corporate Member
This is the setup I made for my band saw. Just a piece of MDF with a scale attached on the top edge. This works for both positions of the aluminum fence and if an add-on fence is installed. If I use the cast iron fence alone I can use the original scale with a 3/8" offset.
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Rwe2156

DrBob
Senior User
I'm not sure what the need is, but I can only relate to my work methods. I use a couple auxiliary fences, one for burying a dado blade, the other is a tall fence. They are usually one - off cuts, sometimes 2 or 3 and I just measure to the blade.

The other 90% of the time a fixed fence tape is all I need. I never use thin kerf blades so that's not an issue.
 

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