Y'all remember me attaching a short arm to the tilt mechanism on the front of my tablesaw and mounting a little angle gauge on it for a digital blade tilt indicator? At that time I said I was gonna do something similar for my mitersaw. I did, but never got around to posting it, so here it is.
As many of you probably know, the bevel angle scale on most mitersaws is often small, imprecise, and located far at the back of the saw where it can be even more of a challenge to read and use than the scale on a tablesaw. With my eyes, I find it hard to see and read the scale and even harder to reach around to the back of my bench-mounted SCMS to set the bevel angle. The success of my tablesaw mount encouraged me to do the same for the mitersaw- make a temporarily mount for a digital angle gauge to give me a precise readout of the saw's bevel angle without having to put it on and take it off the blade.
It was much easier and simpler to make and install than my tablesaw tilt guide- took me less than 5 minutes!! I attached a 1" X 3" piece of 1/8" steel flat bar to the top of the saw. I drilled a hole in the bar and used an existing cable strap screw to mount it. Like my TS installation, it required no permanent modification to the saw. The steel bar provides a mount so the gauge's own magnets hold it securely in place, almost at eye level, and near the front of the saw, and makes it quick and easy remove for use elsewhere.
It is not necessary, but for quick re-calibration if I used the gauge elsewhere, I verified the saw's zero tilt stop was accurate. I also made sure the steel mounting pad was parallel to the tilt axis, front to back, when the head was locked in the down position (my saw has carry lock). To use it the first time, I center the saw, set the tilt against the stop, lower the head to its locked position, put the tilt gauge on its mount, and hit "zero" on the gauge. It will now read the blade tilt angle and will do so at any miter angle setting. You should only set the bevel angle when the saw's head is down and if the saw is not level, make sure the miter angle is 90 before setting the bevel angle. If your zero bevel stop is off, not adjustable, or not reliable, verify the blade is at zero tilt (using the gauge on the table and blade) before zeroing it on the mounting pad at the start of a shop session.
Wixey's new angle gauge with tilting display works great in this application. I found this is a lot easier than putting the gauge on and off the table and the blade each time you want to set a bevel angle. (It is safer too- a mitersaw can really throw one of these little gauges quite a distance if you forget and leave it on the blade when you turn the saw on! If you read my old post you know how I know this :roll
As many of you probably know, the bevel angle scale on most mitersaws is often small, imprecise, and located far at the back of the saw where it can be even more of a challenge to read and use than the scale on a tablesaw. With my eyes, I find it hard to see and read the scale and even harder to reach around to the back of my bench-mounted SCMS to set the bevel angle. The success of my tablesaw mount encouraged me to do the same for the mitersaw- make a temporarily mount for a digital angle gauge to give me a precise readout of the saw's bevel angle without having to put it on and take it off the blade.
It was much easier and simpler to make and install than my tablesaw tilt guide- took me less than 5 minutes!! I attached a 1" X 3" piece of 1/8" steel flat bar to the top of the saw. I drilled a hole in the bar and used an existing cable strap screw to mount it. Like my TS installation, it required no permanent modification to the saw. The steel bar provides a mount so the gauge's own magnets hold it securely in place, almost at eye level, and near the front of the saw, and makes it quick and easy remove for use elsewhere.
It is not necessary, but for quick re-calibration if I used the gauge elsewhere, I verified the saw's zero tilt stop was accurate. I also made sure the steel mounting pad was parallel to the tilt axis, front to back, when the head was locked in the down position (my saw has carry lock). To use it the first time, I center the saw, set the tilt against the stop, lower the head to its locked position, put the tilt gauge on its mount, and hit "zero" on the gauge. It will now read the blade tilt angle and will do so at any miter angle setting. You should only set the bevel angle when the saw's head is down and if the saw is not level, make sure the miter angle is 90 before setting the bevel angle. If your zero bevel stop is off, not adjustable, or not reliable, verify the blade is at zero tilt (using the gauge on the table and blade) before zeroing it on the mounting pad at the start of a shop session.
Wixey's new angle gauge with tilting display works great in this application. I found this is a lot easier than putting the gauge on and off the table and the blade each time you want to set a bevel angle. (It is safer too- a mitersaw can really throw one of these little gauges quite a distance if you forget and leave it on the blade when you turn the saw on! If you read my old post you know how I know this :roll
