I need an accurate miter gauge at a reasonable price. Any recommendations?
Miter Gauge recomendation
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Instead of a miter gauge, why not consider a DUBBY from In-Line Industries? It is slicker than a cat's whistle. It is one of the few things that I have spent the asking price for. I have no regrets about spending the money, except for the fact that I should have done it years earlier.
I have the Osborne EB3 and it is dead on accurate. There was a thread a little while ago that had a lot of good suggestions. http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/f31/ts-miter-guage-your-reccomendations-13773/?highlight=osborne
I would view this thread before making your decision.
I would view this thread before making your decision.
I have the Incra 1000se http://www.newwoodworker.com/reviews/incra1000servu.html
and I don't think that you'll find a better miter gauge at that price...especially when it's on sale. I use to use my sled for most of my cross cut applications, but I have found it handier for smaller pieces, and the stop is an excellent feature. I use it to cut all my tenons.
MTCW,
Dave
and I don't think that you'll find a better miter gauge at that price...especially when it's on sale. I use to use my sled for most of my cross cut applications, but I have found it handier for smaller pieces, and the stop is an excellent feature. I use it to cut all my tenons.
MTCW,
Dave
Steve was gracious enough to give me his JessEm Mite-R-Excel. :notworthy:I've had it for a while now, long enough to give you my opinion on it.
This miter gauge is extremely well constructed. It feels very solid, with large, knurled brass knobs. It is heavy, providing a lot of stability when sliding it across the table. The stop and extension are convenient, as is the adjustable scale. Angles can be set at 0.5 degree increments. It takes a little getting used to, but it's pretty simple to figure out after a few uses. I don't know which part was off (most likely the table saw), but I found I was able to cut perfect miters with one end at 45 and the other at 44.5.
The bad thing is that the miter gauge is heavy and solid. It is not something you just hang from a pegboard or lift with one hand. With limited room in the shop, I find I'm always searching for a place to put it. The only thing that hasn't worked too well is the miter bar adjustment. It has allen screws so you can adjust the width, but at its narrowest setting it barely fits my table saw. Plus, one was stuck so tight I nearly stripped it. All in all, very minor problems.
I've used my crosscut sled a whole lot less since I got this miter gauge. But, you asked about affordable. Would I pay $250 for it? No. I don't think it's that good. I have seen the Incra 1000SE. If I were to buy a miter gauge, that's the one I'd get. The JessEm is the better gauge, but not by much, and certainly not for that kind of money.
Of course, if someone offers you one for free..... :gar-Bi
This miter gauge is extremely well constructed. It feels very solid, with large, knurled brass knobs. It is heavy, providing a lot of stability when sliding it across the table. The stop and extension are convenient, as is the adjustable scale. Angles can be set at 0.5 degree increments. It takes a little getting used to, but it's pretty simple to figure out after a few uses. I don't know which part was off (most likely the table saw), but I found I was able to cut perfect miters with one end at 45 and the other at 44.5.
The bad thing is that the miter gauge is heavy and solid. It is not something you just hang from a pegboard or lift with one hand. With limited room in the shop, I find I'm always searching for a place to put it. The only thing that hasn't worked too well is the miter bar adjustment. It has allen screws so you can adjust the width, but at its narrowest setting it barely fits my table saw. Plus, one was stuck so tight I nearly stripped it. All in all, very minor problems.
I've used my crosscut sled a whole lot less since I got this miter gauge. But, you asked about affordable. Would I pay $250 for it? No. I don't think it's that good. I have seen the Incra 1000SE. If I were to buy a miter gauge, that's the one I'd get. The JessEm is the better gauge, but not by much, and certainly not for that kind of money.
Of course, if someone offers you one for free..... :gar-Bi
3rd vote for teh Incra 1000se. It was very accurate right out of teh box and I use it all the time. The miter bar is a little short so I will use my original miter gauge for longer cuts. I asked Incra about a longer miter bar option and they replied that the miter fence is requierd to be sitting on the saw table for optimal accuracy. I highly recommend it.
looked on woodcraft site and saw an Osborne for 109.99. Would this be the EB3? the ad didn't give a model number.
I thought that I might chirp in here.
After allot of reading and internet searching I thought that I had it nailed down to 2. the Incra or the Dubby systems.
But then my wife made my decision for me.
She got me a the Rockler miter sled for my birthday a few weeks back. I have to say that it has been the most accurate thing that I have ever used before.
I now use it to check the squareness of anything that I need to check or to make square.
I can't say anything about the others as I have not had the pleasure of using those.
It has a large sled base with integrated material hold down.
The fence moves easily to desired angle and locks in place by large knurled knobs.
the angle indicator has a nice sized magnified viewer (helps with the over 40 eyes:rotflm
the Fence also comes with a material stop with flip up action.
The fence will also extend out in length to almost 26" I believe.
It was easy to square up to the table saw and start to use.
Be sure to tune up your table saw prior to squaring the miter to it.
It is large and will take up some space. But not overly big in my book.
the miter track that engages into the tables saws track comes with adjustable tension to take up any sloppiness that may be between the two.
I do allot of panel cutting for cabinets so I needed one that was sturdy, accurate, and big enough to handle cabinet side panels.
But I also wanted one to do small parts too. I think my wife found one for me:gar-La;.
She alos purchased the drop off section for it. making the system zero clearance.:eusa_danc:eusa_danc:eusa_clap
Flaw:thumbs_do is if you have to put in any other size blade in your saw other than the one that you used to square the unit to your saw with. You will end up cutting the base sled shorter ie putting in a stacked dado blade.
You will no longer have a zero clearance, but for the dado.
Hope this helps.
SOme other had asked me to write something about this.
After allot of reading and internet searching I thought that I had it nailed down to 2. the Incra or the Dubby systems.
But then my wife made my decision for me.
She got me a the Rockler miter sled for my birthday a few weeks back. I have to say that it has been the most accurate thing that I have ever used before.
I now use it to check the squareness of anything that I need to check or to make square.
I can't say anything about the others as I have not had the pleasure of using those.
It has a large sled base with integrated material hold down.
The fence moves easily to desired angle and locks in place by large knurled knobs.
the angle indicator has a nice sized magnified viewer (helps with the over 40 eyes:rotflm
the Fence also comes with a material stop with flip up action.
The fence will also extend out in length to almost 26" I believe.
It was easy to square up to the table saw and start to use.
Be sure to tune up your table saw prior to squaring the miter to it.
It is large and will take up some space. But not overly big in my book.
the miter track that engages into the tables saws track comes with adjustable tension to take up any sloppiness that may be between the two.
I do allot of panel cutting for cabinets so I needed one that was sturdy, accurate, and big enough to handle cabinet side panels.
But I also wanted one to do small parts too. I think my wife found one for me:gar-La;.
She alos purchased the drop off section for it. making the system zero clearance.:eusa_danc:eusa_danc:eusa_clap
Flaw:thumbs_do is if you have to put in any other size blade in your saw other than the one that you used to square the unit to your saw with. You will end up cutting the base sled shorter ie putting in a stacked dado blade.
You will no longer have a zero clearance, but for the dado.
Hope this helps.
SOme other had asked me to write something about this.
I went with the Incra 1000SE. I like the flip-stop and the adjustable fence. The angle settings are pretty much idiot proof. Dead square out of the box except that the fence isn't square with the table.There is a slight gap between the miter bar and the gauge itself on the fence end. I tried to tighten the screw that mounts gauge to bar but it won't tighten any further. It seems like the screw is too long/not threaded far enough. Anybody had this problem before?
My Incra 1000se need a little shimming to square the fence perpendicular to the table surface. I just loosened the screws mounting the fence to the angle protractor plate and slid a double folded piece of index card under there. Squared it right up. Other than that it was dead on out of the box. I don't know if what I had to tweak would have made any difference in it's use :dontknow:
Dave
Dave
I made an auxillary (does any one know how to spell that word?)fence and ripped a bevel on the fence side and got it square to the table. I thought about shims but figured they would fall out when I shifted the aux. fence
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