Miter Gauge

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zdorsch

Zach
Corporate Member
I now have new to me Unisaw and blew my budget even with a great deal! The saw came without a miter gauge. The original Rockwell/delta miter gauges are about $50 with shipping. Is it much of an upgrade to go with an aftermarket miter gauge? Any miter gauge reccomendations? I plan on making a sled, so I’m really only concerned with simple cuts on the miter gauge.

Thanks!

Zach
 

JohnW

New User
John
You get what you pay for when buying a miter gauge. The OEM gauge that comes with most cabinet saws is just a basic use thing but are heavy duty and solid. There are lots of plastic gauges out there and while cheap, not worth having. So if its basic you are after, the Delta style OEM gauges are good. CPO has a very good Delta gauge on sale right now for 38 bucks.

I use an Incra 1000SE and really like it for accuracy and reliability. Depending on what you are making, the accuracy you get from the Incra is well worth the higher cost. They go for around 139.00.
 

TENdriver

New User
TENdriver
Zach, I have a Incra 1000 HD and like it. I also use the OEM miter quite a bit. In fact, I have two of them and sometimes alternate between them for specific cuts. I also use the OEM for certain coarse or rough cuts and reserve the Incra for the precision work.
 

Charles Lent

Charley
Corporate Member
I still use my Delta Miter Gauge because the bar fits the miter slots in my Unisaw very well. For miter setting accuracy, I use my MiterSet gauges. http://miterset.myshopify.com/?aff=65. I've owned some of the fancier miter gauges but like the MiterSet setup gauges better because I get better results when using them. The MiterSet Segments gauge allows you to set up for making segmented circle cuts perfectly, where some of these cuts require angles accurate to three decimal places. This is easily done with the MiterSet Segments gauge. It's companion gauge lets you set your miter gauge to any angle in increments of 1/2 degree, and is also highly accurate.

I have not had even a single even slight off angle cut since getting these jigs, and a package of both gauges is cheaper than some of the fancy miter gauges being sold today. Using them is easy, just place your miter gauge in the jig and position two pins in the jig for the angle or number of segments that you want. Then push your miter gauge up against the two pins and tighten it's locking knob. Put the miter gauge back in the saw's miter slot and make perfect angled cuts. The MiterSet jigs are high quality, made from black anodized aluminum and steel. They are nicer made than some of the aerospace hardware that I once worked with.

Charley
 

Gofor

Mark
Corporate Member
I strongly recommend the Osborne EB-3, available from Klingspor's Woodworking Shop for $139.

Ditto on the Osborne: It has micro-adjustment to get it dead on; extendable fence with stop block; adjustment to take out any slop in your miter slot; and excellent fence support to prevent your work from skewing. Very happy with mine and have had it for several years.

Go
 

Pop Golden

New User
Pop
​I had a Jessem gauge, but never got it square. Their design is so that you have to take the gauge apart, adjust it and reassemble to check it's squareness. Jessem is a good bunch of souls and they gave me a refund. I then got a Incra 1000HD and love it.

Pop
 

ehpoole

Administrator
Ethan
You get what you pay for when buying a miter gauge. The OEM gauge that comes with most cabinet saws is just a basic use thing but are heavy duty and solid. There are lots of plastic gauges out there and while cheap, not worth having. So if its basic you are after, the Delta style OEM gauges are good. CPO has a very good Delta gauge on sale right now for 38 bucks.

I use an Incra 1000SE and really like it for accuracy and reliability. Depending on what you are making, the accuracy you get from the Incra is well worth the higher cost. They go for around 139.00.

Any of the Incra series miter gauges are a tremendous upgrade and can do far more than any stock miter gauge. They can be quickly adjusted to any angle within the allowed range and include a vernier scale for sub-degree accuracy (marked in 0.1 degree increments), allow tuning to your tablesaw's miter slot to eliminate slop as every saw's miter slot is a little different, and include an extremely handy extendable fence with built in stops so that you can quickly reproduce cuts of identical length without the need to repeatedly measure length making it trivial to to turn out pieces of absolutely equal length all day long. I use Incra 1000SE miter gauges on my tablesaw, bandsaw, and even my router table.
 

zdorsch

Zach
Corporate Member
Thanks all!

i ended up finding a miter gauge of the same vintage of the saw. If I don’t like the miter gauge, I will probably buy the Incra.
 

sawman101

Bruce Swanson
Corporate Member
I couldn't get the miter gage that came with my Jet cabinet saw to perfect square; I bought an Incra miter gage and love it--worth every penny!
 

cfield60

jeff
User
This is absolutely correct. You can achieve the desired setting perfectly using the Miterset with your eyes closed and the Miterset will work with any miter guage that you may have! :p
 

Charles Lent

Charley
Corporate Member
This is absolutely correct. You can achieve the desired setting perfectly using the Miterset with your eyes closed and the Miterset will work with any miter guage that you may have! :p

As long as the miter gauge fits properly in the saw's miter slot. Any play of more than a few thousandths of an inch will reduce the accuracy of the MiterSet.

With the MiterSet Segments gauge, all you need to do is position the pins in the correct position for the number of segments in the circle that you want to make. The gauge then lets you set your miter gauge against the pins and you get the exact cutting angle needed for that number of segments. No calculations required, except to figure out how long each piece needs to be cut for the size of circle that you want to make. Use a stop to be certain that all of the pieces will be cut exactly the same length and the segmented circle will turn out perfect with no joint gaps every time.

Charley
 

cfield60

jeff
User
As long as the bar will fit into the slot of the miterset you can achieve the correct chosen angle, even if there is slop in the fit. The procedure requires that you maintain contact along either side of the slot and not have the bar crooked in the slot. I use this often and my Powermatic miter gauge bar is loose but the results are fantastic. It's like most other things that are worked by hand, you must learn proper technique.
 

tdukes

New User
Eddie
I have 3 Incra V27's and have been pleased. I have one set up to do box joints with a Woodhaven box joint jig (when I was building bee hives), one for my Jet Proshop and one for my router table. Can't go wrong there. JMO.
 
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