Wixey Planer Gauge

[JackLeg]

Not sure where to put this, since Wixey isn't exactly a "Power Tool."

Does anyone have the Wixey Planer gauge? I'd like to install one on the Jet planer we got from Zac a while back.

Any and all comments, suggestions, reviews, welcomed.

Thanx.

:notworthy:

 

[JimmyC]

Reggie,

If I recall correctly, the Jet planer is a 15" model. I am fairly sure that the wixey only works on lunch box style planers. If you find one tha works on 15" planers let mr know.

http://www.woodcraft.com/product.aspx?ProductID=146096&FamilyID=5330

Good Luck.

 

[Travis Porter]

I bought one a while back and put on my Performax when I had it. You can make it work on about anything, but you may have to buy a little odd ball hardware to do it (angle aluminum, nuts, bolts, etc). You might also need a tap and die set depending on how you try to mount it. It took me about 15 to twenty minutes to get it mounted, but about 3 days to figure out how to mount it so that it was workable.

IMO, it would be a good addition to your planer. You won't regret it.



The Wixey site has pictures of the way different people have made it work on their tools.

 

[JimmyC]

Thanks Travis. :icon_thum

 

[JackLeg]

Thanks, Travis. I have seen the pics on the Wixey page, but wanted to see if anyone had actually mounted on on their planer.

I think I can rig it based on the pics. Calibration may take a little longer. How'd your do once you had it installed? Accurate? :icon_scra

The gauge on the Jet leaves a lot to be desired, especially when trying to make duplicate thicknesses. :nah:

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

In a thread here somewhere I talk about the install on my 15" Delta which I have since sold and now Jon is selling (see classifieds). It worked just fine on that machine. As has been said you will need to fabricate a few little brackets. I used existing holes to do my install so I could take it off and return the machine to its original configuration. Also, I mounted it so that you could still use the unit's easy calibration- see location of the foot in the last pic. Let me know if you need any info.

FYI, I wouldn't have a planer without one now! (I added one to my new/old 20"- different mounting experience)

 

[Jim Murphy]

I think I can rig it based on the pics. Calibration may take a little longer. How'd your do once you had it installed? Accurate?

The calibration is a snap. You plane a board, put the planed board under the foot thingie, and press the calibrate button. Bingo, calibrated.

As far as accurate, it tends to disagree with my digital calipers by about .005 to .01. I don't know which one is truly "accurate" (accurate is the exact measurement, precision is how close the measurement is to real, as there is really no way to make an accurate measurement <there's always more decimals, you know>) If I need to make something on the planer to fit what I measured with the calipers, I just mentally add a hundredth and it fits.

That it fits tightly is what matters.... whether is 0.749999263574 or 0.7500056874 is of no importance.

FWIW, I have one on my Delta 22-580 lunchbox and absolutely could not work without it (not that I can do much work with it, but that's not the gauge's fault).

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

One more thing. If you get a Wixey from one of the usual suspects, make sure it is a new model not the old stock model. The new one has an easier to view, slanted readout.