pro grade angle calibration gauge for table saw blade tilt

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

I have a Beal Tilt Box which will get me close. After I tilt the blade I always check my cut with something more precision, because ultimately, the final cut is all that matters.

[scott vroom]

I'm not making crosscut miters (e.g., picture framing); I'm ripping 22.5 degree mitered edges onto adjoining face frames for a corner wall cabinet. Accuracy is critical because the outer face frame edge must match perfectly with the 90 degree faceframe edge on an adjoining rectangular wall cabinet. The attached pic tells the story.

[Moses Yoder]

I'm not making crosscut miters (e.g., picture framing); I'm ripping 22.5 degree mitered edges onto adjoining face frames for a corner wall cabinet. Accuracy is critical because the outer face frame edge must match perfectly with the 90 degree faceframe edge on an adjoining rectangular wall cabinet. The attached pic tells the story.

I use a protractor and sliding T-bevel to set my table saw. If I bought a new one today, I would buy this one and the T-bevel from Lee Valley.


http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/pag...36,50298,52403

Just because some digital tool reads .2 doesn't mean it is .2. Plus, it needs batteries, and you don't know how long it will last. The Lee Vally tools will last you a lifetime and then be handed down to the next generation. With a manual T-bevel and protractor, you know your joints are accurate.

Several things are critical in cutting good miter joints. You need a good quality blade, it needs to be sharp, and you need to push the stock through at a rate that the saw can cut it smoothly without burning.

[Myk Rian]

I'm not making crosscut miters (e.g., picture framing); I'm ripping 22.5 degree mitered edges onto adjoining face frames for a corner wall cabinet. Accuracy is critical because the outer face frame edge must match perfectly with the 90 degree faceframe edge on an adjoining rectangular wall cabinet. The attached pic tells the story.

Then you want to do the edges with a 22.5º router bit.

[Cyrus Brewster 7]

Then you want to do the edges with a 22.5º router bit.

+1 - I has something similar to do several weeks ago. I picked up a 22.5* router bit from WC. The pieces fit together perfectly.

I believe this route is much simpler than a TS with less chance for error. Also much safer.

[Larry Edgerton]

Scott

You are missing an opportunity here.

This is a perfectly reasonable excuse to buy a new shaper with a tilting spindle. One straight cutter and whatever angle you please is at you're disposal.

You gotta work the angles......

Larry

[Don Sundberg]

I have the Igaging version ($25 on Amazon a while back). I have been happy enough with it. The only trick I recommend is to use the same face as you zero on the table against the blade. Everything seems to add up better when doing that and it takes any tolerance of the machining of the box out of the equation. I think mine might be machined slightly off by a small amount from one side to the other.

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

I'm not making crosscut miters (e.g., picture framing); I'm ripping 22.5 degree mitered edges onto adjoining face frames for a corner wall cabinet. Accuracy is critical because the outer face frame edge must match perfectly with the 90 degree faceframe edge on an adjoining rectangular wall cabinet. The attached pic tells the story.

In my shop I would do that on my jointer. I would make a 22.5 degree jig out of 3/4" MDF and use it to set the jointer fence.

[Hugh Watling]

Look at companies that sell machinist supplies. Look for digital or vernier protractors or inclinometers.

[Greg Portland]

I guess I'm old school. I keep my Incra 1000 miter guage tuned (5 cut method), and when I want a tilt on my blade, I just cut a piece of scrap to that angle, and use that to set the blade. I haven't tried the electronic gizmos, but with batteries, setting to zero, etc, I think I will just save the $$ and keep using this method.

+1 on the wood block method. I calibrate most of my tools using a screw through a block. If I need the measurement I can use a set of feeler gauges. I find that this feeler gauge method is more accurate than the (consumer priced) digital doo-dads.

Edit: Here's a link showing how to use the screw+block for calibration.

[Mark Burnette]

Am I the only one who bought an iGaging digital angle guage? They claim the same .1 accuracy, but they have 3 magnets. I'm pretty happy. 41 bucks or so, just checked.

I use my miter saw for gap free miters though.

FWIW I'm a metrologist and I calibrate digital angle gauges often, using a 10 inch sine bar & gage blocks. This gives me a reference accuracy of better than .0003° in the 0-45° range I can cal to.
At this level of accuracy the room and gage temperature are major factors.

A few months ago I bought the iGaging unit on sale at Rockler for about $20. I couldn't pass it up for the price. I took it to work to calibrate it. The Wixey and iGaging have the same specs of .05° resolution and .1° accuracy. My iGaging met this spec. I'm impressed with it's build quality for such a low price. Solid cast aluminum body machined square & parallel with strong magnets on 3 sides. Small enough to attach to a saw blade without getting near the teeth (so their thickness doesn't throw off the measurement).

It should be noted that the $320 Mitutoyo Pro360 digital angle gauge has the same specs. That the Wixey & iGaging can build a quality gage that equals this excellent unit for under $40 list is really a marvel. It uses an accelerometer to sense tilt so there aren't any moving parts and no actual adjustments other than the zeroing procedure. I wouldn't expect the calibration to ever go "bad" on this thing unless it gets dropped.

Probably a lot more than you wanted to know...

[Alan Schaffter]

. . . . . I wouldn't expect the calibration to ever go "bad" on this thing unless it gets dropped.

Mark, thanks for the info.

I was setting the bevel angle on my miter saw, but got interrupted as I was about to remove it from the blade. After the interruption I proceeded to make my cut. You guessed it . . . the Wixey, which was still on the blade, was launched against the wall! Still works great! At least it still reads the same as my new one.

[Dave Norris]

Hi Scott,
While I realize your question is officially asking for a most accurate gauge, that could be slightly moot to your application. Not trying to minimize your quest for accuracy, and not trying to be offinsive, but if I understand it correctly, and nothing says I do, "perfectly matching" may be trumped by a wall that isn't planar, meaning it might have a hump, twist, bow, depression, etc. which will throw your edges off a bit. I used to go to pretty great lengths to get dead on accurate cuts on things like this, and discovered that hours of working on accuracy were foiled by a wall that had been drywalled in 10 minutes by an 18 year old working on the seams. Also, a slight imperfection in getting the cabinets hung exactly level will be problematic too. Like Myk, I use a Dewalt, and on picture frames etc. I'm right there with the dead on accuracy. On a wall cabinet, I'd go with a slight under cut to maybe maximize my chances of getting a closed joint, but that's just me, others will surely disagree with that. My kitchen cabinets have *exactly* accurate cuts, but small gaps in the joints because the wall is out whack more than +/- .1, and the cabinets aren't hung at *exactly +/-.1 level*.

Just a thought...

[Roger Pozzi]

I have the I-Gage model and am extremely happy with it.
The only thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is to make sure of the location and perpendicularity of the gauge on the blade. I marked the C/L of the arbor on the throat plate and use a try square to make sure it's plumb. That DOES make a difference.

[Alan Schaffter]

Another issue- the floor doesn't need to be level since you are referencing the blade to the table, but the floor should be firm and not flex- can cause a 2 - 3 degree error!!