Inspired by our illustrious Jim Becker, as well as leads from that and another thread, I decided to see what all this digital readout stuff for planers is all about. There
IS a practical motive to this move, as my poor old eyes are finding it harder and harder to discern between all them lines on the scale!
So, last week I trotted on down to my local Woodcraft, where they had one set aside for me, and picked it up. I had checked out the Wixey site beforehand, so I already knew my planer was on "the list" of acceptable units. I also spent some time familiarizing myself with the installation procedure. Once home, it was pretty much as they say a "piece 'o cake"!
Already knowing the procedure ahead of time, I also had prepped a piece of stock on the planer and got it to exactly 1/2", as told by my digital calipers. I figured, doing this ahead of time, would save some time and aggravation in the calibration and proper setup of the device. I think it did, but even without doing it, the process is pretty straightforward.
So, today I finally had a chance to take it for a real test drive on some Walnut I picked up over the weekend. In a word, "Great!!!"
I'm a happy camper. When I finally got my stock down to acceptable rough thickness, before putting it away to rest a day or two, I took a caliper reading. It showed .855". Sure enough, it matched what my Wixey showed on the planer!
Cons? Two. First, the screw which attaches the readout unit to the bracket, is not of real high quality and I couldn't get a nice fit in the head (Phillips) with any of my drivers. I did manage to get it tight enough, though. Secondly, at least for myself, I will need to stock up on some SR44 batteries, because the unit does not have an auto-shutoff. You need to remember and do it after use. In other words, yours truly will be buying more batteries!
So, all in all, the unit gets a "thumbs up" from this tool junkie!
IMHO, money well spent! BTW, it was $60.00 through WC, though they have it for the same price at their web site w/free shipping. So I'm impatient....