I like digital readouts so I thought I’d try to incorporate one into my Delta 18/36 drum sander. I picked up a couple Wixey DRO's, designed for the lunchbox type planner, at my local woodcraft for $59.95. Today, I designed and fabricated a couple of aluminum mounting brackets to adapt it to the Delta. In this application the yellow graduated scale of the Wixey is unusable (reading in the wrong direction) due to the table of the drum sander rising and lowering as opposed to the head moving on the lunchbox planner. To use, I will just zero out the DRO at some known point and adjust the cut from there. I can see this being very useful for sanding multiple boards/panels to a uniform thickness. I plan on mounting the second Wixey on my Powermatic 15” planner, stay tuned!
I’m not sure if member Barry Wixey would approve, and at the very least I’ve probably voided my warranty.
Pic 1. Fabricated hardware & modified Wixey DRO.
Pic 2. Mounted and fine tuned.
Pic 3. Big mess for a couple of simple brackets...