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Thread: Got My Wixey

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Got My Wixey

    Heard all this rave about this tool so I thought I would try it. So today I got my Wixey digital gauge in the mail. I set it up on my tablesaw. I will explain what I did and if anyone has one maybe they can tell me what I am doing wrong. I set the divice on the table and zeroed it in and then placed it on the blade and it told me my blade was set at 89.7 degrees so I adjusted it. Now I took the device off the blade and set it back on the table and now the table needed to be zeroed again. I did this and placed back on the blade and now the blade is too far past 90. This went on for about 4 or 5 trys. I being not so smart thought if you set the device the first time moving it back and forth should get the same readings. Why does it not do it and what is the proper way to set this thing??? Has anyone else tried what I just described and if you did what was your findings???
    John T.

  2. #2
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    My suspicion is battery. Contact Barry:

    Barry Wixey
    Wixey
    email digital@wixey.com
    web site www.wixey.com
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  3. #3
    I don't have any experience with the Wixey angle gauge but I did have one of the Wixey planer gauges, (DW735) for a short while. My experience with Wixey is that they aren't accurate or precise enough for my needs and it sounds like you're having the same trouble. First of all, the planer gauge's smallest reading was .005. That's not fine enough for me on a planer. I can easily feel .005 with my fingers. And it had poor repeatability too. I would check the reading and plane a piece of scrap wood and measure it with my dial caliper. I would then crank the planer head up and back down again so the gauge read the same reading. When I ran another piece of scrap through the planer and measured it with the dial indicator it would be off by several thousands. It did this every time. Sometimes it would be thicker and sometimes it would be thinner. It sounds like you're having the same problem with repeatability as I did only with a different Wixey product. They sure are popular though. Must be a lot of people with lower standards and expectations than you or I have.

    Bruce

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce Benjamin
    ...the planer gauge's smallest reading was .005. That's not fine enough for me on a planer. ...Bruce
    What are you doing that 1/200 of an inch isn't accurate enough?

    The wood will move at least that much from day to day.

    As for the repeatability, the Wixey I have on my Delta 15" is certainly repeatable within 0.010". I do use vernier calipers to verify the setting, but must confess that I don't use a micrometer. I have no need for wood tolerances in excess of 1/100 of an inch. My eyes (and skills) are't any better than that.

  5. #5
    I'm working wood, Jim. As I said in my post, everyone seems to have different tolerance for error. Wood may move but if all of the wood is the same then it should all move roughly the same. If it's off then it will always be off. And wood generally doesn't get thicker or thinner on a table top. It gets narrower and wider. Put together a mitered frame or do a glue up on a table top or raised panel with wood that varies by .005" and see if you notice the difference. And the differences with the Wixey planer gauge was usually at least .005", frequently more.

    The whole point of the planer gauge is repeatability, accuracy, and precision. For me, the Wixey offered NONE of those things. If I wanted to match the thickness of one piece of wood I already had planed with another I sure couldn't count on the Wixey POS to do that for me. I could easily feel the difference between the thickness of one piece planed at one time and another planed after moving the planer head and back again. If you were to buy a piece of furniture and it had a rail and stile door on it are you saying you wouldn't mind if one rail was 1/200" thicker than the stile to which it's attached? Trust me, you can feel it, see it, and it would bother you for a long time to come. At least it would me.

    Regarding an angle gauge that's off by a couple of tenths of a degree, multiply that times 4 corners and see if you notice any gaps. I would. My 43 year old eyes aren't what they used to be but I can still see well enough to know when something isn't right, whether it be in thickness or angle.

    Bruce


    Quote Originally Posted by Jim DeLaney
    What are you doing that 1/200 of an inch isn't accurate enough?

    The wood will move at least that much from day to day.

    As for the repeatability, the Wixey I have on my Delta 15" is certainly repeatable within 0.010". I do use vernier calipers to verify the setting, but must confess that I don't use a micrometer. I have no need for wood tolerances in excess of 1/100 of an inch. My eyes (and skills) are't any better than that.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
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    I also bouth it and I have the same problem... here is what I did to make sure I was able to use it and have some readings.

    Placed it on top of the Table saw close to the blade and zero it out, then I berely lift it in a 90 degree motion and just place it on the blade, it sseams to be very touchy if you move it side to side or lightly shake it.

    If you keep it very simple then it seam to read from table to balde and back to table.

    I have to say I only used it for about 5 minutes.

    Try it out.

  7. #7
    I have Grizzly's digital angle thingymabob. From the looks of them they are made in the same factory. Anyways, you should not have had to 'zero' the gauge when putting it back on the table the second time.

    Set it on the table and zero it. (keep note that my Grizzly has absolute zero which you set by using the sensitive bubble level that is built on top...this sets actual zero...not sure if Wixey's has this).. OK, so make sure you set your 'temporary zero' on the table. Now move it around on the table..it should stay zero or your table is either uneven (or setting it on debris), legs are wobbly and moving or the unit is screwy.

    If it reads zero, put it on the blade and try to keep in same plane as you had it on table (try not to rotate the unit). set your 90 and put it back on table in same spot. It should definitely read zero again. Like I said, if it doesn't, either you're setting it in a different spot that's angled, setting it partially on something, or maybe bad unit..

    I should add that you should give it a few seconds after moving it for it to 'settle'. I just set my zero on my bandsaw table at 0, then carried it around the room and came back and set it to my bandsaw blade and it was perfect 90.0, and table was still 0.0. But it took a couple seconds to 'settle'.
    Last edited by Eric Mims; 03-19-2007 at 10:33 PM.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
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    The first suggestion I would have in trying to get the digital gauge repeatable is to use a square. Place the gauge on the table, and using the square get the "face" of the gauge perpendicular to the blade. Do the same thing after you put it on the blade. A slight tilt of the gauge can change the displayed reading. This way you will know you are repeating the same orientation each time.

    The second is to be certain that your table saw is not rocking at all while taking your readings. My SawStop will rock a bit on its Shop Fox moblie base if I am not careful. (I plan on buying SawStop's mobile base when it is available - not a fan of the Shop Fox). This, also, can affect the readout.

    I would like to hear if doing these things changes your results.
    Last edited by Glen Blanchard; 03-19-2007 at 8:30 PM.
    Regards,

    Glen

    Woodworking: It's a joinery.

  9. #9
    I have two. Both do exactly what they are supposed to do, everytime I use them. I get the zero on the cast iron table, next to the blade...put it on the blade, keeping the orientation in the same plane and get the 90 degrees...if I place it back on the table to double check, I'm sure to put it back in exactly the same place that I zeroed it. All I can say is, it works everytime and gives 0, 90 and 0 again.
    Drop Barry an email and he will respond.

  10. #10
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    Thanks all for the response and Yes I will give Barry an email. I did exactly as all were saying. I used a machinist square to set the face of the Wixy when I placed it on the blade. I marked a spot on the table where I zeroed it in so as to make sure I am setting and resetting in the same place. I will give it a better try tomorrow before I email Barry. If it does what it suppose to do it is exactly what I need to make 45 and 30 degree cuts but until I can rely on it to cut 90 degrees I can't trust it. I do see it comes with a spare battery so I will try that one as well.
    John T.

  11. #11
    I've heard some Wixeys have had sticky pendulums. You can try tapping it gently with your finger after placing it on the table or blade to see if it jumps.

    Mine is rock-solid.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce Benjamin
    I would then crank the planer head up and back down again so the gauge read the same reading. When I ran another piece of scrap through the planer and measured it with the dial indicator it would be off by several thousands. It did this every time.

    Bruce
    Is it possible that the problem is with the planer? Maybe something, somewhere, is moving in relation to the scale?

    These optically read devices are normally extremely accurate.

  13. #13
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    I'm not familiar with the gauge, but anything with a gear or screw inside is going to have backlash. Are you running into backlash? Do you move back and forth a lot?

    The easiest way to deal with backlash is to always approach the target number from the same direction. If you overshoot, start over.

    Pete

  14. #14
    I suppose anything is possible but I doubt that this was the case with mine. I actually get better results just using the factory gauge mounted on the planer itself. If the resolution is only .005" then that means it will read the same whether it's .001 or .009. Add the inherent error of the electronic gauge and who knows what the actual measurement is. I do know that I worked on getting it set up right doing everything I could. My planer seems to work beautifully and I can't imagine what part of the planer could cause the gauge to be so far off. Slop or slack in the raising and lowering mechanism wouldn't effect the gauge since the gauge is supposed to read the height of the head compared to the base of the planer. It doesn't know how far I've turned the handle. I returned the gauge long ago and until someone makes one that has a .001" resolution, and is as inexpensive as the Wixey, I'll stick with my current methods. Currently the planer is at least as accurate and precise as with the Wixey and it's less trouble and quite a bit cheaper. Sorry for hijacking this thread by the way. My intent was to point out that this isn't the first problem I've heard of from Wixey.

    Bruce


    Quote Originally Posted by Phil Thien
    Is it possible that the problem is with the planer? Maybe something, somewhere, is moving in relation to the scale?

    These optically read devices are normally extremely accurate.

  15. #15
    As I said in my response to Phil, the planer has very little backlash. But even with a lot of backlash it shouldn't have any effect on what the Wixey planer gauge reads. The gauge doesn't read the turns of the handle. It reads the height of the head compared to the planer base.

    Bruce


    Quote Originally Posted by Pete Brown
    I'm not familiar with the gauge, but anything with a gear or screw inside is going to have backlash. Are you running into backlash? Do you move back and forth a lot?

    The easiest way to deal with backlash is to always approach the target number from the same direction. If you overshoot, start over.

    Pete

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