Replies

1. 
   forestgirl | Mar 08, 2003 08:03pm | #1

   "Now for wood working I don't see much of a problem" -- Wait 'til you try to make some really precise miters!  My guess is, once you've used a good miter gauge, you'll "never go back" as they say.

   The first thing I spent money on for my oldie Jet tablesaw was for an Incra 1000 miter gauge.  It is an absolute joy to use, precise as can be, very very steady in the track.  Once it was adjusted to the track and calibrated to 90-degrees, any angle was guaranteed accurate, no checking with other devices needed. There are several other good ones out there.  Would bet that even the Rockler one would be a big step up.

   Here's the new 1000SE, which is quite a bit better than the 1000.  And here is the Home Page for Incra.  If you shop around, you can get the regular 1000 for $89.00.  Don't know how much the SE is.

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

   
   

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   Edited 3/8/2003 12:05:59 PM ET by forestgirl

2. 
   chrisindiana | Mar 08, 2003 08:10pm | #2

   I have an Incra 3000 miter gauge & an  Incra 5000 cut off sled. The 5000 is a 3000 miter gauge mounted to a panel. The heads have positive locks for every 1/2 degree, fences of varing lengths are available with extenders, flip stops that lock in at every 1/32" & micro adjust.  The miter bars are ajustable to remove slop. 

   http://www.woodpeck.com/

   Chris     

1. 
   AlanTurner | Mar 10, 2003 03:11pm | #8

   The Incra 5000 looks interesting.  I gather from your comments that you think it is the cat's meow.  Do you know where I can look at a mechanical drawing of this?  For example, how is the right side table attached to the left side?  Does the right side table or sled have a miter bar attached to it also?  What is the distance from the front of the sled to the face of the miter guage, when set at 90 degrees?  Thanks for any help you can give.

3. 
   wworker | Mar 08, 2003 09:00pm | #3

   I have the Osborne EB-3. After about 20-30 minutes of set up it works very well. Has a three point system to fit the guidebar to the slot. Gotta be careful with that though as miter slots definitely aren't the same width throughout.

   
   

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   Edited 3/8/2003 1:00:54 PM ET by wworker

4. 
   sailalex | Mar 09, 2003 03:23pm | #4

   I have a Jet table saw and recently bought the Incra 1000SE that forestgirl referred to and , at least 10 days ago Woodcraft had them on sale for $135 (normally $149). I couldn't believe the difference a good miter gauge makes. Before buying it I asked about an "upgraded" Jet miter gauge but apparently they don't make them. It seems the manufacturers are missing out on a great opportunity to make a decent miter gauge. They do it for fences but not for miters. I bought the SE because it had a lot of features for only $35 more than the straight 1000.

5. 
   jako17 | Mar 09, 2003 09:13pm | #5

   Most mitre gauge bars have a bit of slop when in the slot . One fix that is easy apart from purchasing new is centre  punch  marks along the side of the bar .This upsets some metal round the dot and takes up the slack.Surprisingly this works for quite sometime. I have also drilled and tapped holes in the side of bars and screwed in delrin plugs with success to take out play.This however is a lot more work than a centre punch

6. 
   TomFerreira | Mar 10, 2003 03:26am | #6

   notrix,

   I got an Incra 2000 for x-mas and it's really great. Much better than the stock miter gauge. It has expandable rollers in the guide bar taht can be sdjusted to compensate for the variation in slot width. Cost $149 at WWW. They will meet any price, even from the internet.

   TDF

1. 
   forestgirl | Mar 10, 2003 08:41am | #7

   Those little discs in the bar that adjust to your miter bar are nice aren't they?  I like the fact that they don't wear on the inside of the miter track, which it seems would happen if you did the "dimple" technique or put in inset screws.  Easy to adjust too.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

1. 
   jako17 | Mar 10, 2003 03:48pm | #9

   I think you will find that the the mitre guage bar will wear round the dimples much faster than the slot inthe cast iron (assuming that the table is cast iron).But as I mentioned in my post Delrin plugs are even better but more difficult to make

1. 
   UncleDunc | Mar 10, 2003 06:27pm | #10

   >> ... Delrin plugs are even better but more difficult to make.

   No need to make them, unless you enjoy the challenge. :) You can buy nylon tipped setscrews.