Rockler 32866 Wheel marking gauge

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  • Rockler 32866 Wheel marking gauge

    Sorry about the ratings I never know if 1 is best or 5 is best I just leave it alone. I'm not even sure it its for the author to rank the product or for the users to rank the review, since the ratings are available to both poster and subsequent responders.

    If you don't use a marking gauge, they are very handy. I won't go into the use, other than to say its for precise marking of a line a user-selected distance from the edge of a board, for cuts, and for hole locations. I'll presume you know how to use it.



    I got this marking gauge a few years ago. ROckler sells it for $16.50, Woodcraft sells an identical one (at least from the pics, item 153490) for $8.

    Seems cheap enough but is it any good. I have one I got and it looks and feels OK.

    The bad part is that it has only 1/8th markings, a bit coarse for a gauge that uses a knife edge to make fine lines. I think it should have 16ths divisions.

    The other bad thing is that there are seven 1/8th marks between inch marks. All the same height, In a perfect world the inch marks are big, the half mark is a bit shorter, the quarter marks shorter yet and the 8th marks shorter. And the missing 16th marks would be the shortest.

    Having all the marks the same height made me mismark a piece today... choose 5/8 when I wanted 6/8ths (3/4") but the hash marks all look the same.

    Pity, the etching on the rod only needs to be designed once, it would add no repeat cost to the gauge. The metric scale is in mm which are smaller (.040") than a 1/16th (.062") so its not that they can't do it. I guess this would be fine if you just wanted to use metric, because it has both scales.

    Another problem is the marking wheel rolls instead of fixed like other gauges.. So it doesn't cut the wood fibers well; the mark is hard to see.
    And as a result it has a little side to side play.

    Finally the marking wheel is held on with a pan head screw instead of a flat head, recessed screw) which projects past the wheel. You can't then use the wheel to measure or copy groove depths because it doesn't bottom out... the screw does.

    THe veritas one is probably nicer but it costs 2 to 4 times as much as these.
    http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/pag...55&cat=1,42936

    The General Tools one I hear has 1/16th marking. Not as pretty brass wheel.
    http://www.generaltools.com/820--Mar...Bar_p_617.html
    http://www.staples.com/General-Tools...product_580907

    If you're doing metric then I'd give it a B-minus.
    If you use inches, I'd give it a D because of the lack of 1/16th inch markings and less than useful fractional markings.
    Last edited by LCHIEN; 11-21-2023, 03:00 PM.
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