Wixey Digital Angle Gauge

[tedkitch]

I've had a few weeks to use this wonderful tool. I purchased it at Rockler and I've been so impressed with how easy to use it is and how accurate it is. I calibrated my BT3100 to 90 with my best square and when I put the gauge on it the reading was 89.9 degrees. I did my CMS and it came out to 89.9 also. To make sure that it was accurate I took it to work and tested our professionally calibrated Altendorf and it read exactly what the machine read every angle that I tried.

The unit isn't very big (2 inches square). The magnets on the bottom are very strong and hold onto the blade very well. It has two buttons (on/off and zero) and is very easy to use. You just place it on your surface sitting upright and press zero to zero it out and then place it on the blade and adjust your angle. I haven't made a cut without using it since I purchased it and the results have been perfect every time.

I would recommend this to anyone with any kind of saw that cuts miters. If I didn't cover something that I should have let me know, it is my first post to Tool Talk, but I really like this tool.

[Ed62]

Thanks for the post, Ted. I've heard good things from others about the Wixey Digital Angle Gauge, and your post just adds another satisfied user.

Ed

[TB Roye]

Mine should be here today. I have read many good thing about it. I need it for my SCMS as it is a cheapo and need for setting the bevel. Will also be useful for checking the BT3 and the Jointer fence. I think my next thing will be the digital attachment for the planer to help set the thickness. Being older it is hard to read the scale on my Ridged Planer so this will help.

Tom

[bthere]

I love it, also. There are lots of things you can do besides just CMS and Table saw. I have used it to true up the fence on a jointer and to adjust the bandsaw table to the blade. Playing with a simple jig, I set up a miter gauge to an exact angle. I've used it in combo with a long level to verify the slope of a concrete pad in more than one dimension. There are a ton of possibilities opened up once you have one of these.

[TB Roye]

11:47 am PDT

Received it about 11:30, checked the SCMS, 90.4, no wonder the miters on my baseboards are coming out right. Now at 90.0 will see on next batch of baseboards next week. How simple can you get. No I can set the miter gauges on the Table saw and Band saw to 90. Will try the bandsaw table to blade later

Tom

Tom

[RayintheUK]

This was introduced to the Forum by Rod Kirby back in September, 2006 - here's the thread.

I introduced it to the members of a UK woodworking forum I belong to and Barry Wixey got so many orders from that he had to stop shipping individual orders to the UK (the free shipping to the UK was not viable on multiple orders).

Now Barry has an agent in the UK - Allendale Electronics, Limited - so we're still able to get this excellent tool in the UK.

Ray.

[TB Roye]

I have gotten all my saw blades 90 deg to the table. The Jointer was .1 off, the band saw was off .3 and the BT3 was off .5 and the SCMS was off .2, so now they are all at 90 deg. Don't know if it will make me a better woodworker but should make the joints better I am also going to check my miter gauges to see where they are. Neat tool. LOML says I am still a few degrees off though, told her that was from her hitting me up long side the head for the last 41 yrs. The Wixey still didn't make my shop look like Rod's

Tom

[ryan.s]

I just picked one up today from Rockler and tried it out. It works great but I noticed that if I lay it on it's back to check my cross cut sled angle against my TS blade it shows weird readings. I guess it has to be verticle to work?

[bthere]

I just picked one up today from Rockler and tried it out. It works great but I noticed that if I lay it on it's back to check my cross cut sled angle against my TS blade it shows weird readings. I guess it has to be verticle to work?

Yep. It's got a pendulum inside.

[p8ntblr]

I have a question about it. How well does it work if your saw is mobile. If it shows a reading of 90 degrees, this is with respect to level of the ground, correct? Meaning it's perpendicular to the ground but not necessarily to your saw's base. If your base is not perfectly level, wouldn't you get a false reading. I hope I explained myself sufficiently.

[AlanWS]

You put it on the table and zero it, then make the reading on the blade. As long as you don't move the saw between zeroing and reading, your mobile saw should work fine.

[bthere]

I have a question about it. How well does it work if your saw is mobile. If it shows a reading of 90 degrees, this is with respect to level of the ground, correct? Meaning it's perpendicular to the ground but not necessarily to your saw's base. If your base is not perfectly level, wouldn't you get a false reading. I hope I explained myself sufficiently.

It has a button to set the "zero" point. You just place it on whatever is your reference plane, such as the table, and press the zero button. Then you move it to whatever surface you want to measure relative to your reference plane, such as a saw blade. It doesn't matter if the table is a little unlevel.

[tedkitch]

You calibrate it on your saw table. If your table isn't level, but you zero it out on your table then it will show a perfect 90 degrees. My table saw (BT3100 with Herc-U-Lift) is mobile and I've used it in different areas where I know that the floor isn't completely level and all my cuts have come out awesome! The trick is to always calibrate first, then get a reading.

Hope this helps you out,

[p8ntblr]

got it. thanks guys.

[JSCOOK]

I bought it back in the fall after Rod's post ... loved it the minute I tried it ... took it into work (mobile equipment manufacturer) and they loved it so much they had me order another 4 units ...

Definitely worth every cent Barry Wixley charges ... I would have even paid more for it if it had been more.