"""""HEAD TO HEAD MITRE GAUGE REVIEW"""""

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I can not understand why these people don't standardise these things.
Don't these people realise we woodworkers in the UK are just as keen and dedicated as our counterparts over the pond.
It appears we can only get good equipment if we purchase from the States and pay the extortionet shipping costs.
I have seen very good items on the bay that cost a few pounds but cost tens of pounds in shipping.
I used to travel to the States each year in my job so used to purchase items and hide them amongst my smalls.

Hence my Incra M1000.
At the time I asked a shop in Chicago to give me a qoutation for shipping an excellent router table, shipping was 50% more thatn the table. Neadless to say I changed my mind.
 
I agree. Particularly when the sellers of the saws are also sellers of the aftermarket extras!
 
For all the woodworking accessories available to us there seems scant little in the way of choice for table saws or optional extras. Why no one has offered optional extras such as up rated fence systems, throat plate inserts or even as mentioned, have the mitre slots machined to a standard gauge is beyond me.

I recently bought a fairly expensive drill press. The same machine is offered in the States so I had a look at the You tube review. Amongst other things, the starter switch looked impressive and well engineered. I took the plunge and ordered mine online, when it arrived and despite costing £900 the start switch was the cheap and nasty starter fitted to "economy" machines. Why scimp on such items?? I'm waffling now but, you are right Big Al we just don't get the range or choice here in the UK. We need a Rockler!
 
And if reverse engineering something in the far east, why not chose a sensible starting point- i.e. one with standard features, correct the errors and end up with a better offering. Good as the Kity is, I am sure that the TS200 could have been even better if they made a clone of the delta etc.
 
Very good point marcros, I wonder if the UK importer looked at the test proven machines (built in the far east Delta, Rigid, Grizzly etc) destined for the States and thought Nah!..... have you any obscure and untested stuff which can't be up rated or obtain extras for?

Reminds me of the time the MOD were looking to trade in the 7.62 FN rifle for a suitable modern version in the early 1980's. Why not buy the US made tried and tested armalite rifle, cheap and reliable. OR......spend squillions on testing the SA80 rifle which turned out to be junk. Not quite a similar comparison with equipment but the thinking behind it is the same.
 
Example:
Ordered some jig bits & bobs late this PM, just received an email telling me they have been despatched.
Their product list is perfect for anyone building jigs. Have a peek at the website but don't let the HWMBO see you.

www.ptreeusa.com
 
To answer an earlier suggestion I can confirm that the xcalibur had a standard slot and its smallest footprint is 24" wide including motor housing and 32" deep. Add increments of about 10" per wing. Solid kit but not super cheap. Same as delta though I think so surprised you can't pare that machine down.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
 
Excellent review. I have the ujk mitre gauge which I find to be excellent.
 
I took delivery of a V120 today and immediately set about setting it up. Opened the packet containing the Allan key and tried to adjust the spacers and immediately regretted not having had my porridge this morning! Or indeed any morning since I don't know when. The amount of force required to make even the slightest movement had me fearing the imperial key was likely to snap but eventually I got to a point where there was no sideways movement - no movement at all at one stage - so I returned to the instructions for the next step. Yes, I know I'm odd, I do actually read the instructions. Might have been an idea to read them all the way through first of all as very next line says "the disks are designed to require a fair amount of adjustment torque for proper expansion"!

And that was it. As with the initial review, the fence was perfectly square to the blade out the box. As with other Incra gear, it feels like quality. I made two quick test cuts - one at 0 degrees and one at 45 - and checked both against my Incra squares and both were spot on.

Question I do have though is should the index tooth mesh with with the indents on the gauge? Mine seems to go under.
 
Looked at it again in cold light of day and tooth was definitely under the indent, not engaging with the indent. The instant I slackened the small knob it immediately popped up into place! No idea why it didn't do that yesterday, when knob was slacked right off to enable initial set up but it is now as it should be. and I'm itching to put it to use!
 
Excellent review. I bought a V120 to use on my bandsaw and also on my disk sander. Absolutely wonderful! I got to thinking that I would like to use one on my TS250 table saw but of course the bar won’t fit the slots. On inspection there are only 4 screws that connect the mitre components to the glide bar, so I thought I would try and manufacture my own bar and see if I could make it work. I bought an aluminium bar and set about it with a file and my belt sander. This metalwork malarkey is all new to me, but I managed to produce a bar that fitted reasonably well in the slot. I took a centre punch to the left hand side of the bar in about 4 or 5 places and managed to produce an excellent free running but slop free fit. So far so good. I took some trouble to mark the screw centres as well as I could manage and centre punched them. There are 2 at 1/4 X 20 and 2 at 3/16 X 24 and seem to be BSW. Drilling and tapping these the mitre fitted first time. Brilliant!
I then started to have some doubts about the longevity of threads cut into the ally bar holding up to constant loosening and tightening of the locking handle. Also I really fancied the Incra fence and flip shop stop thingy, and I couldn’t now use my v120 on my bandsaw and mitre without refitting to the original bar. The simple (but expensive) solution to this, was to buy another mitre Guate, and make another slider bar in steel! I ended up with a 1000HD which came with the fence and flip thingyas a package. It was actually cheaper than buying the V120 fence and stop separately.
The MK2 build. I sourced a piece of cold rolled bright steel and set about it with an angle grinder and various files. My rational was that I would only remove metal from the underside and the left hand side, thus leaving the right hand edge and the top nice and flat. I started by making the end fit just into the slot, then making on the bar with a sharpie where it went tight. I would then file a bit and repeat. This went on for what seemed to me several lifetimes, before I had a realisation that the right hand side of the bar was in fact bent. Clearly I should have checked this before starting. This meant that I had to take some material from the higher areas of the right side. After a lot of fettling, I ended up with with a very nice fit that was actually being assisted by the bend the bar, sort of spring fitting it. When the bar was pulled back about as far as it ever would be, there was a bit of slop in the fit caused by the bend on the bar moving away from the right hand side of the slot. Clearly something had to be done. My solution to this was to steal the idea from Incra. After a bit of research I bought a 1/2 inch 4 cut endmill and mounted it in my bench press drill. I drilled some flat bottom holes about 2.5 mm deep and slightly overhanging the edge of the bar. I drilled and tapped M4 holes in the centre of these. I had bought some M4 plastic washers fore this job but they turned out to be a bit thin. Cutting disks from a 3mm PVC sheet and cutting a countersink in the centre enable me to make my own plastic disk and fit them with M4 countersunk headed machine screws. Not as slick as the Incra rail, but works absolutely superbly. Might try and source a different material for my washers, I think PE would be good, my pvc is a bit brittle.
I wouldn’t have made the financial spend on this if I didn’t have a use for the Incra bar, but the standard bar fits my bandsaw, sander, and router table so I thought it was worth the try to make it fit my table saw. I’m already thinking of making a MK3 version with a straight bar and PE adjusters, but for now I’m very happy with the arrangement I’ve got with the steel bar. It’s worth noting that the bars I’ve made are of necessity thinner than the original Incra bars and that I have packed out the tops of the four bolts with washers when fitting the mitre, and therefore I have not needed to alter the lengths of the bolts in any way, so that I have not altered any of the Incra kit at all. I hope my experiences with narrower “non standard” mitre slots may be of use to others.
 
Good effort there John, but had you considered the side slide table on the TS250, I find I don't use the mitre slots at all?

Mike
 
Mike, I actually have the sliding table, but most of my activity involves small pieces and really the sliding table fence fulcrum point is a long way from the blade. Brilliant for longer pieces of wood but not so good for say a 6 inch piece. I’m seriously thinking of taking the sliding table off as it’s often in my way in my very crowded workspace. As I keep bumping in to the rail anyway, the setup is probably a bit suspicious. I was so impressed with the build quality fit and adjustability of the V120 in the 3/4 inch slots on my bandsaw, sander and router table, it sort of spurred me on to get one for my table saw. Probably unessassary really, but I’ve never been into denial :roll:
 

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