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Aftermarket miter gauge

9.5K views 50 replies 26 participants last post by  IC31  
#1 ·
Thinking about getting one,Internet searches keep pointing to Incra and jessem
Ant real owner points of view,are they worth the price?
 
#13 ·
got an Incra2000, likely the least popular of the Incra line, but I love it!!! 3000HD will be the next one I get. Jess-em and Osbourne both appear to be outstanding in their own right. I don't think you could go wrong with any of them...
 
#14 ·
I have a Kreg miter gauge. It has two small adjustment screws on the back for adjusting the fence out on in of either end. I also have several Incra's, but mostly I use the Kreg.

Here is a tip to determine if you miter gauge is accurate and cutting at 90 degrees. Don't put a square across of the end of the board and down one side. Instead stand the board on a flat surface (like the table saw) and stand the square beside it with one side against the board and the other on the flat surface. You will be able to see if your cut is accurate. Hope this is helpful. Malcolm / Kentucky USA
 
#21 ·
Get the Incra HD instead of the SE. Only $20 more on Amazon (or $15 more on ebay) but you get indexes every degree instead of every 5 degrees (both have 22-1/2egree indexes). So if you ever wanted to make a 5 sided box, you'd be able to cut 72 degree miters with the HD :)

I bought mine on ebay about a week before Rockler put it on sale for $30 less. The ebay seller (toolzoneinc) gave me a $30 refund. Toolzoneinc has the lowest price on ebay for the HD and the SE.
 
#22 ·
The thing that has me sold on Incra is their flip stop. I rarely if ever have to use odd angles like 34.5. I've always wondered who really needs that. Whatever, I use a stop all the time. The Incra has the ability to use it with a auxiliary fence. That is a winner for me.
 
#23 ·
I bought the Incra 1000HD when Rockler had it on sale and have been very happy with it. I recently needed to cut a 60Âş angle and it worked perfectly for that.
 
#28 ·
Just for the record, my Incra V27, the least expensive miter gauge that Incra makes, works as well as their best one I suspect, in regard to accuracy. It is limited to increments of five degrees which for me so far anyway has been all that I have ever needed. However, mine did need to be calibrated when I first got it. The amount of movement that is available for calibration is very small, but the calibration did need to be tweaked. Mark Muelller of Incra showed me hot to do the calibration, and in my attempt to do the calibration I learned that a cheap ten dollar square that I had bought from the local hardware store was not square. I had to buy a good square that cost about what the miter guage had cost. $70 each as I recall now.

I'm going to repeat what I wrote about on the forum sometime back as this seems like a good place and the time to do so again.

My brother was just beginning to turn some bowls on his new little Delta lathe and wanted to do a project with me. He asked me if I'd glue up some rings for him to use.

At one point he wanted some six sided rings made of contrasting wood. This required that the miter gauge be set at 30 degrees and that six parts be made, requiring 12 cuts. I started making the cuts with a thin kerf blade in the TS and no matter what I did there would be a very slight gap in one of the joints. After I put a full kerf blade on with one stabilizer I cut several rings with absolutely no gaps, each of the six joints were tight, no gaps what so ever. This attests to the accuracy of the miter gauge. It also pointed out that the thin kerf blade has a bit of flutter in it compared to the stiffer and more stable full kerf blade.

Now, I suspect that most any miter gauge can probably be set at the correct angle with somd puttering around but if the part that fits in the miter slot on the TS is not tight, should say fits properly, the accuracy that one expects from the gauge will be diminished, and the way that Incra deals with this is part of what makes their product work as well as it does, very important.

Bottom line, what has been said so far on this thread about the Incra, as well as the Osborne miter gauge is reliable and you won't go wrong with either one of them.

I do hope that you will let us know which way you finally go.

Jerry B.
 
#31 ·
I love the Osborne my friend Jerry gave us when we went out to see him. Thanks 'Youngin'!!!

As a note any miter gauge will need to be fine tuned to your saw, and the adjustments are there to do it. By the way, the Osborne does have a flip stop, and extends out to 42 inches. You can't go wrong with the Incra or the Osborne.

Dick
 
#32 ·
I just bought an INCRA V27 with the 5* between stops as I thought that in the long run, that it would wear better then the 1* between stops V120 model. Time will tell. So far it has worked well once dialed in to the saw blade(easy job). The bar is a little shorter then expected but hasn't proven to be a problem. There was a guide bar slot adjustment problem in that the split nylon ring wasn't in the correct position to expand and no instructions explaining what needed to be done. I would have preferred a nylon set screw instead - but this expanding ring is the Incra way while the set screw being used for the much more expensive Kreg and probably others. One of the first small projects I did was to make some 22.5 degree cuts - and they were perfect vs the clunker I had been using. I'm happy:dance3: