Replacement miter gauge = junk

Cherryville Chuck said:

For another way to skin the same cat, I built a miter jig that just slides along the edge of my router table instead. A picture is somewhere in my uploads. It also allow me to clamp the piece to the jig so it doesn't move on me. I use it for doing half laps and for the ends of stiles. It eliminates the need for a miter slot for those jobs that way. And it costs nothing because you can make it from shop scraps.

Click to expand...

I'm in the process of doing just that kind of jig that slides along the table edges. The Grizzly table edges are parallel but the span is such that I need a bar to follow the miter gauge slot to maintain a straight line, and the miter gauge is my first try though may see if I can find some decent bar stock or rails on line. Wood rails to me are iffy
[
QUOTE=DaninVan;2096489]If you want to go the setscrew route, use brass set screws. Problem solved.[/QUOTE]

If I had a few in my collection of fasteners, for sure that would be the way to go. We are in a high COVID-19 contagion area and 'that age bracket' soare hunkered down for the duration and wont wander the local hardware stores for a while. The steel set screws will need to do the job for a while
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Roofner - Agree that a saw sled would work well for 90* cuts but odd angles are a PITA so use my INCRA

To the OP:
Got a sloppy mitre gage with the 10" Rikon benchtop bandsaw last spring; I checked and it is the OEM version, they want $26 plus shipping. It's not a standard slot either, so that makes it less bueno.

After reading this entire thread, along with the various comments and inclinations, I Amazoned a roll of UHMW tape (.020 plus app .005 adhesive thickness x .75" wide) for CAD $26 delivered to my hovel. Ended up getting all he slop out of it, by putting tape on top, bottom and one side. Had to sand the side down on a stationary belt sander in order to get it to fit correctly, that stuff is amazing. My snowmobile skis and track slide rail covers are made from this magic material. Self lubing and nearly indestructible, takes forvever to sand it as well.

Have a set of those plastic adj miter sliders linked in an earlier post, but they are only good for 3/4" slot, unless you wanna shave them down significantly, but thy would work. Looks to be real nice tho.

I feel your frustration when buying something with a good name and getting something less than correct, especially for the money.

Me? I set the bar nice and low, especially with car parts and their fitments, etc and try to be realistic about how much hassle vs how good the end result is. I recently bought a used Jessem miter gage and rebuilt it. Needed one missing part and some love. Also have an Incra V27 which is real nice for the money. The Rikon and the various other "OEM" quality miters are all garbage when compared to these IMHO. Setting them square with a machinists square is fine, but the rest is laughable.

As for the wheel on the tip, that's only if the slot has a second slot to prevent the gage from tipping out, pretty standard really.
Stripping the screw is a bummer; Chinese hardware is getting better but still hit and miss; there is also a slight difference in some Philips head screw slot profiles - add in the brittle nature of the material, the rough thread finishes and you have the potential for frustration - one reason I use only SnapOn screw drivers and bit. If you look closely, most cheap Philips screws allow the driver tip to wiggle a little, so if you don't break the head, it will strip and slop easily. The world we live in requires patience time and money for our satisfaction.

Having said that, is is nice when things are fixed up; thanks to this thread my band saw mitre gage is now slop free and I appreciate everyone's input.

Stay safe and well fed.

IC31 said:

I'm in the process of doing just that kind of jig that slides along the table edges. The Grizzly table edges are parallel but the span is such that I need a bar to follow the miter gauge slot to maintain a straight line, and the miter gauge is my first try though may see if I can find some decent bar stock or rails on line. Wood rails to me are iffy
[
QUOTE=DaninVan;2096489]If you want to go the setscrew route, use brass set screws. Problem solved.

Click to expand...

If I had a few in my collection of fasteners, for sure that would be the way to go. We are in a high COVID-19 contagion area and 'that age bracket' soare hunkered down for the duration and wont wander the local hardware stores for a while. The steel set screws will need to do the job for a while
.

Roofner - Agree that a saw sled would work well for 90* cuts but odd angles are a PITA so use my INCRA[/QUOTE]


David I made a single rail cutoff sled for my table saw. I started out with a UHMW rail but I wanted the rail to stick out both the front and back of the sled so I could cut wider pieces if I wanted. The UHMW was too flimsy and bent under it's own weight while stored so I switched to hardwood and cut a rail out of that. That was probably 20 years ago. It's just getting to the point where I'm thinking about replacing it and it wouldn't be an issue now if I was using a two rail design for my sled. They work great and I have about 6-8" sticking out either end unsupported at that.

The sled that I was speaking of for a router table runs along the edge and doesn't require guide rails if that was what you meant about rails. In the following link to a previous thread I show pictures of the one I made for my LV steel top router table. It's not pretty but it works great. I also show just using a push block to do the same thing and how you drill a hole in the push block so you can clamp your piece to the block to keep it from moving. Pics are on the second page of the thread. As far as angling, I'd need to build a sled for each angle but I've never needed to and the one time lately I needed angled slots for making a louver I used my TS with a dado stack and angled the miter gauge on it . https://www.routerforums.com/jigs-f...d-suitable-triton-rta-300-router-table-2.html