Do these angle gauges work the way this way?

[chartle]

I've been doing a lot of segmenting and trying to get the most I can from my 30 year old 10" Craftsman Table saw. To get my blade perpendicular or at a 45 degree I use a draftsman 45 45 90 triangle and fiddle with wheel back and forth.

It appears that I could use a Magnetic Digital Angle Gauge like the one below.

Digital Angle Finder / Angle Gauge

Am I right thinking right that I could set this on my table, "zero it", stick it on my saw blade and then fiddle with the wheel until it reads 90 or 45 or what ever and would it be any better than my draftsman triangle?

 

[Charlie_W]

I don't have one but I think for the 45 and 90, you probably can't beat your old school draftsman triangle. I expect the digital jig would be handy for all those odd angles you may need.
Also, I am not sure if the digital would have a margin of error to consider.
I am sure others who use these will chime in with their thoughts and experiences.

Just checked the specs. It shows a +/- 0.3 so it should be very close. Definitely a lot more accurate than the table saw angle indicator.

 

[magpens]

"Am I right thinking right that I could set this on my table, "zero it", stick it on my saw blade and then fiddle with the wheel until it reads 90 or 45 or what ever and would it be any better than my draftsman triangle?"

Yup ! . You are right. . Just don't forget to subtract the reading from 90 degrees if your model requires that.

A lot quicker than using your triangle, and probably more accurate if properly zeroed.

 

[chartle]

"Am I right thinking right that I could set this on my table, "zero it", stick it on my saw blade and then fiddle with the wheel until it reads 90 or 45 or what ever and would it be any better than my draftsman triangle?"

Yup ! . You are right. . Just don't forget to subtract the reading from 90 degrees if your model requires that.

A lot quicker than using your triangle, and probably more accurate if properly zeroed.

um I do have a 20% off coupon burning a hole in my pocket.

but yea the issue I have with the triangle is its not always easy to figure out when the blade is fully touching the triangle.

Oh and as for it being an "old School" Draftsman triangle. Its either from my wife's or my drafting kit we had to buy in the late 70's when engineering students in college had have their own kit and do actual drafting. A few years ago I was in a Micheal's with my now engineer son and showed him what we had to deal with.

I got off lucky, at Penn State I just had to buy the basic drafting tools, My wife at Pitt needed to buy a T square and a 2 foot by 3 foot drafting board that she had haul around in a big case on a bus.

 

[larryc]

"Am I right thinking right that I could set this on my table, "zero it", stick it on my saw blade and then fiddle with the wheel until it reads 90 or 45 or what ever and would it be any better than my draftsman triangle?"

Yup ! . You are right. . Just don't forget to subtract the reading from 90 degrees if your model requires that.

A lot quicker than using your triangle, and probably more accurate if properly zeroed.

um I do have a 20% off coupon burning a hole in my pocket.

but yea the issue I have with the triangle is its not always easy to figure out when the blade is fully touching the triangle.

Oh and as for it being an "old School" Draftsman triangle. Its either from my wife's or my drafting kit we had to buy in the late 70's when engineering students in college had have their own kit and do actual drafting. A few years ago I was in a Micheal's with my now engineer son and showed him what we had to deal with.

I got off lucky, at Penn State I just had to buy the basic drafting tools, My wife at Pitt needed to buy a T square and a 2 foot by 3 foot drafting board that she had haul around in a big case on a bus.

Did you have a slide rule with all that?
I can hear the youngsters saying now, "Duh, what's a slide rule?"

 

[leehljp]

I bought a good angle meter from either Rockler or WoodCraft 3 or 4 years ago and it is not nearly as accurate on my table saw as the registration triangles are. When trying to cut/rip precise angles for 8 sides or 6 sides, the angle meter does not get it right dead-on as the registration triangles.

I don't care if it is old school or new school. I don't have an affinity for a name. I do like for it to be dead on with no leeway. If the angle meters went to xx.001 or even xx.005, I might be happy with them. So far, this expensive meter doesn't do as well as the registration triangles for me.

 

[jttheclockman]

I've been doing a lot of segmenting and trying to get the most I can from my 30 year old 10" Craftsman Table saw. To get my blade perpendicular or at a 45 degree I use a draftsman 45 45 90 triangle and fiddle with wheel back and forth.

It appears that I could use a Magnetic Digital Angle Gauge like the one below.

Digital Angle Finder / Angle Gauge

Am I right thinking right that I could set this on my table, "zero it", stick it on my saw blade and then fiddle with the wheel until it reads 90 or 45 or what ever and would it be any better than my draftsman triangle?

Hello Ciff

Yes they do work but I highly suggest staying away from Harbor freight ones along with their calipers. The one I have is a Wixie. What you need to do is place it on the cast iron table next to the blade. You zero it in pressing the appropriate button. Raise the blade so that the gauge can fit in the flat metal section of the blade and away from the teeth or the welds of the teeth. Make sure the metal is clean. Turn your wheel till you get the desired angle reading you want. Take the gauge and again place it on the table and you will see it is not zeroed in again so do so. Again place it on the blade and move the wheel. You continue to do this back and forth method until you do not have to turn the wheel any more and the gauge reads zero when placed on the table. Once you do this this a few times it goes quickly because you start to see the amount of error in each turn of the wheel.

Now if you want to use triangles instead, I highly suggest you get draftsman triangles. They are dead on accurate because draftsman depend on them. Stay away from plastic kids toy triangles or again Harbor Freight. You can get these in various angles. You can always use them to check the Wixie gauge too and see how accurate.

Now we back this all up because one huge factor jumps out. Your tools must be tuned properly. If you blade has runout in it that will show up. If your arbor that holds the blade that will show up. If your blade is not aligned to your miter slots that will show up. If your table top is not evenly planed that will show up. This all comes when doing exactness work. For what we do in pen making it will not be a factor unless totally out by huge margins.

 

[jttheclockman]

I bought a good angle meter from either Rockler or WoodCraft 3 or 4 years ago and it is not nearly as accurate on my table saw as the registration triangles are. When trying to cut/rip precise angles for 8 sides or 6 sides, the angle meter does not get it right dead-on as the registration triangles.

I don't care if it is old school or new school. I don't have an affinity for a name. I do like for it to be dead on with no leeway. If the angle meters went to xx.001 or even xx.005, I might be happy with them. So far, this expensive meter doesn't do as well as the registration triangles for me.

Hank not sure what you are talking about. But the Wixie if used correctly is pretty dead on. If you are using a digital gauge for setting the miter I have not found one that is accurate at all. I use my Dubby cutoff sled for that which is dead on accurate. But even so I always mock up a specific angle cut before I commit to real wood. I sometimes use adraftsman sliding triangle to get angles if I do not want to use my Dubby sled. I was looking to buy a Incra miter gauge this year at the woodworking show but they did not show up this year. I will buy one for sure but will have to get on line now. When set up to your saw they are dead on accurate too.

As I mentioned when you get into making things like that accuracy of the saw itself shows up too and you now add the blade in the equation and if you are using a fence, throw that in the mix also. It must be aligned with the blade. You must check all these things before committing to an an accurate cut like that.

 

[Curly]

I have a version of a Universal Bevel Protractor from my working days that reads to 1 minute of a degree. I set it and place it on the table with the blade of the protractor against the saw blade and tilt until the light between them disappears. Same principal as using a square to set the blade perpendicular to the table. Also good for setting the mitre gauge. :wink:

 

[leehljp]

I bought a good angle meter from either Rockler or WoodCraft 3 or 4 years ago and it is not nearly as accurate on my table saw as the registration triangles are. When trying to cut/rip precise angles for 8 sides or 6 sides, the angle meter does not get it right dead-on as the registration triangles.

I don't care if it is old school or new school. I don't have an affinity for a name. I do like for it to be dead on with no leeway. If the angle meters went to xx.001 or even xx.005, I might be happy with them. So far, this expensive meter doesn't do as well as the registration triangles for me.

Hank not sure what you are talking about. But the Wixie if used correctly is pretty dead on. If you are using a digital gauge for setting the miter I have not found one that is accurate at all. I use my Dubby cutoff sled for that which is dead on accurate. . . .

As I mentioned when you get into making things like that accuracy of the saw itself shows up too and you now add the blade in the equation and if you are using a fence, throw that in the mix also. It must be aligned with the blade. You must check all these things before committing to an an accurate cut like that.

Noooo, not a miter gauge, - Blade angle (bevels). Wixey - I think that is what I have. Been so long since I used it, I forgot the name. However, I have registration triangles that set things precisely, provide I have 2 flat surfaces to contact them. I bevel the blade, set which ever triangle I have to the surface of the saw, slide the angle up to the blade and adjust until there is perfect contact between the triangle and the saw and triangle and the blade. I put a light behind or sometimes a white cardboard behind so that I can check the degree evenness or unevenness of the contact points.

On "registration" triangles and squares: these used to be somewhat common to find, but not anymore. They are precision triangles or squares that can be used as a registration point. Extremely accurate. More so than .01 degrees, IMHO. I used the Wixey for a few times after getting it, but found that it had more tolerance for error than the registration squares and triangles.

I got mine from WoodHaven (makes heavy duty miter gauges) about 20 years ago. They quit selling them a few years ago.

 

[chartle]

Did you have a slide rule with all that?
I can hear the youngsters saying now, "Duh, what's a slide rule?"

In 10th grade we were taught slide rules but we started to get calculators. I had one that my parents got for opening a CD.

In 11th grade they had racks of TI-30s to use.

 

[chartle]

Now if you want to use triangles instead, I highly suggest you get draftsman triangles. They are dead on accurate because draftsman depend on them. Stay away from plastic kids toy triangles or again Harbor Freight. You can get these in various angles. You can always use them to check the Wixie gauge too and see how accurate.

Yes as I posted above they are real I think Staedtler draftsman triangles from the late 70's that were bought to do actual drafting in college.

Its just that I never really know if I'm really hitting the blade correctly.

 

[jttheclockman]

Now if you want to use triangles instead, I highly suggest you get draftsman triangles. They are dead on accurate because draftsman depend on them. Stay away from plastic kids toy triangles or again Harbor Freight. You can get these in various angles. You can always use them to check the Wixie gauge too and see how accurate.

Yes as I posted above they are real I think Staedtler draftsman triangles from the late 70's that were bought to do actual drafting in college.

Its just that I never really know if I'm really hitting the blade correctly.

You place against the metal and avoid the teeth and the welds of the teeth. Place a flashlight behind the angle and see what if any light shows and make adjustments.

 

[jttheclockman]

I bought a good angle meter from either Rockler or WoodCraft 3 or 4 years ago and it is not nearly as accurate on my table saw as the registration triangles are. When trying to cut/rip precise angles for 8 sides or 6 sides, the angle meter does not get it right dead-on as the registration triangles.

I don't care if it is old school or new school. I don't have an affinity for a name. I do like for it to be dead on with no leeway. If the angle meters went to xx.001 or even xx.005, I might be happy with them. So far, this expensive meter doesn't do as well as the registration triangles for me.

Hank not sure what you are talking about. But the Wixie if used correctly is pretty dead on. If you are using a digital gauge for setting the miter I have not found one that is accurate at all. I use my Dubby cutoff sled for that which is dead on accurate. . . .

As I mentioned when you get into making things like that accuracy of the saw itself shows up too and you now add the blade in the equation and if you are using a fence, throw that in the mix also. It must be aligned with the blade. You must check all these things before committing to an an accurate cut like that.

Noooo, not a miter gauge, - Blade angle (bevels). Wixey - I think that is what I have. Been so long since I used it, I forgot the name. However, I have registration triangles that set things precisely, provide I have 2 flat surfaces to contact them. I bevel the blade, set which ever triangle I have to the surface of the saw, slide the angle up to the blade and adjust until there is perfect contact between the triangle and the saw and triangle and the blade. I put a light behind or sometimes a white cardboard behind so that I can check the degree evenness or unevenness of the contact points.

On "registration" triangles and squares: these used to be somewhat common to find, but not anymore. They are precision triangles or squares that can be used as a registration point. Extremely accurate. More so than .01 degrees, IMHO. I used the Wixey for a few times after getting it, but found that it had more tolerance for error than the registration squares and triangles.

I got mine from WoodHaven (makes heavy duty miter gauges) about 20 years ago. They quit selling them a few years ago.

Hank when using the Wixie you must do as I explained to the OP. You can not just zero the gauge once and place on the blade and be done with it. Will not be accurate. Being more accurate than what you get with that in woodworking is unheard off and not needed. Wood moves you know. You get done cutting and 10 seconds later that piece of wood is a different size especially if there is internal stress. I too use starett triangles and they are accurate but again I am always tweaking if I need precision.

What I do now a days is make cutting blocks with different angles. If I get an angle dialed in exactly I will make a gauge block of that angle from some hard wood. Mark the block and now when I need that blade tilt i grab the block and bam no need for anything else. I did this when I made that pool table box. There were so many times I had to keep going back to that 10 degree compound cut and it would have drove me nuts. But all cuts were the same angle and worked out very nicely.