Precision gauge

[roy_okc]

I just received a status update on my Polygauge order so should receive in a few days.

[reible]

Just got an update on mine too. They say shipped, USPS says label created. Either way it should be long now.

Will check my charge card to see if they took the $$ out yet.

Maybe the early June bugs messed up delivery times.

Ed

[reible]

Just got an update on mine too. They say shipped, USPS says label created. Either way it should be long now.

Will check my charge card to see if they took the $$ out yet.

Maybe the early June bugs messed up delivery times.

Ed

Looks like they submitted the charge on June 12th. Pretty much like they indicated they would.

I've got three more things on order so we will see how they do on those. It seems it might be they indicate the start of delivery but it can be some time later before you get yours.

Ed

[roy_okc]

Interesting, mine's being shipped by UPS. My experience is that once I get a notice on the shipping label that it generally leaves the seller the next day, sometimes the same day but as late as it came in I expect it to leave tomorrow.

When I ordered the polygauge on 11 Jan, I also ordered a triangle that was listed as out of stock, expected in stock in early Feb. It actually came back in stock and shipped around 23 Jan, so they do seem to beat their stated estimates for normal stuff. Had similar experience with Incra recently.

It will be interesting to see if your other items are shipped with the gauge.

[BuckeyeDennis]

I got mine about a week ago. I haven't had a chance to really use it, but I did check it against an inexpensive digital angle gauge ($26 with 500mm/18.5" blades) that I bought recently. My objective was to check the accuracy of the angle gauge, using the PolyGauge as a reference. To my amazement, the agreement was perfect on four of the five angles (to within the 1/10 degree resolution of the angle gauge), and the fifth was only off by 0.1 degrees.

So to answer the question that Dusty posed a few posts back, I doubt that it will make my woodworking more accurate. But I do believe that it will make setting the common non-right-angle cuts faster and more convenient. The holder/knob on the PolyGauge is cleverly designed to position the gauge right where you need it for setting both blades and miter gauges. The digital angle gauge, not so much.

[roy_okc]

Dennis,

I recently discovered that my Wixey digital protactor is off by about 1/10th of a degree if I zero it with the legs together, but fine if I zero them opened at 180 degrees. I've had this for several years and had always zeroed that way and never checked it against something completely trustworthy, but I never cared that I was slightly off for the tasks for which I used it.

[dusty]

I got mine about a week ago. I haven't had a chance to really use it, but I did check it against an inexpensive digital angle gauge ($26 with 500mm/18.5" blades) that I bought recently. My objective was to check the accuracy of the angle gauge, using the PolyGauge as a reference. To my amazement, the agreement was perfect on four of the five angles (to within the 1/10 degree resolution of the angle gauge), and the fifth was only off by 0.1 degrees.

So to answer the question that Dusty posed a few posts back, I doubt that it will make my woodworking more accurate. But I do believe that it will make setting the common non-right-angle cuts faster and more convenient. The holder/knob on the PolyGauge is cleverly designed to position the gauge right where you need it for setting both blades and miter gauges. The digital angle gauge, not so much.

Just for grins and giggles, let's do some mathematics. The sum of all angles on the Polygauge is 360°. What was the sum of your measurements on the 5 check points.

Four, you report, were within 1/10 ° (.1°) but the fifth was out of tolerance. I think that is pretty darn good. Certainly good enough to use in my shop.

But which angle was repeatedly out of tolerance?Is it the gauge or technique?

[BuckeyeDennis]

I got mine about a week ago. I haven't had a chance to really use it, but I did check it against an inexpensive digital angle gauge ($26 with 500mm/18.5" blades) that I bought recently. My objective was to check the accuracy of the angle gauge, using the PolyGauge as a reference. To my amazement, the agreement was perfect on four of the five angles (to within the 1/10 degree resolution of the angle gauge), and the fifth was only off by 0.1 degrees.

So to answer the question that Dusty posed a few posts back, I doubt that it will make my woodworking more accurate. But I do believe that it will make setting the common non-right-angle cuts faster and more convenient. The holder/knob on the PolyGauge is cleverly designed to position the gauge right where you need it for setting both blades and miter gauges. The digital angle gauge, not so much.

Just for grins and giggles, let's do some mathematics. The sum of all angles on the Polygauge is 360°. What was the sum of your measurements on the 5 check points.

Four, you report, were within 1/10 ° (.1°) but the fifth was out of tolerance. I think that is pretty darn good. Certainly good enough to use in my shop.

But which angle was repeatedly out of tolerance?Is it the gauge or technique?

The PolyGauge actually has 6 outside "corner" angles. But one of them is a "leftover". It isn't marked or used for anything, but you could calculate it's nominal angle easily enough. Be lazy though, I didn't, nor did I measure it.

Woodpeckers claims a 0.008 degree accuracy on the corner angles. I have no way to verify that independently, but I'm assuming that the 0.1 degree disparity was due to a slight inaccuracy on the part of the cheap digital angle gauge.

If you believe Woodpeckers's accuracy claim, that brings up another issue. The total "offset" error along any edge of the PolyGauge is less than 0.001"'. So when you set it against the blade plate, the flatness of the blade plate becomes a limiting factor for the alignment accuracy. So I'm thinking that to get the maximum accuracy, you'd have to measure the runout of your blade/arbor, mark a line where it is flattest (presumable halfway between the points of maximum runout), and then rotate that line into alignment with the PolyGauge.

This extra alignment accuracy may or may not amount to diddly-squat, in the real woodworking world. I have a hunch that it might if making a 5-sided frame, for example. That takes ten cuts, so a consistent 0.1 degree error per cut adds up to a total error of 1 degree. Which is significant.

[dusty]

Since the Polygauge is a precision device, it can be assumed that the unmarked corner measures 58.5° and that the accuracy would be well withing the .1° accuracy of the digital angle gauge. Much more precise than I need except that it might be a good reference tool for verifying the Wixey and others.

For what it is worth, I have an old vintage Polygauge (might be a Veritas) that I hardly ever use except when discussions such as this get going.

[reible]

We were out running around almost all day but when we returned home there was a woodpecker box on the step. So I now own and have a polygauge to use.

It has the woodpecker feel and detail that you expect. Not sure I'm going to get the value out of it but then perhaps one of my sons and a grandchild or ggchild will still be enjoying years and years from now. It actually has more heft to it then I expected. The stainless about a 1/16" thick, the 75deg. to blank end is like 8-1/2" and it is 6" tall. Weight is about 12 oz. The two magnets have plenty of hold.

I may have to make a tool chest just for their cool tools. For now I will clear out space in a tool box drawer for it in its case.

Perhaps us owners can at some point do a review of it.

Ed