Incra Products

[friscomike]

Howdy folks,

I had a dilemma of whether or not to cancel an order for the Incra Miter 2000 and buy the 5000 sled instead. This thread helped me make that decision so it wasn't off track, IMHO.

I kept seeing folks use sleds in precision work, so I thought I had to have one to improve the quality of my work. I could have built one, lots of folks do, but finally being able to buy tools that are better than my abilities is a nice change...as I have just gotten buy all these years.

So, thanks for the lively discussions and the advice. Nobody said, buy this or buy that, but the general discussion informed my thinking enough for me to make the decision.

Best Regards,
mike

[a1gutterman]

Hi Everyone,

Just out of curiosity, I am wondering how those who have purchased Incra products that fit on the Shopsmith like them.
I have all three:) (Incra Ultimate Fence/Router System, MiterSled 5000, Miter Gauge 2000, and some of Incra's Rulers) and they have turned my Shopsmith into one heck of a woodworking system.
I am just curious because I haven't seen any threads on the forum about them.
And I haven't seen any of them for sale on ebay either. Owners must be holding on to them because of how well they work with the Shopsmith., or they sell really fast.
Anyone who wants to comment, I will be interested in reading what you have to offer in the way of comments/opinions.

Hi woodburner,
I did not respond to this inquiry of yours earlier because, although I have purchased the Incra Ultimate Fence/Router System Package, I have not set it up yet. My "new" shop (been living in my new house for 3 years now) is still in the process of being set up. I have many projects and obligations not related to woodworking that keep me spread thin and time for my wood shop has been limited. I am choosing to answer you now because of the way that this thread has been going.

I saw Rick Davis demonstrate this wonderful tool. I was very impressed with it and plan to do many things with it. I especially like the repeatability that the fence offers and the seemingly unlimited capabilities it has in relationship to dovetail joints. I also purchased the Incra MiterSled 5000, but I haven't decided whether to install that on my SS or my stand alone TS. Either way, I am sure that I will like it. It will replace my self-made sliding table that I found very helpful for past projects, and it has features that my self-made one did not.

As for disadvantages, haven't discovered one yet. Only problem I found, and found a solution for, is storing the fence when not in use. I made a couple of brackets so I can hang it on the shop wall while not in use. And it's no harder to put on and take off than a floating table.

I purchased the "extra" pre-drilled floating table for the "system" and plan to keep the whole thing mounted to a set of 5' tubes "permanently". The whole thing can hang from hooks like you are doing, or even leaned against a wall on the floor or a work bench. This is how Rick had stored it, and it looked to me to be a good way.

[james.miller]

I have the Miter 5000 and the Ultimate Fence/Router System and really like them both.

[edmo51]

Hi all,

I've been looking at info on Jointechs' Sawtrain. Does anyone own or have any experience with the Jointech as opposed to an Incra ?
Thanks

Edmo

[charlese]

Hi again on this thread! I am among those that believe this discussion has been both enlightening and good for all of us!:D

Now here's what I was doing for a couple of hours today. I have been figuring out how to make the dovetailed drawer fronts (half blind) for the tables in production. I'm using the OPR for this. Yes, I wish I had the repeatability of some kind of Incra jig for the OPR sliding table. However, with the aid of this particular thread, I believe I have it figured out. Thanks folks!

Easy repeatability, and exact fence movements available on the Incra stuff would be nice for any one. I hope I didn't mislead anyone into thinking I have been discouraging purchases. The only part of exacting woodworking I will never agree with is that a cut will be to the nearest thousandths of an inch. The setup can be, but the resulting cut? No! If you joint an edge or plane a face with 100 cuts per inch the edge and face feels very smooth. Here is a test: Lay a straight edge (like the edge of an engineer's square) on the face and you will be able to see some light appear beneath the straight edge. This light represents a thousandths (.001") of an inch.

[pinkiewerewolf]

Chalk me up as another that has enjoyed the discussion.
Mike, I've been looking at the catalog and I don't think you'll regret going with the Incra MiterSled 5000.
If I hadn't bought the OPR & 520 upgrade recently I would be thinking really hard about going with the 5000 too.
In the future I'd like to comlement the OPR with the 5000, and bannish the idea of a RAS from my mind forever. LOL

[ryanbp01]

[quote="dusty"]My question was rhetorical and did not deserve an answer.

The reason any one of us has what we have is because that is what we want.

I spend my money the way I want]

The reason I asked my question in the first place is that I was going through my purchases over the past year. All have been exclusively for the Shopsmith, including the cross-cut sled. Besides, if I am able to get the initial setup to within .001" (or thereabouts) when doing alignment on the SS, is it really necessary for woodworking to be all that precise? I suppose that if I was into woodworking as a full-time occupation that I could justify the cost. At this stage in my woodworking adventures, like Dusty, I'm not convinced the Incra system is jsutified. Just how close is close enough?

BPR

[curiousgeorge]

I have the Shopsmith Jointech system and I'm not trying to be flip about this, but how well do you want your through dove-tails or finger joints to fit? I realize they don't need to be in the thousands, but it's nice to have close tolerances for nicer, cleaner looking joints. Another point is; any errors in any type of joint will multiply as you progress, so the more accurate you can be the better the fit will be over the entire project. It just makes for a nicer end result with less headaches from trying to fix sloppy joints.

[charlese]

Hey there George! I don't mind saying I am jealous of your very nice looking half lap dovetail joint! I have been messing around with my OPR for the last day and a half designing - re-designing and making samples of half blind dovetails. There are good ones, but haven't yet achieved that sweet, 100% closure, you show.

[fjimp]

Okay so I like great tools. I have the Incra 5000. when I first bought it the instructions were difficult to follw and I had issues with set up. A call to Incra cleared up all confusion. They are as valuable a resourse as the support folks at shopsmith. The 5000 is highly accurate. Although very little of what I do requires that great of a degree of accuracy I get a big rush every time I use it and see just how great really close work looks. Hey I never ever figured I could do such neat work. Jim:)