Shopsmith Forums

I've been considering installing a Wixey Digital Readout depth gauge on my Shopsmith Professional Planer, but am not completely convinced that this is possible. Has anyone done this, and if so, how was it accomplished?

I seem to remember someone doing it but I can't think at the moment where I read about it. The Yahoo list I think. You might check there and search the archives.

Yup, on the Yahoo list. Gentleman by the name of John Burger is one who had installed a Wixey on his Pro Planer. It's message #54937.

You can view photos of his installation here:

http://www.ssusers.org/files/JSBurger/Digital_Planer_Scale/

rchoyt wrote:I've been considering installing a Wixey Digital Readout depth gauge on my Shopsmith Professional Planer, but am not completely convinced that this is possible. Has anyone done this, and if so, how was it accomplished?

Welcome to the forum rchoyt,
Excellent question, thank you for thinking of it. PTWFE did us the favor of investigating and finding illustrations didn't he? What part of the world do you hail from?

PTWFE wrote:Yup, on the Yahoo list. Gentleman by the name of John Burger is one who had installed a Wixey on his Pro Planer. It's message #54937.........

Thank you PTWFE for remembering where to find that.

rchoyt wrote:I've been considering installing a Wixey Digital Readout depth gauge on my Shopsmith Professional Planer, but am not completely convinced that this is possible. Has anyone done this, and if so, how was it accomplished?

I viewed the recent advertisements with interest also. After a good night's sleep, I realized I would have to still rely on my caliper to see if the Wixey is remaining in place. Since I would still use my caliper - decided not to go with the Wixey. It's nice, but - - - -

I'm with you, Chuck. Besides, there's a simpler (and cheaper!) way to acheive this sort of accuracy. Using your caliper to check the board thickness, carefully adjust your planer until the wood is as close to .750" thick as you can get it. Note the position of the height adjustment handle and put two pieces of masking tape on the front cover, one on either side of the handle. The inside edges of the strips of tape should be parallel to and even with the outside edges of the handle arm. Also adjust the pointer on the edge of the table so it's spot on the 3/4" mark. Now, when you plane wood, reference the scale for the gross adjustment, then move the handle between the tape strips to fine adjust. The wood thickness will be within .010" (usually much less) of the 1/16" increment that the pointer rests upon.

You can't get any more accurate that that with the Wixey or any other linear scale. As I mentioned in a jointer thread, wood compresses then springs back a few thousands of an inch when you plane, joint, rout, shape, or mold it. Different species of wood have different amounts of springback. This will very from board to board; it will even vary within a single board if it incorporates several types of grain. If you were planing a material without springback or even a material with predictable springback, the linear scale might give you some useful information. As it stands however, it's much better practice to check each board with a caliper as you plane.

In woodworking, it's always better to measure the results of a machine setup than it is to measure the setup itself and rely on that measurement alone.

With all good wishes,