Measuring things and accuracy is something we always try for but sometimes the obvious never occurs to us. Most of us are aware that the same tape/rule should be used on a project if possible as not all tapes for instance read the same over longer measurements.

I was setting up a new fence system for my mitre saw and had to zero the stops. While I was doing that it occurred to me that if the fence I was setting up was not the same as the fences on my other machines then problems are going to arise. I cut a length of wood to 600mm (the length is up to you) and used that to set all my fences. I used the same steel rule I tend to use to set the length and now I am pretty confident of the cuts from different machines being the same. I used timber for this but I intend to do it with some other more stable material as soon as I can get time. It is a simple jig that can be hung up and used every now and then to check machines if things don't seem right or a new machine is bought in.