Thread: Device for rapid Thicknesser lowering on Thicky/Jointer Combo Machine

I forgot to add that the dial will need to be recalibrated after the handwheel is replaced - I was appalled to see that mine was 15mm out! Obviously I must have rotated it a few times during the process .

Never had much faith in rotary gauges of any kind and couldn't justify the cost so I took the cheaper way out (under $100) and put a linear digital gauge on it once I got it home (just visible in the pic). It pulls up at 200mm but I've never had the need to thickness anything bigger and I only have to undo a knurled knob to release the gauge to use the full 225mm anyway (Could take a full pic if you really want to see the whole thing )

Have you considered adding a second handle opposite the existing one so all you have to put in the drill is something that resembles a propeller blade to engage both handles????

Vern, I was considering a DRO (the 600mm one for for drill press was only $43) but a couple of things put me off (I probably should have posted some Qs).

Firstly, how can it be calibrated, when there is no zero point for the thicknessing table (minimum as I recall is 4mm)?

Second, I was concerned about knocking the zero button and buggering up the calibration.

Wixey do 2 thicky indicator units, the small handles 150mm travel which appears too short for you, while the longer one can do 300 from memory.

Calibration for the small unit is simple, the scale slides up on its mounts, machine a board to an arbitary thickness, dock if required to eliminate any snipe at end, lift the base of the scale up in its mount and insert the finished part and lower the scale onto it. This offsets the scale by the finished thickness, the detector hasn't been moved since the machining pass, so the two cancel out. Press the Zero button to calibrate, remove the sample piece, ready to work, takes about a minute. Haven't used the larger unit, but believe it uses a similar technique, haven't seen/touched a Hammer so can't really comment about fitting Wixey to Hammer.

Took a pic of the whole thing to show you. Calibration is easy-as! Run a piece of scrap through, measure the thickness, then slide the readout (hole under the knurled knob is slotted) until it matches the measurement - done! The DRO auto-wakes so I never have to touch it at all which reduces the chances of hitting the zero button considerably The display is not backlit which makes it a little hard to read but it's still a lot easier than trying to read off the yellow ruler accurately - a magnifier provided with that yellow terror would have been a whole lot easier eh!

Originally Posted by malb

Wixey do 2 thicky indicator units, the small handles 150mm travel which appears too short for you, while the longer one can do 300 from memory.

Calibration for the small unit is simple, the scale slides up on its mounts, machine a board to an arbitary thickness, dock if required to eliminate any snipe at end, lift the base of the scale up in its mount and insert the finished part and lower the scale onto it. This offsets the scale by the finished thickness, the detector hasn't been moved since the machining pass, so the two cancel out. Press the Zero button to calibrate, remove the sample piece, ready to work, takes about a minute. Haven't used the larger unit, but believe it uses a similar technique, haven't seen/touched a Hammer so can't really comment about fitting Wixey to Hammer.

Originally Posted by TTIT

Took a pic of the whole thing to show you. Calibration is easy-as! Run a piece of scrap through, measure the thickness, then slide the readout (hole under the knurled knob is slotted) until it matches the measurement - done! The DRO auto-wakes so I never have to touch it at all which reduces the chances of hitting the zero button considerably The display is not backlit which makes it a little hard to read but it's still a lot easier than trying to read off the yellow ruler accurately - a magnifier provided with that yellow terror would have been a whole lot easier eh!

What are the odds on that!!! - 6 minutes apart!!! Malbs post wasn't even there when I opened the post and went to the shed to take a pic!

I would have thought that absolute zero isn't important in this situation.

I have a digital indicator on both my thicknesser and my drum sander and I measure how thick the piece of wood still is and how much needs to be still taken off.

So measure piece of wood, it is say 22mm, you want it to be 19mm. Zero the digital indicator and keep removing wood until your indicator reads -3.00mm.

I also added the Hammer digital readout to the A3-31. I could have saved and re-used the Wixey I had on the thicknesser I sold, but my experience is that the Wixey's go through batteries faster than my wife does with shoes.

My reaction to the Wixey was a knee-jerk reaction - I do not know how the Hammer is powered ..... Brett, is the Hammer digital readout powered and, if so, how?

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by derekcohen

....faster than my wife does with shoes.

You ain't seen nothin' like Lola's collection. One of my projects is a shoe wardrobe.....

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Brett, is the Hammer digital readout powered and, if so, how?

Yup, man-powered.

Interesting about the Wixey going through batteries. I've had a Wixey vernier for about a year and it's still on it's first battery (and it gets HEAPS of use - up to 20-30 or more times a day). It has an auto shut-off. The eBay DRO I have on my DP is also still on it's first battery after about 10 months but it gets nowhere near the use that the vernier does..