# Excellent once tuned



## TexAus

I've had this gauge from several years and I think it is great once its tuned. That being said, I too had to shim the bracket that holds the fence to the gauge to get things square. I own lots of Incra stuff and I have been extremely happy with everything. However, I was shocked at how badly out of square the bracket on the gauge is. This is a company that specializes is accuracy so you would think they could do a decent job attaching a fence to the gauge. Especially for a $100+ precision miter gauge. I can't believe the folks at Incra could be satisfied with that bracket they way it is. Fortunately it is pretty easy to shim it and get it fixed, but we shouldn't have to do that to a premium gauge.


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## JGM0658

Yeah I was pretty pissed when I read I had to shim the fence….The other two objections you noted I noticed as well but could live with them, the shimming though, that chapped my hide..


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## DocK16

i have used numerous incra products for years including this one. I also had to fool with it to get it true 90. I also find when you change from 90 deg to 45 you have to reset the fence to support the work piece close the blade especially when cutting shorter pieces. This requires resetting the fence and recalibrating the flip stop each time you return to 90 which is a pain.


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## Manitario

I have this mitre gauge as well; I fully agree with your comments. It is a great addition to my shop; within its limits. As well, I've never really figured out how to use the included measuring system on it…but maybe that's just me!


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## Deycart

I have been using this miter for a few months and have to say it is really accurate with the flip stop. Once set (fairly easy) It is very very easy to get repeatable cuts that would of taken me more than a few minutes on my poor craftsman.


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## NormG

These are great miter gauges, sorry to hear you had this issue. I am surprised the retailer did not make an adjustment.


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## SteveMI

Mine was a little different, the stamped 90 degree steel part needed the shim for 90 degree, but the extrusion was also out 0.010" from top to bottom (table). If you used it without clamping to the fence it wouldn't show up. If you clamped near the top of the fence, then you had the piece canted back toward you.

I was using it with a short fence on it and was cutting at an angle which exaggerated the issue. It was darn perplexing for a while. Hard to see a degree or so, but I put a light behind the machinist block and could see it. That is when I started measuring everything.

Take a caliper and measure your extrusion at the bottom (table side) and the top.

Great miter once tuned, but…

Steve.


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## david_larch

Well timed review. I just ordered the 1000SE and ME combo. I know what to look out for now. I had planned on using mine on the left side, mostly because I cant visualize using it on the right. Something to think about. My saw and Incras should get here on the same day. Thanks for the review.


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## vipond33

I agree with your assessment of this tool. We use it in our shop on our uni-saws and couldn't be happier with its accuracy once shimmed and trued.
One addition we made, and couldn't live without, is a sacrificial fence mounted on the front. It was tough to drill and countersink for holding screws given the recesses in the aluminum profile, but once in place there is no slippage. Using a facing board allows us to eyeball the cut to the kerf in the board for quick, super accurate trimming. The stops still work ok for straight and mitre cuts if the workpiece is a reasonable thickness. We don't use the telescoping feature much as the mitre saw or panel saw seems to be a better bet for long stuff.
The vernier scale is quite beautiful too for complex angles on small work.


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## woodmaker

Sounds like false advertising to me.

They claim uber accuracy out of the box and yet you have to "tune" it to make it work properly.

Sounds like the automotive industry where you can gain up to 40 horsepower with the gee-wiz intake tube.


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## wooded

I really enjoy the positive stop surface built into the stop block.


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## sbk

"The bracket is NOT bent at a true right angle." That was my experience as well. My bracket required shimming as you mentioned. It's a great Miter, but you would think that Incra would fix this problem with the bracket.


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## HorizontalMike

Thanks for addressing some of the accuracy issues with this miter. I have the 1000HD and have found it accurate for short pieces under ~18", however, significantly *LESS THAN* accurate on pieces longer than ~18". My experience with crosscutting 30" pieces was that I could measure up to 1/8" flex in the extruded aluminum with very little effort at all. Bottom line is that these Incra miter gauges are great for small jewelry boxes and such but not for larger products.


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## Blackie_

Mcase I just bought one and viewed your review, as for as the slippage goes the front of the fence as a slot designed so that you can put an extra wood padding of 3/4" on the face wouldn't by doing this help minimize that slippage?


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## Blackie_

I might be wrong but is it possible the fence shimming to the bracket has been resolved? I see no where in the owners manual of having to add shims.


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## ic3ss

I bought the 1000 HD a while back and had to shim and adjust like everyone else and now it's cutting perfect. INCRA says the mounting bracket has to be adjusted. If I put it on another table saw it may have to be adjusted again.

Guys, this is not a bad thing, it's good that INCRA has seen fit to design this kind of adjustability into a tool. The alternative is a tool the manufacturer says is perfect so its not adjustable but in reality is not square so you have no recourse. The bracket you all are complaining about is a piece of stamped steel. I don't care how accurate the bending process is, its still a bent piece of metal and will be in-accurate when measuring down to the 0.010" scale. I will concede that purpose formed metal shims would have been nice, but all I did was cut up one of the paper labels in one of the parts bags and used it. Big deal. It took me a whole minute to cut them out. I hardly thing this is anything to bash INCRA about.

And the fence extension drooping? Is that really an issue? Who cares? It extends and once tightened it supports the workpiece from behind, not from below. The thumbscrews push the extension to register against the front. If they wanted it to not droop they would have put screws on the bottom to push it up, but they didn't for a reason: it doesn't matter if it droops to the table top.

It seems we all want a tool to be perfect right out of the box. With as many variables that a miter gauge has to contend with, I don't think thats a realistic expectation. The point is, it was made to be adjusted. So it took you a few minutes to read a little bit and rub a few brain cells together, big deal, was it really that hard?

Wayne


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