Quick review - WR700 Table saw fence DRO

[Aussiephil]

Disclaimer: I do not have a direct or indirect financial or other interest in the product or the provider (including friendship).

For reference the unit being reviewed is the v2 of the unit on the Wixey product pages Wixey.com - Saw Fence Digital Readout

The key update a couple years ago was to go to using AAA batteries and the units now have +- buttons to fine tune the calibration.

The WR700 is a Digital Readout (DRO) for your table saw fence that can measure out to 60"

Attachment 489339 Attachment 489340

I won't go into what saws it will fit except to say it seems to be fairly universal, it was a bolt on fit for my Harvey Ambassador C200.

Once calibrated it is simple to read off the measurement, it's clear and large enough to be seen without issue. It is not backlit but to be honest if you needed it backlit you don't have enough light to be using your TS in the first place.

I dialed in the calibration with a couple of test cuts and then proceed to make a small decorative holder for jars
Attachment 489344

the base was 300mm long and the thin stretchers were 19.3mm shorter. No guessing needed, I measured the two ends with calipers and then went into incremental mode and shifted the fence -19.3 and made the cross cut, the ends were then cut at 110mm.

After moving the fence around I went back and repeated the cuts on some scraps and compared the lengths .... I could not feel a difference in length so they were to me essentially perfectly matched.

To me this gives great repeatability if you need to go back a repeat a cut at a certain length.

As i have a HiLo fence I actually made a quick jig up to position the fence for calibration when swapping the fence orientation.

Score:
Highly recommended especially for repeatability of cut without fiddling around.

Cheers
Phil
PS so impressed i have now ordered a WR510 for the thickness planner

[Sir Stinkalot]

I have one and agree that it is a handy inclusion to the table saw. Unfortunately mine seem to be playing up (about 9 years old) and the buttons are not working as they should. This make turning it on and off, as well as calibration difficult. I might have to try pulling it apart and seeing if there is any dust interfering.

[Aussiephil]

I have one and agree that it is a handy inclusion to the table saw. Unfortunately mine seem to be playing up (about 9 years old) and the buttons are not working as they should. This make turning it on and off, as well as calibration difficult. I might have to try pulling it apart and seeing if there is any dust interfering.

I noticed that you can buy just the read head as a replacement and if yours is 9 yrs old the newer units use AAA batteries and may be better
cheers
phil

[Sir Stinkalot]

Thanks .... I will look into it. I haven’t had much shed time in the last few years, but fortunately it’s ramping up a little more now so I will check it out. It’s sad to say that reading the steel ruler is starting to get more difficult. The digital readout and digital calipers make it soo much easier and accurate.

[derekcohen]

Not only do I have one on my Hammer K3 slider ....




... but also on my Hammer N4400 bandsaw ...




http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Powered...erBandsaw.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Trevor Dennis]

I got quite excited by this when I saw the $119 price tag, but it's AU$235 at Pro Woodworkers Supplies. I always get caught out by Amazon because even allowing for the exchange rate, there is still GST to be added, so for me that works out to NZ$195 which is not _that_ from from the US price. I was wondering about DROs from Wish and Bangood, but a 600mm single track DRO is NZ$151 + $17 shipping, so not a huge bargain. I do like the idea though. I use a DTI on my saw fence when using my tenon jig, but a full DRO would cover all situations.

[Aussiephil]

I got quite excited by this when I saw the $119 price tag, but it's AU$235 at Pro Woodworkers Supplies. I always get caught out by Amazon because even allowing for the exchange rate, there is still GST to be added, so for me that works out to NZ$195 which is not _that_ from from the US price. I was wondering about DROs from Wish and Bangood, but a 600mm single track DRO is NZ$151 + $17 shipping, so not a huge bargain. I do like the idea though. I use a DTI on my saw fence when using my tenon jig, but a full DRO would cover all situations.

For reasons i have covered elsewhere I would not recommend you buy from PWS
Have a look at Search results for: 'wixey wr700'
I cannot recommend them highly enough, plus they stock spare read heads as well

Cheers
Phil