Best Miter Gauge?

Thanks again, Leon. I'm gonna let the order stay. I don't think I'll ever need to extend it that far. Most of my projects are of the smaller variety.

Reply to
Mike M
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Most of those articles are from about 10 years ago and "not on" the EB3. I don't know about the earlier models, only that the EB3 has the design flaw. I bought an EB3 a couple of years ago and ended up returning it per Mr. Osborn's suggestion. He suggested that I return it for one that was not defective. Unfortunately the entire stock of my local dealer had the same problem. 2 years later at the WW show, the miter gauge with a Delta badge demonstrated the same problem and the local wood working show. When confronted, the Delta guys blamed loading the miter gauge on and off the truck.

Reply to
Leon

maico wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@p77g2000hsh.googlegroups.com:

I bought my Kreg miter at the woodshow several years back, when they were just getting ready to come to market. I got the 24" and 36" solid extrusions, and swap the base kits and flip stop sbetween them, when I need to make a change. It's not too often, really.

Pretty sure there are other, fancier tools about these days. Mine was pretty reasonably priced, IIRC.

Enjoy your tools.

Patriarch

Reply to
Patriarch

Ok, let me resay this as I think I may have misled you here. I am not talking about extending the length of the fence. I am talking about extending the telescoping angle adjustment bar to its longest position at 45 degrees.

This is a problem if you use this 45 degree settings regardless of the size project. When the miter gauge is setting on the saw, one end of the fence is close to the blade. The other end of the fence will deviate dramatically when the gauge is set to cut in the 45 degree position and the "angle adjustment bar", not the fence, is extended to its longest position.

If you extend the fence to accommodate a longer board, the situation only gets worse.

The 45 degree setting that has the problem with retaining the 45 degree setting is when the end of the fence opposite the blade end is the leading end such that the end closest to the blade trails the other end of the fence.

When you get the gauge, before going to too much trouble to make the miter bar fit correctly, set the gauge on your saw and set the gauge to 45 degrees with the fence far end in the shortest possible position and leading the blade end of the fence. Grab the fence and you will be able to wiggle it back and forth several degrees with little effort. The telescoping bar that sets the degree angle will be at it longer setting. To minimize tear out on the back end of the cut you want to be able to use both 45 degree settings on the gauge. Unfortunately only one of the 45 degree setting is stable.

With the gauge set at 45 degrees with the far in trailing, the 45 degree will be very sturdy.

Reply to
Leon

I too bought my Kreg when Kreg began to market it. You mention the flip stop. My flip stop would creep when I would tighten the plastic adjustment wing nut. Does yours to that? Kreg told me how to fix the problem and it no longer creeps.

Reply to
Leon

Gotcha. What would you consider a good, not great, miter gauge?

Reply to
Mike M

The both of you just answered the question I posed to Leon.

Reply to
Mike M

I will add that the adjustment of the bar for the miter slot is problematic for me, I have a 1948 Unisaw the slots have some wear, trying to get the EB-3 to slide smoothly in the miter slot with out slop is a PITA. The Rockler miter gage I replaced the EB-3 with adjusts the whole bar along its length a more elegant solution than the EB-3 multiple wedging allen screws.

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Reply to
Markem

Hummm... I pretty much use the Dubby miter sleds for most of my miter cuts where I am cutting several pieces to fixed or repeated lengths. I wanted however to have something simple and quick to square the ends of stock and I wanted something to be dead on with out having double check degree settings. I was looking for a miter gauge that was better than the stock issue that comes with the saw. I considered many different ones and chose the Osbourne EB3 as first choice. I liked the telescoping fence but found problems with the unit design. I took it back and bought the Kreg. It too had problems but Kreg was more interested in fixing the problem than Osbourne was. I have been using the Kreg for a couple of years now to mostly square stock.

The Osbourne EB3 works great at squaring stock but if you are going to spend $200, 2 years ago, you might as well get one that can cut accurate 45's also. I do use it in that capacity on occasion. Humm I wonder why Osbourne is offering the EB3 at almost half price right now? ;~)

The Dubby is great, The Kreg is pretty darn good. I believe that just about any of the after market gauges that use an indexing pin for frequently used angles are probably the least likely to have problems long term, the Kreg uses this method. There are a few new miter gauges that have come out in the last couple of years that use indexing pins and I would give them a strong look if I were in the market again.

Reply to
Leon

with only being able to set the gauge in 1.5 degree increments I had to pass. While normally 1.5 degree increments fits the bill for new building, I also do furniture repair on occasion and have to tweak miters to really odd angles not found as a preset setting on any miter gauge. I needed a miter gauge that would lock in at any angle.

Reply to
Leon

RE: Subject

A question:

What do any of these after market miter gauges accomplish that a sled with a cleat tacked in place along the layout line of the angle in question doesn't do more accurately and a for a lot less money.

Just curious.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

There are several good ones out there and more have shown up since I bought the Kreg. I suggest the touchy feely thing on any that you may consider and for sure test the rigidity of the fence at different miter settings on all that you look at. Jessem has a pretty slick miter gauge although I have not put my hands on one.

Reply to
Leon

For me, adjust and store away more quickly.

Reply to
Leon

Is that it?

If so, quicker set up makes sense for a production/custom operation.

Not sure about an amateur like me.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

It is one of a few luxury items for me. These days I charge for most of what I build.

Reply to
Leon

Osborne EB3 is supposed to be a new design and is manufactured by General International in Canada. Check out this review

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. I think that a lot of criticism is directed at the old EB2 and not the EB3 which came out less than a year ago. For a close-up of the new model check out this site
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. I have read several reviews of the new EB3 and I haven't seen any negative reviews. I am not a production type of woodworker, just a person who is an intermediate type of hobby person, that occasionally hides his mistakes with wood filler.

Reply to
Will

Was a new design 2 years ago. Apparently General has recently purchase the company or the jig from Mr. Osbourne.

I bought an EB3 in the spring of 2005. The Delta badged Osbourne still has the same problem that I had 2 years ago.

For a close-up of the new model check

Then the Osbourne may be just right for you. I have been doing this for almost 30 years in a serious way and don't have much patience for tools that don't work the way that they should. As I have pointed out in other posts, I ended up with a Kreg and even then it is second choice to my Dubby Miter Sleds. A favorable review is not going to make the EB3 any better. Did any of the reviews address the wiggle at the end of the fence at the 45 degree setting? If not, check your EB3 out in both 45 degree settings and then ask yourself, what did the review, or most any review for that matter, leave out? Reviews are good for providing information that you are specifically looking for if it is covered in the review but unfortunately most reviews miss a lot of important points.

Another example of reviews not covering all the angles are those on the Festool Domino. Most all reviews are really keen on this tool except for the price. Charleyb has posted links to His review of the tool and posts regarding the tool and he points out the problem of the tool only having metric adjustments. This is more of a problem in the US. Can you work around it? Yes you can. Is that an important point to consider? For some, yes.

The EB3 is a cool miter gauge with lots of features. It's ability to lock down securely at "both" 45 degrees settings will be a problem for many.

Enjoy your hobby.

Reply to
Leon

The EB-3 is older than that and what I have is an EB-3 bought from Mr. Osborne's company so your thoughts are wrong. If you have read Leon and my thoughts you have read negative things about it, we are not some fancy WW magazine though, just people who have used it and found short comings. We have shared the experiences with the miter gauge so people can make an informed decision. YMMV depending upon how much marketing you swallow.

Mark

Reply to
Markem

Thanks again for all the info.

Reply to
Mike M

"Leon" wrote in news:TezVh.258$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr22.news.prodigy.net:

I did the touchy feely with the Jessem gauge, and it's a nice looking tool, as most of their things are. But at that price, and already owning an underutilized, functional gauge, I kept my wallet safe.

Patriarch

Reply to
Patriarch

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