Armchair Bronco

I just bought an Incra Miter 1000 SE miter gauge off eBay for $129 with free shipping. Amazon was listing it at $159.

I was planning to start a thread on this site asking for opinions, but after reading some of the user reviews on Amazon.com, it became clear that this miter gauge is a "Best of Breed" offering.

The video for this thing is really amazing, but I got it primarily because I think it will provide a significant safety improvement for me (a rank novice on a table saw) when I make crosscuts.

The high-precision repeatability of this miter gauge is awesome, but that isn't why I bought it. I want to keep my fingers safe, and with the T2 fence for ripping and the Incra Miter 1000 SE for crosscuts, I think I have all my bases covered.

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firehawkmph

Armchair,
I have always known Incra to produce top quality products. That seems like a reasonable price you paid for the 1000se. I think I may have to look into one of these.
Mike Hawkins

Tom5151

I have it an love it.......i use it all the time

KevinK

Hi

I bought the Incra 5000 a few years ago and I love it, it makes cross cutting quick, clean and easy. Enjoy

AZ Termite

I have had my 1000SE for about three months now, and don't know how I got by without it. It makes miters a dream on the TS. You just have to take the time to set it up right and you will be very satisfied with it.

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Verndog

I just bought the 1000 SE and absolutely love it. The initial setup takes a little time but that's when you realize what a fine product you have just purchased. I can't believe that I waited for nearly 30 years to upgrade. I found mine for $99.00 at Woodpeck. They are now offering a 1000 HD which I believe stands for High Definition. I wonder now if I should have bought the Miter Express table with it or just make my own sliding table?
Vern

Armchair Bronco

Wow...$99? That's a good price. I thought the $129 I paid w/ free shipping was a good deal, but I guess there were better deals to be had.

Anyway, it's great to see all the posts that confirm what a great miter gauge this is. I'm sure I'll get laser-perfect angles with it when I make crosscuts on my new saw, but for me I think I'll just feel so much more confident having that nice big fence in front of my fingers!

Nate1778

Love mine as well, my miter saw barely gets used anymore.

BobbyfromHouston

Thanks for the thread. I was just thinking of getting a new miter gauge for my tablesaw. I looked into the Osbourne last year but decided to wait. I have heard good things about the incra but was wanting to compare the Incra, with the Jessm, and the Kreg. I don't think I want the Kreg because I have experienced some dislike for some of their products. They look great at first and then you see problems that come up. I really appreciate the input that you guys put in. Which Incra do you think is the best for tablesaw use for the average woodworker wanting a really good quality miter gauge?
Bobby

Nate1778

I have the 1000 with aluminum fence. I catch myself more and more using the custom MDF fences I have made for it do to the zero clearance affect I get. If I new then what I know now, I would have jsut bought this.

Dvoigt

I bought that one that you are suggesting.... I was having a hard time getting my miter cuts prefect. So I bought one of those digital protractors and found out that the 45 degree notch on the gauge was about a 1/2 a degree off. So I never trust the manufacture markings.

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RIGOOD

I've had the V27 for a few years and was never really happy with it. I think the higher priced models are probably a step up. There just seems to be too much slop in the initial adjustment and I was always needing to readjust. I decided to try the Osborne EB-3 and now I am completely satisfied. This unit is much more rigid in it's construction allowing for no flex. I am not trashing Incra, as I have many of their products and like them, just thought this one was not up to their standards. I guess there are just no inexpensive alternatives.

AZ Termite

Dvoigt, That is what is nice about the 1000SE, it can be adjusted to the 10th of a degree. It is a lot of money to spend on a miter gauge but you get what you pay for.

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Tweegs

Got this as a gift one Christmas http://www.woodcraft.com/product.asp...&FamilyID=5395 love the thing.

Got this http://incra.com/product_rtf_ultra.htm for my birthday another year, don't like it so much. Very cumbersome to set up for dovetails and easy to screw up the cut. A jig would have been a better option IMHO, but as a router fence, it's hard to beat.

Good, accurate stuff from Incra. They get an overall from me.

Nate1778

Gotcha, I assumed they were the same unit minus the fence. All I was getting at is I rarely use the aluminum fence with mine, just custom MDF fences.

Armchair Bronco

+1

Also, you're getting an accurate miter gauge PLUS a big and sturdy (and fully adjustable) fence, too. On paper at least, the 1000SE looks like it's a very safe miter gauge.

Dvoigt

Hate to break it to you, but it is now on sale at Amazon for $111.54 with free shipping

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Just starting out, check it out and let me know what you think:
www.handmadewoodgifts.com

Armchair Bronco

Well...we're living in deflationary times. If you wait long enough, the price will keep coming down.

Of course, with the government spending trillions of dollars it doesn't have, eventually we'll be having runaway inflation, but probably not for another couple of years.

Enjoy the deflation while you can, I guess!

WoodyMike

Hi all,

Interesting thread, great comments. Got my own 1000 SE/HD? at Lee Valley for a few degrees north of a hundred bucks which seems in keeping with everybody else's average cost.

I'm really happy with it and I always though I'd have to get anal to work to 10ths of a degree, but now that I'm dabbling in segmented turning, I can't imagine living without it.

Dvoight: Sorry yours was out by that much, but I have to say, I got great service from a fellow at INCRA which really helped inform my purchasing decision. I don't recall his name at the moment but I'll be happy to dig it up if you tell me you want it. Given my experience with him, I'm certain he will address this problem to your satisfaction. IMO their CS is top notch. Also, my experience in shopping a lot at Lee Valley, is that they will take care of your product problems with no conditions attached under their 90 day satisfaction guarantee, and that has certainly been my experience with the very few problems I've had over the many years that I have shopped there, so that's something to consider for your next WW purchase.

RIGGOD: I'm sorry you're not happy with your V27. I'm happy with mine as long as I accept its limitations, but now that I have the 1000, and have also since built my multi-purpose band saw sled, the V27 will migrate over to my stationary sanders where it will be more than adequate. Incidentally, the V120 has now supplanted the V27 so perhaps that has the necessary upgrades, but I haven't yet personally checked it out, so I can't comment.

NOW THE MAIN REASON I CAME HERE TODAY - PLEASE HELP:

I work a lot with small pieces, and am having a lot of trouble getting my head around how to do this safely, because boy, holding down, especially at higher angles, really brings my fingers a lot closer to the danger zone than I really care to experience, so I pretty well don't do that anymore, and can only guage off to a stop block on the fence side, but that is not as accurate and wastes a lot of material.

I've read a bit here about MDF fences and so forth, so I wonder if anybody has had some success with that. I made a fence/bed combo which I've attached to the main fence by drilling a couple of holes (I had to square off the heads of the screws a bit to get them into the slot, because I didn't want to open up the slot itself to get the full head through) and screwing it on from behind, and put a small toggle on the bed, which works fine in principle, but because of the many angles that I always cut to, requires repositioning at least, and more often than not, replacing the entire auxilliary fence/bed in order to obtain even a reasonably minimal clearance, not to mention how it minimizes the capacity of the guage.

I meant to post an image, but haven't yet figured out how to do that, and will do so if necessary.

Does anybody have an alternative solution that's worked for them? Your ideas would be very much welcomed and appreciated.

Best wishes,

Mike