Customer Reviews

Incra MITER3000/27 Miter 3000 Table Saw Miter Gauge

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It performs flawlessly as promissed. However if your serious about woodworking and expect perfection in your work this tool will be an asset to you. Most of the time you can't even use the miter gauges supplied with the saw and this really limits the usefullness of the saw. I have been playing around with it for a week making various cuts and checking them for accuracy and I am throughly pleased and I feel I got my moneys worth. I have seen some of the reviews of other incra miter gauges and there has been some concern about the guide wheels wearing out. I can see this happening but I don't consider any tool maintence free and this is something that will need attention as time goes on but I feel that it is acceptable.The only thing I am still not sure of is were the differences between the 2000 and the 3000 worth the money? And I had no other experiences with after market gauges so I can't compare. I do know that it does perform as I expected.

I've needed a precise miter guage for some time now. On the recommendation of a woodworking buddy who had bought a Incra 2000 miter guage and liked it, I purchased the Incra 3000. I cannot believe I existed for as long as I did without this wood working tool. The miter guage and fence is accurate, easy to use, and precise. It allows one to make segmented wood rings quite easily. The Incra 3000 uses mechanical stops for all of the commonly used miters. Using a unique fine adjustment half degree increments can be obtained. This feature, while very handy can get you in trouble if you forget to retun it to "zero" before changing to you next angle. No fault of the tool, just the user's forgetfullness. The 3000 is an upgrade from the 2000 in that the miter guage swings in both directions while the 2000 need to be taken aprt and reassembled if miters in the other direction are required. Tool setup and alignment are easy and the directions are great. I would highly recommend this product to any woodworker who needs accurate miters.

Paul

The protractor head, associated knobs, fittings, and adjustable miter slot bar are very good and probably provide a high degree of accuracy. The problem lies in the attachment of the fence to the protractor head thus negating the protractor head accuracy.

There is a piece of 1/8" angle iron between the protractor head and the fence (3/4" x 1-1/4" x 6"). The narrow leg is attached to the top of the protractor head with three screws and the other leg is attached to the back of the fence with two screws. The three screw connection to the protractor head provides adjustment to set the protractor head square to the ts blade. The two screws holding the angle iron and fence together are backed with threaded plates that slide in the fence thus allowing the fence to be moved from side to side.

The angle iron between the fence and the protractor head is not sturdy enough to prevent the fence rolling from front to back. Consequently there is no way to insure the fence face is 90 degrees to the ts table. The instructions provided say to put tape between the angle iron leg and the protractor head, either in front of the screws or behind depending which way the fence is out of square. It's obvious Incra saw the problem, but did not come up with a satisfactory adjustment.

To compound the problem, the protractor head and associated mechanism is made out of 1/8" steel and plastic. Flex in this construction amplifies itself to the fence.

This miter guage could be a superior tool if: 1) the protractor head / fence connection was strengthened, 2) heavier guage material or cast material was used in its construction.

All of this is mute if the only use of the miter guage was to cut material flat on the table. Unfortunately, this is not the case for most people.

I don't have an superior alternative to this miter guage, but am looking.

I read all the reviews for the precision miter gauges for table saws. The Incra had consistently good reviews. I was tempted to buy the 1000 as it is only $100, but opted for the more expensive sled (uses the 3000 protractor). The box arrived without a bag of parts that also contained the instruction manual (they sent one out the next day using overnight delivery).

It took me about an hour to set up the sled and calibrate the miter gauge. I cut two practice pieces and then proceeded to cross cut both ends of an 18 x 26 inch wide maple panel. The cuts were perfectly square.

There was one negative review on the web about the nylon spacers used to snug fit the bar in miter guage slot. This was a concern, but I discussed this with Incra and if you do wear the sides slightly on the nylon spacers, you need only loosed then and then rotate them slightly to regain the fit (or call them and they'll send you new ones). Also, if you buy the 3000, you can buy the upgrade for the sled, but you will want the sled (if you haven't already made one yourself). This is a great precision tool.

I look at this fence and I am kind of baffled at why such a poor system of setting the tapes was chosen (there is an independent slippery segment every 16 inches). The tapes are Mylar or something similar with a little translucent window you're supposed to use to align a succeeding segment with a previous one. Wow, you can futz with it for 20 minutes. Then it moves but you don't know it. INCRA says you can tape the segments together, once aligned. The problem is, it buckles the tape and still moves and you don't see that either till you have ruined a cut. Is this feeble setup really from INCRA? Why not one 32 inch segment?? It really is comical. Periodically, through the day, you must re-check zero. Then, if you have to adjust (and you will), you also must adjust every segment. WHAT? What's next? Well, how about that for the slide out (telescoping) arm they INVERT a left hand tape!!! For goodness sake, why not use a right hand tape so you don't have to read it upside down?? For angle precision I give it 5 stars. For setting up cuts to length, I give it ZERO. Since I can't score the average of 2.5, I'll just give INCRA a half point and rate the whole thing a 3. No, I forgot the amateurish micro-adjustment on the flip stop. I'm coming down to 2 stars from 2.5 instead of rounding up. The funny thing about these two issues is both are highly visible, one or the other affects EVERY cut and would be EASY to rectify. WHY does a manufacturer run so strong and then peter out when it counts on things so cheap and easy to avoid?

I have been using the Incra 3000/27 Miter Gauge for probably about a year now and have never looked back. Contrary to an earlier review I have never had any probalems with the backet that mounts the fence to the miter gauge. I have used the miter at zero degrees, 90-degrees and just about every degree in between. I particulary like the stops mounted on the fence which come in very handy when cutting multiple pieces at the same length. One small hit would have to be the scale on the fence...pretty half-hearted attempt in my oppinion. I find that I never use the scale to setup cuts because it is such a poor excuse. Other than the scale I have nothing bad to say about this miter gauge. The angles, which can be set to the 1/2-degree, are dead on as best I can tell. I even used the miter gauge to set a bevel angle for the saw blade. I needed to set the blade at an uncommon angle and didn't have anything at the time to measure the angle. So I simply squared the blade to the table, set the Incra 3000/27 to the needed angle then cut a scrap piece of 2x4 to the needed angle. I was then able to use the mitered scrap piece to set the saw blade bevel. I can also say the aluminum fence cuts very nicely as well....as I have accidently run it into the saw blade a couple of times after changing angles...ooops.

I would definitly buy this product again.

The tool does perform flawlessly as promised initially. However, this depends on how long and how often you use for various mitering angles - the pivot hole of the stamped plate will wear out quickly against the pivot pin. When you get large play and the miter gauge will be no longer accurate. I think this is a design flaw for being made cheap.

I have a Grizzly table saw and, of course, the included miter fence is pretty bad. After an hour or so I had this thing humming. Rock solid in the miter slot. I only have a slight problem -- there's a nylon washer that the protractor rotates around and there's the slightest amount of play in the fence if you grab it and torque it around. Probably not a problem for normal operation but I was a little worried about it. Emailed Incra and they're sending replacement parts! Great experience and great company.