JESSEM Table Saw Miter Gauge

[Mario Turcot]

Did a search and found nothing.

Just received a newsletter from Jessem about their Table Saw Miter Gauge and was wondering if anyone have experience with it. This is the second generation of the tool.

The tool seems to be a beast info

I have the Incra® Miter 1000SE Gauge and hate it. Flip stop is poorly made and the extension arm is flimsy & require a tool to move it.

 

[ChuckM]

I am interested in this new mitre gauge as I have been very impressed with the performance of its table saw stock guides on my SawStop.

My search dug out these:
https://www.amazon.ca/JessEm-07100-Mite-R-Excel-Precision-Indexing/dp/B000W3K1HW#customerReviews
https://www.woodmagazine.com/review...eds/jessem-mite-r-slide-miter-gauge-accessory

 

[Mario Turcot]

[member=57948]ChuckM[/member] yes the version one had very good reviews. They made some significant changes to version two. It seems to be lighter and made exclusively of alum. The extension arm & flip stop are locked with a simple 1/4 turn lever and the angle unit look to be very easy to operate.

All those characteristics are enhancement to my actual incra.

 

[Birdhunter]

I have the old model and I really like it. It is heavy.  I use a big Woodpeckers framing square to check the gauge before a big project and have never seen the gauge out of perfect square. The pull out extension is solid even fully extended. The flip down stop  is also solid. I don’t have any side to side play.

Other than being heavy, I have no negatives to mention about the miter gauge.

I’m not sure how the new model is improved over the original.

 

[Mario Turcot]

I have the old model and I really like it. It is heavy.  I use a big Woodpeckers framing square to check the gauge before a big project and have never seen the gauge out of perfect square. The pull out extension is solid even fully extended. The flip down stop  is also solid. I don’t have any side to side play.

Other than being heavy, I have no negatives to mention about the miter gauge.

I’m not sure how the new model is improved over the original.

Hey [member=15289]Birdhunter[/member], Thanks for your comment. I knew already that the original was solid rock but it's always good to hear it on the FOG

Since you have the original you the one that should tell us the improvement  [tongue] Have you watched the video?

I can only compare with the incra;

Miter slot bar custom rolled steel from Sheffield, England
Flip stop adjustable to accommodate 3/4" sacrificial fence
Retractable stop at the end of the extension arm
Angle mechanism have no loose part
to name only those.

 

[ChuckM]

If JessEm's past products are a guide, this new mitre gauge should be a keeper. I was looking at the Incra  Incra® Miter 1000SE Gauge 86N60.01, but did not pull the trigger. The JessEm's is similar to Incra 3000SE in price.

This feature "Easy indexing allows for adjustments at 0, 15, 22.5, 30 and 45 degrees" would meet all my foreseable needs. For all other angles, I have the Kapex.

 

[jpmeunier]

Yeah so 95% chance I get that instead of incra 1000hd. Good thing I hadn't pulled the trigger on that yet.

 

[ChuckM]

Before Mario shared the product release news, did anyone know about this new mitre gauge being developed at all?

Some vendors (e.g. TSO) are good at letting people know what products they are developing, and such information can help their potential customers put on hold their purchase decisions.

 

[Bob D.]

Before Mario shared the product release news, did anyone know about this new mitre gauge being developed at all?

Some vendors (e.g. TSO) are good at letting people know what products they are developing, and such information can help their potential customers put on hold their purchase decisions.

I agree that is it nice to have some knowledge of what is coming down the pipeline. I am not in the market for another miter gauge at this time but I have made a purchase after doing research to find out what was available or soon to be released only to be blindsided by a product that appears out of the blue.

But on the flip side looking at it from their perspective when you've put time and money into developing a product, even a 2G item as this miter gauge is, there is still considerable expense that they are looking to recover. Letting the cat out of the bag before you're ready to release can be risky if there is enough time for someone to bring out a copy sooner and steal your thunder thereby hurting your initial surge of orders.

In today's world with all the tools that are available to reverse engineer or copy something I think it's probably tough (and sometimes a big risk) to know when to make an announcement and when to keep quiet. Even though that may cost you some sales.

 

[Birdhunter]

I watched the video and the new miter gauge does have some nice features my original lacks.

The flip up stop that accommodates a sacrificial fence would be great to have. Would the new stop fit onto my old unit?

 

[ChuckM]

Snip. Letting the cat out of the bag before you're ready to release can be risky if there is enough time

Yes, a vendor needs to exercise care as to what and how much information is to be made public regarding any new product development.

It is not an easy call for a vendor to or not to release new product development information. I recall years ago L-N working on a Combination Plane and even showing a prototype but it has not, as of today, been able to actually launch the new plane. That is disappointing for many of its customers.

 

[RKA]

Before Mario shared the product release news, did anyone know about this new mitre gauge being developed at all?

Some vendors (e.g. TSO) are good at letting people know what products they are developing, and such information can help their potential customers put on hold their purchase decisions.

I got the email below this morning.

*edit* Sorry, I misunderstood you were asking.  That email was the very first whiff of it that I saw.

 

[Mark Katz]

Question for all of you using the earlier version of this miter gauge or one of the Incra gauges. It seems that for all of these that the fence extrusion needs to be moved back whenever the angle is set to anything but o degrees to avoid cutting into the fence itself. To me, that means that a) the reading of the stop scale is meaningless when set at any angle other than 0, and b) the fence and stop scale need to be recalibrated once you return to 0.

Is my understanding correct? This seems like a considerable detriment to any of these similar miter gauges. The manual (online under the Manual tab on the web page) make no mention of moving the fence when making angled cuts.

For reference I've been using a Jointech Smart Miter for at least 15 years now. It has its problems (the flip stop is no longer robust and flexes too much, it's heavy and bulky, for example) but one of its design features is that the pivot point is close to the blade path and the extrusion is cut back so it doesn't need to moved when angled. The scale is off a bit while cutting angles but it returns to correct once you go back to 0 degrees, without recalibration.

I'd like to hear from anyone using an Incra 1000 SE or HD or the older version of this product about their experience with this issue (if it is one).

 

[Mario Turcot]

[member=608]Mark Katz[/member]

Question for all of you using the earlier version of this miter gauge or one of the Incra gauges. It seems that for all of these that the fence extrusion needs to be moved back whenever the angle is set to anything but o degrees to avoid cutting into the fence itself. To me, that means that a) the reading of the stop scale is meaningless when set at any angle other than 0, and b) the fence and stop scale need to be recalibrated once you return to 0.

Is my understanding correct? This seems like a considerable detriment to any of these similar miter gauges. The manual (online under the Manual tab on the web page) make no mention of moving the fence when making angled cuts.

For reference I've been using a Jointech Smart Miter for at least 15 years now. It has its problems (the flip stop is no longer robust and flexes too much, it's heavy and bulky, for example) but one of its design features is that the pivot point is close to the blade path and the extrusion is cut back so it doesn't need to moved when angled. The scale is off a bit while cutting angles but it returns to correct once you go back to 0 degrees, without recalibration.

I'd like to hear from anyone using an Incra 1000 SE or HD or the older version of this product about their experience with this issue (if it is one).

Mark, yes you have to move back the fence when moving from 0deg. However if you use a sacrificial fence you can do without moving it by extending the sub fence a bit longer 2" should do it and you should not have much flex. Regarding the scale for flip stop ref, I would never use the scale. In fact on my incra I dont and quite honestly I don't know why there is one. IMHO having a micro adjustment on the flip stop defeat the purpose of a scale.

 

[Mario Turcot]

Here a picture of my Incra Miter Gauge model 1000SE
[attachimg=1]
My Incra iBox
[attachimg=2]
Not used yet  [embarassed] but I like how it slide compare to the Miter Gauge. The Miter Gauge have more friction. Alum on iron cast, should I try waxing it?

 

[Mario Turcot]

[member=15289]Birdhunter[/member]

I watched the video and the new miter gauge does have some nice features my original lacks.

The flip up stop that accommodates a sacrificial fence would be great to have. Would the new stop fit onto my old unit?

I will call them tomorrow and let you know. I am also wondering if I can get a second flip stop since I didn't found any reference on their site for an extra flip stop. I have a few torsion boxes to make using cross half lap joint and it would be really handy.

 

[Birdhunter]

I use my original JessEm gauge on a SawStop Industrial Model. Any slightest contact between saw blade and anything conductive will trigger the safety cartridge to activate. You avoid body dismemberment but lose both saw blade ($150) and cartridge ($100). So being careful about clearance is critical.

I never use the supplied scale. I’ll usually use a ruler to get approximate setup, but fine tune with trial pieces. To me a “go by” is worth a hundred scales.

Setting an angle on the miter guard requires verifying cleasances.

 

[Mario Turcot]

I use my original JessEm gauge on a SawStop Industrial Model. Any slightest contact between saw blade and anything conductive will trigger the safety cartridge to activate. You avoid body dismemberment but lose both saw blade ($150) and cartridge ($100). So being careful about clearance is critical.

I never use the supplied scale. I’ll usually use a ruler to get approximate setup, but fine tune with trial pieces. To me a “go by” is worth a hundred scales.

Setting an angle on the miter guard requires verifying cleasances.

I believe you can overpass the saw stop safety. I don't know if it's a easy thing and how many steps it requires tho.

 

[Birdhunter]

It’s easier to just adjust a miter gauge or whatever to be out of contact with the blade guard and, certainly, the blade. On the old miter gauge that I have, I loosen two handles, adjust, and relighted the two handles.

I just don’t want to disable the saw’s safety feature.

 

[Mario Turcot]

Well, well, well!

I called JESSEM "Help Desk" at 9:15 AM and asked the two following questions:

Do the new Miter Gauge Flip Stop is available for sale separately?
Does it fit onto the original Miter Gauge?

"Help Desk" replied that she is going to get the answers and call me back in 30-45mins. At 11:20 AM I called back for my inquiry and again the "Help Desk" replied, I will get the answers and call you back in 10mins. It is 6:43 PM and no call yet!

I was that close to pull the trigger on the Miter Gauge  [mad]