Milwaukee router edge guide

[Cheese]

What makes the micro fence worth 10x the price of the manuf.'s standard offering ?  [scratch chin]

On the left for $72 you get bent sheet metal, plastic brackets, a threaded bolt and no way to measure or set the distance.

On the right for $199 you get machined aluminum that's black anodized, machined stainless, machined brass and a scale graduated in .001".  [poke]

 

[nickao]

The micro fence is the best unit on the market and has been for years.

I have made some upgrades on mine that I wish the manufacture would implement, still for certain straight work and especially circle work I have found nothing better . 

I actually have 5 Micro fence set ups, three are circle jig set ups, the other two for edge guide.

The micro jigs really shine with matching radii or laying strips of wood in different dado widths.

The micro fence is more like a metal machine shop type tool made for wood. Most other  edge guides on the market are designed for wood in a sense the manufacturer do not seem to think woodworkers need the machine shop precision from the start.

The Micro fence edge guide and specially Circle jig changed the way I work in my shop as much as using Festool Plug it and dust collection has.

 

[antss]

What makes the micro fence worth 10x the price of the manuf.'s standard offering ?  [scratch chin]

On the left for $72 you get bent sheet metal, plastic brackets, a threaded bolt, a threaded nut and no way to measure distance.

On the right for $199 you get machined aluminum black anodized, machined stainless, machined brass and a scale graduated in .001".  [poke]

I can see how micro is more expensive, but I still don't see where stainless rods are 10x better than anodized ones, nor that the machine block is 10x better than a stamped one.  Both are going to outlast my career.  Aside from the craftsmanship in the micro jig I just don't see it being 10x more functional. For the collector, sure it's waaaaay more stylish, but I still fail to recognize 10x more value.

For the record I think FT's is really worth what they're charging, but I've yet to find a alternative that's cheaper or even a better value.

 

[nickao]

IMHO and for me personally the Micro fence is way more functional.

Measure a router bit with a caliper and use that measurement to dial in the Micro Fence jig to mate parts(I use .003) perfectly in seconds. I can't do that with anything else right now. Maybe others can do that with cheaper jigs, but for me the Micro Fence makes simple work of operations like that so for me so their jigs are worth every dime. Some their accessorizes are really expensive, but they are a smaller company and if I can pay Festool I can pay them.

I can make 3 inlays say 36.2", 42.3", 48.4" in diameter using the Micro Fence circle jig. Now say I need to make a perfect pocket for those to be glued into. All I have to do is turn the dial on the Micro Fence Jig exactly the offset amount needed based on the bit measurement. No messing around, it's a PERFECT every time.

That is 10 times more functional in my opinion, for me. I have not found any other jig that is accurate and more importantly precise enough to do that over and over again 20 times a week like I have to. The jig quality enables it to have accuracy and to hold it's precision.

I am frugal, if anything cheaper worked like that I would be using it. The Micro fence stuff is the closest I have ever used that is near as good as my CNC machines. I actually use the Micro Fence stuff instead of turning on my CNC quite often because its just faster in the end.

Yeah, I drank the Micro Fence Kool aid, but for years I struggled. Using their stuff makes my life so much easier in the shop I will be hard to convince their equipment isn't worth the money. Heck, ONE JOB paid of all 5 of the jigs. And I have one set I think must be near 15 years old and it still works like new.