Woodpeckers Drill Press Pro Fence Flip Stops

[hdv]

So, today the Woodpeckers Drill Press Pro Fence and the flip stops that go with it arrived. I like that fence a lot! It does everything they promised. The dust port performed really well in the few tests I could do today.

However, the flip stops are not that spectacular. I added these flips stops to the fence because they feature a micro-adjust mechanism that could come in really handy. But, if you use it to offset the flip stop from the main body that is clamped to the fence, then the offset creates slop, causing the flip stop to wiggle. Mind you, not just a little, but significantly. I am talking millimetres here, not just 1 millimetre or fraction of it. That's not compatible with "micro-adjust" in my book. When you turn the set screw back again to get rid of the slop (and as a consequence forgoing the micro-adjust feature), then you have to take care and be subtle about it. If you don't, the flip stop will be hard to rotate. So, unless I find I am doing something wrong myself, these will function reasonably well as normal flip stops, but their unique selling point seems to be a bit of a let-down, I am sorry to say.

N.B. I am not trying to bash Woodpeckers here! I own many of their tools and am quite happy with them. Their customer service has been top-notch to me as well, when I needed it (sadly, all too often due to shipping problems). The above is just my personal observation.

 

[Tony from Pandora]

Have you contacted them about this issue?  Agreeing with you about their customer service, they may offer some insight.

 

[ChuckM]

I haven't had any experience with the WP fence stops, but others that I've tried including two high-end ones didn't give me what I expected: slop- or flex- free. The one on the Jessem miter gauge is good, but it is not long enough for my cross-cut sled.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

Have you contacted them about this issue?  Agreeing with you about their customer service, they may offer some insight.

FYI - I was looking at the WP DP-PRO system. One of the main reasons was the fence and adjustable flip-stops. After seeing two posts here about the large flex in the stops I contacted WP and asked them about this. They are aware of it and made some changes to make things tighter but admitted that if you use the adjustment feature the stop will flex to some degree. After looking into this seems many if not all long arm stops will have some flex in them.

 

[hdv]

Hmmmm...., no to be honest, I did not. I am feeling a bit uncomfortable to do so. Reason being I have contacted them already many many times about deliveries that had some issue or the other (broken acrylic disks, damaged aluminium, missing items, missing parts of items, empiric parts on metric tools, etc.). They have corrected each issue without any reservations each and every time, so to me they have proven amply they really do try to be the best they can. But after so many times I don't want to come over as being a nit-picker and hesitate to pester them about something that may not be a "defect" as such, but more me expecting too much.

What do people here think? Should I ask them about the flip stops?

 

[jeffinsgf]

HDV,

Never hesitate to get things to your satisfaction.

That said, I know that the project engineer is working diligently on a fix. I would live with what you have for now. As soon as the re-design is done, I'll probably post here or we'll do a mass e-mail. For now, just consider it a flip-stop without a micro-adjust. Hopefully we're talking about a matter of a few weeks to maybe a month.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

HDV,

Never hesitate to get things to your satisfaction.

That said, I know that the project engineer is working diligently on a fix. I would live with what you have for now. As soon as the re-design is done, I'll probably post here or we'll do a mass e-mail. For now, just consider it a flip-stop without a micro-adjust. Hopefully we're talking about a matter of a few weeks to maybe a month.

Great to hear - yes, please post here (or on your website) so those of us looking to purchase the system know when the fix is in place.

 

[Cheese]

I know that the project engineer is working diligently on a fix.

For now, just consider it a flip-stop without a micro-adjust.

That's good to hear Jeff, I'm very glad it's being addressed.  [smile]

And that's exactly how I plan to use mine for the interim.

 

[morts10n]

I bought a WP drill press package with extra basic flip stops....most of them required WAY too much force to flip them...poor quality for sure...the only WP item I thought was garbage.

 

[hdv]

[member=7266]jeffinsgf[/member] Thanks for the information and the encouragement. I know first-hand you guys do always make things right if something isn't as it should be. That's great service indeed! There's a lot of companies that could learn a thing or two from WP in that department. The quality and the service are the primary reasons I don't mind paying a premium price for your products.

If you guys manage to find a fix I'll be sure to get a new pair of flip stops, because the idea really does appeal to me. It would be even greater if an additional or replacement part could be designed to fix the short-coming in the current version of the flip stop for those that already did buy them. But that may not be easy/possible.

I'll wait for the announcement of the improved version.

 

[cperren]

[member=7266]jeffinsgf[/member]  - I'm an interested buyer once the kinks are worked out.  Please keep us updated.

-Chris 

 

[Bob D.]

I was considering upgrading my original WP DP table and fence, but sounds like I should hold off on the flip stops for now.

 

[Birdhunter]

I just installed the Rip Stop unit on my SawStop. The micro adjust stops are extremely solid. Are they different than those on the Pro Fence?

 

[jeffinsgf]

Completely different. I'm pretty confident in saying there's not one common component. Maybe a washer.

 

[cperren]

[member=7266]jeffinsgf[/member]

Any updates on the flip stops?  Although It appears the Woodpeckers Drill Press Pro Fences are back order.  Looks like a great fence - Just waiting on the fix on the flip stops.. 

thanks Chris