Wixey WR-550 DRO upgrade on 15HH planer

[Aram]

Hi all,

I asked about depth readout for my planer in another thread, and ended up with the Wixey WR-550. I would say it looks like a great purchase, and for less money than I had expected.

I mounted it this way on my Powermatic 15HH. 


Installation was easy. Most of the time was spent decoding the so-called instructions. (The section on calibration was very clear, though). The kit comes with self-tapping screws. Not on my shift!

I drilled and tapped the side of the planer bed, and bolted the top to it securely.


On the bottom, through holes, bolts/washers/lock washers/nuts, through the sheet metal.



The remote readout is very nice. It's not obvious from the photo, but it swivels up and down. I appreciate the display of fractions as well as the decimal value. By the way, this particular reading is from right after I calibrated it. The method is easy: you plane a piece of wood, stick it in between a couple of tabs on a moving part of the gauge, set zero, remove the wood, push the tabs together, press a button, and blammo. Instant calibration. Reading here says 0.405". My calipers had the wood at a couple thou less. Very nice.



Just to check, I dialed in the planer to a bigger depth, planed a board, and checked the DRO reading against actual thickness. Similar accuracy as before. Looks good to me.

[barryvabeach]

You don't need it every time you run something through the planer, but often it is great to have the readout when you have to go back and make another piece the same dimension.

[paul2004]

Nice install.
I had the original version of the Wixey planer readout, which had a "nut" welded on the bottom, which eventually broke. This looks like a better design.

[Aram]

You don't need it every time you run something through the planer, but often it is great to have the readout when you have to go back and make another piece the same dimension.

Exactly why I bought it!

Er... I mean hypothetically. If i ever didn't mill enough wood, or did but messed some of it up.

[fredhargis]

Turned out really nice. I agree the remote readout is very nice, I had put the other model (WR510?) on my Delta and it took quite a bit of impropvising. I don't think this one was available back when I bought mine or I would have got the 550 instead. Very nice.

[stav]

Nice way to remove the guess work in planing.

[cpolubin]

I have that on my Hammer A3 31 and it's great. Occasionally it would be a hundredth or so off from my calipers when I recalibrated it. Not enough to make a difference but I tend to be anal retentive at times. Then I discovered that you can set the gauge manually. Put it in calibration mode and use the up and down buttons to set the reading. I'm guessing that most of you know this but for those who didn't read all of the manual.

Cliff

[kurt18947]

I have that on my Hammer A3 31 and it's great. Occasionally it would be a hundredth or so off from my calipers when I recalibrated it. Not enough to make a difference but I tend to be anal retentive at times. Then I discovered that you can set the gauge manually. Put it in calibration mode and use the up and down buttons to set the reading. I'm guessing that most of you know this but for those who didn't read all of the manual.

Cliff

That's a handy feature. I have a different brand and it took a bit to figure out the mounting and calibration.

[jgt1942nc]

I have that on my Hammer A3 31 and it's great. Occasionally it would be a hundredth or so off from my calipers when I recalibrated it. Not enough to make a difference but I tend to be anal retentive at times. Then I discovered that you can set the gauge manually. Put it in calibration mode and use the up and down buttons to set the reading. I'm guessing that most of you know this but for those who didn't read all of the manual.

Cliff

Cliff, I'd like to put the Wr-550 on my A3-31, can you please post a picture and any installation advice. Thanks, John

[Aram]

You don't need it every time you run something through the planer, but often it is great to have the readout when you have to go back and make another piece the same dimension.

One more use: loose tenon stock