Shop Made Depth Gauge - Ver 2

glenn bradley

Member
Messages
11,514
Location
SoCal
I was doing some stepped passes on the router table and got tired of converting decimal to fractions in my head using my first version of this depth gauge. My first version was taken from a contributor to a tips article in one of the mags. It quickly became very valuable to me but I had always wanted a fractional one.

I picked up one of those 'off to the side' depth gauges with the magnetic base on sale awhile back with the intention of gutting it for the gauge. My primary use is for setting height on saw blades, dado stacks and router bit height/distance from fence measurements. An added benefit is the ability to zero from the last cut and measure off a distance from that to the next cut when stacking profiles using the same bit.

P.s. The little blob at the end of each gauge is where I have epoxied on a stainless washer to provide a larger bearing surface.
 

Attachments

  • depth-gauge-2-001.jpg
    depth-gauge-2-001.jpg
    106.6 KB · Views: 242
  • depth-gauge-2-003.jpg
    depth-gauge-2-003.jpg
    106.8 KB · Views: 190
Great job Glen, I've had one of these on my wish/to do list for a long time. You've inspired me to get started.

I found on the HF site that they have a fractional version of the CentTech caliper in your first one Here at only $9.99 I'm off to pick up a couple of them.
 
...I picked up one of those 'off to the side' depth gauges with the magnetic base on sale awhile back with the intention of gutting it for the gauge...

Glenn,
Where'd you get that guage?

I have one like your original - with the modified HF digital caliper in it - but I like the looks and functionality of your newer one better.
 
Glenn,
Where'd you get that guage?

Lee Valley sells it: http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=61612&cat=1,240,41064

And Peachtree has it too (item 3350): http://www.ptreeusa.com/layout_products.htm

I think I got mine from Peachtree for $30 on clearance. I guess they were getting rid of the silver ones as the ones they now have are black but otherwise appear the same. I don't actually remember, I was just watching for one at a decent price that was assembled with screws as opposed to the press fit that others use. The reason for the assembly preference is that I knew I was going to cannibalize it.

Even at $30 it seems a bit much but, I had used the first version enough to know this is something I would get my money's worth out of. If HF has fractional ones now, I wouldn't hesitate to use that. The version I have is metal which may actually be a negative as it makes it a bit top heavy.
 
Last edited:
If HF has fractional ones now, I wouldn't hesitate to use that. The version I have is metal which may actually be a negative as it makes it a bit top heavy.

I just got home from HF where I bought two of the Centech fractional ones, they were $11.99 in the store, but I took the printed ad page from the web site and got them for $9.99 each.
 
Here's my version, I wanted to have a little more capacity so I made it a little deeper.

I love making these little Jigs, helps to empty the scrap bin!

I think this is going to be very handy! Thanks for the inspiration Glen! :thumb:
 

Attachments

  • Gauge.01.jpg
    Gauge.01.jpg
    135.3 KB · Views: 59
  • Gauge.02.jpg
    Gauge.02.jpg
    134.4 KB · Views: 60
  • Gauge.03.jpg
    Gauge.03.jpg
    113.7 KB · Views: 71
  • Gauge.04.jpg
    Gauge.04.jpg
    149.8 KB · Views: 62
Top