iGaging Snap Check Height Gauge for Woodworking Jointer/Router/Planar Blade

Great tool for checking the height of a table saw blade or a router bit. Easy to use.

This is a great tool for woodworking machine setup. The uses for are are virtually unlimited. I use it to set saw blade/ router bit heights, and, especially useful, for setting jointer blades. The spring loaded feature makes this superior to using a digital depth guage as the readout follows the blade while you adjust it up and down. Two features that, if added, would make this tool incredible, would be more negative travel, for measuring the depth of a mortise or dado, and for the display to appear on both sides of the gauge.

This is a good gauge and has the accuracy that I expected.Only four stars because you have to read it sideways and the magnets are only good if your working on a steel surface. If you do not have a steel surface you will have to hold it with one hand while making adjustments to a machine because it is very light. For example: I have a melamine surface for my router table and need two hands to adjust the bit height properly - the gauge will move or fall over. To overcome this I use a flat steel carpenter square to set the gauge on then slide it into position - this works great. So it works really good - you just have to steady it somehow if you need to free up your hands on a non-metal surface.

This is the greatest thing for setting router and saw depth/height with reasonable accuracy. It's not perfect (see below) but it's still hugely more accurate than setting with a machinists ruler and It is so inexpensive that there is no reason not to use one. It reads out in metric/inch decimal or inch fraction. One thing to note is that the body is plastic, so it has some flex to it depending on how you hold it to the work surface. If I hold it by the upper finger grip part of the handle I get quite a bit of flex, about +/- 5 thousandths. I've had the best luck just using two fingers pressing down on the lower part of the handle, this cuts the flex down to about +/- 1 thousandth. In truth, for woodworking depth of cut adjustments, either is fine, a few thousandths just isn't an issue. If I were using this for metal working, it might not be acceptable. The bottom line is that for the price, this thing is awesome.

I bought this to help set bit height on router bits and table saw blades. Although it seems perfectly accurate I have these problems with it:a. The flat handle that sits on the table top to set the "zero" height is so far away from the measuring piston that it will not work on my router. It does work for the table saw but that's it.b. The buttons to set zero, and measuring units (inches, meters etc.) are very small and the symbol on the display screen is even smaller. Hard for a fellow with big fingers and old eyes to see.c. The display screen is mounted vertically on the side of the measuring piston and impossible to read without turning your head at the same height as the screen. Very hard to read while adjusting the bit height with your other hand.All in all I probably should have bought a different model even if it cost more.

I do a lot of table routing and am in the final stages of making the 2nd of 2 quilt racks. I finished the first one last September for my daughter for her birthday and did not have this tool as you. Let me say that this has been invaluable in the finishing the 2nd rack. It is so easy to use and to be able to set the height Exactly correct time after time is a joy. Being able to set the height repeatably at an exact height has improved my accuracy and cut my setup time dramatically. So far, I've only used it on the router table, but i plan to use it with my table saw and other projects as I go along.

I'll start off by saying if you need accuracy that your life depends on, this product probably isn't for you. However, if within one or thousandths of an inch is fine, then go for it! It was ready to go right out of the box and came with a spare battery and screw. The magnets worked fantastic on my jointer table and it was very stable yet easy to move around while I was adjusting the blades. If I move the product drastically / quickly it seems to go out of zero by 1 or 2 thousandths (I'm banking off the fact my cast iron jointer table is perfectly flat) so I would rezero it between measurements frequently but it really wasn't that big of a deal - super easy to do. Jointer cuts perfectly after setting the blades with this - very pleased with it.

This made setting my jointer blades much more accurate. I also discovered my out feed table to be 1/100th of an inch tilted and was able to align it too.Someone else had suggested tapping a hole to hold the extra round tip. I did that too so it won’t get lost.Great value but probably not the tool for you if you intend daily use. It is plastic. For my occasional use it is a super value. Super!