# Home made Height Gauge



## johnnie52 (Feb 16, 2009)

Look Ma, He's doing it again!

This time its a home made height gauge that I tossed together using left overs from the Alternative Method Challenge. Its simple to make. Just a piece of scrap hardwood, a piece of clear plastic, flat head machine screw, washer, wing nut, and a scale.

It can be used to gauge the blade height when making non-thru cuts at the table saw, setting the bit height and/or fence position at the router table. It comes in real handy at the table saw for setting the height of a dado stack when plowing out dados.

The lower photo shows the entire gauge. Pretty simple actually.


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## mdntrdr (Dec 22, 2009)

Very cool! :thumbsup:


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

Nice job Johnnie. That will definitely come in handy while you're working. Great job.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

johnnie52 said:


> The lower photo shows the entire gauge. Pretty simple actually.


It may appear simple, but it took some clever thinking and planning. Nice work.












 







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## mackem (May 20, 2007)

Neat idea Johnnie, thanks for showing/sharing. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Very good idea. I may have to "borrow" the idea for one of my own if you don't mind.


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## Brink (Nov 22, 2010)

Simple! It's perfect. If the plexi gets damaged, replace it. Can't damage cutters. Great idea.


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## johnnie52 (Feb 16, 2009)

Chaincarver Steve said:


> Very good idea. I may have to "borrow" the idea for one of my own if you don't mind.


Be my quest. Be aware that what the photo does not show is the 1/4" dado that goes into the wood at the left and allows the plastic to be captured in a groove that keeps it straight and aligned with the scale at that gauge mark. I made that simply by making two cuts side by side with an 1/8" kerf blade at the table saw. One cut at a point 3/8" from the inside edge and another at 1/4. Then cut the piece off the remains on the outside of the wood. Be sure to drill for the bolt before making the cuts. I also made a shallow dado for the scale to sit in so the plastic would not be scraping the scale.


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