Adding a Wixey WR550 to a Powermatic 15HH

Unpacking the WR550

The unit was delivered via the U.S. Postal Service; bought and delivered from Washington to Florida in three days.  Reasonable enough in my estimation. 

Opened it up and found everything well packed; no dents, dings, or unexpected bends.  We're off to a good start.  I unpacked everything and took an inventory.  It was all there and it was all in good shape.  The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the size of the manual.  It's not a hit on Wixey, but an admission that I'm getting older...  The full 8.5" x 11" Wixey WR550 Manual can be downloaded as a .pdf. 

Overall, I was impressed with the way Wixey packaged this thing.  But, for what it's worth, opening the box was the easy part.  It was time to commit to putting this thing together and getting it on the planer.  Moving on...

Decisions - Front or back?

The planer sits up against the wall under the lumber rack.  It gets pulled out to feed stock as I need it.  Pretty much everything in my shop is on wheels, and as much as things get moved around in here, I figured the "safest" place to mount this thing was on the back side of the planer somewhere. 

I don't actually know that the planer has a "front" or "back" but I just consider the side with the height adjustment wheel to be the front, or driver's side as it were.  I mounted the scale on the back side, opposite the height adjustment wheel, and on the outfeed side; the side away from the switch.

The scary part - Drilling the holes

Safety first - unplug the planer!  I also removed the motor access panel on the planer to ensure that I wouldn't hit anything with the drill bit when I drilled through the cabinet.  All clear, so, on to the scary part.

First step was to just put it all together loosely and ensure it would mount the way I wanted it to.  My intentions were to mount the scale to the outfeed table on the planer and the L bracket for the sensor to the cabinet.  As soon as I was satisfied with the look and feel of the location, I took it all apart again and started marking the location of the holes to be drilled.

Low and slow drilling through the cast iron...  I aligned the top of the scale mounting bracket just below the top of the outfeed table.  Powermatic didn't machine the underside of the tables, and it was just dumb luck that I missed that rounded portion of the table's casting with the top hole.  Otherwise, I would still be there trying to get that hole finished.  Might make sure you check for that if you mount the Wixey on a Powermatic.  Finally got it drilled, mounted the scale, and snugged up the bolts so I could mark location of the L bracket holes.

Then I drilled the holes for the L bracket as it would mount to the cabinet.  This was pretty simple, but the paint and flatness of the steel make the bit want to wander a little.  Ensure you put a pretty good divot in it with a punch before you start drilling.

Mounting the scale and sensor

If there's a tricky part of the install, in my humble opinion, this is it.  While the manual is far superior to anything one might get with a Wal-Mart charcoal grill, it's not on par with say a Leigh D4 dovetail jig manual.  Still, it's adequate.  And while the manual mentions that the bracket holes are slotted for alignment of the scale to be perpendicular to the table, they don't really say why.  One might believe they are for "fair" adjustment.

The engineering of these brackets are pretty cool in that once the Wixey is mounted, they allow for adjustment in two different planes.  So, one needs to invoke a level of precision when drilling these holes.  Initially, I was tempted to drill the holes towards opposite ends of the slots.  My thinking was a perception of better mechanical strength.  However, if you drill the mounting holes such that they are offset to opposite ends of the slots, this thing will almost certainly not measure correctly, and you will be fairly screwed, or at least, drilling new holes.

The math of this thing is that if it's canted in one or more planes and not aligned correctly, perpendicular and/or parallel to its connection points, it's fair to assume that you will be setting the height of a hypotenuse instead of a line.  Error would be inherent, and the only setting that would be correct would be the height of the cal standard used during initial setup.

The fix is pretty simple.  While the mounting brackets cause the scale and sensor to stand away from the machine, and I wasn't able to reach out and "touch" it, I used a Starrett combo square as one would use a pair of winding sticks to ensure that the DRO was parallel to the planer's surfaces where it was mounted.  Just be aware of it.  I know I'll be checking the various jobs on mine with a Starrett caliper and tweaking it for the next few planing sessions to dial it in.

I'll be sending the link for this page to Wixey, and I'm hoping to get some feedback as to whether or not I'm correct. 

Update from Barry Wixey

I did indeed forward the link to this page to Wixey and asked for feedback on the math concerns.  While I was right about the scale being canted causing errors, it wasn't nearly as bad as I would have thought.  He responded thusly:

"I think we only make a slight mention to aligning the scale perpendicular to the table and we don’t say how to check it or how perpendicular it should be.  There should be an illustration showing a square being used for this.  Mathematically, if the scale is tilted off by 1 degree (which is quite easy to see and measure) the reading will be off by .002” over the 12” length."

So, in my case, with a Powermatic 15HH, which has a 9" opening, if I keep the alignment within 1°, the maximum error will be ≤.0015".  That is awesome!  So, just get a good, reliable square and align the scale so that it's perpendicular to the table, and you'll be fine.  Thanks to Mr. Barry Wixey for the explanation and quick response.

Mounting the indicator

The indicator comes with its own mounting bracket, and it's fine just the way it's supplied by Wixey.  I just didn't use it as is...  I had some lumber that is due to be milled in the near future setting on top of the planer's roller bars.  The planer's roller bars are handy if you have to take more than one pass to plane lumber down.  As it wasn't in my way, I didn't move it when I installed the scale.  But, when it came time to mount the readout, I noticed that it was most certainly in the way, and I didn't have a really good spot to mount the readout.  And truth be told, I wasn't crazy about drilling more holes in my planer.

The fix for me, and the way I wanted to be able to work, was to make about a 6" bracket out of some angle aluminum.  I drilled the holes to match the bracket supplied by Wixey, and then one more for the screw on the planer's switch bracket.  Worked like a charm.  I got a few extra inches of height for the readout over the planer's roller bars and didn't have to drill any more holes in the planer.

Calibrating the Wixey WR550

Calibrating the Wixey was pretty straight forward.  The manual did a great job of the task at hand, and walking through it was simple, quick, and accurate.

1/64" = 0.015625", or 15 thousandths of an inch.  When I compared the Wixey to a Starrett dial caliper, the Starrett indicated the cal standard was three or four thousandths fatter than the Wixey indicated.  However, in all fairness to Wixey, the manual clearly states that it's ± 2 thousandths before a fraction will be displayed.  A few thousandths could have been the way I was closing the gap when calibrating the Wixey, or a piece of saw dust, or who knows!  It's quite livable, and frankly, I'd rather it be a couple thou fat.  That way, I can tune a perfect fit with a hand plane.

Ultimately, I'm ecstatic with the performance of this thing.  It will make my life easier, and my projects better.  Happy planing!