The Woodturning Forum - Woodturner's Resource - Digital Protractor is great for cutting segments

David Muehlbauer

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Digital Protractor is great for cutting segments
Sep 30^th, 2016 at 5:45pm

I'm fairly new to woodturning and segmented bowls. I recently purchased a Digital Protractor to try to increase the accuracy of cutting and sanding my segments. It works great! My rings are much more round and consistent since I started using it. I bought mine for about $20 on eBay, but you can also find one at Home Depot (and probably other places). I use mine to both set my miter saw and disc sander positions, and to check the angle on the segments.

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« Last Edit: Oct 1^st, 2016 at 11:21am by David Muehlbauer »

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Ron Sardo WR Administrator WR Patron Offline Chief cook and bottle washer Posts: 9,711 Drums Pennsylvania USA	Re: Digital Protractor is great for cutting segments Reply #1 - Oct 1^st, 2016 at 8:20am Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!! You need to or
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Ed Weber

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Re: Digital Protractor is great for cutting segments
Reply #2 - Oct 1^st, 2016 at 9:31am

I have the same model. (I like it)
I originally started with a Wixey and it never was comfortable to work wth. It always felt clumsy to me. When I-Gaging came out with theirs, I waited a while before I bought one thinking it's probably not much different and I'll probably be disappointed again, I was wrong.

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Bruce Kamp

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Re: Digital Protractor is great for cutting segments
Reply #3 - Oct 21^st, 2016 at 11:24am

I have found that these are not accurate enough for segments. At least not as accurate as the wedgie sled wedges. I have two of them and have tried to set the fences on my wedgie sled with them in an attempt to get odd size segments and I just have not been able to set them accurately enough with the digital protractor. I always had to do the half-ring thing to get a perfect circle. They seem to not be off by much but enough to cause me trouble. I am sure others have figured out how to use them and make them work but I haven't been able to yet.

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Ed Weber WR Administrator WR Patron Offline Posts: 8,997 Wilton California USA Gender:	Re: Digital Protractor is great for cutting segments Reply #4 - Oct 21^st, 2016 at 12:42pm Bruce Kamp wrote on Oct 21^st, 2016 at 11:24am: I have found that these are not accurate enough for segments. At least not as accurate as the wedgie sled wedges. Have you referenced (compared) your digital protractor to your "wedgie' templates? I am curious to hear how much it is off by
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Ron Sardo WR Administrator WR Patron Offline Chief cook and bottle washer Posts: 9,711 Drums Pennsylvania USA	Re: Digital Protractor is great for cutting segments Reply #5 - Oct 21^st, 2016 at 3:36pm Bruce Kamp wrote on Oct 21^st, 2016 at 11:24am: I have found that these are not accurate enough for segments I'm guessing different brands are more accurate than others. The one I have is dead on. I paid $20-30 from HF about 8-10 years ago.
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Ed Weber WR Administrator WR Patron Offline Posts: 8,997 Wilton California USA Gender:	Re: Digital Protractor is great for cutting segments Reply #6 - Oct 21^st, 2016 at 4:57pm If you check their site, they only claim + or - 0.3 I know mine isn't perfect but it's not off that much. If I have to, I use a fixed jig or reference of some kind, like setup blocks.
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Bruce Kamp

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Re: Digital Protractor is great for cutting segments
Reply #7 - Oct 21^st, 2016 at 6:35pm

Ed,
Yes I have. I have both a Husky and a Wixey digital protractor. One problem right off for me was the fact that they only go to 1/10th of a degree. So for a 16 segment ring, as an example, I need to set each fence to 11.25 degrees. I couldn't do that with confidence that I was exactly half way between 11 degrees and 11.5 degrees.
To the actual question as to how they measure up to the wedgies themselves. I found them to be off of the stated angle by anywhere from .05 degres to .25 degree depending on the particular wedge I was checking against. That doesn't sound like much but when I have tried to set the fences using the digital protractors it seems to multiply out enough to cause a problem.
This assumes also that the wedgies themselves are cut accurately. The only thing I have to go on is that they seem to work great when I use them to cut segments. I do have to make sure that I have them set tight into the fences. Sometimes I haven't and, boy, did I pay for it. lost some good wood in the process.

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Ed Weber WR Administrator WR Patron Offline Posts: 8,997 Wilton California USA Gender:	Re: Digital Protractor is great for cutting segments Reply #8 - Oct 21^st, 2016 at 6:59pm Any amount is too much. I like mine for basic (carpentry) layout but started to encounter the same issues as you with finer quality work. While I like it better than the wixey, the accuracy is still an issue. If you can't rely on it, it's no good
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David Muehlbauer

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Re: Digital Protractor is great for cutting segments
Reply #9 - Oct 23^rd, 2016 at 1:07pm

FYI ... my digital protractor can read 11.25°

In addition to checking the setting for my miter saw and disc sander, I check the angle on a few test wedges and make sure it is correct (i.e., 30.0° for a 12 segment ring). My half-rings are nearly perfect. A very light sanding touch is all that is required.

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Ed Weber WR Administrator WR Patron Offline Posts: 8,997 Wilton California USA Gender:	Re: Digital Protractor is great for cutting segments Reply #10 - Oct 23^rd, 2016 at 2:45pm My gauge (same as in photo) is 'off" approximately 0.10 - 0.15 degrees. As I mentioned above the manufacturer only claims that they are within plus or minus 0.30 degrees. I'll not be purchasing another unit until the tolerances are much better, I'll stick to a solid reference block or angle. JMO
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Chris Neilan WR Addict Offline OUCH! Posts: 1,009 Waterford Connecticut USA Gender:	Re: Digital Protractor is great for cutting segments Reply #11 - Oct 23^rd, 2016 at 6:43pm I went the digital protractor way. Was not happy. Went to the wedgie sled method. Made a 181 piece vase with perfect full ring glue ups. Won't be going back.
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Bert Delisle

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Re: Digital Protractor is great for cutting segments
Reply #12 - Oct 23^rd, 2016 at 10:04pm

I had made some wedges for my wedgie sled using a CNC router table. First set wasn't good, found out that the angles were off. Went back and drew wedges with angles to three decimal places. My new wedges are excellent. I made some wedges to do rings with odd numbered segments. Perfect circles every time. My digital unit is history battery died and I won't be replacing them.

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Jack Tyree

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Re: Digital Protractor is great for cutting segments
Reply #13 - Dec 24^th, 2021 at 10:49pm

I have a Wixey and have used the to check the Segeasy wedges and it reads dead on, but I still don't trust it 100% mainly because they don't lock. This makes it impossible to use to set or make sleds or fences, etc., as far as I'm concerned.
I'm new to segmented turning, and took great care making my first wedgie sled and it works perfectly. No fudging, fussing or sanding needed.

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David Muehlbauer

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Re: Digital Protractor is great for cutting segments
Reply #14 - Dec 25^th, 2021 at 10:46am

So, five years after my original post I stand corrected. I switched a couple years ago to a Wedgie Sled and that process is considerably more accurate. The digital protractor still comes in handy on occasion, but the CAD cut wedgies are just plain perfect. And not having to sand or do half-rings saves time.

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