Features:

  • 12 inch measuring range is ideal for larger stationary planers and sanders
  • Remote display uses a standard 6 feet Cat 5E cable
  • Comes complete with all mounting hardware, drill bits, and detailed instructions
  • Simple to calibrate
  • AAA batteries for super long life
Makes my planer even better.

Great improvement over the scale on the planer. I was confused and had trouble understanding the directions for mounting the unit. No one has posted a Youtube video installing on a full size planer. Somehow, I found a suggestion to go to Wixey.Com and look at the photos. They have 12 photos of the unit mounted on a Powermatic 15HH (my planer). Then it became clear and I used rare earth magnets to position the magnet mount and scale. Then when in place, I used a center punch to make a dimple to start the supplied bit. The directions said to use a drop of oil on the screws, but I used the oil on the drill bit (the table and cabinet are pretty solid stuff). I used some tube wax to lub the mounting screws and they were a perfect fit. The directions instruct you to remove the spring. I couldn't figure out why until I had stretched it out of shape. So be sure to remove spring until you are ready to calibrate. I emailed Wixey.con and got an immediate reply. Mr. Wixey was gracious enough to say he would mail me a new spring at no charge. I had offered to pay for the new one. My first calibration was off by .04 compared to digital calipers. Mr. Wixey that should improve to .002 with the new spring. With accuracy that close, I don't really care, it is wood after all and sanding is alway required after fitting. I would buy again, I use dial calipers to determine board thickness then set planer to remove about 1/16. Update 1/1/2019, I have been using the Wixey for over one and a half years. Never had a problem with the accuracy, calibration, or disturbance from vibration. I can't imagine it being better and I never want to use my planer without it.

Wixey Remote Planer Readout Review

If your just running rough cut lumber through a planer to knock off the sawmills cut marks and thickness is not a concern, then this item is not necessary. But if you want to accurately dimension your boards so you can join them together for various woodworking projects, then this little gem is your ticket. I have found that if you need a board planned to a specific thickness to match other boards that were planned at another time, there is a lot of time spent adjusting, cutting and measuring as you zero in on that magic number and not to over cut. With this unit you just calibrate it using the thickness of the stock you want to match then as you surface your boards and get ready for the final pass, just set your planar cutting head using the Wixey Readout as your guide and out comes a board that should exactly match your existing stock. This unit was for my Powermatic 15" HH. The Scale Assembly is mounted using existing drilled and threaded holes on the side having the wheel for raising and lowering the cutter head. The readout was placed on top of the chip collection hood using Velcro tape for easy reading. A little care should be taken when mounting the Scale Assembly to make sure it is secure, aligned and has unrestricted movement. I did all of that and my unit works super.

Absolute must for a planer.

Awesome! I just bought a new 15" shop fox / Grizzly planer and after reading how many people liked their DRO I thought I would give it a try...The instructions and all the parts scared me at first. I drilled a couple holes and used the self tapping screws and to my surprise none of them stripped out and it installed awesome. The calibration is VERY VERY easy....all you do is plane a board, take a cut off the middle of the board..put it in the built in calibration device, zero it and you are done. It is making cuts to the .001 even though the gauge goes in .005 increments wood is kinda hard to measure at that tolerance so .005" is plenty accurate and like I said you can get it to .001" once you know how to finesse it. I wouldn't own another planer with out one of these. Now I'm just waiting for my byrd head :D

Another great product form Wixey

I know their are less expensive units on the market these days but you do get what you pay for. I have used Wixey products for years with good success and recommend them; This unit is no exception. I set it up on my new Jet 13" planner/moulder and it was a piece of cake. I was able to use one of the bolts on the outfield table for one bracket, two small holes in the base for the other. One existing screw on the right side cover took care of the control unit. The quality is impressive and the set up took only a few minutes. You can calibrate it with digital calipers or if you don't have them a provision has been made where you can use a piece of planed wood. Both are accurate and easy to do. Everything you need is included for the installation, but do read the instructions first and make sure you understand them, it will save you time. The digital indicator tells you exactly what you will get with no need to check...

Great readout gauge.

This is a very easy to use & versatile gauge that will fit on any large surface planer. I put mine on in about an hour & a half. The instructions were very easy to follow though they left out that you should measure your sample board thickness with a set of calipers to make sure the WR550 is calibrated correctly. The instructions mention using calipers but not what they are used for. No big deal, just a minute or 2 of head scratching.

Wixey WR550 HOMERUN!

I added the wixey wr550 to my new Powermatic 15HH planer. I couldn’t be more pleased so far with the results. The factory setting on the planer was very difficult to read. The wixey digital readout was extremely easy to install and so far is very accurate. Calibration was straightforward and simple. The wixey is about half price of the digital readout specifically made for the Powermatic. The Powermatic DRO also received negative reviews online. The wixey wr550 is a great addition to my Powermatic. I was hesitant after reading reviews on the Powermatic DRO, extremely happy I chose the wixey. The display cable also allows you to place the display in a convenient out of the way place.

Should have gotten it sooner.

Perfect addition to my PM15 planer. So much easier and more accurate than the included tape indicator. Install is easy enough if you're comfortable drilling holes in your planer but may take some trial and error to get it positioned just right. The calibration is straight forward and accurate. If you have a planer and don't have a digital readout, stop waiting and get this one, you won't regret it.

Works on Jet JJP12 Helical jointer/planer

Bought this for my Jet JJP12 combo jointer/planer but had some misgivings about how to attach it since the sides of the moving table are not accessible. Was able to attach the scale to the edge of the outfeed side of the machine body and the support arm to the outfeed end of the table without interfering with the stock when exiting the planer. Works exactly as advertised. Makes precision planning much easier. Very satisfactory.

Grizzly G0453

After the carbide insert upgrade over the three HSS blades, the Wixey gauge really completes the upgrades. It was very easy to install after you figure out in what order to install the "L" brackets to your machine so that you get a good fit and one that puts the unit close to the machines planer opening. I bought the 12" VS the 8" for ease of installation. Even though my machine only has 8 inches of travel, the 12" enabled me to fully install it to the base and this product comes with the remote readout. I installed the gauge on the right hand input side of the planer and the digital readout is right alongside the thickness wheel. Very easy to calibrate too!

Top Notch Accuracy

I really like this remote readout on my Powermatic planer. The original unit just quit and began to eat up batteries. Not having a digital readout on a planer is very sketchy when you have to rely on manually reading a scale because of parallax. This unit took me some time to figure out the best place to mount it but works awesomely with regard to repeatability and accuracy. I own several Wixey units and they are top notch.

Full Reviews