importance of depth gauge on stanley 71

Re: importance of depth gauge on stanley 71

danielfisherin@cs.com

>I have not found the depth guage to be particularly helpful. You may be able to find one from Stanley. They carry and sell a lot of parts.

Re: importance of depth gauge on stanley 71

Tom MacGregor

>I have several router planes by different makers in various sizes. A Stanley is the only one with a depth gauge. I don't bother with the gauge. Depth isn't that hard to set or measure.

Re: importance of depth gauge on stanley 71

Warren in Lancaster, PA

>The so called depth gauge is a little misleading. It is used to limit the depth of cut not the final depth of the excavation. If you want to make an excavation 1/4" deep for example, you set the cutter 1/4 down and the depth gauge at just slightly less in order to limit the the thickness of shavings, then plane away until you reach your depth. If you don't have the gauge you must lower the cutter gradually (perhaps a dozen times) and plane each level.

A 3/8 rod will answer for a depth guage. If you just use the router to smooth the bottom of a dado or an excavation you made another way, you don't need the gauge.

Re: importance of depth gauge on stanley 71

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>I agree with Warren. Mostly, it's to limit tearout, like the mouth of a plane. I mostly use my routers for hinge mortises and for inlay banding, so the smoothness of the bottom of the cavity is relatively unimportant, since it will not be a finished surface. For other applications, like the field of a piecrust table, it may be important, however.

I'm sure Stanley still sells parts for the #71 (as do several old tool dealers), so if you get a good deal because the depth stop is missing, go for it.

thanks again, gentlemen!

frank_shic (walnut ck, ca)

>you've all just made my life a LOT easier! i've noticed that there are a TON of stanley 71's on ebay except that most of them are missing assorted cutters, depth gauges or fences. i'll just try to find a decent user with a cutter and not worry about the depth gauge or the fence. incidentally, i plan to be using it mostly to clean up dados as well as tenons.

71 parts from stanley

David Charters (Durham, NC)

>I bought a 71 on ebay dirt cheap because it did not have the cutters. Then I picked up 3 cutters from Stanley.

http://stores.stanleytools.com/Planes/Router%20Planes/12-071%20Router%20Plane/

I believe these are the parts needed although the pictures are wrong. The blades are $5.35 each. They have all the other parts too. It sure beats paying premium for a complete 71 on ebay.

Re: importance of depth gauge on stanley 71

George Makowski

>Frank, As you might remember, I posted below in answer to some of your questions about the Stanley #71 and the depth gauge. To recap, it has two functions: 1. it serves to hold the throat closing shoe below the arch of most #71's castings; 2. it serve as a depth gauge when reversed (small end down). So without the depth gauge or equivalent rod, you cannot hold the shoe in place or automatically check depths. The utility of the gauge or substitute rod depends on how often you would care to close the #71's throat or gauge depth with the plane.

Now, that said, it does not work like a depth gauge on a plow, fillister, or combination plane which stops you cutting further when you reach a certain depth. The #71 gauge simply shows you when you have cut to the depth you have set on the gauge, it is possible to cut deeper than the gauge is set.

For a detailed description see Planecraft.

NOTE: Be sure that you are getting all the thumbscrews needed with the plane (three counting the depth gauge and foot) they are 1/4x28, easy to find as machine screws, hard to fine as thumb screws.

Good routing!

George in AL

thanks again, george!

frank_shic (walnut ck, ca)

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