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The Rockler Precision Brass Setup Bars-Master Set are dead-on accurate, easy to use and will last longer than any of us can imagine. Click image to enlarge

Rockler Precision Brass Setup Bars-Master Set

Master craftsman accuracy for the home shop

Text, photos and video by Tom Hintz

Posted – 8-25-2015

The more accurate you can be when setting up machines and tools the better your chances are to produce clean fitting parts and ultimately better projects. Like many of you I have tried all sorts of measuring devices from retractable tapes to small combination squares and specialty rules. However, if you watch a true master craftsman set up a machine or tool the chances are high that you will see a set of setup bars. There simply is no faster more accurate way of measuring the height of something this side of stupid-expensive computerized measuring systems.

The Basics

The Rockler Precision Brass Setup Bars-Master Set (#51936) includes eleven, 2-1/2”-long solid brass bars that have been precision machined to an accuracy of +/- 0.005''. Each of the bars is laser etched with the bars fractional and decimal size so you can find the correct bar without having to find a conversion table.
The Rockler Precision Brass Setup Bars-Master Set comes in a hard plastic case with fitted foam inserts that hold the bars securely to prevent damage. Plus the cutouts in the liner show you instantly if one of the bars has not been put back in the case. They can’t help your setups if you leave them in a cabinet project.

All of the Rockler Precision Brass Setup Bars are about 2-1/2”-long with this set containing the following sizes, 1/8'', 3/16'', 1/4'', 5/16'', 3/8'', 7/16'', 1/2'', 9/16'', 5/8'', 11/16'', and 3/4''. All of these bars are precision made from square material so they can be stacked to produce exceedingly accurate dimensions over ¾”.

In the Shop

All of the bars are laser etched (left) with their decimal and fractional dimension. That marking makes it easy to sack bars (right) to get the dimensions you need over 3/4'. Click images to enlarge

All of us have to set cutter heights and all of us have had that process go bad and ruin a piece or two. Using anything with a scale to set a cutter height works against us getting it right unless we get our eye dead even with the scale graduation and the top of the cutter at the same time. Otherwise parallax insures some degree of error. There is a better way.

Using the Rockler Precision Brass Setup Bars-Master Set lets us literally feel our way to a perfect setup. Place a setup bar next to the cutter and lightly run your finger from the cutter to the bar. I stress running your finger lightly across the cutter to bar for a couple reasons. Unless you are just bent on injuring yourself applying pressure to your finger on a cutter is just goofy. Plus, when lightly moved between the cutter and bar you can feel remarkably fine differences that let you dial in a perfect setup. When you slide your finger across a perfectly set up cutter height there is no difference to feel. Remarkably simple and dead on accurate.

Another reason the Rockler Precision Brass Setup Bars are so accurate is that they are very stable on the working surface. Even when you stack them to achieve cutter heights over ¾” they do not tilt, lean or buckle. The height you get is correct if you stacked the right bars up.

It’s the simplicity of the Rockler Precision Brass Setup Bars-Master Set that makes them so accurate and easy to use. That easy to achieve accuracy is why setup bars have been around as long as there have been master craftsmen and machinists. The Rockler Precision Brass Setup Bars-Master Set are sized to work best in the woodworking shop without inflating the number of bars in the set or their overall lengths. That saves you storage space and money, both things of which we never seem to have enough.

Conclusions

Sometimes it can be hard to justify buying another tool but in the case of the Rockler Precision Brass Setup Bars-Master Set the only legitimate requirement is wanting to be as accurate as you can be. There just isn’t another type of setup tool that is this accurate, this easily. Even digital tools lose accuracy if you hold them anything but perfectly square to the cutter and surface.

Lightly running your finger from the bar to the bit tells you if there is any difference. You can be dead-on accurate in seconds with setup bars. Click image to enlarge	Video Tour

The street price of $59.99 per set (8-24-2015) isn’t insignificant but considering the speed at which your scrap pile will no longer grow this could be one of the better investments you have made in some time. That doesn’t take into account the time saved nor the frustration averted when cuts turn out at the wrong depth. Also as long as you don’t lose them the Rockler Precision Brass Setup Bars-Master Set will remain a functioning part of your shop for longer than any of us will be around. Leave your kids a quality setup tool!

See the Rockler Precision Brass Setup Bars-Master Set web page – Click Here

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