Height Gauge

This is a small height gauge specifically designed for setting blade height for non-through cuts on a table saw or the height of a router bit.  Graduation lines are in increments of 1 mm and one-sixteenth inch for 25 mm and one inch respectively.  Five-mm marks are longer than units, and ten-mm marks longer still.  Similarly on the imperial side, lengths are progressive through sixteenths, eighths, quarters, and halves.  I did not make zero- and one-inch longer still; it looked weird when I tried it.  A standard body is provided for use with a table saw and a wide version is included for spanning a larger opening of a router base or router table.  The scale and bodies are matched in height, so holding the gauge over the blade or bit while raising it will push the scale up and thus reveal its measurement.  The photo shows an earlier version of the scale with graduations radiating out from the centre.  The current version has imperial graduations at the left edge and metric at the right.  Because the scale and bodies are the same height, measures are accurate when the target graduation mark is just below the body surface.  Out of view in the photo and OpenSCAD images, there is a hole that can be tapped 6 mm  or ¼-20 to add a cinch screw when the scale begins to loosen.

Printing is ordinary.  You may choose to “support everywhere” in printing the bodies so that the hole is supported.  Even that is not necessary since you will want to tap the hole at 6 mm or ¼-20.  The only special recommendation is to ask for a colour change when it reaches the graduations on the scale.  I used generic PLA with a .2 mm layer height for the bodies and .1 for the scale.  Everything was done with a 0.4 mm nozzle.  To avoid supports the bodies are printed upside-down.

Other than a little sanding to smooth the right and left lower edges of the scale, no post-processing is needed.

I included the OpenSCAD source files should you want to modify the gauge.