Completely useless

As with most of the other reviews the four or five pins at each end of my gauge were so tightly gripped by the frame it was almost impossible for them to slide unless extreme force was applied. I took it back to my local Axminster store to swap for a better one. The other gauges on the shelf were exactly the same so I was given a refund. It's a shame because with more attention to the original design and construction this could be a good little gauge, but in fact it's useless.
If you read these reviews Axminster you really need to take heed and simply stop selling these. Just take them off your shelves and throw them away - they do you no favours to your reputation.

Don't buy

This item could be so good but mine was unusable. Hundreds of needles are held in a frame but the frame end pieces need to be accurately made & they're not, instead being made of folded metal causing the end few needles to be clamped firmly in position and completely unable to slide. Just one single "stuck" needle renders the tool useless as it can't be pressed onto the object whose profile you're trying to take. Mine was the ""best" of the 3 which were on the shop shelf. Also don't think you can just loosen the end screws a little to fix the problem, the screws don't clamp the flat plates down into the needles. If you try to take the gauge apart to modify it the hundreds of needles fall out and are virtually impossible to get back in again. I hope Axminster find a high precision alternative but until then please don't buy this item.

Needs tweak

Not 5 stars due to most of pins being EXTREMELY stiff. I loosened the bolts and the thing fell apart as with another review. I just put a small amount of oil inside the pin holder put back together and after moving the pins in and out a few times it works perfectly. Oil is now cleaned off.

Not really good

About ten pins on both sides were stuck. It doesnt help to remove them either so I had to cut them off.

Great and very useful

I got this tool to cut my base plates on the floor section of my new oak kitchen door. It works a treat. I then thought I would just put it back in a draw and that would be it but I use it every day on my lathe to get the perfect shape when copying other bits of wood.