Takes the whole idea one step further for me. Once you find that one cheap tool that fixes the cut, you start looking at every other step the same way. I had the same thing happen with a sharpening jig, then a cheap marking gauge. Each one is a couple bucks and each one shaves down the guesswork. The real lesson is that most of your bad results come from one small thing being off, not from you lacking skill. Fix the small thing and the rest falls in line.