Beveled Crosscut - Is this dangerous?!

[hopyard]

I need to make beveled crosscuts in some long stock (4ft) by 6inch. Im afraid that with the table tilted, the piece I cut off will fall into the blade and kick back.

Is there a better technique? I have done a search on the forum and also looked at the picture in the book: Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone. Pg 34 figure 3-8.

This appears to be the way to do it, although they are using the safety guard which I think I will set up for this before I attempt it.

[mrhart]

I believe the headstock has to be all the way to the right for a board of that length and I found no other way when I made that cut. But I wasn't as smart as you and asked first...
More experienced help will reply soon

[hopyard]

No. Not that smart.

I was happy that I figured one thing out though. If the miter guage is in the slot on the other side it will hit the blade during the cut. I remember seeing pictures of a miter guage with slices through it and now I know how they did it.

I do have the headstock all the way to the right. I think about 5 ft would be the maximum length board for this type of cut.

[derekdarling]

Not so far.. I do this often. HOWEVER!!!!! I stand far to the right, make sure everything is set up and tightly under control, nobody is in the 'line of fire', turn the motor on, then make one sure straight cut, and turn the motor off. Yes, it is a reach for the power switch, and I might consider making a remote for it, but if you use your brain as your primary safety device, you should be OK.

Having said that, a tilt-arbor is about the only thing I wish I had a separate machine for.

[dusty]

Yes, there is a potential hazard here. The cutoffs are above the blade and when they come loose (cut is complete), they will tend to slide down into the blade. If the blade gets hold of them they become a projectile.

I also recommend that you make a table insert to be used for this operation. The custom table insert reduces the gap between the blade and the table so that small pieces do do get pulled down by the blade.

Dangerous - no I don't think so as long as you understand the potentials and act accordingly.

Keep the cutoffs as small as you can so that if they do get kicked back they are not so capable of doing damage.

Nick did address this in a Sawdust Session and he built a jig that captures the cutoff so that it does not slide into the blade.

ADDED COMMENT: Depending on the size of your stock, you can move to the up side of the blade and the cutoffs will fall away from the blade. To do this, you will likely need to add a floating table on the up side. Word Of Caution: Too much weight will overcome the table tilt lock.

[algale]

Is there a better technique?

There is another technique but it requires you to build a jig. One can build a cross cut sled with a ramp that will hold the stock at 45 degrees (or any other desired angle).

Here is an example. http://shopsmith.net/forums/showthread. ... bevel+sled

[tdubnik]

I had to cut some bevels for a recent project and built a bevel sledto assist me in making these cuts. Pretty quick and simple to make but made the cutting much easier.

[foxtrapper]

Don't forget, you've got two miter tracks in that table. You can hold the piece on the uphill side, letting the cutoff just drop down away from the blade.

No, I'm not keen on doing this myself, just pointing it out as an option.

[heathicus]

You could put an extension fence on your miter gauge to push the cut off piece on past the blade and off the table

[fiatben]

As much as I love to use my SS for everything, there are times one must reconsider. Here's a few thoughts I've had as I've read thru this thread.

First, how many cuts do you need to make? Why do I ask? Because if it's only a few I would consider getting out my handsaws and planes. Even building a custom miter box is an option (could build the miter box on your SS). I like opportunities to practice my hand tool skills, but only as need arises.

Or possibly jigging up to use my circular saw. I tend to operate on the theory of moving whichever is the easiest of two objects; the wood or the tool. I would think it would be easy to mount the boards on a bench, strap down a guide, set the angle on a circular saw and cut away. Even if you have to clean the cuts a bit. In fact, you could do all the cuts at once if you lay out the boards side by side.

In my shop, I'd probably dig out the cheapie tablesaw I use onsite and use the tilt arbor feature.

I'm in total agreement with so many that I've read on here, that if I don't feel comfortable with it, it is unsafe. And I'm convinced there are many solutions for any given problem. (Exception to that would be this morning as I'm trying to find someplace local that rents linoleum rollers!)