Cross Cut Help

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:51 pm

First I want to say that I believe the best way to get accurate cross cuts is to get (build) an accurate cross cut sled. However, the principles (and the mistakes) are the same whether you use a miter guage (with an extension if necessary) or a cross cut sled.

Once I have completed all the alignments and want or need reassurance that my adjustments are as accurate as I need them to be, I do a test.

The five cut test. Following is a version of that test:

http://benchmark.20m.com/articles/TheFiveSidedCut/TheFiveSidedCut.html

You might want to browse around this site (benchmark.20m.com), you just might find several articles that are meaningful to you. No membership or login is required.

How accurate is accurate enough? For this there is no correct answer; you decide! The following string of posts should make that very apparent.

http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=3326269&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&vc=1

Happy reading.

johnm · Post by **johnm** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 2:02 pm

berry wrote:
I was interested in Pinkie’s comments about getting a new miter gauge. My gauge doesn’t, and never has, fit flush to the table. I called Customer Service years ago and they said the ‘feet’ were adjustable. Try as I might I never could get the feet to move. (It needs a very narrow slotted screw driver. I couldn’t turn the screw. I tried penetrating oil. I was afraid to attach a Vice-Grip to the screwdriver shaft to grain more torque for fear I’d break something.)

Can you go into more detail about why you purchased a new miter gauge or how the old one failed to perform?

Thanks to everyone for your observations. Happy Easter!

During my alignment session last weekend I got around to adjusting the "feet" in my miter gauge; when I got it, it rocked back and forth on the table (probably saw a lot of use in the last 50+ years). I used a narrow screw driver on the feet and they did move; they seem to be nylon screws. One thing I noticed is that on my circa-1955 miter gauge, the screw heads were located toward the top side of the miter gauge, not on the bottom as shown in the alignment instructions. You access the screw heads by going through the miter gauge lockdown screw holes on the top. After adjusting those feet, my gauge sits nice and flat on the table and feels very solid, not loose like it did before.

We'll see how this alignment worked out, once I take possession of my backordered saw guards...

berry · Post by **berry** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:42 pm

[quote="johnm"]I used a narrow screw driver on the feet and they did move]

John, you described my miter gauge exactly, except the feet don't move. Like yours, mine adjust from the top. When I get a screwdriver in side I can feel it slide into the slot - I just can't get it to turn? Maybe I'll give it another go this weekend with the vice grip. Worst that could happen would be to break off the head.

timster68 · Post by **timster68** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:16 pm

dusty wrote:First I want to say that I believe the best way to get accurate cross cuts is to get (build) an accurate cross cut sled. However, the principles (and the mistakes) are the same whether you use a miter guage (with an extension if necessary) or a cross cut sled.

Once I have completed all the alignments and want or need reassurance that my adjustments are as accurate as I need them to be, I do a test.

The five cut test. Following is a version of that test:

http://benchmark.20m.com/articles/TheFiveSidedCut/TheFiveSidedCut.html

You might want to browse around this site (benchmark.20m.com), you just might find several articles that are meaningful to you. No membership or login is required.

How accurate is accurate enough? For this there is no correct answer]http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthread ... =5&o=&vc=1[/URL]

Happy reading.

This would make a good shop tip since it would only take a few minutes to show.

johnm · Post by **johnm** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:23 pm

berry wrote:John, you described my miter gauge exactly, except the feet don't move. Like yours, mine adjust from the top. When I get a screwdriver in side I can feel it slide into the slot - I just can't get it to turn? Maybe I'll give it another go this weekend with the vice grip. Worst that could happen would be to break off the head.

You might call SS and see what they say. I think that they're just nylon screws, so they really shouldn't get bonded to the metal. On my exploded view for the miter guage they appear as a single part which is why I think they are just headless nylon screws. I thought I was going to strip the heads in the nylon, but I figured I had nothing to lose. They broke loose and moved. Once they broke loose they were relatively easy to turn. I can't imagine needing a vise-grip to move them.