45-degree angle has me stumped

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 9:46 pm

wa2crk wrote:JPG
He brought that up the last time I posted these pix. Less that .0015 run out.
Bill V

Like a bunch of 'entry level college courses' I took, the long way is learned first to gain understanding, then the easier methods are 'exposed'. Causes one to appreciate the easier approaches.

Same here!;)

chris jay · Post by **chris jay** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 9:09 am

wa2crk wrote:Hi Morgan
If you want to cut very accurate angles you may want to invest in some form of a digital angle gauge such as a Wixie. It can be used to check the angles of setups and also to tilt the table by resting the Wixie on the fence when you set the tilt. There other devices that can be used to set the miter gauge as well
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Bill V

Hey that's a nifty gadget. I never knew about that

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 9:36 am

teamtj wrote:My 12-year old daughter is making a clock (last plan in this book: http://www.amazon.com/Drilling-Project-Popular-Woodworking-ebook/dp/B005CP7SEE ) and I am helping her.

We need 45-degree angles and when I cut them (which was not easy to set up, in my opinion...I must be doing something wrong!) I put the cut-off and the good piece together hoping they will form a 90-degree angle, but they are not perfect.

I am attaching pictures of my table angle setup and one showing the error, circled in red.

Any advice on how to make the angles work or to correct what I may be doing wrong?

I do hope, Morgan, that you got this problem resolved satisfactorily. When it popped up today, I went back and reread the entire thread. We, as we often do, barely touched on what your problem was and how to solve it.

Cutting miters seems like it should be real easy but many small things are capable of really screwing up a miter joint. It is obvious that the miter gauge must be set accurately. I use the Wixie to do that. Remember, the miter gauge has 45° stops but they only work if they were set accurately.

This works real well. or this:

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What screws up my miter joints is even simpler. I often find that I allowed the stock to slip as I cut the miter. The solution is to clamp it to the face of the miter fence.

If you do a lot of these, you may want to consider a specialized jig.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 10:03 am

Also one advantage of having a shopsmith(according to the sales propaganda) is the ability to use the disk sander to sand angled cuts at the same 'preset' angle as when cut with the table saw.

A more useful ability is that of also sanding to length very accurately and having a very smooth gluing surface(my mind has not settled on whether that is good or bad).

The sanding eliminates the slippage when cutting issue creating irregularity.

teamtj · Post by **teamtj** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 10:28 am

dusty wrote:I do hope, Morgan, that you got this problem resolved satisfactorily.

We finally were able to spend some time in the shop (our garage) on Saturday and play with the stops and managed to get what appeared to be a perfect mitre, so we were super happy. Glad to learn of the ability to adjust those things!

As always, I certainly appreciate the help and insights from you guys on this forum. Thank you!

jmadden · Post by **jmadden** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 12:38 pm

Another way to cut 45 degree angles on this material is with the table flat and the miter gauge set to 45 degrees. To get the miter gauge set correctly, go to Office Depot and buy a plastic 45 degree drafting triangle. This can be used to set the angle between the blade and miter gauge pretty accurately.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 3:41 pm

We are all spoiled. If we need to do an alignment, the first thing we do is look for something that is known to be accurate. Items like square, digital angle indicators, dial indicators and triangles come to mind.

Is there a way to get your table saw all set up without having any of these. Suppose you have a Mark V, a miter gauge, a 12" steel rule and a rip fence and that you know the rip fence, miter gauge and Mark V table are all out of adjustment.

How would you go about getting set so that you can cut the 45° miters that are the original task in this thread?

Can it be done? Of course, you need and have a Shopsmith allen wrench and a set of open end wrenches.

davebodner · Post by **davebodner** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 5:45 pm

Why do I get the feeling Dusty is referring to the Pythagorean Theorem?

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 7:18 pm

davebodner wrote:Why do I get the feeling Dusty is referring to the Pythagorean Theorem?

I'se not sure how Pythagorus would help with a 45 degree miter.

Now √2 might help!;)

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Wed Nov 06, 2013 7:05 am

If I had to achieve a proper setup without the use of precision measuring devices, I would start by making sure that the miter tracks are parallel to the blade.

To eliminate the inherent variables of the Shopsmith Mark V, I would make sure that the quill is fully retracted and that all of the locks are secure.

Parallelism is easily verified. A few simple measurements from the blade to the edge of the miter track will confirm that. If the table has been properly aligned, the distance from the blade to the miter track will at all points be the same.

On my Mark V that measurement is 3 13/32".

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Because of all the variables involved, measurements on other Shopsmiths will vary slightly but if your table is properly adjusted, the measurements will at all points be equal.

To validate parallelism without doing a lot of tedious measurements, I made this simple jig.