Perfect Cross-Cuts?

[Dansmith]

You mentioned around 4 inches the cut starts going off .

How wide is the board you are trying to cut?

I went through the same thing and found out it was the square ,,,,{and},,,, my quill has just a small bit of play in it.

The miter gage slot wasn't square to the blade ,,,,,,even though,,,, my square said it was,,,, until I slid it across like described.

Try laying your square on the table against the miter gage and against the blade and sliding it across and see if it still has run off , if not and the board isn't reading square after cutting it ,,,the square may not be registering correctly .


I wouldn't dimple any thing ,maybe snug it up a tad bit but you might make it worse by smacking it with a punch.

Thanks, Hobbyman2. The boards vary from about 2 to 4 inches wide. When I use my combo square extended out about 4", I can fit an .008 feeler gauge under the end of my square rule.

To measure the miter slot to balde alignment, I am using a dial indicator mounted to a homemade miter bar set-up. I mark a spot on the blade, measure, and then rotate and measure at the same spot after sliding the indicator to the other end of the blade.

[Hobbyman2]

If your gage is reading that close then the only thing I can think of is the board may be drifting inward and touching the saw face,,,,,
.008 isn.t very much

Finish cuts on small projects are tough , I usually finish the final edge with the disc sander.
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homemade miter bar set-up
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Nice !!


Do you have a picture?

[Hobbyman2]

Dont give up ,,,,these guys are good at solving these issues.

[Hobbyman2]

When making cross cuts on my table saw I usually clamp a small piece of wood to the fence ,usually about 1 - 2 inches long , it doesn't have to be any thing special , slide the fence on the right side of the blade the miter gage is used on the left side of the blade , the block of wood is used only as a stop ,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzYgcWJKquQ

[masonsailor2]

Definitely build a sled. Far more accurate and safer. But the miter gauge has its uses. If you are getting inconsistencies then there are two main possibilities assuming everything is locked down. First as mentioned before is the board creeping as you make the cut. Aside from clamping it down which is not very practical one method is to glue a piece of 150 grit sandpaper to the face of the miter gauge. That really helps. A dull blade will also add to the creep as you make the cut. Next is the play in the fit of the miter bar to the slot. There is play of some sort in every miter bar to slot fit. Teach yourself to add slight pressure either clockwise or counter clockwise as you make the cut. Which direction is not important but doing it consistently the same direction is. Then adjust the miter bar to the cut. When you adjust the miter gauge to the blade also be consistent in the direction you add the slight torque to the miter gauge. This will compensate for any play in the miter bar fit. Hope this helps.
Paul

[Dansmith]

Thanks Paul and Hobbyman2. I will keep trying, and I also suspect it is "creep" caused by my technique. I will not give up. I am intent on making the "perfect" cross-cut.

[Sazerac81]

Hmmm, the search for the perfect square cut on the shopsmith. I have been through that search myself!

I have the Incra miter guage v120 for the shopsmith and it works great once squared off to the blade for a variety of angled cuts.

However, I am able to achieve the needed 90 degree square cuts with the normal shopsmith miter guage as well. It becomes a bit more of a hassle to achieve different angled cuts reliably using the normal shopsmith miter guage.

I have used a similar technique to you, but with some variation.

A couple of things.

Is the table perfectly perpendicular to the blade as guided by your square. Is the blade warped in any way? Is there excess vibration? Is the arbor shifting or slipping on the hub even a tad bit. With a cut being 1/16" out of square at times, that's pretty huge deviation on a 4" width cut so there seems to be major movement somewhere.

You can square the blade to the miter guage slots (I use a woodpecker saw guage dial indicator for this), but I have found that simply using a quality and dependable square (I use a woodpecker square Model 851) works well to square the miter guage to the blade. I just hold the square firmly against the miter guage and then gently lay the square flat across the blade (so there is no space between blade and square) and then secure the miter guage at that spot. That will usually yield a perfect square cut as long as there is no blade deflection, excessive machine vibration or run out issues from failing bearings. And if it doesn't then simply adjust to square based off of the angle of your cut by simply taking that same square and adjusting it slightly off the blade at the angle needed to correct to get square and reset the miter guage and just play with it until you've achieved square. Actually, it takes a little time, but it works for me. So, if for some reason square is not achieved by laying the square flat against the blade, then you'll need to adjust the miter guage one way or the other to achieve a square cut and it doesn't necessarily mean that the square will actually be perfectly square to the blade and miter guage. For some reason, as long as whatever is causing your cut to not be square is stable, you can achieve square cuts this way. If the anomaly is not stable, then you have to find out what the root issue is or you'll never get square cuts.

Cheers,
John

[Dansmith]

Thanks, John. I seek as close to "perfection" as I can.
I will keep seeking. Appreciate the tips.

[Hobbyman2]

just curious,,

I wonder how far off the dial indicator would read if you were to set the miter gage to a perfect cut and then use the indicator ?

[dusty]

We are beating around the bush again.

It has been said that the table (miter tracks)are parallel to the blade.

It has also been implied that the miter gauge is square to the blade.

Those being truisms, all one should need to do is hold a work piece firmly against the face of the miter gauge fence and perform a cross cut. That cut just made should be square to the surface that was against the miter gauge fence.

It has further been said that this can be done but NOT REPETITIVELY which means that something changes from cut to cut.

I sure wish that I could stand in the operators position at the table saw and grasp the two infeed corners of the table. In this position, LIGHTLY try to twist the table back and forth. There should be very, very little movement.

If I get movement, the first thing to do is check all the locks. If it can then be said that the locks are secure and the table and carriage do not move with that twisting action - my suspicions then move to the headstock and/or quill.

When trying to prove something of this nature I recommend utilizing clamps where ever appropriate. In this case "clamp the work piece tight;ly to the face of the miter gauge.