Shopsmith Forums

Well, my wife handed me plans for a television stand for our new 65" tv.

Her design is a long, relatively narrow main carcass with drawers on the ends, and an open center all sitting on toe-kick type box.

The outer dimensions of the main carcass are 96" long by 17" high by 16" deep. No problem right? Well, here's where it gets tricky from a Shopsmith perspective: she wants the outside corners of the carcass (where the top meets the sides and the sides meet the bottom) all to be mitered, which means cross cutting 45 degree bevels on both ends of the top and bottom -- each of which is 8 feet long by 16" wide!

For reasons discussed many times on the Forum, that's not happening on the Shopsmith's tilting table because the work piece will simply be too long and will hit the floor (I measured and the maximum length for a bevel cross cut is about 5 feet in length; after than it hits the floor.

I suppose I could bevel some strips on the Shopsmith and attach them via biscuits or dowels to the ends of the top and bottom (think faux bread board ends but with a bevel on the outside edge), but that would give the top a butt joint a couple of inches from the end and would seems to defeat her desire for a clean, uninterrupted top surface.

Now would be the ideal time to own a huuge radial arm saw but I don't have the room for one. The only other power saw I've got is a basic circular saw. I could bevel the ends with it but even with a homemade guide, I'm doubtful of getting the kind of accuracy and clean cut needed to make a really tight bevel joint. Maybe I can finagle a Festool track saw out of this project !.

If anybody sees an easy and inexpensive solution to building this project to my wife's challenging (for a Shopsmith) specifications, please let me know.

Oh yeah, she also want all four front edges of the carcass to be beveled inward. That's a long rip bevel and something I feel pretty comfortable doing on the Shopsmith with my outfeed table.


Al

how about a 45° Chamfer router bit or a Lock Miter 45 Degree Glue Joint Router Bit
here is a set on e-bay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Set-of-3-Lock-M ... SwqYBWnci9
It would be a lot safer then tilting the table saw

I think the router bit would work, but how 'bout using the sanding disk and miter with the board supported by a stand or another SS? Bring the disk to the work. It would/should be accurate enough ....

Drop the table as low as it would go and work the table up as needed. A jig could be built to hold it in place....

rjent wrote:I think the router bit would work, but how 'bout using the sanding disk and miter with the board supported by a stand or another SS? Bring the disk to the work. It would/should be accurate enough ....

Drop the table as low as it would go and work the table up as needed. A jig could be built to hold it in place....

Still got to tilt the table to sand the 45 degree bevel. Work piece still too long.

There has to be a way to break it down to shorter lengths. Do you have a drawing to post?

How about a jig or fence that holds the board at the 45 degrees but the blade still at 90?

The best way to get a perfect edge for that kind of cut is a skil saw believe it or not. Get a new finish cut blade for your skil saw and then make a cut off shoe. It will only take a few minutes to make and the cut will be perfect. I use a piece of 1/4 ply for the base and 1/2" for the guide. But you can pretty much use anything. Since the shoe will have a nice clean edge it's easy to put it right on the line, clamp it and cut it off.
Paul

A hand plane and a shooting board.

rcplaneguy wrote:There has to be a way to break it down to shorter lengths. Do you have a drawing to post?

But she wants a single piece top! Otherwise I agree it could be made in smaller sections!

thunderbirdbat wrote:How about a jig or fence that holds the board at the 45 degrees but the blade still at 90?

At 8" feet long it's going to hit the ceiling on a 45 degree sled even with the table level.