Big miters on a Shopsmith?

[benjamin]

I'm in the process of equipping a shop and fixing up a 35 year old Mark V as the centerpiece of woodworking machines. I've got dozens of cuts waiting for it to complete a workbench so I can get off the floor. Most of them are just cross cuts, but there are at least 24 miter cuts. On this job they're mostly 2x2 boards I know how to do on the Shopsmith by angling the workpiece to the blade. But I was thinking...

The last job I did took 10 miter cuts on the short edge of 2x12's. I did this by tilting the blade (bevel cuts) on a sliding compound miter saw I rented. A table saw could also do those cuts if I tilted the blade, but I would think that having a 16 foot 2x12 angled into the air off a tilted table would be rather precarious.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to do something like that on the Shopsmith?

For another example, the workbench I'm building next will have a 1x6 frame around the table-top surface. The corners will be beveled at 45 degrees. The Shopsmith doesn't have a practical depth of cut to do those cuts by angling the workpiece to the blade. I could tilt the table, but four of those cuts are on 10 foot boards. In this case, I could do it on a Mark V SPT bandsaw (if I had one), but the 12 inch pieces would probably put quite a bit of drag on a <1.8kW motor.

Should I put my shop floor on trunnions?

[charlese]

Are you serious? On a 35 year old Mark V? I don't have one of these machines, but many on the forum do. Maybe one of those folks will address your issue.

Here is how I would do it. I would cut you cross-cutting miters on a 2X12 that is a lot shorter - say 20 inches. Then using half lap joints, join up the rest of the 10 or 14 feet.

Also check out the most recent sawdust session from May 24th. It's titled "Ripping Bevels With A Tilted Table". http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/Sawdust_Sessions.htm

[a1gutterman]

Hi benjamin,
That is one of the few drawbacks of any tilting-table saw. If you could locate your Mark V on a loading dock or something similar (back of a pick-up truck, etc.), you could make that cut (without putting those trunnions under your floor ), otherwise, charlese's idea isn't half baked, er, I mean half bad. (Sorry, Chuck:D)

...Here is how I would do it. I would cut you cross-cutting miters on a 2X12 that is a lot shorter - say 20 inches. Then using half lap joints, join up the rest of the 10 or 14 feet...

[Bruce]

Do you have a circular saw? It seems to me you could cut several boards at once with a circular saw and a straightedge. If you don't have a circular saw, you need one. You'll use one often if you use any sheet materials (like plywood or mdf) just to break them down to manageable size pieces for the SS.

[brown_hawk]

Ben,

I'll go with Bruce and recommend the circular saw. That's the way I would do what you are proposing. Using saw horses, clamps and a straight edge, you should be able to cut all those pieces at once, withe the saw riding on the straight edge.

Just make sure to do test cut to insure that the saw is set at 45 degrees.

Hawk

[Ed in Tampa]

Interesting problem particularily for a tilting table saw.

However let us get real doing the same cut on a tilting arbor saw is going to be very difficult (near impossible) also, because of the problem of keeping the board square.

Cuts like this are best made on Radial arm saws, powered mitre saws, with a circular saw, or cut by hand.

You could also cut the boards to length and then mitre the boards with a chamfered router bit.

Or redesign the work bench not to need mitre's cut in 10 foot long boards.

When trying to crosscut, either straight or beveled, long boards with anything that requires moving the wood and keeping it straight and square is nearly impossible. That is why they make Radial arm saws, powered mitre saws, circular saws, and chamfered router bits.

And yes the "impossible" is made even harder on the SS because the table must be slanted.
Ed

[benjamin]

Those are some good ideas. I hadn't thought of using the router. It just occurred to me that what seems like it would be easy with a tilting arbor in this case, would be difficult with a tilting table. The bevel cuts can be done on a miter or radial arm saw, but at the expense of another tool.

I have another idea for a project in the which I want to rip long compound bevels on some pieces around 36" long. In this case, the SCMS and most radial arms saws won't do it, but I could do it with the Incra miter sled as demonstrated in the sawdust session mentioned (I saw that) if it were just a bit longer. Because the bevels are just a few degrees off zero, I need the sled to feed about 10 more inches than it's 25" capacity. Maybe I could do it with an Incra 2000 and an infeed table extension, but the Shopsmith brackets to use the floating tables for a feed extension won't help because those tables don't have a slot in them for the miter guage. Maybe a jig against the fence will do.

So help me understand. Cheap (<$2000) tilting arbor saws have been criticized for alignment problems which the Shopsmith doesn't feature. But the Shopsmith's tilting table's weakness is with bevels on long stock?

[solicitr]

Shopsmith's tilting table's weakness is with bevels on long stock?

Not really. if tou mean end bevels, then any tablesaw is going to be iffy at best. If you mean edge bevels, then the only real difficulty on the SS is providing outfeed support.

[foxtrapper]

There's just no way to keep a 16 foot long board square to the table. This is the wrong tool for the job. A hand held circular saw with a t-square would do a better job.

A miter saw or a radial arm saw are probably the best tools to use.

[jg300da]

A power miter saw and saw stand like the Dewalt 723 is the best alternative IMHO.