Cross-cutting multiple long pieces to the same length

[edflorence]

Today I came up with a question I would like to present to the group.

I am building a boot tray for my collection of outdoor footwear which is currently overrunning the entry way by the back door of the house. The tray is a rectangular box approximately 21 inches wide, 45 inches long and 4 inches deep. The corners will be mitered and reinforced with angled dowels. I ripped the pieces to the desired width and then cross-cut the 4 sides a little overlength. Then I tipped the table to 45 degrees and cross-cut a bevel on one end of all pieces. Next comes the interesting part:

Obviously, the opposite sides of the box need to each be exactly the same length. So, the question is - How would you cut the second bevel on each board and wind up with both long sides the same length and both short sides the same length?

The way I did it was to clamp both long pieces together, making sure the unbeveled ends were lined up, and then made a pencil mark across the edge of both of them; then I unclamped them and lined up the mark with the bottom edge of the saw table before making the cut. Then I did the same with both of the short pieces. The results were pretty good, but the method leaves some room for error, in my opinion. I would prefer some sort of fixed stop, which is the way I cross-cut equal length pieces when the table is not tipped.

Any ideas?

[BuckeyeDennis]

Are we limited to using a Shopsmith (excluding the Sawsmith radial arm saw)?

How thick are the workpieces?

[roy_okc]

If on SS only, tape the two boards together side by side, ensuring the already beveled ends line up exactly???

[rpd]

Clamp them together, and to the tilted table, side by each, and true the beveled ends up with the sanding disk (extend the quill).

[edflorence]

Buckeye Dennis - Yes, Shopsmith only. My Shopsmith is my "do everything" power tool. No room in the shop for a compound miter saw, but I have considered this miter box:
https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/nob ... ersaw.aspx

I could have cut the beveled ends with my circular saw, but that would not solve the issue of getting perfectly matched lengths.
The pieces are 3/4 inch thick.

roy-okc - That seems like it would work. It should be easy enough to line up the beveled ends with a square, but then the taped together pieces would have to be cut as one, and I have found that the wider the piece the more difficult it is to keep it snug against the miter gage during the cut. If there was a way to use the sliding cross-cut table for a bevel cut I would use it, as it works really well with wide pieces.

rpd - That seems like the way to go. The sanding disk would take care of any minor discrepancy in lengths between the two pieces. I think that should work perfectly.

Thanks, guys. Lots of good ideas and I think the question has been answered!

[chapmanruss]

This makes me wonder about something I have thought about using a Mark V 510, 520 or Mark 7. How long of a cut can be supported on the floating tables cutting a 45 degree angle? So I just went out and checked. I set up my Shopsmith Mark 7 to do a 45 degree bevel cut at the right end of the way tubes. I used my 5' connector tubes to put one floating table on the end at the floor and attached the fence. Additional floating table(s) can be used for support in the middle area or for placing the fence for a shorter cut but I left them off to just get the measurement. In this setup I can cut up to about 51" long beveled end boards. Of course this setup cannot be done with a 500 or 505. This may not help in your case as I noted you have Mark 5's of various vintages. For the 500 or 505 using a sliding crosscut table with the both boards clamped to it could work.

[JPG]

This makes me wonder about something I have thought about using a Mark V 510, 520 or Mark 7. How long of a cut can be supported on the floating tables cutting a 45 degree angle? So I just went out and checked. I set up my Shopsmith Mark 7 to do a 45 degree bevel cut at the right end of the way tubes. I used my 5' connector tubes to put one floating table on the end at the floor and attached the fence. Additional floating table(s) can be used for support in the middle area or for placing the fence for a shorter cut but I left them off to just get the measurement. In this setup I can cut up to about 51" long beveled end boards. Of course this setup cannot be done with a 500 or 505. This may not help in your case as I noted you have Mark 5's of various vintages. For the 500 or 505 using a sliding crosscut table with the both boards clamped to it could work.

Yep! Unless you need to lower the table for thick workpiece. If you do not believe that, ask the Knight of the Shopsmith!

[edflorence]

This makes me wonder about something I have thought about using a Mark V 510, 520 or Mark 7. How long of a cut can be supported on the floating tables cutting a 45 degree angle? I can cut up to about 51" long beveled end boards. Of course this setup cannot be done with a 500 or 505. This may not help in your case as I noted you have Mark 5's of various vintages. For the 500 or 505 using a sliding crosscut table with the both boards clamped to it could work.

Basically my machine is a 500 with an updated (50th Anniversary Edition) headstock and the upgraded fences, guards and extension table. I set the headstock all the way to the right end of the bed, tilted the table to 45 degrees and removed the extension table. In this configuration there was no problem with the length of the 45 inch board...in fact there was at least a foot to spare between the end of the board and the floor. A few years ago I measured the distance between blade and floor when in this set up and as I recall it was somewhere around 60 inches or so.

The floating tables sound like a good solution. If I understand your description, the full length of the workpiece would be supported and the fence with a stop block could be used to establish the cut length. No can do with the 500, however. Likewise, I know of no way to use the cross-cut table for a bevel cut...the outboard end of the cross-cut table has to be supported by the extension table which has to be in the same plane as the main table.

For bevels on shorter pieces I have thought about building a jig to hold the workpiece at the desired angle while leaving the blade vertical, but in practice I have found that the miter gage with stop rods takes care of these cuts in most cases.

[DLB]

I'm in the group that likes to make the final adjustment, especially on miters, using the disc sander. In this case (that 4" width) after the boards are cut you have the option of returning the table to square and using your miter gauge, preferred jig, or sliding table for the sanding. I'd probably try both methods and see which gave me the best joint, depending on the project, but I would expect the miter jig to give best results.

[garys]

I find it easy to do jobs like that using my handheld circular saw. Line up the finished ends of the boards on your sawhorses. Lay them side by side and clamp them together using pipe clamps or other long clamps. Then, clamp on a guide for the circular saw at the end you want cut and lop them all off at one pass. They will be as accurate as you can get.