Cutting miter joints can be an involved process that can take hours and practice to perfect. With a simple set up on a table saw, you can cut all of your joints quickly, efficiently, and accurately without having to worry about measuring cuts with the rip fence. After making all of your cuts, a quick assembly can be accomplished using a few tools. For this example we're going to make a simple cube.
Tools and Materials Required:
Six pieces of wood cut to the exterior dimensions of your cube
Scrap M.D.F. cut the length of your rip fence
Tablesaw
Brad gun
Bar clamps
Wood glue
Blue painters tape
Pencil
Tools and Materials Required:
Six pieces of wood cut to the exterior dimensions of your cube
Scrap M.D.F. cut the length of your rip fence
Tablesaw
Brad gun
Bar clamps
Wood glue
Blue painters tape
Pencil
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Signing UpStep 1: Setting Up the Fence
For a left tilt table saw, the fence needs to be placed to the left of the blade (do the exact opposite for a right tilt table saw). Attach the M.D.F. to the side of the fence facing the blade using the bar clamps. It is important that the clamps be positioned far enough apart so that they will not hit the blade, and high enough so that they will not interfere with your material.
Place one of your pieces of wood against the M.D.F. and draw a line at the top of your material.
Place one of your pieces of wood against the M.D.F. and draw a line at the top of your material.
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This method is nothing new, and has been used successfully by many woodworkers for a very long time. I build a lot of cabinets with non parallel walls and this is the best method for cutting miters on panels with no right angles. A router/shaper works but with slow feed rate and a lot of bit wear on large projects.
"putting the fence in the normal position away from the blade tilt"---this is a bit unclear: if the blade tilting away from the fence or toward it?
My take is that in many cases you can rough rip the material and cut it to size with the blade at your chosen angle and get it done without setting up a jig. If you are using smaller pieces leftover from another project, might not have to rough cut.
I guess my point is to avoid a special set-up unless you really need it.
Did the Allstate Mayhem man put you up to this or what?
Regardless, I don't care how good your saw is, it'll hurt when that waste kicks back...
Nothing in the workshop is worth getting hurt over.
Some method, technique, or setup which seems to do a good job, and usually does, only has to backfire on you once. Which is what prompted me to comment on this article in the first place.
I don't care how many times this works, all I care about is the one time it doesn't.
99% of the pieces that shoot out end up on the floor right in front of the saw. Watch out for that one in 100 though.............
Standing behind the table saw directly behind the blade is foolish no matter what the setup--always smarter to have your body on the opposite side of the blade from the fence. Absent a crosscut sled which would be a safer way to cut, this setup is safer than trying to crosscut the example pieces with the rip fence. ..........
The miter looks more closed on the outside if the saw is set a little more than 45 degrees to make sure the outsides meet up........
Sawstops only help avoid cutting your finger. You are totally on your own in Avoiding being impaled.
As long as you raise the sacrificial fence (as mentioned elsewhere here by me) and be mindful of where the blade is and where your hands are and don't let the blade penetrate the sacrificial fence higher than the thickness of your stock this is actually more like a "beginner ready to become an intermediate woodworker" technique.
You can even mark with vertical lines the two positions where the blade enters and exits the table. You can even colour the zone between the two lines yellow or red to remind you where danger may be lurking.
First, your stock has to be pretty close to perfect if you want the cube to come together without annoying gaps and misalignments. That means you've got to prepare your stock with dead square cuts cutting the pieces to as nearly identical width and height as you can manage. Even 1/64" difference in either dimension and finished cube will be noticeably out of whack and if the blade in the saw wasn't square you'll probably have wasted the stock as well.
Second, the piece of MDF covering the rip fence needs some preparation.
Since your stock coming out of the blade will be reduced in width you'll have to be very careful to maintain the stock parallel to the rip fence guide as it emerges from the blade. That's not going to be easy with the side emerging from the blade being unsupported by the fence.
If your blade is 1/8" thick the work piece will be about 3/16" off the fence and waste piece as it emerges from the cut. As you progress through the cut you'll have less and less material ahead of the blade, bearing on the fence, to keep the work piece properly aligned. Put a little more pressure on the edge of the stock away from the blade as you push it through the saw and you'll spoil the cut because there's not much to keep the stock aligned. The work piece will rotate a bit but enough to spoil the final fit.
A crosscut guide will keep the stock aligned provided the stock's not to big. Building up the rip fence cover to provide support past the blade would also work although that'll complicate making the cover.
A crosscut guide sled would work best but that's even more work then fixing up your rip fence attachment.
Perhaps you have better hand-eye coordination then I but I have a real problem keeping unsupported stock properly aligned.
As long as the point where the blade intersects the MDF sacrificial fence is at or lower than the stock thickness your stock will not alter dimensions. If that point is higher than your stock thickness then yes you will have a problem.
Imaging putting a mitre on a 3/4 inch thick 12 inch square piece of material and the point where the blade meets the MDF fence is only a 1/4 inch above the saw's table. You will end up with material that has whose thickness will have a 1/2 inch flat and a 1/4 inch mitre but it will still be 12 inches square.
This method, when accompanied by thought and due care, is much safer than many other methods I have seen people attempt. I know professional furniture makers with 30+ years experience who use this method without trouble.
With all due respect, your concern is appreciated, - but sheesh, really?
These Instructables aren't restricted in viewing to only experienced woodworkers (or any other trade), but anyone (including my kids!) could eventually find these and try it, possibly causing serious harm to themselves.
Once again, the readers are responsible for the adult supervision which is otherwise lacking on the website.
Next week, I'll show you how to trim your hedges with just an electric lawnmower!
Week after that, I'll show you how to remove the stitches without anesthetic.
That's easy. I remove stiches myself anytime I have them, never go back to the hospital to have them do it, just one more chance to get a highpowered hospital infection.
Now putting them in, that's another story...
It's easy, all you need is pointy scissors and tweezers, and it doesn't hurt, no anesthetic needed, take your scissors and cut the stiches, and take your tweezers, grab the knot and pull it out. It feels a little weird, but doesn't hurt.
Then you just put some tea trea oil on it, and keep it bandaged for the next few days.
Easy peasy.
There is alot of talk about the waste that shoots out in the direction of the operator, IMHO it really isn't an issue. It's the surprises that get you injured. When you know the waste piece is going to come out and where it's going to come from then you really dont have to worry, just be prepared. I would also like to add that folks who are not comfortable with this method of cutting miters, should not attempt it. Working in a shop always has inherent risks and everyone should take the proper precautions and work within thier skill level.
Thaks again for taking the time to create this IBLE