45 degree corners with wood

[williec30]

why is this so difficult? i assume it's a practice thing and i just haven't gotten to that point yet. my recent project is the collar for my keezer... even with a decent miter saw with a good blade attached, i still get a bit of deviation when i bring the corners together. they aren't horrible, but they aren't nearly as good as i would have hoped.

not too much to my process... set the saw at 45 degrees, line up the laser, and cut. is there a trick?

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

I'm with you man...I just cut and lived with the results. You can't tell at all.

 

[NewBrew75]

I've never used a laser miter saw. Does the laser account for the width of the blade? Make sure you are not cutting the saw blade's width off each end. Does the arm have play in it? If you're having problems, mark the wood very accuratley with a sharp pensil, line the blade up(forgetting the laser), hold the wood very steady and cut slowly. I can't think of any other obvious things you may be doing wrong. Bondo works great for little mess-ups. I used to make "fine" furniture, and we used it all the time for little things. Adjust the color to match your wood by using more or less hardener.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

A good mitre saw is the biggest thing.

A tip to try is backing the saw angle off half a degree (shallow). This way when you make the joints, the outer edge will match tight and you will have a slight gap on the inside of the joint. This gives you a bit of wiggle room while giving the outward a appearance a crisp look.

The other tip is to use heavy duty masking tape as your clamp. You can pull the tape VERY tight across the joint to tighten it together while gluing. Then use a band clamp to fully secure the joint while drying.

Others may have more tips....

:EDIT: How are you securing the work piece. Any wiggle will be very exaggerated when you make the joint.

 

[williec30]

A good mitre saw is the biggest thing.

A tip to try is backing the saw angle off half a degree (shallow). This way when you make the joints, the outer edge will match tight and you will have a slight gap on the inside of the joint. This gives you a bit of wiggle room while giving the outward a appearance a crisp look.

The other tip is to use heavy duty masking tape as your clamp. You can pull the tape VERY tight across the joint to tighten it together while gluing. Then use a band clamp to fully secure the joint while drying.

Others may have more tips....

:EDIT: How are you securing the work piece. Any wiggle will be very exaggerated when you make the joint.

thanks for the tips guys... i will try the masking tape and back off a degree like you suggest to see how that goes. as i understand it... the more teeth in the blade, the cleaner the cut... correct?

the miter saw i have has a clamp integrated to secure the wood while cutting. again, this may be a practice thing...

 

[Cape Brewing]

Another thing you might want to try is taking a square and checking how dead-on your saw is at 90 and 45 degrees. If your blade isn't at a perfect 90 degree angle to the base, you'll get a crappy cut regardless of what degree you set it at.

First make sure the blade is a perfect 90 degrees from the base and then set it to 45 degrees, lower the blade to the base (obviously with the saw OFF... hey.. ya never know) and then cehck it with the square and see if its actually a 45 degree cut.

i did a ton of finish work on my basement and all of my freakin' moldings were coming out horrible because I couldn't cut a clean 45... I finally check the blade both ways with the square and I was off just a hair on both, made slight adjustments and then was able to cut 'em perfect.

 

[Anthony_Lopez]

I worked in a cabinet and furniture shop for a long time. I can tell you a few things that may help. If you are using wood from places like Home Depot, Lowes, etc, there will be some significant "warp" in the wood. This will make the wood lie out of plane with your mitre saw. Also, some people don't support the non-cut end of the piece being cut, which makes the wood want to pivot up towards the blade.

Those are the two biggest mistakes I see people do.

 

[abracadabra]

Additionally stainable wood putty, a good belt sander to make micro adjustments and a piece of sacrifical wood under your work keeps the underside of your cut smooth rather than jagged, all go a long way. There no subsitute for practice and good woodworking equipment. As average priced equipment delivers average cuts.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Good point about the wood.... if it is from one of those stores it is likely not fully dry and conditioned. This leaves a significant amount of internal stress in the wood that will relieve when you cut it. Cabinet grade wood will have less of this problem. If it is a really nice project, it is best to condition the wood for a few months in the area the piece will be located (e.g., your living room).

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

The masking tape is also a good tool for avoiding knock-outs on delicate cuts. Wrap the whole area with masking tape and make your cut through the tape.

 

[TommyBoy]

Since you very rarely have exact 45 degree corners anywhere you should test cut the angles with scrap and test fit the cuts. Once you get the perfect fit move to the good wood with the same angles.

Trust me bro I've made bongs with less... (movie?)

 

[abracadabra]

Since you very rarely have exact 45 degree corners anywhere you should test cut the angles with scrap and test fit the cuts. Once you get the perfect fit move to the good wood with the same angles.

Trust me bro I've made bongs with less... (movie?)

Good point!

 

[Kass_Brauhaus]

I worked in a cabinet and furniture shop for a long time. I can tell you a few things that may help. If you are using wood from places like Home Depot, Lowes, etc, there will be some significant "warp" in the wood. This will make the wood lie out of plane with your mitre saw. Also, some people don't support the non-cut end of the piece being cut, which makes the wood want to pivot up towards the blade.

Those are the two biggest mistakes I see people do.

Home Depot wood is great for making wagon wheels--no bending required.

Anyway, I prefer to use a table saw when possible for the 45s (or any angle), because i can put my square up against the blade and set the guide directly. I can then set the fence at the first piece, and then every piece is duplicated. That and I don't have a miter saw...

Oh, and is the movie Half Baked?

 

[hopdog]

Another thing you might want to try is taking a square and checking how dead-on your saw is at 90 and 45 degrees. If your blade isn't at a perfect 90 degree angle to the base, you'll get a crappy cut regardless of what degree you set it at.

First make sure the blade is a perfect 90 degrees from the base and then set it to 45 degrees, lower the blade to the base (obviously with the saw OFF... hey.. ya never know) and then cehck it with the square and see if its actually a 45 degree cut.

i did a ton of finish work on my basement and all of my freakin' moldings were coming out horrible because I couldn't cut a clean 45... I finally check the blade both ways with the square and I was off just a hair on both, made slight adjustments and then was able to cut 'em perfect.

+1 definitely check the saw itself. I have seen brand new saws considerably off. They really should be adjusted first thing before each project.

 

[Coastarine]

I just made a keezer collar too, and I used a cheap plastic mitre box and hand saw. My corners are by no means perfect, but I'm really pleased with how it came out. I used heavy duty liquid nails and a 90 degree clamp. After cutting I did do a little filing and sanding to help things come together neatly. It might not look professional but I'm happy with it. I did go for some nice straight doug fir 1x4 since I only needed to buy two 8' pieces. I really might just have lower standards for this type of work than a lot of you guys.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Adjust your blade while it is resting with a 45 deg set square between fence and blade. Use a block plane for minor adjustments

 

[sigmund]

Adjust your blade while it is resting with a 45 deg set square between fence and blade.

Make sure the saw is off while doing this.:rockin:

 

[monty73741]

i find my circular saw makes better 90's then my miter saw

 

[pen25]

you need every painters magic helper. this is of course if your painting. for stains you need stainable putty.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uFL0U_LNIc]YouTube - How to Make the Perfect Miter Cut[/ame]

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Make sure the saw is off while doing this.:rockin:

Hehe! Yeah, that too. My post was a bit rushed as I was brewing at the time.

Don't futz with pieces of cardboard under the work piece like that guy in the video. He clearly does not like the metric system, and wants to reduce your ability to count to ten.

 

[BrewBeemer]

Try one of these saws, I picked one up at a professional picture frame studio as they purchased 3 brand new ones. This complete and working unit was free on craigslist I was 8 miles away. New price is $2544 before taxes and shipping.
The company wanted to buy mine back at $1,600 they pay the shipping. What a piece of quality machinery. Dead nuts made for one purpose, cuts up to 3" high by 4" wide with a 10 " carbide blade. It was a tax write off issue nothing wrong with my machine with every option plus the 48" long arms, exactly as in the picture below after you open it up.
I used it for the old door and window frames on a 1905 house that were rather large and elaborate moulding stock.

http://www.wdainc.com/catalogdetails.php?section=saws&itemindex=5

 

[sigmund]

Getting a good joint for mitred corners is really a combination of good tools, good wood and experience. Make sure your saw is set up correctly, your wood is as flat as possible, clamp it in place if you can, and make a few practice cuts before to check that everything is doing what you expect.

 

[Dadrick]

LOL, in the video he makes a point to use safety glasses. Look at where they are, laying next to the saw.

 

[lehr]

Have you checked to see how square the freezer is ?

 

[pjj2ba]

Here's another trick for good miters - particularly for if you are off a bit on the angle setting. First a geometry review. When you make an angled cut, the sum of the two angles produced is going to be 90 degrees. If it is 45 and 45, you are all set. Now say your cutoff saw is angled to the left, but is off by 1 degree. You cut one piece and the then second the same way and your miter will be off by a total of two degrees. Now if you make the first cut with the wood on the left side of the blade, but now make the cut on the second piece on the right side of the saw. This way your error on the one side (44) will be compensated by the error on the other side (46) to give you a proper fitting miter. You have to do a little more thinking if you want a particular side of the wood to show, as with molding. In this case, you have to make sure the good side is face down when making the cut on the second piece

crudely diagramed - imagine the plus sign in the saw blade

______/+ then _______/+ = must be spot on

______/ + then +/_______ = some room for error

 

[Reverend JC]

I just began construction on my bar last night and I must say with the power miter saw I have it worked like a champion. All corners fit perfect.

yeah, braggin i guess.