Bit Fed Up

[sed9888]

I made a Mitre sled I followed it to the letter it certainly looks the part, I used it today and it was not good I expected it all to fit beautifully but alas it was out, I am very disappointed in myself, I suppose I need a reality check and buy something that works

 

[Rorton]

how far out was it? Have you seen the videos from William NG on YouTube, he is a genius at providing calculations on how to adjust fences on cross cut and mitre sleds so they are perfect,

Sometime, with a mitre sled, its made so that the 2 parts of the mitre form 90 degrees, but may not be square to the blade, so you have to do 1 cut on one side of the fence and another cut on the other to make sure each eventually makes 90 degrees.

if you put a square on your 90, is it square?

 

[Alex]

Hey don't feel bad, we've all been there before. Making jigs that actually work accurately and efficiently nearly always require final fettling if not MK 2 version. Looking at your pic. Looks a nice jig but not sure how you plan on using it. Angle sleds on table saws are cumbersome and only suited to short lengths and narrow widths.

 

[Alex]

Mitre saw is far better tool and safer in this instance as you're no doubt removing guarding to use said sled.

 

[Jameshow]

Have you checked your square is truly square?

Then your sliders are square,

Then your blade is square to your slots??

Cheers James

 

[Ttrees]

An all steel 150mm engineers square is only a tenner from Axi.
You'd be surprised on some of the traditional ones with a wooden stock , the blade on some aren't parallel, so another thing to watch out for which could catch you out!

Never caught me out thankfully, (I tell a big lie)
and came in very handy for when I was setting up my tablesaw NOT!

One step forward, two steps back as they say
What an absolute plonker I was for not getting one sooner.
FOR THE SAKE OF A BLOOMING TENNER!

Take a deep breath, and sthick on some Gerry

 

[Kinz]

I recently had cause to check all my squares, as part of building a tracksaw cutting station. To my horror, only 1 of the joinery squares was actually square, and all have been well treated. The smaller engineer squares are accurate, so it’s worth checking

 

[Jameshow]

Btw how can you be sure the square you checking with square?

Paper folded X2 should give a perfect square.

Is there an international Square somewhere which is absolutely square? !!!!!!

Cheers James

 

[smackie]

Btw how can you be sure the square you checking with square?

I was going to write something but this is pretty much what I do.

https://www.wonkeedonkeetools.co.uk...o-check-that-an-engineer-s-square-is-accurate
You need a straight edge to check against. Mark. Flip 180. Mark again. Should be absolutely dead on. If not, it’s not square....

 

[Amateur]

Btw how can you be sure the square you checking with square?

Paper folded X2 should give a perfect square.

Is there an international Square somewhere which is absolutely square? !!!!!!

Cheers James

From my apprenticeships days the answer is yes there is.
All tool room inspection areas, in general, carry a master set of slip gauges and square blocks.
The national physics laboratory if I remember correctly have the standards.
They have temperature control to ensure measuring equipment has the minimum contraction and expansion rates.
Generally speaking most manual checking tools like squares, slip gauges etc are graded for accuracy.
The more you pay the more accurate they are.
However this very high accuracy is generally not required for wood working.

And remember. Just one dropped try square onto a concrete floor is all that is needed to send it out of square.

 

[Ttrees]

Something like this maybe worth doing also.
Still took me some time to realise the carpenters square was out.
(no embarrassed emoji available)

Tom

 

[peter-harrison]

My favourite lame woodworker joke is "why are they called mitres?"
Because they mitre fit

 

[HamsterJam]

A triangle with sides 3, 4 and 5 units long also produces an accurate right angle. Need to make sure the measuring device you use to set it out is accurate though.

 

[pe2dave]

I keep a metal square safe and sound, when I start suspecting other devices, that comes
out to check against. My local cal tool?

 

[TheTiddles]

A triangle with sides 3, 4 and 5 units long also produces an accurate right angle. Need to make sure the measuring device you use to set it out is accurate though.

Nope, use dividers! That way you only need precision and it’s hard to not have precise dividers
Aidan

 

[HamsterJam]

Nope, use dividers! That way you only need precision and it’s hard to not have precise dividers
Aidan

Agreed, although there is probably a discussion to be had over the accuracy of a decent rule vs the care needed to repeatedly place dividers accurately.
In practice I would probably use the rule after checking it with dividers.

 

[TheTiddles]

Agreed, although there is probably a discussion to be had over the accuracy of a decent rule vs the care needed to repeatedly place dividers accurately.
In practice I would probably use the rule after checking it with dividers.

I suppose you could, I’d still go for a square most of the time, I think the last time I used the 3-4-5 method was squaring up a raised bed frame as I didn’t have one a couple of metres long. Using dividers is just the old fashioned way