andersonec
Established Member
Been there, done that, got the tee shirt. You will be struggling to cut perfect mitres on your table saw with just a mitre guide, remember you have eight pieces with 45deg angles if it is just one deg out then at the finish it will be a total of an eight deg error.
To do this on a table saw you will need to make a sled and when constructed, cut through the base with the blade at 45 deg, to get it exact you may need a little digital angle finder. when you have the slot cut in the base, the fence needs setting at exactly 90 deg to this slot, this can be fiddly but I used some off-cuts and an engineers square to get the cut square, the fence is held in place with a small screw from underneath for each trial cut.
I then fitted a toggle clamp to hold the work, two reasons, it keeps the hands away and stops the work from sliding when being cut at 45 deg, the blade will tend to pull the wood in the direction of the cut as it enters the wood at an angle.
With my little sled, I can now cut perfect mitres every time. But as others have said on here, don't forget the shooting board, they have been around longer than table saws.
To do this on a table saw you will need to make a sled and when constructed, cut through the base with the blade at 45 deg, to get it exact you may need a little digital angle finder. when you have the slot cut in the base, the fence needs setting at exactly 90 deg to this slot, this can be fiddly but I used some off-cuts and an engineers square to get the cut square, the fence is held in place with a small screw from underneath for each trial cut.
I then fitted a toggle clamp to hold the work, two reasons, it keeps the hands away and stops the work from sliding when being cut at 45 deg, the blade will tend to pull the wood in the direction of the cut as it enters the wood at an angle.
With my little sled, I can now cut perfect mitres every time. But as others have said on here, don't forget the shooting board, they have been around longer than table saws.
