Mitre trimmer advice please

[motownmartin]

Could anyone tell me whether or not I can cut some small pieces of wood, lets say 3mm x 5mm x 10mm, on a mitre trimmer without splitting or distorting the said pieces.

One thing I don't want to do is fork out £150 on a trimmer that may not do the job I want it to do, any advice gratefully received.

I suppose the question would be, how would you cut small pieces such as this.

 

[JonnyD]

With a mitre trimmer you would usually rough cut and then trim up with the trimmer so you will have problems holding the stock with the blade so close to your fingers.

Something like this may be suitable

http://www.diytools.co.uk/diy/Main/sp-2 ... -shear.asp

One of my local sellers suppiles these made by winzer wurth for about £20 so could be worth shopping around.

You could also saw them by hand with a fine saw and make up a jig/mitrebox to keep everthing square and straight. This way you could saw the part you want easily of a longer length.

Jon

 

[motownmartin]

Thanks Jon, i like the the idea of the shears.

 

[RogerS]

Martin

I've been using the Axminster mitre trimmer on a load of glazing bars and the results have been nothing short of brilliant. You can sneak up a trim the thinnest of thin slices off and the workpiece is held nice and tightly against a large solid fence. OK - stock is slightly larger than what you're intending to use and I'll see about a mitre on matchstick today when I get on site.

I have heard that the handheld ones are difficult to trim/control/sneak up on.

Actually, the Axminster mitre trimmer is one of the best tools I've bought recently and would be in my top ten.

Roger

 

[RogerS]

OK, Martin

I took a matchstick and cut a beautiful 45 degree chamfer.

There was an initial slight hiccup - easily resolved. The two vertical cheeks that the workpiece is held against have a partial gap where they meet the cast iron table. Almost exactly the same size as a matchstick. This gap is easily filled and the important part - where the cutting is actually done - fully supports the work all the way down to the table. Hope that makes sense.

Roger

 

[motownmartin]

OK, Martin

I took a matchstick and cut a beautiful 45 degree chamfer.

There was an initial slight hiccup - easily resolved. The two vertical cheeks that the workpiece is held against have a partial gap where they meet the cast iron table. Almost exactly the same size as a matchstick. This gap is easily filled and the important part - where the cutting is actually done - fully supports the work all the way down to the table. Hope that makes sense.

Roger

Thanks for going to the trouble of trying it out for me, its my birthday next week and I wonder whether the mrs can afford one

 

[RogerS]

Martin

If you do get one of these, be very very careful when carrying it as, once the transit packers have been removed then the mitre blades are free to move on their carriage and they are very very sharp . The carriage moves very freely.

Roger

 

[motownmartin]

Thanks Roger, it has been put on hold for now

 

[xy mosian]

I seldom need to cut many mitres, but for 'display' mitres on framework I find the local picture framer is very helpful. His machine is much better than anything I could afford, and probably serviced more frequently. The range of 'frame' sizes he can handle is wide indeed.

xy

 

[Steve Maskery]

That's very interesting Roger. My mate-next-door-Brian has one, and the results have been nothing short of - disappointing.

The problem we have been having is that, for very fine shavings, the forces on each side of the blade are unequal. The result is that the workpiece moves. It's only fractional, but for picture frames that matters.

I recently made some large (95mm wide) picture frames (see curent BW!) and I went back to using a shooting board.

I admit that that is a different scale to Martin's intended use, but it looks like our experiences differ.

Cheers
Steve

 

[RogerS]

That's very interesting Roger. My mate-next-door-Brian has one, and the results have been nothing short of - disappointing.

The problem we have been having is that, for very fine shavings, the forces on each side of the blade are unequal. The result is that the workpiece moves. It's only fractional, but for picture frames that matters.

I recently made some large (95mm wide) picture frames (see curent BW!) and I went back to using a shooting board.

I admit that that is a different scale to Martin's intended use, but it looks like our experiences differ.

Cheers
Steve

I'll have to show you how to use it properly then :wink:

 

[maitland.selwyn]

I have the Axminster trimmer and have only used it occasionally since I bought it about a year ago - but have been very pleased. Until a couple of days ago when I tried to trim some profiles I had made out of Jotoba - some exotic hardwood that I bought cheap from our equivalent of B & Q. The wood is so hard that the cutter really struggled even to remove very thin slices and had a tendency to twist the piece and therefore give an uneven cut. I didn't have time to try but I think some sort of clamping mechanism would improve the cutter's functionality. That said I exploded several pieces when trying to cut them on my Festool mitre saw with a very expensive blade. Next time I'll try to avoid this species, but it did machine very well for small, rather awkward profiles. If anyone has had the patience to read this far - what wood would you suggest for making 2 metre long profiles about 20mm wide by 5 - 10mm thick??