Triton bevel cutting

[Karl]

Hi Tritoneers

I posted on the Aussie forum yesterday about bevel cutting on the Triton. Some of you UK Triton owners may not check out that site, so thought I would pose the same queries here.

Everybody knows that one of the major drawbacks of the Triton system is the lack of blade tilt. So, has anybody considered the feasibility of replacing the standard W/C top for one with a routed groove to allow the blade to be angled? There are a few practical issues to be considered (dust extraction, fixing mdf top, fixing saw chassis), but in practice I don't see these would be major issues to resolve.

I don't like the look of the bevel cutting guide. I have looked at the tilting mechanism of the saw in-situ, and there would certainly appear to be scope for blade tilt if a replacement top were used.

Any thoughts? I'm hoping to get round to it on Sunday (as well as building a new base for the saw), and will post pics of progress in due course.

Cheers

Karl

 

[George_N]

Hi Karl,
I'm sure you already know anout the bevel ripping guide, but I thought I'd bring it up anyway. I bought one second hand from a forum member (Dudester) a few months ago and I've found it to be pretty good. True it is not as versatile as a tilting blade but it is probably a better bet for the Triton Workcentre than trying to build an other top for it.

 

[Martingchapman]

I used to have a Triton Workcentre with the big triton saw.
I did not like the Triton bevel riping guide so looked at cutting a slot in the top of the Workcentre, this looked to be relatively simple.
Then I took a closer look at the saw and found that the bevel pivots are offset to the side of the blade by an inch or more (cant remember the exact amount). This means when you tilt the saw but keep the blade in the same place (as if it was sticking up through a thin slot) the body of the saw moves over to the side quite a bit (could be a couple of inches).
The out come of this is that assuming the saw stayed fixed in the top when you tilt the saw you would need to have very wide slot in the top of the Workcenter to accommodate the fact that the saw blade will move sideways by a considerable amount.
Because of the way the Workcentre top is constructed, with a series of ribs along and across the top, it makes it difficult to cut a wide slot for the saw. If you did cut this wide slot then you would have a problem with an infill that would be suitable for any angle of bevel (because of the sideways movement of the saw/blade).
In the end I gave up with the idea and bought the Triton bevel ripping guide but was never entirely happy with the way it worked.
You may be able to modify the top to suite a saw that had the bevel pivots very close to the blade (ala Festool TS55/75).
Whilst I loved the rip cutting ability of the Triton (not including the bevel cutting feature) I was never really happy with the cross cutting feature so I eventually sold all the Triton kit and bought a Festool CMS set up.

 

[Karl]

George - i've seen the bevel ripping guide and don't really like the look of it. I think tilting the blade must be much easier than faffing with that contraption :lol:

Martin - my replacement top will be constructed from 2 pieces of 12mm MDF, with a hole routed to allow the blade to pass through at an angle.

I am hoping to get round to it tonight (my wife had me building fitted seating in the conservatory yesterday - first day off in ages!). I did get round to building a wheeled cabinet for the saw - don't know why I didn't do it sooner. Great manouverability.

Should be a pretty straightforward affair - I hope. Will post some pics later tonight (I hope).

Cheers

Karl

 

[Argee]

Everybody knows that one of the major drawbacks of the Triton system is the lack of blade tilt.

This is only true if you need to cut a bevel on a workpiece which exceeds 700mm in length. Pieces up to that dimension can be cut at any bevel the saw is capable of, by using the cross-cut mode and a thin MDF sacrificial base.

The Bevel Cutting Guide, in use, is easier than any saw that has a tilting table, instead of a tilting arbor. As has been said, cutting the existing top is not possible, although you may get away with a supplementary, or replacement top, clamped to the chassis. Not something I'd want to try, however.

Ray.